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Prospect Park

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Prospect Park, for many, if not all, New Yorkers, has been around forever. Most don’t think twice about it as they pass through Prospect Heights, Park Slope, or Flatbush. Covering a whopping 526 acres, Prospect Park is only the second largest park in Brooklyn and only bested by Marine Park in terms of size. Yet it probably welcomes more visitors during any given calendar year.

History of Prospect Park

The first proposed legislation regarding Prospect Park was passed in 1859 and was laid out by Frederic Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. The duo helped design Central Park in Manhattan. However, a few years later, in 1867, Prospect Park opened its doors to the general public, who soon discovered that the park was not yet complete. It took up until 1873 for the park to be completed.

 

However, since it opened, Prospect Park has undergone various modifications and expansion projects. Several planned additions were completed in the 1890s as part of the City Beautiful movement. Later during the 20th century, NYC Parks commissioner Robert Moses began a program to clean up the park. That was after the park experienced a period of decline, which spurred the creation of the Prospect Park Alliance, which saw various parts of the park undergoing refurbishment until the late 1980s.

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Attractions of Prospect Park

The main attractions of the park include the enormous 90-acre Long Meadow. This is a popular Picnic House; there is the Boathouse, Prospect Park Zoo, Litchfield Villa, and Concert Grove. Plus, it is home to Brooklyn’s only lake, which covers an impressive 60 acres, and the Prospect Park Bandshell, which hosts various summertime concerts that people are free to enjoy.

Prospect Park facilities include sports like basketball courts, a Tennis Center, soccer fields, baseball fields, and the Petanque club. In addition, there is also a Quaker cemetery located on Quaker Hills near the ball fields. In addition, this is also part of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway, which is mainly a network of various green spaces that stretch across most parts of Long Island.

Other sports opportunities at Prospect Park include the Prospect Park Track club, which was formed back in the 1970s. The club organizes training runs and various races that take place throughout the Park’s 3.33-mile-long stretch.

Then there is also the Women’s Softball League, which has played summer softball games every evening since 1973. Speaking of football, Circle rules football is also played every season in the park.

Starting in the 1930s, Kensington Stables has hosted regular hose riding lessons in the park. Prospect Park is one of the many places New Yorkers go for pedal boating on the lake while they enjoy the rolling hills that play host to sledding during the snowy months.

Prospect Park was later designated the city’s scenic landmark in 1975 and subsequently listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Today, the park is operated by the Prospect Park Alliance in cooperation with NYC Parks.