DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. 41 



t 



< ur . vteteorological ^Department. 



A new and complete set of instruments has been provided 

 for this department. Preparations have been made to give 

 Brooklyn a signal service and a meteorological office that shall 

 be on a footing with that of any other in the United States. 

 The site for such a service is unsurpassed and very probably 

 unequaled. Situated as it is, 220 feet above the sea level, its 

 advantages for recording climatic phenomena are obvious. 



It is hoped to put this department in direct communication 

 during the year to come with similar institutions all over the 

 world and thereby to make it in intelligence and, if possible, 

 original discovery, the equal of any of them. 



I he "Sinlb Street Entrance. 



There has been a growing demand for several years for a 

 commodious entrance at Ninth street and Ninth avenue with a 

 walk for pedestrians and also a drive for carriages, connecting 

 with the west drive in the park by a roadway about 60) feet in 

 length. Ninth street is the principal outlet at that particular 

 point of South Brooklyn for large numbers of people. Follow- 

 ing the car route the main line of travel and of traffic tends 

 along this thoroughfare. It is faced with handsome 

 residences and is justly regarded as the dividing line between 

 what is considered to be the very finest portion of the park 

 slopes and what is relatively of declining value. The number 

 of persons who throng this entrance is greater than at any 

 other on Ninth avenue, and yet the only opening into the 

 park at this point is a narrow little wooden gate through 

 which only one person can enter at a time, a standing affront 

 to South Brooklyn people who use and pay an extra assess- 

 ment for the park. Moreover, all those who wish to drive into 

 the park from the Ninth avenue side are obliged to do so 

 through other entrances, which are a considerable distance 

 from the point in question. 



The entrance proposed would be similar to that built at 

 Fifteenth street, and also to the one at the Smith street rail- 







