275 



which had led to the acquisition of the two pieces of ground on Flat- 

 Imsli avenue. 



Instead of a scheme for establishing several public grounds, each 

 designed for the special benefit of a district, ward or locality, the 

 pressing demand now was for one strikingly fine park, adapted to 

 be resorted to from all quarters, which would retrieve the prestige 

 which had been lost to the city by the construction of the Central Park. 



The duty of developing a practicable scheme for this purpose 

 having fallen naturally, though not perhaps by distinct previous 

 legal enactment, upon your Commission, an examination of the 

 neighborhood within which lay the property under your control, 

 showed that it occupied a position with reference to the distant parts 

 of the city highly important to be considered in the solution of the 

 new problem, although no weight had been attached to it in the 

 original selection of the ground as a site for one of eight district 

 pleasure grounds. 



To understand its consequence, it needs to be remembered that 

 the present city of Brooklyn has been mainly formed by the gradual 

 filling up of the space between several original centers of settlement, 

 and that within the last thirty-five years there have been several 

 eras of speculation, during which large isolated estates have been 

 divided for sale in lots, by which additional local street systems 

 have been inaugurated. The present city therefore includes many 

 quite distinct systems, laid out independently, and having no con- 

 venient relation one w r ith another. In consequence of this fact, few 

 points in the city, and especially in the suburbs, are accessible from 

 more than two sides by direct lines of communication over a mile in 

 length. A certain locality, however, which adjoined, though it was 

 not included within the property of the city in the eighth and Ninth 

 Wards, constituted what was practically a converging point on the 

 city map of several systems of communication, as will appear by the 

 accompanying diagram, -and the following table showing the dis- 

 tance from the several points named, to the locality in question 

 respectively, by a straight line, and by streets already laid out : 



By straight line. By streets. 

 From South Seventh street. Eastern 



District 2 40-100 miles. 2 50-100 



From Hudson avenue, East River.. 2 10-100 " 2 12-100 



From Hamilton avenue, East River 2 2-100 " 2 3-100 



From Greenwood Cemetery 1 31-100 " 1 31-100 



From the Hunter Fly Road, City 



Line 2 4S-100 " 2 48-100 



From Flatbush Church 1 71-100 " 1 78-100 



