APPENDIX TO THE FIFTH REPORT. 



PRELIMINARY REPORT ON BOUNDARIES. 



Hon. J. S. T. Stranahan, 



Pres't Com'r Prospect Park, Brooklyn. 



Dear Sir, — Since my last visit to the Brooklyn Park locality 

 with you, I have made a further examination of the site, and of the 

 property in its immediate vicinity, for the purpose of forming a defi- 

 nite opinion in regard to the subject of approaches, and with special 

 reference to questions of boundary. I now submit for the considera- 

 tion of the Commissioners such observations as have occurred to me, 

 together with an illustrative plan or diagram. 



The ground at present set apart for the Park is cut into two 

 main divisions or separate sections by Flatbush avenue, a wide 

 and conspicuous thoroughfare that is much used for ordinary pub- 

 lic travel. This arrangement is a disadvantageous one for the 

 Park, considering it as a pleasure ground devoted to recreation 

 and enjoyment, because it seriously interferes with the impres- 

 sions of amplitude and continuous extent that the general dimen- 

 sions would otherwise convey. It also involves the necessity for 

 a considerable outlay in bridge construction which would not be 

 called for if the public highway skirted your ground instead of 

 traversing it. A thoroughfare crossing the Park might be a use- 

 ful and even necessary adjunct if it were so situated that it served 

 as a transverse road to connect two districts of the city that were 

 likely in future to be closely built up, and that would otherwise 

 be widely separated. But this does not happen to be the case in 

 the present instance, and a glance at the map of Brooklyn is 

 sufficient to show that the line of travel accommodated by the 

 Park section of Flatbush avenue could be diverted without 

 much inconvenience to Warren street and Washington avenue. 

 If cross roads for business purposes are required at all, they seem 

 to be needed in a direction nearly at right angles to Flatbush 

 avenue. The city, however, is so laid out that the Park Com- 

 missioners do not probably feel that a necessity exists for any 

 merely traffic roads across their property. 



