11 



the liberal views then, recently adopted for laying out large 

 parks in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore; and our 

 City's need of a first-class Park, could no longer be satisfied 

 with, the very moderate dimensions assigned to Prospect 

 Park by the law of 1860. This necessarily led to a review 

 of the whole subject of boundaries, including various ques- 

 tions of entries and approaches, as necessarily connected 

 therewith. The plan of improvement also, as originally 

 suggested, for reasons which do not now require any de- 

 tailed statement, failed to receive the approval of the reor- 

 ganized Board. No principal entrance, or none suited to 

 the dignity of a large Park, had been provided, and they 

 deemed it proper, therefore, to apply to the Legislature at 

 once for authority to annex so much additional land as was 

 necessary to form what now constitutes the Plaza. 



Nor upon the question of boundaries could they satisfy 

 themselves that the ground which had been taken was all 

 that was required in respect to extent or opportunity of 

 improvement ; and least of all that the land on the east 

 side of Flatbush Avenue, in consequence mainly of its iso- 

 lated and disjointed character, could be made to harmonize 

 in any tolerable degree with the fine Park land on the other 

 side. They consequently proceeded to mature a plan which 

 they thought better suited to the character of a first-class 

 Park, which added very considerably to the dimensions of 

 the original plan, but extended it in a direction in which 

 land was cheapest, and fortunately best adapted to Park 

 purposes, while it took nothing from our own taxable prop- 

 erty. Their report upon this plan, with a full explanation 

 of its details, and a map showing the contemplated change 

 of boundaries, with the proposed abandonment for Park 

 uses of the land east of Flatbush Avenue, was thereupon 

 printed and extensively circulated throughout the commu- 

 nity, and received a very decided and unqualified approval. 



