DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. DO 



quate to its need when its population numbered less than 

 three hundred thousand, as when Prospect Park was origi- 

 nally established, almost thirty years ago. It would be nearly 

 as reasonable to expect the vast multitudes now yearly cross- 

 ing the ocean to be content with the few and small steamships 

 of the last generation, or the great business houses which have 

 sprung into existence in our day and our city to be satisfied to 

 go back to one floor and a basement for carrying on their 

 enlarged trade. 



It is of course well known that in this very important 

 department of the modern city-equipment we are far behind 

 either of several prominent cities in the country having no 

 greater natural advantages than we have, of which only two 

 surpass ours in the number, and none in the character, 

 of the resident population. Laying out of sight the Parade 

 Ground, which is not available for the general popular use, 

 and the distant Coney Island Concourse, we have in all our 

 Parks five hundred and sixty acres, as against more than five 

 thousand in New York, three thousand in Philadelphia, three 

 thousand in Chicago, twenty-three hundred in Boston, twenty- 

 two hundred in St. Louis. In other words, our available 

 Park-area, as measured against the average of that of these 

 contemporaneous and not remote cities, is less than one-fifth ; 

 while as compared with that of principal European capitals it 

 is reckoned as being not more than one-ninth. Such an 

 extravagant disparity in what we have to offer for public 

 enjoyment cannot but stir a sharp sense of mortification in 

 those who are most attached to Brooklyn, while it constantly 

 diminishes the attractiveness of the city, and discredits its 

 reputation for intelligent and liberal public spirit. 



It is not in the least surprising, therefore, that an earnest 

 desire becomes constantly more evident — which is surely 

 destined ere long to become a governing desire, and to 

 harden into determined practical purposes — to have more 

 ground within the city, and very much more, devoted to 

 the uses of personal and popular recreation and of family 

 enjoyment. It is a desire which will compel recognition, and 



