DKIWJITMKNT OF PARKS. 



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An appeal was made to the Governor in behalf of a park 

 system. In 1835, lie appointed the first ( !om mission to project 

 the plan of such a system. The Commission worked faithfully 

 and finally, in L839, submitted the plans for such an undertak- 

 ing, recommending that eleven sites be reserved for parks and 

 squares as follows: Johnson Square; Lafayette Green, Bedford 

 Green, Marcy Square, Prospect Square, Eleid Square, Fulton 

 Square, Mount Prospect Square, Tompkins Park, Washington 

 Park and City Park. Even the three last named came very 

 near sharing the fate of the rest. 



As late as 1868, when all necessary laws had been passed pro- 

 viding for the improvement of Washington Park, a determined 

 effort was made 1 to defeat such a project by attempting to divide 

 up this beautiful historic spot into building lots and to dispose 

 of them at auction; the only argument in favor of such 

 vandalism being that the property would fetch a good price. 

 The authors of such an attempt were betraying the future 

 development of Brooklyn as the Iscariot betrayed his Lord. 

 He, however, set such men a good example. In this way the 

 city has been defrauded of a system of equal distribution in her 

 parks. A distributive ratio of real estate values has also been 

 lost through the failure of such an enterprise. The value of 

 property would have been advanced in the vicinity of such parks 

 and squares, and consequently a larger revenue would have 

 accrued to the city from such improvements. The uniform 

 testimony of foreign cities has been, that parks enhance 

 property not alone by beautifying it, but also by arresting a 

 continuous order of architecture. There is nothing so 

 surfeiting to the eye as that long drawn sameness, bred of 

 interminable blocks of city houses, all built on one pattern of 

 architectural uniformity. No difference in device. No modifi- 

 cation in design. No change in color. The contagion catches 

 by reason of the. contiguity. Throw in at different points tine 

 parks, and you break up all this uniformity. Unity is not 

 uniformity. The arrangement of bricks in a building is 

 uniformity. The outline of a tree, including all its parts in 

 one living whole, is unity. The more perfect the unit}' the 



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