62 EEPORT OF THE 



thus removing the blight that has settled upon the surround- 

 ing neighborhood, caused by the uncertainty as to what would 

 be their final disposition. As the question of just what to do 

 with these East Side lands must now come before the public 

 for disposal, it might be well to give a short history of them, 

 together with some detail upon the subject. 



The East Side lands are included in the tirst purchases of 

 land made for Prospect Park. They are bounded on the west 

 and southwest by Flatbush avenue, Plaza street and Vander- 

 bilt a\cnue ; on the north by Prospect place, or Warren 

 street; on the east by Washington avenue, and on the south 

 by the Flatbush town line. In this area there are 132^ acres, 

 of which 11! are owned and used by the city as the Prospect 

 Hill Reservoir grounds, leaving 121 acres. This tract 

 is about equally divided by the Eastern Parkway, which 

 was cut through in 1872 and 1873, necessitating the 

 removal of 231,000 cubic yards of earth. In this 

 cutting a slight curve had to be made, so as not to weaken the 

 reservoir. Soon after this was done, a commission of three 

 was appointed to appraise the value of the grounds around the 

 reservoir in order to sell them to the Department of Public 

 Works. The sum of $215,365 was agreed upon, and an act of 

 the Legislature was passed May loth, 1876, authorizing said 

 amount, with interest, to be paid to the Park Commissioners, 

 such sum to be applied " to the improvement of the park 

 lands so authorized to be sold/' viz., to drain, sewer, grade, 

 pave and gutter the streets to be laid out. 



The Annual Report of 1877 acknowledged the receipt of the 

 above amount. This was the first sale of east side lands, and 

 the price obtained was much better than that subsequently 

 realized at auction. 



Much public discussion lias taken place pro and con on the 

 advisability of selling these lands. In the Spring of 1869, a 

 proposal was made by Edmund Driggs, J. W. Hunter, Charles 

 Jones, Win. W. Goodrich and J. Carson Brevoort to lay out 

 and finish these lands into a park, with Gen. Yiele as engineer, 

 for the sum of $625,000, furnishing security, &c. 



