44 



in on the South Brooklyn side, ami that which we gained included the 

 ground occupied by the series of roads and walks running through 

 wliat we call the Eas1 Woods, and which during the last year was so 

 much enjoyed by the public. 



After the passage of the Aet to establish the park in 1860 an effort 

 was made to still farther revise its boundaries, and the engineer whom 

 we employed to make the preliminary survey in his report seconded 

 the proposal, suggesting that the ground between Warren and Baltic 

 streets should be thrown out, and that the east boundary of the park 

 should be shifted from Washington avenue to a new avenue proposed 

 to be laid out between Olasson and Franklin avenues. 



This would undoubtedly have enabled a great improvement to be 

 made in the plan of the park as then contemplated east of Flatbush 

 avenue, giving it the greater breadth which it so much needed, but the 

 objection which was effectively urged against it was the serious incon- 

 venience which would result from the closing of Washington avenue. 



I have thus viewed the principal facts in the preliminary history of 

 our enterprise. At this time nothing had been absolutely decided, for 

 the act of the Legislature, providing for a park at Prospect Hill, which 

 was passed, as I have said, in 1860, proved to be defective. The work 

 of legislation was accordingly done over again in 1861, when the Park 

 Commission was definitely established, and the acquisition by the city 

 of the land I have referred to was first legally provided for. It was not, 

 however, until midsummer of 1864 that the Board of Estimate and As- 

 sessment completed their business, and we obtained possession of the 

 land. We were then in the midst of the war, and even if we had 

 obtained our land sooner it is doubtful if we should have set to work 

 upon it. 



During these three years we had not, however, been merely lying 

 still. The friends of the thirteen-hundred-acre-park scheme at Ridge- 

 wood had gradually abandoned their intention. Other parts of the 

 original scheme had been dropped or modified. The military were be- 

 ginning to look at the vicinity of Prospect Hill for their parade ground. 

 The general subject of providing our city with parks had been much 

 thought about, deliberated upon and debated by our Commission. We 

 had obtained information about parks in other cities, abroad and at 

 home; the influence they had exerted upon the cities which possessed 

 them, and what it was in them that their influence depended upon. We 

 had watched the Central Park rapidly advancing toward completion, 



