TENTH ANNUAL REPORT IF THE BROOKLYN PARK COMMISSION EBS. (Fos WARY. 1370: BROOKLYN: EAGLE PRINT, 30 AND 32 FULTON STREET. 1870. “4 SLOTLIHDNY 3dVISONVT 09% XfWA GALSW10 a2 G.I-e-a gO. WW ti 4 ve luo ras V7 TENTH ANNUAL REPORT BROOKLYN PARK COMMISSION ERS. JANUARY, 1870. BROOKLYN: EAGLE PRINT, 30 AND 32 FULTON STREET. 1870. LA iv * rs CT. Ie: ‘4 ; ! ‘i a al ea) THE BOARD OF BROOKLYN PARK COMMISSIONERS. 1869. JAMES 8. T. STRANAHAN, ABIEL A. LOW, WALTER S. GRIFFITH, SEYMOUR L. HUSTED, JOHN H. PRENTICE, - ABRAHAM B. BAYLIS, EDWARDS W. FISKH, STEPHEN HAYNES, WILLIAM MARSHALL, | ISAAC VAN ANDEN, MARTIN KALBFLEISCH, £z-of. President, a BY INC IE IS Se INS ME 1a Ae INT Daweh eu IN Secretary, JOHN El PIB WUC 2, Comptroller and Counsel, JO BEMN GING Dee Onky Landscape Architects and Superintendents, ORME S aan D ee Vi CAC EXO iC Or Assistant Architect, Jd ID) Wo vst des DP KOS iE WG 1b) 18 dag e Engineer in Charge, CEA aigias: CS My Ar roe Tel INis Assistant Engineers in Charge, ROP ENG i OrG Auk Epa) 7d) Ove No Ye CU lh Yo ike STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE BOARD. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: JOHN H. PRENTICE, | WALTER 8. GRIFFITH, SEYMOUR L. HUSTED, STEPHEN HAYNES, ISAAC VAN ANDEN, EDWARDS W. FISKE. FINANCE COMMITTEE: ABRAHAM B. BAYLIS, ABIKL A. LOW, MARTIN KALBFLEISCH, WILLIAM MARSHALL. AUDITING COMMITTEE: WALTER 8S. GRIFFITH, | JOHN H. PRENTICE, ISAAC VAN ANDEN. Jey les Je (©) Tek ak BROOKLYN PARK COMMISSIONERS. To the Honorable the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Brooklyn: Tue Brooklyn Park Commissioners respectfully submit to the Common Council of the City this report of their proceedings for the year 1869, with a statement of their receipts and expenditures for the same period. Their last report referred to the proceedings of Commis- sioners who had recently been appointed by the Supreme Court to estimate the value of land added to Prospect Park at its Western angle, and suggested the hope, that their: forthcoming report on damages, would be of such a char- acter as to justify the Board in asking the Supreme Court to ratify and confirm the same. The report was soon after- wards presented to the Board, and awarded to the owners of land the damages sustained by them, amounting in the whole to one million seven hundred and five thousand two hundred and forty-eight dollars and thirty-two cents. This amount, however, included the expense of the proceedings, together with the expense of the subsequent proceedings to assess property adjacent to the Park for special benefit ; which yet remains to be done. Although the estimate: 6 seemed large when compared with former prices, it was the result of a fair and impartial examination of the claims of the parties in interest, made by five of our most judi- cious and reliable citizens; and there was no question that the property had been greatly increased in value by its im- mediate contiguity to the Park, during the time that its acquisition had been unfortunately delayed by legislative inaction. The Board also considered the great importance, if not the absolute necessity of this addition to the Park, and did not therefore hesitate to accept the report of the Commissioners, and apply to the Court for its confirmation. The bonds authorized by law were at once issued by the City authorities, and met with a ready sale. The awards for land taken were promptly paid, and the Board forth- with entered into possession of the premises. In an artistic point of view this acquisition fully justifies the high expectations of its value originally entertained by the Board. And if we are to judge from the unqualified expressions of admiration with which the subsequent open- ing of the drive through these beautifully wooded and picturesque grounds has been greeted, the Board are well assured that public sentiment entirely approves of their action in this behalf. The same Commissioners are now rapidly proceeding with the assessment which the law directs them to make upon property specially benefitted by the opening of the Park. And the Board have reason to expect that when that Commission shall have finished their work, Park indebtedness will have been very largely diminished. It is but justice to the Assessment Commissioners to add that they are engaged in an arduous and important work; that their operations extend over a large district of country, and that they have been prevented by the terms of the law from commencing their labors until after the confirmation of the last report on land taken for Park extension. i The Commissioners were much pleased to find that the subject of laying out streets and avenues through the County of Kings, so as to conform, as nearly as may be practicable and judicious, to the streets and avenues of our City, to which subject they have repeatedly called the attention of the Common Council, was acted upon by the Legislature at its last session. The present Supervisors of the County towns, in conjunction with the President of the Board of Supervisors, were appointed a Board of Commis- sioners for the purpose of maturing a permanent plan of improvement. That Board have since appointed an expe- rienced Surveyor to make the requisite examinations, and to prepare a map of the streets and avenues upon a plan suggested by them; and it is understood that the result of their labors will soon be submitted to public inspection. One of the most striking features of the new plan, bear- ing directly upon the interests of the Park, and of our City, will be found to be a noble avenue, two hundred and ten feet wide, stretching southerly from Prospect Park towards Coney Island, but terminating for the present at the newly established Fair Grounds. This avenue will form another grand approach to the Park, and is to be laid out under the liberal auspices of the owners of the land through which it passes, at their own expense, and has been placed under the control and management of the Park Commis- sloners. This splendid improvement is similar to that which was formerly suggested by the Board, on the line of Sackett street, as a suitable approach to the Park from the East, and will soon be thrown open to public use; and when properly regulated, planted with shade trees, and extended to the ocean, terminating in a broad terrace upon the beach, as it must eventually do, will form a most attractive sea- side promenade and drive. 8 The enterprise of our neighbors has also placed another fine improvement in the hands of the Park Commissioners ; which consists in the widening of the Coney Island road to the width of one hundred feet; thereby opening up a direct avenue to the sea, and at the same time throwing open to the public another opportunity of selecting sites for suburban residence unequaled for beauty of situation, for salubrity of air, and for convenient access to business centers by any locality on the Island. By means of these and of other kindred improvements connected with Park extension, in which the Board have been engaged, land throughout the County of Kings has greatly increased in value, the taxable property in the rural districts having been nearly doubled during the last four years. While we rejoice with our friends in the coun- try towns that they are the fortunate possessors of such valuable property, we heartily congratulate our citizens at large upon the splendid opportunities of improvement which are about to be thrown open to them. It is thus, in con- nection with those magnificent enterprises of bridging and of tunneling the East River, which have already engaged the attention of the Common Council, that the Board expect to realize those broad plans of public improvement which they have from time to time suggested by their annual re- ports and otherwise, as opportunity presented: and it is thus that they hope to establish for Brooklyn that reputa- tion which she justly merits, of a highly favored quarter of the great metropolis of this Western world, possessing su- perior natural advantages in many respects over her more wealthy neighbor, but particularly as a healthful and desir- able place of residence for her men of business. The success of our Park enterprise, now so generally ad- mitted, is believed to have contributed largely to the pro- 9 duction of the increased values to which the Commissioners have referred. On reference to the assessment rolls of the City’s property, they find that since the commencement of active operations on the Park, there has been added to her tax list the large amount of $77,232,410, the Board of Assessors having felt themselves justified by its very ob- vious increase, in adding 25 per cent. to the list of her taxable property for the year 1869. The amount of such property is now $196,624,110, while in the rural districts it is $11,808,933, making the total amount now standing on the Assessor’s books, $208,483,043; nearly two-fifths thereof having been added since the period above referred to. It should be observed, also, in order to a proper appreciation of these facts, that a large portion of this in- crease, to wit: the sum of $32,820,059, has arisen in the Wards immediately surrounding the Park, including the town of Flatbush, thereby increasing the City’s annual income nearly a million of dollars. The rapid increase of our population, as well as the number of houses built for their accommodation, fully sus- tains the action of the Assessors. During the time referred to, our City has trebled its former annual rate of house building, and she has actually erected nearly one-half more houses within the last three years than were built in the City of New York. That our territorial expansion corres- ponds therewith, appears from the many miles of new streets opened, graded and paved within the past year; while more than eight additional miles of re-pavement, having an improved surface which supersedes the old fash- ioned cobble stone pavement, has opened up several direct and easy approaches to the Park. The population of our City, also, according to the statistics of the past forty years, has been found to double in rather less than twelve years ; the increase of New York being at about one-half that 10 rate; so that, unless New York shall speedily absorb all the southern towns of Westchester, or unless some unfor- seen check shall be given to our progress, we must expect to gain yearly upon her until we shall become the larger of the two cities; an event which, in the ordinary course of things, must occur before the close of the present cen- tury. Such a demand upon the respiratory and sanitary resources of our City has never yet occurred in the history of any people, and should convince us of the immense im- portance of securing Parks and open planted spaces of every description in advance, and wherever it may be prac- ticable, as lungs for this great population. But the question with which our City as a municipality is more immediately concerned, at this time, is not so much the numerical increase of her population as its character, chiefly in reference to its ability to pay taxes,and make the improvements we require. One of the chief difficulties un- der which we have labored, and still do labor, consists in the comparatively low valuation of our property. A house on 2,500 square feet of ground, worth perhaps only a thou- sand dollars, costs as much for the repair of streets, for lamps, police, and the other machinery of City government, as the house paying taxes on $20,000. Our constant aim, therefore, should be to increase these valuations, by holding out such inducements to men of wealth and taste, in the way of improved streets, increased Park accommoda- tions and other social advantages, as will make Brooklyn a more desirable place of residence for them than any other City. It will be remembered that the present Park Commission- ers, with two or three exceptions, were appointed in 1864, Upon their accession to office, they found that a fresh im- petus had been everywhere given to Park enterprise by wl 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. 12 And the Commissioners here deem it worthy of notice in passing, that the map annexed to that report is the same design, without material alteration or addition, wpon which the landscape architects of the Board have been working from the beginning of their operations, and upon which they still continue to work. Being satisfied with the favorable expression of public opinion thus obtained, the Commissioners applied to the Legislature for the additional territory required to carry out their enlarged plan of improvement, at the same time asking for authority to sell so much of the land on the east side of Flatbush Avenue as was not embraced in the plan, in order that they might have means to pay for what they proposed to annex on the other side. They obtained a portion of the land required, but, much to their regret, were refused the fifty acres referred to in a former part of this report, and which constituted one of the prominent features of their design. Their request for permission to sell was also denied, although it had received the approval of the Senate, and is believed to have influenced that body in the passage of the bill for Park extension, which was acted upon by them on the same day. ¢ After Park areas had been thus far extended, the Com- missioners, hoping that the residue of the land required to carry out the improved plan would yet be conceded to them, deemed it expedient to commence the improvement. They began upon that part of the ground which was ori- ginally selected for a Park, and where their expenditures had been limited in amount: but it proved to be the most difficult, and consequently the most expensive to operate upon. Among other difficulties, it became necessary to ac- commodate the Park grades to those established for the surrounding streets of the City, which grades had recent- 13 ly been much reduced; and ‘the transformation of the ground to meet these changes could only be accomplished at very considerable expense. ‘The Commissioners however believe that the expenditure is not to be regretted; and they take this opportunity of expressing the opimion that the style and finish with which this as well as other Park improvements have been executed, have had much to do with the great increase in values to which they have above referred. It was not so much the fact that Brooklyn was to have a large Park, as it was the discovery that her Park was to possess an artistic beauty and finish equal to any Park extant, which was to sustain her in her competition with the Parks of other cities. The Commissioners have claimed for Brooklyn the advan- tage of being a more desirable place of residence in many respects than New York, and they think it can be readily shown that she possesses finer sites for city residences, in connection with the refined enjoyments of a Park, than can be found in that city. She has even now, under her own control, a district of country, east of Flatbush Avenue, in the highest degree attractive, and which, if properly im- proved, would open up another large district Southerly and Easterly therefrom, to the immense advantage of our City, both socially and financially. But in order to develop these advantages fully, they think it will be necessary to revise the whole street plan of this quarter of the City, while it is yet under easy municipal control, and to lay it out anew in such a way as will not only be much more conve- nient and useful to the public, than it would be under any other plan yet suggested, but must make it perfectly appa- rent that we have, in Brooklyn, in close connection with our Park, more desirable places of residence than can be found elsewhere in any city. The lower portion of the map which is annexed to this report will further explain this 14 last suggestion of the Commissioners, while it also indicates the location and extent of land which they propose to sell. If sold, it would of course be with proper restrictions in regard to the character of the improvements to be made upon it, and with suitable reservations of streets and ave- nues. The Commissioners intend to reserve, besides the avenues which they propose to lay out with wide planted borders, and the Reservoir ground, with an ornamental gar- den around it, a body of land two hundred and sixty feet in depth fronting the Park, to be held by the City as a site for public buildings and institutions, as stated in their last annual report. They do not propose to interrupt, but to improve and amplify all the direct lines of communication through the district east of the Park, retaining for Park purposes every foot of land from which a view of the bay or of the sea can be had. But after making all these reservations, there will still remain a body of over one hundred acres of land, to be disposed of with such restrictions as will insure the erection upon it of strictly first class dwelling houses. A former report estimated the proceeds of such sale at two and a half millions of dollars; but the Commissioners are advised that their estimate was too low by at least half a million of dol- lars. If to this is added a million for its improvement when retained as a Park, which the experience of the Com- missioners in dealing with ground of a similar character on the other side of the avenue, induces them to believe would be a fair estimate of the expense, the difference to the City betweeu selling and retaining this land, will amount to at least four millions of dollars. But this is not all: for if we double the price of the land as a fair representation of the value of the buildings which would probably be erected upon it, we shall add immensely to the taxable property 15 of our City, besides increasing her annual revenue by at least half a million of dollars. The general views upon the subject of a sale here pre- sented, were more fully expressed by the President of this Commission, at a public discussion of the matter to which the Park Commissioners invited their fellow citizens last Spring, at the Court House: and they now append a copy of the statement then made, respectfully soliciting a candid consideration of the arguments therein contained. With regard to the ability of the City to make a good title to the land proposed to be sold, the Commissioners entertain no doubt. When this land was first taken and it became necessary to raise money for the payment of awards, City bonds were issued and put upon the market for sale. The chief security for these bonds consisted in a statutory lien upon the Park; and it was objected by capitalists that, for as much as the City had not the fee of the land, but took merely an easement similar to that by which a street is held, if the holder of the security should be compelled to realize, he could have no permanent possession of the land, since it — would revert to the owner of the fee as soon as it ceased to be used for Park purposes. In this respect, the security was found to be inferior to that of the City’s water bonds, where the entire property of the department, including res- ervoirs, pipes and hydrants, is pledged for payment. In order, therefore, to furnish a new credit for Park bonds, which should make them equal in this respect to the water bonds, an Act of the Legislature was passed in the Spring of 1865, authorizing proceedings to be taken for the pur- pose of transferring the ultimate fee of the land to the City. Such proceedings were accordingly had, the residuary inter- est of the owners was valued by Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court, and payment made to the parties. This 16 payment necessarily included the whole value of the inherit- ance, leaving nothing further to be paid to the owners, at any time or under any circumstances. It was the full market value of the land at the time, and no objection was ever made to such valuations by the parties in interest. The validity of a similar Act of the Legislature was fully sustained by the Court of Appeals, in this State, in the case of Haywards Executors, against the City of New York, (7, N. Y. R., 486,) where a portion of the Almshouse grounds, which the City had taken for public purposes, was sold under similar circumstances. The Court held, in that case, not only that the Legislature had power to authorize a municipal corporation, to acquire a fee simple title to the lands of private persons required for public purposes, upon the payment of a just compensation, to be fixed by Com- missioners appointed by the Court; but that when so ac- quired, no reversionary estate or interest remained in the former proprietors. It held, furthermore, that if the public exigencies required the subsequent conversion of lands thus acquired to some other purpose than that for which they were originally taken, they might be so converted and sold without any accountability to the former proprietors. And this decision appears to the Commissioners to be manifestly equitable and just: for, if when the particular object for which the land was taken had ceased to exist, 1t should by any operation of law be allowed to return to the owners, they having received full compensation for their relinquish- ment of it to the public use, it must necessarily follow that they would not only have their land again, but its price also. No one, we think, will fail to see the iniquity of such an extraordinary result as is here suggested. The owners, then, having received payment in full, and the fee of the land being absolutely vested in the City, the UY Commissioners are satisfied that, if the Legislature concur in a sale, there can be no difficulty in making title. There is, of course, no longer any other outstanding interest, unless it be that of the bondholders; and their interest will be effectually protected by placing the whole proceeds of sale in the hands of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, for the redemption of their bonds. As part of the history of our proceedings during the year, we are here obliged to refer to a proposition made to the Board, on the part of some gentlemen residing in the Ninth and ‘Twentieth Wards of the City, to enter into a contract with them for the improvement of this portion of Park land. Their proposal, with the report of the Committee to whom the matter was referred, is appended to this report, and fully explains the reasons of the Board in declining to enter into such a contract. | The Commissioners cannot take leave of this subject with- out again expressing their thorough conviction of the pyro. priety, if not the necessity, in view of the City’s extended financial obligations, of making a fresh disposition of the | land on the east side of the Avenue, so that it may be laid’ out and sold under their direction, in a way which they think will not only benefit the Park by giving it proper approaches from the North and East, but will, at the same time, add largely to the value of property in its vicinity, and establish the secular character of this whole quarter of the city upon an entirely new basis. During the past season, the work of construction has gone: forward upon all the Parks under the control of the Com- missioners, with as much rapidity as was practicable, and they respectfully refer to the reports of their landseape Architects and Engineers, which are hereto annexed, for a , ie 2 | | 18 full detail of the various operations in which they have been engaged. ‘The whole area under treatment, thus far, is 852 acres in Prospect Park, and 30 acres on Washington Park. 255 acres of the former Park, consisting of woodland shrubbery and meadow, with the intervening roads, walks and waters, are now complete. The finished drives extend over a space of five miles in length, and the bridle paths an equal distance. Of finished walks, we have over five miles, with four additional miles in progress. And the con- struction of the whole design, with a shght exception, may now be said to be complete east of a line drawn through the middle of the Park. Work is more or less advanced over the entire residue of the Park, and the greater part of it can, in the opinion of the landscape architects, be readily pied in a condition suitable for public use, in the course of another season. RUSTIC BUILDING NEAR THE ENTRANCE. 19 One of the most interesting incidents of the year’s prog- ress has been the completion of the great well and water- works connected therewith. A full description of this fine specimen of engineering skill, and of the very satisfactory — results which have been obtained, will be found in the able report of Mr. Martin, the Engineer-in-Chief. The Board have now no doubt that the supply of pure spring water from this source will be amply sufficient to keep the exten- sive ornamental waters of this Park in a good healthy con- dition, independent of any other supply. The work on Washington Park’has been diligently pros- ecuted, and its interior improvement is now so nearly com- plete as to justify the erection of the stone wall which is now engaging the attention of the architects, and will speedily enclose this popular resort. A tasteful design for the vault to be erected in this Park, for the reception of the remains of the Prison Ship Martyrs, has been prepared and is under advisement by the Board. The matter will con- tinue to receive that degree of consideration which it so justly deserves, Tompkins Park, which is laid out in a rapidly growing quarter of the City, was recently placed under the charge of the Board; but no provision seems to have been made for its Improvement; and the Commissioners have consequently been unable to do anything further than to protect the pro- perty from depredation. They trust, however, that author- ity will be given by the present Legislature, to raise money sufficient to improve this Park in a style corresponding with the other small Parks of Brooklyn. The Parade Ground is now in complete order, and has during the last season witnessed some of the finest displays 20 of our citizen soldiery ever exhibited in Kings County. In addition to the trees planted and roads worked, a substan- tial shelter-house with suitable accommodations for the mil- itary on parade days, has been erected on the ground; the main building being forty feet square, with wings extended to the distance of sixty-four feet on each side. During the past year nothing of any importance has been done towards the improvement of the City Park. It is in fact, becoming every day more evident, as the superior attractions of Washington Park are being developed, that the City Park is not likely for some time to come to be used to any extent as a pleasure ground. When the population of that quarter of the City shall have crowded Washington Park beyond its capacity, and shall require greater Park facilities than are now afforded by its beautiful slopes and hills, or when our City’s debt shall have been brought within such easy and reasonable proportions as shall cease to be a serious burden.to our tax payers, the discussion of the best method of fitting up the City Park asa place of amusement may be resumed with advantage: but at pres- ent the Commissioners deem it unwise and impolitie to expend upon it that amount of money and of labor which would be required to render it at all suitable for such a purpose. It may be many years before the public accommodation - will justify such an expenditure: but in the mean time the property may and should be put to some profitable use. Its advantages as a market site were set forth in a formier report of these Commissioners, and need not here be repeat- ed. Public opinion seems fully to have endorsed their recommendation to use it for the purposes of a general public market; and they hoped that some action of the 21 Common Council would ere this have resulted in the esta- blishment of that much needed public accommodation. But no such movement having been made, they think they should no longer delay to act upon that requirement of the law which placed this Park under their supervision, and renders it obligatory upon them to suggest to the Legislature such further legislation in regard to all the Brooklyn Parks as they shall deem advisable. They intend, therefore, to lay the whole subject before the Legislature at its present session, and to suggest the use of this Park for a public market, until it shall be found expedient to resume its use as a Park, believing that an economical plan of improve- ment may be adopted, which will greatly enhance the value of the surrounding property, and be at the same time pro- ductive of a handsome revenue to the City, which may be devoted to the improvement and maintenance of the other City Parks, or used in liquidation of general Park indebt- edness, as may be deemed most expedient. The unveiling of the Lincoln statue erected upon the Plaza of Prospect Park by the dollar subscriptions of our people under the management of the War Fund Committee of Kings County, formed an epoch in the history of our City, as well as of our Park, and gave occasion to an inter- esting display of taste and of patriotism. A. A. Low, Esq.,. officiated as the presiding officer, and delivered the opening address ; after which the statue was duly presented by James P. Wallace, Esq., on behalf of the Committee, and was received by the President of this Commission in terms befitting the occasion. The several addresses made by these gentlemen will be found appended to this report; but the Commissioners regret that they are unable to include the admirable address of the Rev. Dr. R. 8. Storrs, which was delivered at the same time in honor of the event. Lo Lo EASTWOOD ARCH. A financial statement of the receipts and expenditures of the Commission for the current year forms part of this re- port, and is applicable to the construction of all the smaller City Parks, as well as of Prospect Park. It includes, also, a detail of the expenditures upon each Park, with the object of such expenditure. In addition thereto will be found a statement of the fund for the general maintenance of the Parks now under the charge of the Commissioners, which was levied in the tax of the previous year and placed in their hands for that purpose. The amount received on this account, it will be seen, was not sufficient to defray the ex- penses of the year, and the deficiency must necessarily be made up temporarily from the maintenance fund of the year 1870. When the requisition for this fund was made upon the joint Board of Common Council and Supervisors, as au- thorized by the law of 1868, it was, of course, in advance 25 of the expenditure, and with an uncertainty as to the par- ticular amount which would be required for the purpose, the Board having up to that time no specific data upon which to base their estimate. But experience has shown that their former estimate of the expense of maintaining the Parks was too low, and that for the future the amount which will be required to be raised for maintenance will not be less than the whole sum authorized by law to be expended on this account. It will be observed, also, that the fund for the construc. tion of Prospect Park has now reached the limit assigned to it by the law of 1868, and as an application must be made to the Legislature for additional means with which to finish this Park, it may not be improper to glance at the history of past legislation, as connected therewith. The law of 1860, which organized the first Board of Commis- sioners and gave form and feature to the original Park en- terprise of our City, directed that no plan for the improve- ment of the land thereby placed under their charge should be adopted or undertaken, of which the entire expense when funded would require for the payment of its annual in- terest a greater sum than $30,000 per annum. This amount was slightly modified by the amended Act of the next year, which hmited the cost of improvement to $500,000, and was adapted to the simple and inexpensive style of improve- ment originally suggested for this Park. The restriction, of course, applied only to the comparatively small portions of land lying in the vicinity of Flatbush Avenue, as con- templated by the Act of 1860, and had no reference to the enlarged Park which was subsequently placed under the charge of the reorganized Board. In their first expendi- tures of money the Commissioners confined themselves to this amount so long as they were operating upon land within the original Park boundaries; but by the Act of 24 1866, which extended the Park area to very nearly its pres- ent dimensions—228 acres haying been added—a new and entirely different style of improvement was adopted, requir- ing the expenditure of more money. ‘The former restriction was accordingly removed and the Commissioners were au- thorized to expend such reasonable amounts for improve- ment as should be found necessary, and the City authorities were directed to issue bonds and furnish means upon the requisition of this Board, in the same manner as they had been directed to do under the former Act. This arrange- ment continued until 1868, when the improvement fund was limited to three millions of dollars, including the bonds which had been previously issued. This limit, as we have said, has now been reached; but a very considerable portion of the Park, including the fifty acres recently annexed, yet remains to be improved, and the Commissioners will be obliged to suspend further operations until the Legislature shall have provided means for its completion. As to the exact amount which will yet be required for this purpose, the Commissioners can make no very definite statement. A fine work of art, such as the regulation and embellishment of a Park of this description, cannot properly be executed by contract, but in the judg- ment of the Commissioners the amount required will not exceed two millions of dollars. Before closing their report it may not be uninteresting to the taxpayers of our City for the Commissioners to state the extent of the burden which Park enterprise now imposes upon our City. The amount awarded for land first pur- chased for Prospect Park, on the 15th of June, 1864, in- 25 cluding expenses, as appears from the official report filed in the County Clerk’s Office, was : oh) B87, 606) 27 For the second Le ae on the 5th Feb’y, 18665... ; HEE We re el: For the thir d purchase on fle 2 27th May, 1867, 7 And for the fourth and last purchase, on the 13th of April, 1869, aye a PbO p 24.87 32 Mota tee es SAO IDS 01 From this deduct the amount awarded to the City for a strip of land, thirty feet wide, taken from the Park for the widening of Vanderbilt Avenue, and paid into: the sinking fund to be apphed in the re- demption of Park bonds, . ’ 28,509 60 and the present cost of all the land pur- chased will be ‘ If to this we add the amount authenied to be expended for improvement, . . 8,000,000 00 the total indebtedness of the City at this time, on account of this Park, will be $6,975,648 41 But no solicitude need be felt by our citizens on the score of expense. In a merely pecuniary point of view, and _ without regard to the immense social and moral considera- tions involved in the possession and use of such a Park, the acquisition of the property is proving, as we have shown, a splendid investment for the City; and every dollar now’ ex- pended upon it will add to its permanent value. This prop- erty has cost, say seven millions of dollars; but if sold to-day it would realize more than enough to pay the whole debt of the City; and long before the bonds issued for its purchase shall have matured, it will, in all probability, be 26 worth ten times its cost, besides giving an impetus to prop- perty in its neighborhood that will afford a tax more than sufficient to pay the interest on its cost, and liquidate the entire debt at maturity, without adding anything to the general taxation. Dated January 11th, 1870. JAS. 5. T. STRANAHAN, 3 PRESIDENT. JOHN EH. PRENTICE: SECRETARY. JOHN N. TAYLOR, CoMPTROLLER. AN ABSTRACT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE IaOOKILYN PARK COMMISSION, FOR THE YEAR 1869. CLOMNGS kOe © Man OUN a AT COU IN, W. The total receipts on account of Prosprcr Parxk during the year 1869, were: Balance of cash in Bank, January Ist..... : $40,223 78 Received from Treasurer of the City....... $740,000 00 se ‘“* Rents of houses in the Park 6,142 01 © aeoalesotmold: houses...) 2,022 00 se “ “Wood, grass and old material 1,193 62 & “Interest on Bank balances... 5,519 91 cs 36 JOC SORICCISG A mete nemnnrce "2 40 c pommelzarke be OUT Gls 6,5 hsi aioe sss 568 00 ne ‘“¢ Labor furnished Contractor. . 309 36 Parade Ground for improving Hramlclim) Atvemtles.y.1.) 1c ei 4,613 32 760,370 62 $800,594 40 The total expenditures on this Park for the same time were: Paid Salaries, Comptroller, Superintendent, Landscape Architect and Engineers $ 25,666 30 Surveyors, Draughtsmen and Assist- GINS oc 000000 00000000606 506000000 28,521 50 Laborers, Mechanics, horses and carts 501,651 58 Materials of construction, tools and cé (74 SUMS ET UNE OT GS + ave vellsheRcter le) o) sole los x)st cel G2 Salo 2 “ Stationery, printing and drawing ma- HOIIAISHS oon Hc he eR OR Es eran eT eta 4,527 24 ““ Fitting up offices, rent and repairs.... 3,385 04 amelinces plants) and) shrubs...). 2.44.56 : 7,099 15 “Manure and other fertilizers.......... LOB We me iater-pipe and: hydrants:.......4.. 4. 15,532 51 eae DEAMTIACC-DIPCL a. oo 5 kaise else wa o's « 56 3,420 42 ee lecGeNiUh PAVEMONES 4... cst a 5 2 s\se iss 12,974 52 766,680 96 “Balance to credit of Prospect Park, De- Gemnloeie Bil, USBOR 6 doo adoodse oo 0.0 33,913 44 $800,594 40 28 The total receipts and expenditures on account of WasuineTon, Carroti, Crry Hatt and Ciry Parks, were: Balance of -cashs Want, Tst.\.205 an detest: «hs0 $46,973 47 Transferred from City Hall Park to main- OMA C Ces cic se ie ae eneaecete alle ie rene Tae ete teteme oraiaiens 121 66 $47,095 13 THE TOTAL EXPENDITURES WERE, ON WASHINGTON PARK: Paid Surveyor and Assistants.............. $3,987 28 Materials of construction and tools ........ 6,309 95 Manure. con's: .ae ect ae 44 27 $52,114 38 PARADE GROUND: The total receipts on account of the Parapr GrounpD, during the year 1869, were: Balance of cash in Bank, January Ist....... $ 4,425 43 From City Treasurer.......0.0..0.%..-0+.0 Jaj650500n ahi Oaamem The TOTAL EXPENDITURES for the same time, were: Paid Surveyors and Assistants.... ........ $ 405 28 “és Materials of construction.../.4 64%. 002.0) OMe * Keepers, Mechanics, Laborers and teams 4,510 69 “ Regulating and grading Franklin Ay.. 4,613 32 “ On account of lodge and shelter...... 6,500 00 e108 29 IMAC ING IE NAN © Mb As Cr€- OU NT’. Received from the City for the maintenance of all the SATIS oa wea ore sOnsale’ s Sia:0, 4 Pe Re rceqe race eilc Seb enre Scot ares . $68,400 00 Expended on the same Account ; For Prospect. | Washington.) Carroll. City. City Hall. leeRoadss... «.. GIG38 COlocciccocasc | is Guava teid all ee eepaie orl sore ex ete ays 2. Walks..... 628 38} 467 18 104 37/ 10999! 109 19 3. Structures... 393 57 3 51 13 91| 51095} 21 93 4. Plantations.| 16,660 96) 1,947 61 214 13| 48 36| 231 34 5. Water ..... 5,148 06 yee Naiman ease aa ee 6. Drainage...| 1,254 89| 34 el SOT tent) 1 48 dt ee TRG HSS eee Mert Meera vente es Ghoti) eal lae So. Gee OOIS eee 5 3. « 77 99 Ey Date O lteneccusiay seer aha syanc ea veterans lowetenctenerians 9. Keepers....| 42,962 29| 2,115 74| 1,028 17| 342 21|......... 10. General....| 2,927 90 ily J1 ke PSECU ene ae 6 70 Total ........| $79,439 62) $4,987 98| $1,408 55/$1,011 51) $370 67|/$87,218 33 Deficiency of maintenance for 1869........... pao doooon oo EHSNtS 83 Ie EXPLANATION OF THE FOREGOING STATEMENT. Roaps.—Under this head are included repairs of road beds, break- ing stone for roads—eravel, or other surface dressing—rolling same, and repairing and cleaning silt basins, used on roads. . Watxs.—Includes similar items, so far as applicable to walks. . StRUcTURES.—Includes everything necessary to keep bridges, build- ings, and all other structures in repair. . Prantations.—Includes the care, dressing and manuring of grass plants and trees, the rolling of lawns, and cutting, curing and re- moving of grass. . Water.—Includes the care and cleaning of the ornamental waters of the Park. Expense of Ridgewood water, steam engine, and re- pairs of water-works, hydrants, pipes and fountains, and the distribu- tion of water for drinking, and the sprinkling of roads, walks, and watering trees and plants. dU 6. Dratnacre.—Includes all expenses appertaining to the general sys- tem of sewers and basins, (except those used in roads and walks), and everything required for carrying off surface water. 7. Icr.—Includes the care of ice, cleaning, planing, and illuminating at night, with the erection of houses to accommodate the public during the winter. 8, Toors.—Includes the making and repairing of implements of all kinds used on the Park. 9, Kereprers.—Includes wages and uniforms, and all other expenses in- cident to this department. 10, Grenrerat.—For a class of expenditures not properly chargeable under any of the preceding heads. RECAPITULATION OF ALL THE EXPENDITURES OF THE BROOKLYN PARK COMMISSION. 1865. 1866. 1867. 1868. 1869. Total. Prospect Park.....| $17,780 90) $195,701 10 $973,903 60) $1 078,645 12) $766,680 96) $3,032,711 68 Wiashingtont Parke. |\ ce. te ccrttclleeneece sere 1,851 86 73,835 09} 51,406 81 127,093 76 WarrolleP andes. ct. s5:\| esis vite ssasinae | Seb ercscecetee 1,810 56 16,716 98 663 30 19,190 84 (Oni arlsEu ahd rena isaaposoonaca scvegdcenena laser ancnacec 15343 (08| celeron 1,343 03 (Cal niin gC) dS sdmaecon |eaceapacereal | s50encnaosee 558 44 367 98 44 27 970 69 METIN TENANCE: + Aso, sl paseo tall sere ed eee ena lene eee eee 87,218 33 87,218 33 Parades Ground. seals eee eee Ket ahe 250 68 8,772 89 18,818 00 27,841 57 JOHN N. TAYLOR, Comptroller, 7. i. Jey Ee KO) iss a8 OF COMMITTEE ON THE OFFER OF EDMUND DRIGGS AND OTHERS TO IMPROVE THE LAND EAST OF FLATBUSH AVENUE. ep One @rS Aue, To the Board of Commissioners of Prospect Purk : GENTLEMEN :— During the recent meetings and investigations you and your en- gineers estimated the expense of improving the 137 acres of Prospect Park, lying East of Flatbush Avenue, at from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000. The undersigned believe the estimate to be exaggerated, and that such exaggeration may have a tendency to prejudice the public against the restoration and improvement of this portion of the Park lands. We therefore offer to lay out and improve this land not including fences or bridges, over, or tunnels under Flatbush Avenue, under the man- agement and supervision of Genl. Egbert L. Viele, or some equally competent engineer, and in accordance with the plan presented by him, for a sum not exceeding $625,000. Roads to connect with the present roads lying west of the Avenue, and will add over bridge of Flatbush Avenue, of elegant construction, and a tunnel under the Avenue for a further sum not exceeding $150,000. These sums are the extreme limit of expense, but we will fulfill our proposition for the ac- tual cost of the work, we will furnish adequate security for the per- formance of our undertaking. This offer will be open to your acceptance until the first day of July 1869. Dated May 22d, 1869. Yours respectfully, EDMUND DRIGGS. J. W. HUNTER. CHARLES JONES. WM. W. GOODRICH. J. CARSON BREVOORT.: 52 Bie pe aed = 7: Qs Ba BO The Committee to whom was referred the communication of Messrs. ‘Edmund Driggs, Jno. W. Hunter, Charles Jones, Wm. W. Goodrich and J. Carson Brevoort, under date of May 22d, 1869, by which they offer to improve so much of Prospect Park as lies East of Flatbush Avenue, at a cost of $775,000, under the engineering of Mr. Egbert L. Viele, or some equally competent engineer, according to a plan which was suggested by Mr. Viele, in 1860, respectfully Report: :— That there seem to be many obvious reasons why the Board should not accept this proposal. In the first place it is to be executed under the supervision of gen- tlemen who have not yet been appointed Commissioners, and without regard to the fact that there is already a Board of Improvement Com- missioners, who must continue to discharge their duties until their suc- cessors in office are appointed. Next, they in effect designate Mr. Viele as engineer; but the Board is not yet prepared, we think, to substitute him in place of the skillful and experienced engineers who are now in charge of Park improvement. And furthermore, they pro- pose to improve the land acccording to Mr. Viele’s plan—a plan which is not in harmony with the present Park design, and which has not been adopted by the Board nor approved of by the people. There are other serious objections to the proposition of these gentle- men. They evidently require too much money for the work they pro- pose to do. The Board’s estimate of the cost of improving the East side of the Park, as stated at the public meeting of citizens in April last, to which their communication refers, was one million of dollars, and not from one and a half to two millions, as stated in the proposal. It also included two bridges and the necessary fencing, with all such other equipments as are required for a place of public resort; while their estimate includes no fence, and only one bridge with a tunnel. If we add the cost of an enclosure with an additional bridge, their offer will be carried up from $775,000 to over a million. But while the Committee think the charge is too high, they are pleased to find in it a confirma- tion of our own estimate, that this improvement would cost over a million of dollars. ; The proposal, moreover, is premature. It has not yet been deter- mined that the area of land now in the course of improvement on the * q 33 West side of the avenue, is not sufficiently extensive for a Park, or that it is not of convenient access to the masses for whose use it is designed. If so, then neither the necessity nor the expediency of im- proving the Eastern side in addition to the other, and of thereby per- manently abstracting from. our City’s domain a large amount of tax- able property is by any means certain. In the judgment of the Com- mittee this improvement ought not to be made; and they believe the opinion of those who have to pay for public works—the taxpayers of Brooklyn—is decidedly against its being made. This Board has repeat- edly expressed its opinion to the same effect, in its annual reports, giving the reasons therefor at length. In the address of the President at the public meeting above referred to, which was afterwards published in our local newspapers, it was stated that after retaining the Reservoir ground, with its beautiful ‘prospect, and a very considerable area for the accommodation of public buildings and institutions, besides opening up a broad system of ap- proaches to the Park, Eastward from Flatbush Avenue, the residue of the land on the same side could be sold for three millions of dollars ; and that by saving another million which it would cost to improve this section as a Park, and adding it to the three millions for which the land could be sold, a saving of four millions of dollars would be effected, besides returning a large amount of property to the books of the tax collector. The Committee think that, with the present great burden of public debt and taxation resting upon our city, the saving of this large sum of money would be a sound and wise economy ; and they believe that all thoughtful and prudent men, who are not biased by their ownership of a large real estate on the Eastern side of the Avenue, will concur in this opinion. The Committee cannot recommend the Board to fly in the face ofan enlightened public judgment, by proceeding to do, upon the suggestion of a few interested persons, what would render the saving of these four millions impossible. There is, it is said, a diversity of opinion on this question of spend- ing or of saving four millions. But those who differ, belong mainly to two classes of persons. One class own land in the vicinity of the pro- posed improvement, and think their land will be greatly enhanced in value by spending some millions of money to bring the Park to their doors. While we do not concur in the opinion, believing that even their in- terest will be better served by using this land for the erection of fine 3 d4 residences than by retaining it for Park purposes, we can readily see why they should be so strenuous to have this money spent, and not saved. The other class is the large body of tax-paying citizens, who think that a great public Park ought to be constructed at the cost, and for the benefit of the whole city, and not for the benefit of a mere locality in its neighborhood. Incidentally the land in the vicinity of this Park has been greatly increased in value, from its proximity thereto: but when those who have received this advantage insist upon charging another four mil- lions of dollars upon the tax-payers, in order that their large gains may be swelled to still larger proportions, those who have to pay object. They are willing to spend and to pay what the best interests of the city, as a whole, may require ; but they are not willing to spend more than this fora local, as distinguished from a general, public advantage. For these reasons, some of which have been already more fully set forth in the published reports of the Board, the Committee recommend that the offer of Mr. Driggs and his associates be declined. Dated June 28th, 1869. DESIGN FOR ST “i pyprd FLA) s YS PROSPROW War ite IN | ¢ t | : ae as ind I ecm eI DIY BIR ODOUR : i OLMSTED, VAUX & CO. I LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS, 110 BROADWAY,N.Y, < IByo I F t 0 a l d = SCALE OF FEET “2a — woo 00 ano uxop 35 ADDRESSES DeELIveRED AT Prospect Park, ON THE 21sT oF OcTOBER, 1869, ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEDICATION OF THE Lincotn Monv- MENT. MR. LOWE’S ADDRESS. Mr. Low said: Frettow Cririzens:—In the eventful year 1865, the “ War Fund Committee of Brooklyn” resolved to signalize the close of their volun- tary labors by erecting a monument to the memory of the lamented patriot and martyr, by handing down to posterity, in truthful outline, the form and features of the great man who had successfully guided the destinies of our country through its most perilous crisis—thus bringing art to the aid of history in immortalizing the name of Abra- ham Lincoln. It was at once determined to raise the necessary funds by a small but general subscription. An appeal, accordingly, was addressed to the people, and the people responded gladly. Circumstances favored the movement. A sentiment of gratitude, tempered by a feeling of the profoundest sorrow, wrought upon the hearts and will of all. The struggle for the nation’s life was over. The flag of the Union everywhere waved in triumph, and the return of peace was hailed with universal delight. While transports of joy, and the cheers of the loyal, were resounding throughout the North, the death of the Presi- dent was unexpectedly announced, and the shout of triumph was _changed into a wail of mourning! The people wept ! And now the lessons of the war were rehearsed anew. The provi- dence of God in the events of the war was in every mind and on every tongue. Memory recalled the time, less than five years before, when a man, in stature like unto Saul, was summoned from an obscure sphere in life, to fill the highest office in the gift of the people. The popular vote had been cast amid forebodings of evil, and the future was to witness their worst realization. The President elect would be the head of the Army and Navy, and few of all the people knew their appointed leader. The foes of the Union were exultant. - War speedily followed the inauguration; and at the close of the: war 36 a name so lately unknown had become illustrious in the annals of our country. The fame thereof had spread throughout all the nations of the world; and when tidings of Abraham Lincoln’s death went forth, words of confidence and eulogy came back from courts and kingdoms in such measure as to fill a capacious volume. The compilation forms a priceless treasure in the Department of State at the Capitol of the Nation. And thus it came to pass that as, in the earlier days of the Republic, God raised up Washington to be, as he was justly styled, “the Father of his Country,” so, in these later days, God raised up Lincoln to be our country’s deliverer. Washington gave to the States of the Union independence and a standing among the nations. Lincoln put down a formidable rebellion, turned away the curse of slavery, and left the States united and free. Lincoln was the Providential man of our own time, and to perpetu- ate his memory is our grateful duty; to raise a statue to the honor of his name is a just tribute of affection to the worth and wisdom of the lamented patriot, who died, as he had lived, for his country! We thus manifest our gratitude to God for His gift of a life so precious. The delay which has occurred is not to be misunderstood as mani- festing a want of zeal on the part of the Committee who have had the work in charge. It was early committed to one of your gifted towns- men, was long since perfected, and has been waiting the convenience of the Park Commissioners, under whose direction the pedestal has been prepared on which the statue is henceforth to stand. It seemed to be most fitting and proper that on this spot, destined ere long to be the centre of a vast city, this monument should be erected; that all our citizens who gather from time to time in this Plaza, and look upon the form and features of this central figure, may be led to ponder the example of the great original; to recall, with gratitude, the good he did, and the impress he made on his age and generation; that here beneath this statue, before entering upon paths of pleasure now open- ing to our view, the vow may be renewed by all faithfully to maintain and loyally to uphold the Union and the Government established by our Fathers. Let us hope that, as the waters which supply the fountain by our side, whose source is far distant, are made to flow out and penetrate — 37 every house and home in our city, so there will go forth from this spot, hallowed by precious thoughts and memories, an influence that shall animate and strengthen all hearts; that this influence may descend from generation to generation, advancing whatever is worthy of emulation in the past or present. And so our work of to-day shall be blest. From the lips of another you will presently be called to contemplate the influence exerted upon our own age by the life and death of him whose virtues we seek to commemorate—whose loss we cease not to deplore. The same voice, always welcome to our ears, was heard not long since in glowing eulogy at the funeral obsequies of the departed. We have come here to-day by invitation of the War Fund Commit- tee, to take part in the consummation of this long cherished purpose, to celebrate with appropriate ceremonies the unveiling of the statue of our late lamented President, Abraham Lincoln. The President of the United States, the Governor of the State of New York, the Mayor and Common Council of our city, Judges of the respective courts, officers of the army and navy, soldiers and sailors who shared in the perils and in the glories of the war, and all who con- tributed to the erection of this monument, have been asked to be pre- sent, to witness the transfer of this gift of the people to the city of their pride, and, on the part of the Park Commissioners, to whose charge it is to be committed, the acceptance of this sacred trust. Permit me, in concluding these introductory remarks, to associate with the rich memories of this hour, and of this occasion, the ever memorable words uttered by Mr. Lincoln at the close of his second in- augural—the last, I believe, publicly addressed by him to the Ameri- ean people. They will endure longer than bronze, however im- perishable it seems. What better inscription can be put upon this monument ? “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” 38 MR. WALLACE’S PRESENTATION ADDRESS. Mr. CuarrmMan, Lapirs AnD GENTLEMEN :—I have the honor on this occasion to represent a two-fold constituency. First. About thirteen thousand citizens of Brooklyn, without dis- tinction of creed or political faith, men, women and children, who for the love they bore a great and good man made up a contribution to honor his memory. From the laborer on the highway, from the work- shop, from the counting-room and store, from the stately mansion of the wealthy, and from the scanty apartment of the industrious poor, wherever reverence or love for Abraham Lincoln thrilled the heart, or wherever was destation or horror at the dreadful deed which so sud- denly terminated his useful life, thence came the little drops into the treasury, a name with every dollar, and a dollar for every name, Noble men! noble women! Names fragrant to the memory, worthy to be preserved—and they have been preserved in the archives of the Historical Society, that all who come after may know to whom belong the honor of building up this monument to Abraham Lincoln. My second constituency is a body of prominent patriotic citizens, who banded together during the war, and contributed freely of their time, of their influence, and of their means in support of the Govern- ment, whose praise is in every mouth, and who are known as the War Fund Committee of the City of Brooklyn. Under the auspices of the Committee, books were opened for sub- scription immediately after the assassination. Not more than one dol- lar was received from any person, that we might have pre-eminently a People’s Monument; and the Committee bear testimony to the alac- rity with which our citizens responded to the call. The Committee also bear testimony to the faithful management of their treasurer, who not only kept safe his whole trust, but so invested it as to make the $13,000 contributed earn $1,000 more, which sums together make the amount expended for this statue. The Committee also bear testimony to the liberality of our local press, which, without reward, except the consciousness of doing a good deed, used its mighty influence to fan the flame of patriotism, and en- courage contributions to this noble object. 39 And especially the Committee bear testimony to the skill and abili- ty of the sculptor, H. K. Brown, whose works of art adorn Greenwood and Union Square and the national Capitol at Washington, and many other places of lesser note, and who with long and patient labor has produced this bronze statue, which portrays the likeness and character- istics of our late and lamented President to such a degree as to excite the admiration and high satisfaction of our best critics. And now it becomes my duty—as it is my pleasure—in the name of the War Fund Committee, formally to request the Brooklyn Park Commissioners, of whom (to Mr. Stranahan), you, sir, are the honored President, to accept in perpetuity the custody of this statue of Abra- ham Lincoln, to love and to cherish and protect during all the days of your authority. May it ever stand here, looking out over our fair city, where it will hold in review the millions who will visit this beautiful Park, and where our citizens, and the people of every name, as they come up those broad avenues, and look toward the rising sun, will ever be reminded of the pure, the noble, the patriotic Abraham Lincoln. May his life and character be a model to ourselves and to our chil- dren, and to all who would aspire to influence and position in our land. May the union of all the States, and universal liberty—which he loved, and which was his highest earthly aim to preserve—ever be dear to the hearts of his countrymen, and may all the people of the East and the West, of the North and the South, feel themselves to be one peo- ple, with one common interest, only emulating each other by their love for the old flag, and for the whole country, and for the whole country’s good. MR. STRANAHAN’S ACCEPTANCE ON BEHALF OF THE PARK COMMISSION, GENTLEMEN OF THE War Funp Commitrer :—The Park Commis- sioners have selected in this, the main entrance to Prospect Park, three positions, as, in their judgment, affording appropriate localities for the erection of as many statues, as memorials of three of the eminent men whose lives are intimately identified with three great struggles in our country’s history. In one of these positions they hope to see a statue of George Washington, who on this ground fought his first battle in the war of the Revolution, and whose services as Commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary army, and subsequently as President of these 40 United States, have not only entitled him to the nation’s gratitude, but also secured for his name the enduring respect and veneration of man- kind, In the second position they hope to see the statue of Andrew Jackson, distinguished among the illustrious heroes that appeared in the War of 1812, not less distinguished as the Chief Magistrate of this Nation, and in both relations evincing a devotion to the unity, integ- rity and prosperity of his country, alike unquestioned and unquestion- able. It remains for the generous promptings of public feeling to give reality to these ideas and hopes of the Park Commissioners. In respect to the third position, the events of this day and the ceremo- nies of this occasion, tell their own story. Soon after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the popular heart glowed with an irrepressible desire to do honor to the memory of the lamented dead. Called to the Presidency amid circumstances of the greatest difficulty ; confronted in the very outset of his career with the embarrassments, complications, and perils of an incipient civil war; contending, during the whole of his term of service, with one of the most formidable rebellions known in the history of nations; in these exigencies of peculiar trial conducting the Government with a discretion, perseverance, firmness, and patriotic devotion that proved him to be the man of the hour; re-elected for a second term by a grateful and appreciating people; living till the vic- tories of the army and navy had brought the country to the verge of peace, and then falling too soon for the nation’s good, Abraham Lin- coln has wrought for himself a name, and gained a place in the affec- tions of the American people more lasting than any memorial which it is in the power of art to devise. As one significant evidence of this fact, I point to that noble statue which has just been unveiled to the public, which you have now pre- sented to the Park Commissioners as Brooklyn’s tribute of gratitude to the honored dead, and which in their name [I now have the pleasure to accept, pledging to you, and also to the citizens of Brooklyn, that they will endeavor to be faithful custodians of the sacred trust. Here let this monument stand, with the other two to which reference has been made, and which it is hoped will soon be erected, suggesting to the thousands who may hereafter seek the recreations of this Park, that nobleness of character, trueness of heart, and eminent service for the public good, are alike the best qualities of the citizen, and the surest guarantees for the permanent respect of the nation. 41 THE PARK BOUNDARIES. SPEEcH oF THE HonorasLe J. 8S. T. Srrananan, PRESIDENT OF THE BrookLyn Park CoMMISSIONERS, AT A PUBLIC MEETING, CALLED FOR THE DISCUSSION OF THE QUESTION OF THE BOUNDARIES OF THE Park, ar THE Court Hous, on THE 30TH Marcn, 1869. I do not know what may be the pleasure of the meeting, but I have conversed with a few gentlemen since I came into the room, and it seems that I am expected to make a statement on behalf of the Board, and perhaps in some degree on behalf of myself. I should make that statement at the very commencement—at the opening of the meeting. If there be no objection I will proceed to do so. We have met to consider a proposition for an act of the Legislature to change the boundaries of our Park. That we may take it up intelli- gently, I propose first to briefly state some of the more important facts in the history of the proceedings which have brought the proposition in question before us. In the year 1859 a demand was felt for legislation to secure public grounds in this city about equally for two objects; first for parks, secondly for the purpose of parades. Influenced by this demand the Legislature appointed a Commission, composed of highly respectable citizens, partly chosen to represent the park, and partly the military demand, who were charged with the duty of selecting suitable sites for each purpose. This Commission reported the following year, recommending ground to be taken for parks at five different localities. Of the proposed parks two only need to be particularly referred to now. The more important one was proposed to be located in close connection with the two great cemeteries and the reservoir at Ridgewood. The ground recommended to be taken for it amounted to thirteen hundred acres, Another, about one-fifth as large, (two hundred and sixty-seven acres), was proposed to be located so as to include the reservoir at Prospect Hill. It will, perhaps, at this time not be at once apparent why those inte- rested in the question should have been led at first to propose that the more important park for our city should be established at Ridgewood rather than at Prospect Hill. An explanation may be found in the fact 49 that the military of the city had been accustomed to go to ground in that vicinity for drills and parades, and the attention of the military gentlemen in the Commission had thus been for some time directed toward it, and partly in the fact that it then appeared, comparatively, to better advantage as respects accessibility, than at present. Neither the railroad to Flatbush, nor any of the other railroads by which our Park is now to be reached, had then been constructed, while there were three railroads already to Ridgewood, and the same Commission recommended that Atlantic Avenue, which led toward it from the cen- tral parts of the city, should be at once widened and improved. A desire to interpose an obstacle to the extension of the cemeteries toward the Reservoir, also doubtless had some influence upon the judg- ment of the Commission. When, however, the proposition came to be discussed at Albany, it was found that some of the representatives of the Western District were strongly indisposed to commit the city to so large an undertak- ing; they urged that a park, however large and however fine it might be, situated at a point so far in the extreme east, could not fairly be regarded as the central Park of the city: that a considerable part of it was in fact out of the city, and not only out of the city but out of the county, and that the regulation of streets and other matters on one side of it could not be within the control of the county authorities. The close association of the cemeteries with a pleasure ground was felt to be objectionable, and finally it was said: ‘“ You propose to give the Eastern District a park five times as large as that you propose to give us, but you expect us to pay three-fourths of the cost of both undertakings.” The last objection was unanswerable, and after much discussion it was agreed upon, as a compromise arrangement, that the great Ridge- wood Park should be made a local enterprise exclusively of the Eastern District, and that the proposed park at Prospect Hill should be consid- ered as an affair exclusively of the Western District. From this followed the arrangement under which the Eastern Dis- trict is now exempt from taxation for the present Prospect Park. The members of the Legislature from the Eastern District, after con- sulting their constituents, concluded to defer the passage of the bill which had been drawn up with a view to form the great park at 43 Ridgewood, with the view of taking it up again the following years, but the war came, and it proved to be an indefinite postponement of that part of the original scheme. I have thus shown how the project of a park at Prospect Hill was gradually developed as an independent local undertaking. An act providing for the appointment of a Board of Estimate and Assessment, and also for appointing a Commission to lay out and man- age the proposed park at Prospect Hill was passed in 1860. The Com- mission were unable to immediately take any active steps looking to the construction of the park, but deeming it important for the interests of the city that when they should make the first of the reports which they were required to present to the Common Council at the end of each year, they should be able to present the scheme in a form which would make it appear to the public as mature as possible, they’ decided that a survey and report suitable for publication should be at once undertaken. They appropriated fifteen hundred dollars for all the ex- penses of this survey and the report of the engineer, and obtained what was wanted for the immediate purpose in view, but it is hardly neces- sary to say that what was done at this time was of a purely preliminary character, and not at all what would have been required with reference to purposes of construction; certainly not with reference to the con- struction of the park which we now, five years afterward, have in hand, the boundaries of which are so different that nearly one half of it is quite outside of the ground covered by the engineer’s report which we then obtained. The fact should here be mentioned, that the boundaries of the park established at Prospect Hill, by the Acts of the Legislature of 1860 and 1861 differed considerably from those recommended by the Commission appointed in 1859 to select the ground, The boundaries of the park recommended by the Commission did not extend so far toward Flat- bush, and extended considerably farther to the westward, so as to take in half the blocks between Eighth avenue and Ninth, from Douglass to Third street. It was in part owing to my advice that the change was made, and I can perhaps answer as well as any one for the motives of it. The reason that I advocated the change, was that it appeared to me evident that the city might obtain, at the same cost, a much larger area of land suitable for a park. We did obtain by the exchange, and without any additional cost to the city, more than twice as much land on the Flatbush side as the Commission had proposed should be taken 44 in on the South Brooklyn side, and that which we gained included the ground occupied by the series of roads and walks running through what we call the East Woods, and which during the last year was so much enjoyed by the public. After the passage of the Act 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 ayenue proposed to be laid out between Classon 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 somuch needed, but the objection which was effectively urged against it was the serious incon- venience which would result from the closing of Washington avenue. T 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 wasin them that their influence depended upon. We had watched the Central Park rapidly advancing toward completion, 45 and had gained experience of its great popularity, and of the influence it was destined to exert. Indeed, we in Brooklyn were already feeling the consquence of its construction ina manner not at all satisfactory to us. Not only had we been brought to understand the whole subject of our duties better, but during those years—those long, those everlasting years—trom 1861 to 1864, there had been great changes. Our city had been changing, and in all its change we saw a tendency becoming man- ifest which gave some of us much anxiety. IT speak of a tendency which we then saw toward results which we could not help anticipating with disquietude. Let us look at the facts, however, as they are patent to us to-day, and you will better under- stand what it was that we then saw or thought we saw. During the last two years nearly one-half more houses have been built in Brooklyn than in New York. New York in 1867 built two thousand eight hun- dred and eighty houses. Brooklyn three thousand six hundred and fifty-nine. New York in 1868 built two thousand one hundred and twelve houses; Brooklyn three thousand three hundred and seven. It is certain that our population is increasing more rapidly than that of New York, and unless New York shall absorb the eastern towns of Westchester County, our city must be expected to gain yearly until it shall become the larger of the two. The question with which we are most concerned is, then, not so much the amount of population which we are to have in the future, as its character and its capacity. By cha- racter I mean especially its ability to meet its monied obligations, and thus bring down the per centage of its taxation. It is never desirable that classes should be separated in the way ‘they were tending to separate here five years ago; it is never desir- able that the rich should so draw themselves apart in distinct com- munities or quarters as to throw upon the poor an overwhelming share of the burdens of carrying on the necessary expenses of their local government. You are aware of the terrible suffering which has oc- curred this year in the Eastern suburbs of London from this cause, and also in some of the suburbs of Paris, where a complaint was lately made, that in a district containing 25,000 inhabitants there was not a single resident rich enough to be called on for charitable aid to those in complete destitution. By the construction of the Central Park, New York placed us for a time at special disadvantage in the competition for securing taxable capital. She had done so before when she had brought in the Croton, 46 and to restore our advantage we had then been compelled, after wait- ing as long as we could, to undertake our Water Works. If we had not constructed them when we did what would Brooklyn be now? Simply a poor suburb of New York. In the same way we were stimu- lated, after New York had made it necessary, to build the Academy of Music. In one thing only have we yet shown ourselves able to ex- ercise the forecast needful to the proper development of the advantages of our city without waiting for a ruinous disadvantage in competition to be established. In one thing we are about to strike out first and foremost, and long before the much talked of railroad from the Battery to the upper part of New York and to Westchester is made, I trust we shall have had the advantage of our bridge. But to go back to the Park Commission in 1864. At no time in the history of the two cities has the tendency appeared to be so strongly established toward a state of things in which the capitalists of the country living at its Metropolis should have their residences in the City of New York, while their clerks and workmen only had houses in Brooklyn, with the inevitable consequence that the profit of the labor represented by our population should be mainly enjoyed outside our limits, and that our taxable property should be of hopelessly inferior character. The question which was pressed upon us was, therefore, simply this: whether any plan of improvement could be devised and undertaken which would be adequate to attract and hold among us a large share of that class of citizens which it was necessary should be attracted, if we were to avoid throwing upon our people of moderate means, and upon the poor, an excessive and crushing burden of taxation. If not it was certainly very questionable whether we could afford to enter upon any plan the carrying out of which would involve the City in a con- siderable expenditure. In short if we could not settle this point satis- factorily, it was doubtful, to say the least, whether the City could afford a park at all. Considerations of this character weighed upon us much more in 1864 than in 1860 when the Park at Ridgewood of 1,300 acres was still on our hands. They forced us to proceed deliberately and cautiously. First of all, we took the precaution of giving a fresh and more com- plete examination to the question of boundaries, approaches and en- trances; a question properly antecedent to the question of a plan of A7 interior improvement, and for this purpose we called Mr. Vaux, one of the designers of Central Park, to our assistance. We knew that the want of consideration of this question at the outset had already been a ‘source of difficulty and of great expense to the Commissioners of the Cen- tral Park, and that they were even then debating propositions for ac- quiring land to improve their entrances, which had enormously increased in value since their work commenced. Our review of the question led us to fix upon one point as especially suitable for a principal entrance to the Park, and induced us to apply to the Legislature at once for the provision of so much additional land as was necessary to form what is now known as the Plaza. Had the Central Park Commission exercised the same forecast, in regard to the comparatively contracted vestibules which they are now about to lay out at their principal en- trances, it would have saved at least a million dollars of their expen- diture. Turning then to the general question of boundaries, we had con- vineed ourselves that the ground we had, was not all that was wanted in respect to extent or opportunity for improvement, with reference to the problem before us. But, although we obtained a report which very clearly demonstrated in what direction we should look for an en- largement of our borders, we determined before recommending the ac- quisition of any new territory, that we would have a complete and well-matured proposition to lay before the community. We therefore next employed Messrs, Olmsted & Vaux, to design a general plan, taking another year for its preparation, and for our de- liberation upon it. When at length we were satisfied that we had matured a plan, adequate to the purpose we had in view, we printed our design, with a report very fully setting forth its character, and circulated it diligently among our fellow citizens, inviting, through the newspapers and otherwise, their judgment upon it. Being satisfied with the general expression of public opinion thus obtained, we then went to the Legislature and asked for the additional territory required to carry out the plan. We at the same time asked for power to sell the land not covered by our plan on the East side of Flatbush Avenue, so that we might have money to pay for the ad- ditional land which we needed to carry out our design. The power to buy the largest part of what we wanted was given us, but although our request for permission to sell was backed by three thousand peti- tioners, and the bill for the purpose passed the Senate, it failed to receive the assent of the Assembly, and its discussion was postponed. 48 Still the larger part of the necessary land was provided for, and we were now prepared to commence active operations with an increasing confidence that our scheme was a sound one, and that as it became . better understood, it wouid prove more and more acceptable, and eventually would be fully carried out. We at once, then, set about the improvement of a part of our ground, with a clear foreknowledge that the result would be taken by the public as a sample of what Brooklyn was going to have in the way of a park. We began upon that part of our ground most difficult and most ex- pensive to improve—that part where, in order to accommodate our grades to those already established in the streets, it was necessary to make the greatest changes. The Flatbush avenue grade had just been sunk 12 feet below its previous level. The ground we had to operate upon was in part a quagmire, and elsewhere consisted largely of a tough indurated clay, packed with stone, and requiring to be moved by the crow and pick. The whole district of our earlier operations was indeed a desert of the most disagreeable character, rugged, tree- less, mutilated, and lying bare to the avenues, presenting a general re- semblance to the unimproved ground south of the Reservoir. We took hold of it first, because it was the most difficult, and because we knew that in removing difficulties we should be removing doubts. Now, this ground appears to the visitor who drives over it for the first time, as if it were exactly in the shape that is most desirable; it connects perfectly with the avenue, the boundaries are hidden directly the park is entered, good sized trees are growing over hill and dale, the meadow spaces are broad and ample, and it really seems as if nature had kindly adapted this particular spot for its special purpose. . It has undoubtedly been transformed from what it was to what it is at great cost, as an approach to ground of a totally different and much more attractive and easily treated character. It does not, however, follow that we can recommend the city to undertake a similar labor on the other side of the avenue, merely to improve disconnected patches of land that have no relation to the main scheme, which was based on the idea of balancing the difficulties of ground on the part of the park nearest the city, by the introduction of a large stretch of cheaper and more easily improved flat land at the other extremity. We may here observe in regard to the changes of boundary which have been made since the action of the Commission appointed to select a site in 1859, that so much of the park as has been taken from the Town of Flatbush, being an area of 228 acres or nearly one-half of all, 49 cost Five Hundred and Forty-three Thousand. The upper portion, ‘taken from within the boundaries of Brooklyn, containing 350 acres, cost two million seven hundred and ten thousand dollars. That is to say for each dollar spent the city has obtained between three and four times as much land where it has taken it on the Flatbush side, as it has, where it has taken it on the Brooklyn side; and the cheap land, on an average, is much better for park purposes, and involves very much less expense for improvement than that which has cost so much more. The great body of visitors will always enter at the Plaza. - Once within the park it matters little where they travel. It was, and is, therefore, true economy to elongate and narrow the park toward the city, and to spread it out on the cheap land on the Flatbush side as we have done. But to return to the main question—keep your mind fixed upon the end we had in view. With certain obvious natural advantages over New York, but as yet with confessedly less wealth and population, we wanted to guard against the danger, that Brooklyn would take the character of a second-rate suburb of New York; we wanted to aid in establishing for Brooklyn in the minds first of all of our own citizens, and afterwards throughout the country, the character of a first-rate quarter of the great metropolis. And who will say that we have not thus far done our part towards this end ? Although our park is incomplete, only about 200 acres being as yet fairly improved, it is unquestionably the fact that it is talked of to-day all over the United States, by those whose opinion is of most value, as equal, and in many respects superior to Central Park—and what has been the consequence? It has been said by those who should know, that the day we opened the park saw a rise in value of the real estate — of our city of ten millions of dollars. We submit then that so far we have served our city well. But we think that we can domore. Weare convinced that the city, by a lucky chance, has the opportunity of gaining a still better reputation. We not only think that the impression can be established that Brooklyn offers places of residence as good in respect to park privileges as any in New York, but we also believe that an understanding can be estab- lished that the very finest sites for city residences, in connection with a noble park, need not be looked for in New York, they must be sought _ in Brooklyn. 4 50 It happens thus: New York was laid out years ago, when the price which great numbers of people are now willing to pay for luxurious res- idences, was not dreamed of, when five or six hundred dollars per year was considered, even by a wealthy merchant, to bea great rent to pay. Now, on the other hand, there are numbers of people to whom five or six hundred dollars a year, more or less, is felt to be of little consequence in the rent of a house, provided it be so much finer and more luxurious. In laying out the city this condition of things was not thought of: consequently, the people of New York, through the Central Park Com- mission, are now seeking to improve their plan in that part of the Island as yet far out of town, where streets have not been made, and where there is little building. About their park they cannot do this, though efforts are making in a small way. There is the East Side As- sociation and the West Side Association, and numberless little rings of interested speculators who vainly try by forethought to control the character of some section or block in which they own lots, but no one of these appears to control property enough to do what is necessary to establish beyond contingency the success of a single comprehensive scheme. The recent rapid advance in value, of the property held com- pactly and managed shrewdly by the corporation of Columbia College, is an example of the advantage which may result from the power to control the character of improvements throughout a complete district, even when the street plan is out of the reach of improvement. In this case it has been made certain, that a considerable property will be oc- cupied for a long series of years, exclusively, by a certain agreed on class of residences, but it is almost an isolated instance. It is too late to do anything of this kind in connection with the Central Park. It is not too late forus. We still hold the opportunity of establish- ing a district which shall have throughout a character in the highest degree attractive. The possession by the City of Brooklyn at this juncture, of the 128 acres of fairly paid for land, on the east side of the park, thus puts in its hands the one additional lever that is needed to establish the balance of advantage between the two cities. What we want to do with this land then, is this. We want to tho- roughly revise the whole street plan from beginning to end, and to lay it out anew in such a way as will not only be much more convenient and useful to the whole public, than it would under any other plan that has been proposed, but in such a way as will make it easy for us to show, every one who comes to the park, that we have in Brooklyn, sites in close connection with our park, better adapted for first class residen- 51 ces than can be found any where else. Then we propose to sell these lots, with certain provisoes in regard to the character of the improve- ments which shall be made upon them. We believe that if we are allowed to develop this idea unhampered, it will tend to the advance- ment of the reputation of Brooklyn as a place of residence, well nigh as much as the park itself, and will give it exactly the advantage that it needs in its struggle for its natural rights in this respect in competi- tion with New York. We propose to reserve besides the avenues and about twenty-eight acres of ground for public use, the lands which include the Reservoir and the higher grounds adjacent. But after making these reservations for a public garden on the hill, and sites for public buildings and places, and after laying out the ample avenues which we propose to make, with their bordering plantations, there will still remain a body of over one hundred acres of land to be disposed of, with such restrictions as will insure the erection Hees it, of paocly first-class dwelling houses. If we assume that these lots will command the price of twenty-five hundred dollars a piece, which is below the estimate generally put upon them, the sum which would be realized by the city from their sale, would be three millions of dollars. But we shall also save the expense of forming and maintaining the ground as a park; this we judge from our experience in dealing with the ground of a similar character on the other side of the avenue, would be about a million of dollars. Of course we include in this estimate the fencing and all the usual and necessary furniture and equipment of a convenient and agreeable place of crowded public resort. Add this million to the sum which we expect to receive from the sale of the ground we do not want, and it makes a difference to the city in favor of our plan of four millions of dollars. We reckon that this sum will pay the city subscription of three millions to the Bridge and the im- provements at the Wallabout, which may cost one million. This, how- ever, is not all. If we double the price of the land, for the value of buildings which would probably be erected on it, we should add, independently of the immense stimulus thereby given to the sur- rounding property, at least eight millions of dollars to the taxable property of our city, and enlarge its revenues by nearly half a Tl on of dollars annually. We have very carefully considered the matter, and we express in these estimates our deliberate and well established convictions, 52 The ability of the city to make a good title to this land is sometimes questioned by persons who are not familiar with the history of Park legislation. In 1864 when land was first taken for the park, and it became neces- sary to raise one million three hundred thousand dollars to pay the awards, city bonds were issued and put upon the market for sale. The main security for these bonds consisted in a statutory lien upon the park land. Our capitalists however objected to this security, that the city had not the fee but merely an easement in the land, similar to that by which a street is held, and that if the holder of the security should be obliged to realize he could have no permanent possession of the land, since it must necessarily revert to the owner of the fee as soon as it ceased to be used for park purposes, and that, in this respect the secu- rity was inferior to that of our water-bonds, wherein all the works, in- cluding reservoirs, pipes and hydrants, were pledged for payment. In order, therefore, to furnish a new credit for park bonds, which should make them equal to water bonds, an Act of the Legislature was passed in the Spring of 1865 authorizing proceedings to be taken for the pur- pose of transferring the ultimate fee to the city. Such proceedings were accordingly had, the residuary interests of the owners valued by Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court, and payment made to the parties. The result showed that capitalists fully appreciated the additional security thus established for park bonds, since they immedi- ately rose in the market, and feel to this day the effect of this salutary provision. The fee of the land having been acquired, the Commission- ers feel assured (and they are sustained by the best legal authority), that if the Legislature concurs in a sale there can be no difficulty about the title. I have tried to give you a plain statement of the facts which have a material bearing on the point at issue. The questions involved are of vital interest to the tax-payers of this city. Holding the responsible position we do, as Commissioners of the Park, and having to carry for- ward this important public work in the face of serious disadvantages, we feel it absolutely necessary that we should haye in the future, as we have had in the past, the intelligent, willing support of our fellow citizens. The scheme, as you will see, has a definite beginning, and middle, and end to it. The first stage has been passed through, and the result shows that our calculations were sound, for no one can deny that the 53 enhanced value of Brooklyn property to-day fully justifies the liberally conceived plan of operations we recommended when our whole inten- tion was laid bare before you three years ago. We are now in the middle of the work, all the important points, save one, have been carried. We have all the ground we want and where we want it; our most burdensome operations in the field have been successfully carried through, and we are henceforward in a position toe go ahead under more favorable circumstances. What the end is to be we cannot tell, for the point left unsettled seems to us to be of vital im- portance to the financial success of the whole undertaking. It is the one now before you for consideration. What we ask, with a profound conviction of its necessity, is what we have asked for from the first, that the Legislature shall give us the power to make a fresh disposition of the land on the east side of the avenue, so that it may be laid out under our direction in a way that we firmly believe will not only help the park, by giving it proper appreaches in every direction, but will enable our whole scheme to become a really comprehensive project for the advancement of the prosperity of Brook- lyn, and at the same time establish it on a thoroughly satisfactory basis as an investment of city funds. We are, however, now as heretofore open to any new conviction that will enable us the better to perform our trust, and only ask that the question shall be discussed in a candid spirit, and on broad public grounds, os iuiy Ala & i hee | i ‘fy se ae cay git ht CT eC y IT” A au : bv Wy thy er ae Pelt UA But a aN oe a, bis Aaa meg a erat ni wy i Ce it sat bt 7 f 1s Pye Fe POR Che ay) eee a a4 Baa) ny af Dives. tq) Ue aay er, iat) ; ve ee - ¥i f seaid itt) Wie P ust Birt pen é ‘Are fr g futtaguit tert aes Ovyre od NP Aaa fly aa ei septa aria neh ice hk fide nip dercxaity, 4 ire ey. BOA tii rie wl) oropivitls Ks te tty tay! eg ana Me Hieipi vr de pete bee hl) sith ie dig, aly a Pl ee Prosar Ne VOPR ae te UY aT ties ea voi x PBT n weer eitte ios Sly eS are pe ele ed ii ? en VF eal? G y me : Ablsravteas lwibone wits Arahat a wal vee wv skid dt Valid bey Tou olf ene fst) ei ead Yo Sith endl THe oi ie * b ed { ; “ny (lt ox ‘ hs i ; } M 4 Wipe: Tawny tnd 0 liege a \, usin beds inion kOonwlanl\ le sit i. Vie Pay P yy at yt AS H ihiie ii Pliny Lil @reudrs bya fi Ub wige fia wt } cri 4 RPM tA (i Recerca pene he Goal Lae | sO Misi Sh bebie tin eG hy ae vy : : @ iy 7 As tit ie : ths 4 Ti Nad utr y ft aur ee EO (06 oi yo aglaaaetts aA, i Ct St ieee roe ) | Big ia Gir, Nias nig ye wbihints eel Eh , ia? . > FRINCIFAL Yisw uF DAIRY OLMSTED, VAUX.&CO., LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS PANTRY PRIVATE ROOM 12°07 19°07 PUBLIG ROOM 20°0%46-0° WOMENS ROOM = ) 8:0" X 70°07 Sas i PuaN UF PRINCIPAL FuuoR Rae) PORT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS AND SUPERINTENDENTS. To the Brooklyn Park Commissioners : GENTLEMEN :— We lay before you our usual Report for the year upon matters of Design, Construction and Superintendence. In the work laid out during the year, no essential deviation from the original design has been made, though certain details of importance have been introduced which will be referred to below. The conditions which had previously prevented work upon the West side of the ground having been removed, the Northern part of the Park has been finished with the exception of a little planting, and this portion of the design will next spring, for the first time, be comprehensively exhibited upon the ground. The main drive on the West side is complete from the entrance to the Lookout Hill, where it meets the Nethermead extension of the East drive, and the public has in use five miles of thoroughly constructed carriage way. A corresponding extent of the surface has been worked over and a large part of it now realizes the design, so far as it can be made to do so by the completion of the mere constructive work. There are in use, also, five miles of gravelled or concrete walk, and two hundred acres of woodland shrubbery and open meadow surface. The construction of the Park as designed is complete from end to end, East of a line drawn through the middle of it, except at two points, where there are deposits of clay and soil to be used elsewhere. Work is more or less advanced on nine-tenths of the remaining ground, and the larger part of it will be in suitable condition for public use next summer, The most eventful occurrence of the year has been the completion of the great well and the Water works at its mouth. A very important part of our design depended for complete success upon the practicability _ of obtaining a certain amount of water by this expedient, and we should 56 hardly have ventured to include so large an extent of lake surface in our design without the encouragement of your President, who had given special personal study to this source of supply, and who had from the outset perfect confidence in its availability. It is therefore a matter of congratulation that the plans prepared by Mr. Martin, as Engineer-in- Charge, and approved after thorough consideration by your Board, have this year been successfully carried out, the present indications be- ing that a considerably larger supply of water will be obtained than it was thought necessary to provide. The general result is that a pro- vision of excellent cold spring water, sufficient not only to keep the extensive ornamental waters in a condition favorable to health, but to furnish a large number of drinking fountains, has been secured in a manner which makes the Park to a great degree independent of all other sources of supply. A public walk is required to pass the point where, for engineering reasons, the Well occurs, and as many visitors will be desirous of examining it, we have preferred to treat its mouth in such a way that, while perfectly protected, no one can pass without obtaining a somewhat forcible impression of the extent and character of the work. For this purpose the walk, as it approaches the Well from either side, is enlarged so as to include a circular deck, in the middle of which is a railed opening twenty feet in diameter overhanging the outer part of the cavity. The Boiler House attached to the Well is in a conspicuous position on the lake shore, and we have designed its exterior with special refer- ence to this prominence of situation. In its interior plan a stairway for communication with the pump platform at the bottom of the Well has been provided, so that under proper regulations visitors may have the opportunity of examining the works with ease and safety. Mr. Martin we are informed, is about to give up the appointment of Engineer-in-charge which he has for some time held under your Com- mission, having been invited to fill a position in the City of Brooklyn of larger professional responsibility, and we desire to put on record our sense of the value of his services to the Park, not only in the solution of such special problems of construction as the one referred to above, but also in the daily supervision of the various operations that have been necessary to the practical development of the Park design during the last two years. ‘There has been a more extensive transplanting of trees of a size making the use of special transporting apparatus desirable, upon your 57 ground, than to our knowledge has been attempted elsewhere on the con- tinent. Two trucks of original design prepared by Mr. Culyer have been used, both operating in amore rapid and economical way than those so extensively employed in Paris. With one of these, trees weighing with the balls of earth attached fourteen tons, and measuring between four and five feet in circumference have been moved. The whole number of trees weighing upwards of one ton and measuring more than one foot in circumference, which have been thus far moved, is six hundred. It is too soon to express entire confidence of permanent success, but from the experience of a single summer of rather trying character, the result promises to be satisfactory and highly creditable to Mr. Bullard, the Park Inspector, who continues the immediate management of the planting. The Meadow port and Nethermead arches have been completed, and the Lullwood Bridge, constructed of oak on stone abutments, has been carried across an arm of the lake. These works have been under the immediate charge of Mr. E. C. Miller, Assistant Architect. A building has been constructed on the Parade Ground which has been designed to provide rooms for the use of the military, with apart- ments for a janitor, and to furnish in addition a partially enclosed shel- ter for the accommodation of the general public. This structure has been placed at the top of a gentle slope which has been artificially con- structed at the western extremity of the Parade Ground for the purpo- ses set forth in the explanation of the design which was included in our special report on the subject submitted for the consideration of the Board prior to the commencement of operations. The Dairy is now complete so far as the main structure is concerned, and is ready for occupation. The need which this buildingis designed to serve can be met under very advantageous circumstances in the Brook- lyn Park, and is of a different character altogether to that which will be responded to in the Refectory, which is the next building of impor- tance that should be proceeded with. The latter building is intended to occupy a conspicuously prominent position in the immediate vicinity of the Breeze Hill Carriage- Concourse, the Lookout Hill, the Lake Shore, and the Nethermead, which is a stretch of greensward in the heart of the Park. The Refectory is proposed to be a house of entertainment on a liberal scale, agreeably situated so far as outlook is concerned, but with no more suggestion of privacy or retirement than would be found ina suburban hotel. The Dairy, on the other hand, is intended to meet the same physical need for refreshment, but it is designed to be used 58 by visitors only when in search of a more thoroughly rural experience than can be looked for at any point which furnishes accommodation for an assemblage of carriages. It is of course impracticable anywhere within the necessary limits of a city park, to make sure that visitors shall enjoy a sense of complete rural seclusion, but the inclination which influences those who are able to go far into the country for recreation, is often strong with thousands, who are in no position to leave their busi- ness and their families. While, therefore, results which would seem forced or improbable are to be avoided, it is desirable to meet this re- quirement onascale that shall be adequate for the purpose. We there- fore abandon. all idea of contrasting the publicity of the city with the privacy of deep woods, mountains, lakes, and rocky fastnesses, and accept another ideal altogether, that of pastoral rural life, as the most valuable and universally available one, for the purpose we have in view. The development of the pastoral idea in its most favorable aspects is possible in a large City Park, and it is the peculiar natural ad- vantage of the ground under your control, that it offers an unusually favorable opportunity for the purpose. s coagcdooqooc000dd 2,569 i Spall-stone by hand ............... Ne] omeretaNeHeatoaavavevej wera alisverst avai 12,920 a lard 18 MATERIAL MOVED. During 1869 Total to Jan. 1, 1870. For grading and shaping drives, rides, walks, meadows and slopes. .............. cubic yards, 144,844...........-416,370 For lakes, pools and-streams.......... a T2653 Gi evereteueterecretate 481,058 HOT WP LAZA med cl sinece uae Ae erhovegserercue ES KAO 172,355 For sewers, drains and water distribution ie EPH SIRs 316 coco Onooe 85,842 SOLS. wibrate sicietiolstotetetatete re etalelotoratetetects re telle e SONGOM mreteterciets .. 410,772 EAU oacoqgbboacapaadacauossb) SoGae 4 2. 0}04 Greene mieialee rs 66,566 Clave eee Ae, BAA g . crete cu sauces ui 2 O74 eee ere 30,150 Manuressand "Compost 2)... eeleeler % IORI S 5 cou a5 00K 36,100 RSPORO cele! fotarste (ote ters c's cient ere slailerelebele ng 2ft Weg og00056. 400 83,266 Graveltand sand! wrocsestc cuvettes cverers s 25d eroptarperseberon 85,367 IMIS CellaMe OUSM eth ececsseerintreeerceticie wie Bi S22 teers Bieiceie ee ol OF -EO Rotalicubichyardslvevesteys)cisistarcilerusisterey> os A466; 202 ete o1- 1,886,292 Material moved at Port Greene. <) Besides the above a number of minor offences were disposed of by caution or reprimand, by the Station Officer, or the Keeper under whose observation they occurred. Twelve lost children were restored to their homes. IMPOUNDED ANIMALS, The annoyance resulting from cattle, goats and swine running at large, is abating. One hundred and fifty-four animals were impounded, which were redeemed by their owners on payment of fines and charges, or sold to pay expenses. PUBLIC USE OF THE PARKS. During the year records have been made of the number of people visiting the Park, and the results in detail will be found in the follow- ing statement. The whole number for the year is 2,958,539, which is 822,197, or 38 per cent. in advance of last year. A marked increase inthe number of persons driving in the Park is also noticeable, 714,240 vehicles having entered the Park. This is 292,642, or 69 per cent. in advance of the preceding season, | 85 STATEMENT SHOWING THE NUMBER OF VISITORS AT PROSPECT PARK DURING THE YEARS 1868 AND 1869. | | Vehicles. nyu Pedestrians. | Total Visitors. l | | l | 1868. | 1869. | 1868. | 1869. “sis 1s69. | 1868. | 1869 | | | | | | | January........... 11,440] 36,719] 1,301| 4,031] 62,012] 73,500| 94,443) 187,688 | | February.......... 16,476] 37,888] 510] 49,60) 42,504] 81,761] 90,982) 150,385 La 16,085| 43,740) 3,304| 6,380) 27,281/ 32,820 75,933) 170,420 gat, ok ee | 19,089| 53,430] 5,287| 4,671| 25,942| 45,125] 88,502) 210,086 BME Akos... 38,871] 75,636) 7,623]11,242| 69,478] 65,049] 194,457| 303,199 Tanck a 65,485] 82,620) 8,825| 7,884 102,544] 87,441) 308,988) 343,185 | | ini: eee b2,877| 68,226) 5,214) 5,133] 98,967|102,203) 266,821) 312,014 7. 51,133 fe 6,369] 4,270|117,425] 91,315) 277,193] 336,602 | September......... 37,349| 70,717| 4,863| 5,072| 60,322] 74,667| 177,242| 291,890 2 } | October............| 49,684] 80,417] 8,329 nies 72,325] 98,305] 229,949] 346,719 November........ .| 44,909] 50,073/10,113) ae 44,027] 29,091] 188,247| 185,157 December.......... 18,200] 34,435] 3,180| S101 |)39 056] 14,788] 144,042] 121,194 | | | 421,598|714,240|64,918|69,754 808,383 +4005 2.12609 058500 | | The largest number of visitors on any one day was 41,425, October 24th. 720,888 persons visited the Park on Sundays. 69,754 equestrians have made use of the Park. This is 4,836 in excess of the preceding year. About two anda half miles of new drive was opened to public use simultaneously with the inauguration of the Lincoln Statue, October 21st. 32,439 persons entered the gates of the Park on that day. In addition to these, several thousand persons witnessed the ceremonies at the Plaza, without entering the Park. 86 During the year a piece of ground, one and one-third acres inarea, was — prepared and set apart for velocipede riders. Velocipedes were also permitted on the walks of the Park, but no great use was made of either of their privileges, and beyond the occurrence of several slight accidents, there is nothing to record in regard to this branch of the public amusement. . In the early fall, the turf upon the most of the larger open spaces of the Park, having become firm and close, the public was allowed free range over it. ‘The privilege gave great satisfaction to many, and was not found inconsistent with the maintenance of good order or the pres- ervation of the turf. During the summer and fine fall weather, the West Woods were in constant use for large social parties and the pic-nics of friendly associa- tions, Sunday Schools, Church and Temperance Societies. There have been two hundred of these during the season, In addition a large number of smaller family festivals were noted. The use of these grounds, and of the privileges thus accorded to visitors, has been marked by good order and a ready compliance with established regulations. Tables, seats and swings were provided, as heretofore, without charge. No accident has occurred. PARADE GROUND. This ground has been in good serviceable condition during the season, frequent mowings having rendered the turf strong and compact. There have been twelve Parades, one Division Parade, three Brigade Parades, and eight Regimental and Battalion Parades. The grounds have also been made use of by about fifty Cricket, Base Ball and La Crosse Clubs. SKATING. There were twenty-two days of skating this year, as follows: Sixteen in January, two in February and four in March. The Pond area, obtained by a temporary dam across the incompleted excavations of the lake, in use for skating was twelve acres. A new movable house with convenient accommodations for the public, 168 feet by 28 feet was provided; during this period 75,000 visits were made to the Pond. 87 TREES AND SHRUBS. The following statements show the number of deciduous trees, shrubs, evergreens, etc., purchased; also the stock on hand, together with the number that have been planted during the year. ON PROSPECT PARK. STATEMENT SHOWING THE NUMBER OF TREES, SHRUBS, ETC., RECEIVED DURING THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31ST, 1869. Deciduous | Deciduous : : H’rbaceous| Bedding. mena inate Evergreens Vines. | Ferns. Dns. eines Aggregate. 5.787 | 8. 167 | 19.784 852 2.600 2.696 282 | 40.168 STOCK IN NURSERY, DECEMBER 31ST, 1869. Deciduous Deciduous : | H’rbaceous feces! Evergreens. Siene! Vines. | Plants. Ferns. | Aggregate. 22.130 | 32.834 | 44.525 3.707 | 1.492 3.000 10.7688 STATEMENT SHOWING THE NUMBER OF TREES, SHRUBS, ETC., SET IN PERMANENT PLANTATIONS DURING THE YEAR. Deciduous Deciduous | -- H’rbaceous Bedding Trees. Bissell Shrubs. Wate Plants. ewan Plants. BEN 3.030 | 9.386 | 17.786 2.634 6.814 3.360 282 43.292 Fifty-two deciduous trees of fine character and five deciduous shrubs were presented by Mr. Henry Struybring. Five deciduous trees, twenty-six deciduous shrubs, and eight ever-greens, by Mr. 8. R. Trowbridge. One very fine American elm by Mr. Cooper. 88 FORT GREENE. STATEMENT SHOWING THE NUMBER OF TREES, SHRUBS, ETC., PLANTED AT FORT GREENE DURING THE YEAR. Deciduous | Deciduous at | Herbaceous Trees. Shrubs. Evergreens. Vines. | Plants. Aggregate. 1,079 | 6,357 | 3,721 | 108 | 52 | 11,317 Seven shrubs and two other plants were presented by Mrs. Burtis. CARROLL PARK. STATEMENT SHOWING THE NUMBER OF TREES, SHRUBS, ETC., PLANTED AT CARROLL PARK DURING THE YEAR. Deciduous Deciduous Trees. | Evergreens. | Caribe: | Vines. | Aggregate. 9 | 25 | 308 | 19 | 361 A choice selection of deciduous shrubs and evergreens, imported from England, were received in excellent condition. A part of these isincluded among the stock planted this season, and the remainder form a part of the stock on hand for future operations. Two large trucks, especially adapted to the moving of large trees, were constructed on the work in 1867, and have been in successful and constant operation in the seasons proper for such work since that time. Between five hundred and six hundred trees, ranging from four inch- es to seventeen inches diameter, measured three feet from the ground, have been taken up and transplanted from one to another point more or less distant on the Park or from the outside, with entire success. Not more than six have died that have been thus moved. The largest tree moved measured seventeen inches in diameter at three feet from the ground, and weighed with the ball of earth attached to the roots fifteen tons. It was carried a distance of half a mile, and so far as its present appearance indicates, without material injury. 89 GENERAL STATISTICS. The following is a list of structures, &c., completed or advanced in construction during the year. The Nethermead Arches, of Ohio sand- stone and Quincy granite, 108 ft. 6 in. long, and 56 ft. 6in. wide, com- prising three Arches, two each of 20 ft. span, and a central span 22 ft. The Meadowport Arch, of Ohio sandstone, 83 ft. 6 in. in length, 20 ft. span, with groined arch 30 ft. The Lullwood Bridge, at the north end of the lake, 90 ft. span, 20 ft. wide, constructed of white oak on granite piers and abutments. One Locust Rustic Bridge, over the Binnen-water, 35 feet span and 16 feet wide. One Rustic Arbor, on the east shore of the lake, 111 feet in length, 16 feet wide and 8 feet high. One temporary bridge over the lake, of pine and spruce, connecting the line of drive from Breeze Hill to Look-out Hill, 36 feet wide, and 208 feet span, 22 feet above the level of water in the lake. One temporary building, 40 by 60 ft., for pattern room for bridge- work and other structures. The Farm-House is completed. THE WELL. The curbs are completed and in position; a covering placed on the same, and the railing around the opening and on the platform and steps in the well is in progress. A boiler-house 42 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft. 6 in., with chimney 8 ft. 6 in. at base, of Croton brick and Ohio stone trimmings, has been partially con- structed, and work interrupted by frost and suspended. THE FOUNTAIN. The granite for the steps, platform and coping, for the Fountain ba- sin at the Plaza, have mainly been delivered by the contractor, and are in part in place in the work. 90 Three flag-staffs, 70 feet high and 17 inches in diameter at the base, have been permanently set in their position at the Plaza; and three large flags, 30 ft. by 40 ft., severally bearing emblems and the mottoes of the United States, the State of New York and City of Brooklyn, have been prepared for use on public oceasions and holidays. PARK, FURNITURE. Fifty-two rustic-seats of sassafras and cedar have been made and placed about the Park. Two canvas field umbrellas, with camp chairs, were placed on the turf near the Children’s Play-ground. There have been added to the furniture of the Park— 26 Rustic ordinance stands, 800 Rustic bird houses, 75 Park settees of iron and wood, each 7 feet long, 30 ce (74 (74 “ce 5 ce 30 66 ce co oe 4 66 One new drinking fountain of granite. During the past season two temporary places for refreshment, esta- blished the preceding season, and found to extend desired facilities to the public, were continued. Numerous water-stations were established, to which fresh cool water was supplied, The swings and scups in the East and West woods have been kept in repair, and have been in constant use during fine weather. The birds peculiar to the woods of this section, secure from annoy- ance, are already increasing in numbers upon the Park quite notice- ably. The English Sparrows are familiar visitors, and numbers of them are becoming permanent lodgers on the Park. PARADE GROUND. A shelter-house, with suitable accommodations for the use of the Military of Kings County, was erected during the year, of the following dimensions :— Main building, 40 ft. by 40 ft. Two wings, each 50 ft. by 14 ft., 91 with additions to the same on each end, 14 ft. by 20 ft. ; the whole cov- ering an area of 3,560 superficial feet. FORT GREENE. A trellis of worked timber has been constructed at this park, on the hill, 200 ft. by 200 ft., 144 ft. in height in centre, and 124 ft. in the wings, and contains under shelter 48 seats, each 16 ft. 8 in. long; one drinking fountain of granite; also two additional ‘drinking places were provided, to which cool water was constantly supplied during the summer. ‘Two temporary water-closets and one urinal were erected. Two hundred and thirty feet of new iron fence was placed on the boundary line of the Park and Hospital property. CITY PARK. Hight gate entrances at this Park have been re-arranged and new gates supplied. SUPPLIES. Tools, Implements, and Machinery. From the accompanying statement of material received and used on the work, and now in stock, it will be seen that there is now on hand a large general supply of tools and implements for future operations. Of the more expensive appliances, such as derricks, derrick-gearing, trucks, road-rollers, &c., the supply is in excellent condition, and will be sufficient for any ordinary future demands of the work. A Steam Road Roller of fifteen tons weight was received from Eng- land in good order, and has been in use during the latter part of the year. One ten ton wall-builder for moving stone was purchased. STONE AND BRICK. During the season 315 cubic yards of foundation stone have been re- ceived. Selected stone, quarried, and 9,000 * ¢- Maine granite ‘ : ; 8 J worked to dimensions. Son 7 Quincy granite, A supply of brick for the completion of the Reservoir is on hand. 1,763 cubic feet of Ohio sandstone, GRAVEL. 8,342 cubic yards of gravel was purchased; 7,342 cubic yards of this was used for construction, with 1,000 yards required for maintenance. HORSES, ETC, There are eight horses belonging to the Commission, six of them are in daily use on the field as teams, and two for general use of the officers of the Park, and are in good working condition. In view of the accumulation of machinery, implements, and supplies needed for current and general demands of the work, the selection and use of a permanent site for storage yard is desirable. ANIMALS AND BIRDS. The following animals and birds were presented to the Commis- sloners :— One Camel, One Fox, One Peceary, One Eagle, One Hawk. Not having suitable accommodations for them, they were tempora- rily transferred to the care of the Central Park Commissioners, in ac- cordance with an understanding that leaves them subject to withdrawal whenever it may be deemed desirable to establish a zoological collec- tion on the Brooklyn Park. FERTILIZING MATERIALS. Statement of manure and fertilizing material, received and on hand. PROSPECT PARK. 338 two-horse loads horse manure. FORT GREENE. 122 two-horse loads horse manure, 1,978 one “ “« street “ PROSPECT PARK.—STATEMENT OF MATERIAL ON HAND. Stable Manure Compost, 387 cubic yards, Night-soil, he U2 Bde ie Fish, ef 420.» ES Peat and Lime a ullaLe termes a 93 FORT GREENE. Stable Manure Compost, 267 cubic yards. METEOROLOGY. The system of Meteorological observations which was begun in the month of July, 1868, has been continued throughout the year. These have been made and recorded three times daily. The extent and thoroughness of such records depend largely upon the completeness of the system, and character of the instruments used. Our supply has been only partial, and the observations taken were ne- cessarily incomplete, though entirely reliable to the extent afforded by the instruments. With reference to the Commission these records would appear to have little value, but the constantly growing interest throughout the country, in this popular branch of science, at once sug- gests the importance of the subject. Successful agriculture and other industries depend largely upon the conditions of the atmosphere and temperature. Meteorology alone affords us an intelligent comprehension of these phenomena. Data, compiled from its observations, are regarded by the scientific as among the most valuable contributions to the statistics of the country. Pro- gress in the science is to be mainly anticipated from study at the office established for that purpose at Washington, of accurate records of ob- servations made simultaneously at a very large number of stations in all parts of the country. The situation of the Park, and the character of its organization, make it by far the best station for the purpose in this vicinity. The apparatus at present in use is very simple and incomplete. Ifthe Com- mission should think proper to appropriate five hundred dollars to its enlargement and improvement, the observations which might be taken without any additional current expense, would be of much higher value. A faithful and intelligent attention to duty has characterized the services of the several assistants employed in my department. Respectfully submitted, JOHN Y. CULYER, Assistant-Engineer-in- Charge. Bquetae