31 



On April 16, 1936, the Commissioner of Water Supply notified 

 the Commissioner of Parks that, as soon as the reservoir should 

 be abandoned as a part of the water supply system of the City, 

 he would release the property to the Commissioners of the Sinking 

 Fund. 



It was finally decided by the Park Commissioner to develop the 

 Mt. Prospect Reservoir tract as " Mt. Prospect Park," with a 

 playground for children on the north side. In order to secure an 

 approach to Mr. Prospect Park from Eastern Parkway by ramp, 

 rather than by steps, the Park Department, in July, 1937, asked 

 the Botanic Garden authorities for their a]:>proval of plans that 

 included, among other features, the location of our proposed gate 

 or portal at the Eastern Parkway entrance approximately 44 

 feet back from the street. After conferences on the site (in 

 August, 1937) and further correspondence, the director of the 

 Garden was authorized by the Botanic Garden Governing Com- 

 mittee to notify the Park De])artment that the Committee approved 

 in general the plans of August 24, 1937, submitted by the Depart- 

 ment, but that it was the unanimous judgment of tlie Garden 

 authorities " that there should be no gateways or gates, or any 

 provision at any point for passing directly from Mt. Prospect Park 

 into the Botanic Garden." It was decided that the work should 

 proceed on the basis of the plans as originally submitted to us, 

 including a flight of stone steps leading down the embankment 

 from the gate near the southeast corner of Mt. Prospect Park. 

 Our letters to the Park Department on this matter contained the 

 following statements : 



" In acting on this matter the Governing Committee recogniz.ed 

 that, by the terms of our Agreement of December 28, 1909, with 

 the City of New York, we are not free to alter the present bound- 

 aries of the (jarden, nor to turn over any of the area. In approv- 

 ing the proposed plan, therefore, the Committee understands that 

 it is merely deciding to locate its Eastern Parkway entrance south 

 of the sidewalk for a distance to be agreed upon, and authorizes 

 the Park Department to landscape the area between the gate line 

 and the street so as to give a treatment that will blend in properl}- 

 with the Museum frontage on the east, and also provide the kind 

 of approach you desire to Mt. Prospect Park on the west." 



