^d^m







APRIL 20, 1912





PLANS TO EXTEND BROOKLYN'S EASTERN PARKWAY





The Maiter Is Before the Board of Estimate, Which Is Expected   to
Act On It Soon—The Street Has Been Chosen As a Subway Route.





C ASTERN PARKWAY, which was
*—' last week flnally determined upon as
the course of a subway route as far easl
as Buffalo aveiiue, is the widest thor¬
oughfare in Brooklyn, and when it wa.s
laid out in ISliS) it was intended to make
it to Brooklyn what Commonwealth ave¬
nue is to Boston, a beautifully parkea
boulevard and private residence street;
but it never attained the residential
Status intended for it. The thoroughfare
was built practically in conjunction with
the laying: out of Prospect Park, from
whence it starts and passes througii
Brooklyn from the Park Slope to the
heights of East Xew York. Originally
the Parkway extended only as far as
Ralph avenue, a distance of two and a
half miles, and it cost $.3,000,000 to
build; but, inaiiy years later, two and :i
halt miles more were added to it from
Ralph avenue to Highland Park at a
cost of $1,300,000. From Prospect Park
to Ralph avenue. Eastern Parkway is
lined with heavy foliaged shade trees. It
is 2i0 feet wide, with a broad central
driveway   for   carriages   and   autoinobiles





Long Island Sound to Coney Island. At
any rate the attitude of the cemetery
corporation is halting a great public im¬
provement that would add much to the
taxable value.s of Brooklyn and Queens,
and incidentally make the unused lands
of the cemetery more accessible. So de¬
ter miined were the cemetery authorities
to frustrate an invasion of it that a num¬
ber of bodies were burled along the liise
of the proposed route of the parkway,
but it has been a question if the ceme¬
tery's action in this matter would be up¬
held. This proposed extension is in a
northeast   direction.

Another ej:tension of Eastern Park¬
way, in a southeast and easterly direc¬
tion froui Buffalo avenue, has been pro¬
posed by the Brooklyn League, and that
proposition is also under consideration by
the Board of Estimate. The latter route
would begin at Eastern Parkway and
Lincoln Terrace Park: thence south along
Buffalo avenue, to be widened on its east
side to East New York avenue; ihence
southeast from East New York avenue
along the block between East OlJth streel





ilies each, or flfteen people to a lot,
which means that when the section is a
structural entity it will contain 7S0.00O
persons. There is a lotal iDf LSO acres
figured in the stretch of land proposed
to be taken, and if the same acreage
was embraced in one city park it would
cover only one-half a square mile, ^vhere-
as in the elongated form of a parkway
it would afford comfort lo a greater
number of people and aid properly values
in a larger area. In the four square miles
of territory south of Atlantic avenue,
there is now a total of 200,000 persons
and only one public breathing space,
Linton Park, containing six acres, and
the section is growing rapidly on account
of the direct conneclion of the elevated
roads and trolley lines wilh two bridges.
It is also proposed to join this contem¬
plated exlension of Eastern Parkway
with Forest Park by way of Eldert
Lane, the line of demarcation between
Brooklyn and Queens, making Eldert
Lane IGO feet in width. It is argued
thai the East New York section of
Brooklyn   is  growing  so  rapidly   that   the







EASTERN     PARKWAY,     NEAR    KINGSTON    AVENUE.





HROOKLYN   INSTITUTE   OF  ARTS  AND  SCIENCES,   EASTERN   PARKWAV.





and a driveway for trucking on either
side, with footpaths intervening between
them and the main driveway. Lols front¬
ing on this part of the Parkway are
of exceptional depth and there is a re¬
striction prohibiting houses from being
built within thirty feet of the sidewalk
line.

From Ralph, avenue east and north lo
Bushwick avenue and Highland Park,
Eastern Parkway is only 110 feet in
width, and there are no building restric¬
tions.

It was planned some years ago lo ex-
lend Eastern Parkway from Highland
Park through the imused grounds of Cy¬
press Hill Cemetery, and connect it with
Forest Park in Queens. The cemetery
corporation opposed the project, but, nev¬
ertheless, the Legislature gave the city
authority lo go through the unused part
of the cemetery; but the city has never
made the extension because when the
matier was to be settled the cemetery
wanted to sell its land lo the city at
the rate it sells graves. Figured at
the rate of $50 a grave, the total cost
for land would run into the millions.
It is a question whether the cily can
condemn cemetery land, whicii is exempt
from taxation and usually free from in¬
vasion for olher than cemetery purposes.
The maiter is in the hands of the Board
of Estimate. IE the further extension of
Eastern Parkway is accomplished il wiil
result in completely linking the parks
and parkways of Brooklyn and Queens
and  afford   an  automobile   higl)way   frojj)





and Rockaway Parkway, and curving
into Newport avenue; thence east along
Newport avenue, to be widened on its
south side and across New Lots road;
thence east along New Lots road, to be
widened along its south side to Vermont
avenue, and thence, curving into Hege¬
man avenue; thence east along Hegeman
avenue, to be widened on its norlh side
to Fountain avenue and curving into Du¬
mont avenue; thence east along Dumont
avenue, to be widened on its south side
to the boundary line between the bor¬
oughs of Brooklyn and Queens. This
would practically join Eastern Parkway
to the proposed boulevard to the Rocka¬
ways on a line with Force Tube avenue.
The plan is to make this exlension 370
feel   wide.

The question has been asked whether
this improvement would pay the Browns¬
ville section through which it would pass
as well as the borough itself? It is be¬
lieved that it would redound to the ad¬
vantage -of the section in question in
the form of greater healthfulness. the
general elevalion of the neighborhood,
and an alleviation of automobile traffic
in numerous intersecting streets. It
would provide for a recreation center and
concourse its whole length and beneflt
those who walk as well as ride. This
(.xtension would penetrate a densely pop¬
ulated district of Brooklyn, and there are
.">0,flO0 -building lots within half a mile
of it that are within the scope of quick
improvement. The buildings that will
be erected there will average  three fam-





pre.senl is the time, if any, lo create a
parkway there, when values are lower
than they will ever be again and when
the city can acquire land more cheaply
than   it   can   half   a   decade   hence.

More than 3,000 property owners have
petitioned for this improvement, besides
numerous boards of trade and prominent
citizens of Brooklyn. As the improve¬
ment, if carried out, would aid Queens
as well as Brooklyn, it has "been sug¬
gested that Queens could well afford Lo
pay part of the assessmeni that would
be levied. It is argued that the exten¬
sions of Eastern Parkway are as neces¬
sary to Brooklyn as the extension of
Riverside Drive was to Manhatlan; and
the engineering difficulties in extending
the Parkway would be comparatively in¬
significant   because   the   land   is   level.

Apartments in Brownsville rent al the
rate of three to four dollars a month
per room. It Is estimated that the ex¬
tension of Eastern Parkway as proposed
would add greatly to the taxable re¬
sources of the city by hastenmg build¬
ing operations and improving the char¬
acter  of  construction.

Iu   the   Orislnnl   Seelion.

Eastern Parkway, from Prospect Park
lo Ralph avenue, was a wilderness of
open lots unlil a decade ago, when the
borough began to grow toward it. Many
of the lots were high above grade, par¬
ticularly on the south .side of the thor¬
oughfare. This part of the parkway was
a  generation  ahead  of  the  movement  of