Boulder Bridge, date unknown. Built in the late 1800s to replace a previous wooden bridge, Boulder Bridge uses as its only material local glacial boulders left behind after the Wisconsin Ice Sheet retreated. The bridge straddles the park's bridle path.

Lullwater Bridge, ca. 1900.

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, unknown date.

The Cleft Ridge Arch, ca. 1890.

Maryland Monument on Lookout Hill, ca. 1907.

Terrace Bridge, date unknown. When Prospect Park architects Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted first conceived a plan for the area surrounding Terrace Bridge, they envisioned it with a restaurant and series of terraces and arcades for visitors to enjoy live music and entertainment on the lake. While their vision never fully transpired, Terrace Bridge today represents their intention for this region of the park. Built between 1868-1870, the first Terrace Bridge was a wooden structure located along Wellhouse Drive between Lookout Hill and Breeze Hill. It rested on the border of the Ravine District and stood until 1890 when it was replaced by the current bridge. Today, Terrace Bridge is one of the largest in Prospect Park. It is also the last park element built by Vaux. Comprised of six parallel steel arches, each side of Terrace Bridge includes a pedestrian underpass at water's edge. The circular stone carvings on the bridge read “18” and “90,” marking the date of the new bridge's completion.

Mozart Statue Have you ever wondered why a bronze bust of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart resides in Prospect Park? The story of how the world-renowned Austrian composer’s likeness came to be in Brooklyn dates back to the year 1897. If you take a stroll through the southeastern side of Prospect Park in Brooklyn you will find yourself in Concert Grove. The area was originally designed for park-goers to leisurely enjoy live music in the nearby concert house and pavilion, surrounding themselves with the impeccable beauty of nature. In 1949, the concert house was demolished and the pavilion was turned into a snack bar, altering the landscape for more “modern times” as per City Planner Robert Moses. Years later in 1987, Concert Grove was restored back to its original splendor. The grove is home to a collection of busts, several depicting prominent world composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Maria von Weber, and as seen above, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The bust of Mozart was created by German-American Sculptor Augustus Max Johannes Mueller and cast in 1897. That same year, The United German Singers of Brooklyn won the bust in the 18th annual National Saengerfest, a choral competition held that year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the last week of June. The group donated their newly prized bust of Mozart to the City of Brooklyn and a dedication ceremony was held in the park on October 23rd, 1897. Coincidentally, it seems the United German Singers of Brooklyn did quite well at their choral competitions. A few years earlier in 1894, the aforementioned bust of Beethoven had also been won by the group and donated to the park, as well as the bust of Weber some fifteen years later in 1909.

Girls celebrate May Day in Prospect Park's Long Meadow, May 1, 1919.

The Lullwater Bridge, ca. 1931. The Lullwater Bridge, constructed in the late 1800s, is located diagonally across from the Prospect Park Boathouse. To this day, it remains the longest crossing in Prospect Park and one of the only two automobile roads that cross over a park stream. While the first version of the bridge was built in 1868 with oak, after severe wear and vandalization, the City Club won a Bard Award and restored it to its present condition. The newly restored Lullwater Bridge has since traded in its original rustic stone and wooden frames, for stone and cast iron supports.

Prospect Park's Long Meadow stretches nearly a mile along the west side of the park. The area is decidedly flat, meant in design to serve as a buffer between the neighborhood west of the park and the park's wilderness-like interior. Olmsted sought to enact a pastoral quality in this portion of the park. Serving fully to meet this need was a resident flock of sheep. They provided entertainment for children, cropped, and fertilized the meadow's lawn, all while invoking the image of a serene and rustic landscape.

Lookout Hill, ca. 1880. View from Lookout Hill showing the Peninsula with the lake on either side.

Nethermead Arch in Prospect Park, ca. 1890. The Nethermead Arch, also known as Three Arch Bridge, is located at the exact center of Prospect Park. Conceived by park architect Calvert Vaux and completed by 1871, it was designed to give way to five different circulation routes, making it distinct from every other bridge and underpass in the park. It is also the only bridge in Prospect Park that covers a park path, bridle path, and waterway. The name Nethermead Arch derives from two Old English words: nether, which means below below, and mead, which refers to meadow.

Long Meadow, ca. 1900.

Rustic Arbor, ca. 1890.

Breeze Hill, unknown date. Before the 1890s, a Camera Obscura — a small dark chamber used for projecting pinhole images — stood at the top of Breeze Hill. As the structure rotated, images of the park landscape would be projected onto a blank wall inside. Today, the site is home to the Old Fashioned Flower Garden.

Camerdown Elm, ca. 1880. In the mid 19th century, a gardener for the Earl of Camperdown in Scotland grafted a mutant Scotch Elm onto a normal Wych Elm thus creating the Camperdown Elm. This tree has branches that grow outward and weep instead of growing tall like a normal elm tree. Because it cannot reproduce, every Camperdown Elm is a direct descendant of the original. Prospect Park’s Camperdown Elm was donated to the Brooklyn Parks Commission in 1872 by Brooklyn florist A.G. Burgess. Frederick Olmstead placed this specimen tree near the Lullwater Boathouse on a small hill to give it plenty of room for its drooping branches. By the mid-1960s, almost a century later, the Camperdown Elm was still standing but in bad shape. The tree was afflicted with slime flux, a bacterial infection, and many parts had been hollowed by rats, carpenter ants, and rot. Poet Marianne Moore, who lived nearby in Fort Greene, came to its rescue. She was a great lover of Prospect Park and its trees and, in 1965, she was among the founders of the Greensward Foundation which supported the City’s public parks. Her poem “The Camperdown Elm” was published in the New Yorker in 1967. To rally support for the failing tree, Moore requested that people donate money to save the tree rather than to send flowers to her funeral (she was 80 at the time but, in fact, lived to 85). The public responded tree-care experts were hired and treated the Camperdown Elm over the next decade. The campaign to save the Camperdown Elm sparked the renaissance of Prospect Park.

Ambergill Falls, Prospect Park, unknown date.

Cleft Ridge Arch, unknown date. Completed in 1871, Prospect Park's Cleft Ridge Arch is a small béton-Coignet bridge that is celebrated as the first concrete arch to be built in the United States. The slabs used to build the archway were amongst the first concrete products to be mass-produced. When a financial “panic” came upon the country in 1873, the builders of Prospect Park shifted to alternative construction materials. Sitting directly in front of the park’s Camperdown Elm, the Arch was fashioned from molded blocks of concrete that were comprised of sand, gravel and Portland cement. Today, the Arch is crossed by Wellhouse Drive, connecting paths to the Lullwater and Music Grove area.

Breeze Hill, ca. 1916.

Terrace Bridge, ca. 1890.

Mount Vernon Replica, ca. 1932-1934. Mount Vernon Replica was erected in 1932 to celebrate the 200th birthday of George Washington. The building and grounds were located on what is known today as the Peninsula, but torn down after only two years. Prospect Park Archives/Bob Levine Collection

The Ford Bridge, ca 1907. The Ford Bridge was a wooden crossing in the southeast corner of Prospect Lake that connected the lake's cove to a rustic shelter. Acting as an extension of the park’s bridle path, it made it easy for horses to dip their hooves in the water. By 1916, the bridge and its cove were demolished. The shelter and bridge area is now a public barbecue area.

Eastwood Arch, unknown date.

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, ca. 1913.

Prospect Park Boathouse, ca. 1909. The Prospect Park Boathouse is a two-story Beaux-Arts style structure clad in terra cotta. The pavilion, which sits on the north shore of the park's lake, was constructed in 1905 to the plans of the firm of Helmle & Huberty. The architects modeled the building on the library of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. Almost demolished in 1964 when it was an deteriorating and underused structure, the Boathouse became one of the first buildings to be landmarked in 1965, the year the Landmarks Law was passed. The building was restored during various efforts in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, the building houses the Audubon Center, the Audubon Society's only urban interpretive center in the United States, and is a popular wedding venue.

Mozart Statue, Prospect Park, ca. 1900.

Prospect Park Boathouse, ca. 1907.

Family Picnic A family enjoys a picnic, in the shade, on the grass.

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, ca. 1913. Long Meadow was originally called "The Green" when Olmsted and Vaux first developed Prospect Park. The nearly one-mile long stretch of open green space was Prospect Park's main site for lawn tennis and croquet.

Music Pagoda Bridge, unknown date. The Music Pagoda, built in 1997, is one of the earliest surviving structures in Prospect Park that was not constructed under the direction of park architects Olmsted and Vaux. The wooden covering was damaged by fire in 1967, but a new structure shortly after was erected to closely match the original design. The Music Pagoda was the premiere location for music in the Park until the Prospect Park Bandshell was built on the west side in the 1939 and later renovated in 1983. Since the '70s, the Music Pagoda has gone largely without use, although it does hold occasional, small musical performances.

Concert Grove, Prospect Park, unknown date. Concert Grove was designed in 1887 as a place for park goers to enjoy musical performances, as evidenced by the 1890s busts of Beethoven and Mozart. The pagoda was converted to a snack bar in 1950, and damaged in a 1974 fire. Its present restoration was completed in 1987, marking the Grove's centennial.

Since its opening in the 1860s, Prospect Park has been a landmark in the life of many New York families and tourists. In this collection, we'll show you Prospect Park through the people who have traversed through it.

Binnen Falls and Bridge, Prospect Park, unknown date.

Binnen Bridge, unknown date. Binnen Bridge is located between the Prospect Park Boathouse and the Music Pagoda. It spans the Binnen waters and an impressive man-made waterfall. Its name, picked by Olmsted, derives from the Dutch word “within.” It signifies that the rustic-bridge is located deep with Prospect Park.

Upper and Lower Pool, Prospect Park, unknown date. The Upper and Lower Pools are historic waterways in Prospect Park which serve as conduits for the stream that eventually (and much human engineering intervention) empties into the Prospect Park Lake. The pools here are marshy, and feature a variety of water plants. The area is a popular resting spot for migratory birds. Despite the prevalence of fowl (real as well as man-made and giant on a pleasure craft), the shore of the Upper Pool is better well-known for four-legged visitors. A small sandy portion of the shore has long been Dog Beach, where dogs are allowed to swim in the waters.

Former Concert Grove House; unknown date. One of the original features of the Concert Grove area was the Concert Grove House. The structure stood as a shelter until 1949, when Parks Commissioner Robert Moses demolished it and converted the nearby Concert Pavilion into a snack bar.

Model Yacht Club on the Peninsula, ca. 1909. Sometimes called the Miniature Yacht Club, the Model Yacht Club stored the miniature ships that once sailed on the lake.

Lincoln Statue in the Concert Grove, ca. 1907.

Bust of Irish poet Thomas Moore, ca. 1975. This bronze bust of Irish poet Thomas Moore was designed by American sculptor John G. Draddy and installed in the Concert Grove of Prospect Park in 1879. Moore's bust is not the only artist likeness in the Concert Grove, other famed artists depicted here include composers Beethoven, Mozart, and Carl Maria Von Weber.

Oriental Pavilion, Prospect Park, unknown date.