Long Meadow, Prospect Park, unknown date.

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

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.

U.S. Post Office, Prospect Park West Station, 1961. Formerly Ninth Avenue, this street became Prospect Park West in 1895 when residents, sick of having their mail mis-delivered, petitioned the Board of Aldermen for a name change. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle described Brooklyn’s confusing lack of a street naming convention: “Let us look at the case of Ninth avenue alone. There are in Brooklyn, beside an avenue bearing this number, a Ninth street, a North Ninth street, and a South Ninth street. In New York there are Ninth avenue, and East Ninth street and West ninth street. There are seven streets with the same number and distinguished from each other only by use of the word avenue instead of street or by prefixing one of the points of the compass. It is surprising there are not a Northwest Ninth street and a Southeast Tenth avenue.”

“The corner of Prospect Park West and 9th Street at the entrance to Prospect Park. Two women with a baby carriage are visible to the right and a mailbox and an apartment builidng \[sic] are visible to the left. Ca. 1915." The building at left is no. 138 Prospect Park West. Streetcar tracks turning left at 9th street are part of the Smith Street Line, between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Ninth Avenue Depot at Prospect Park Southwest.

Long Meadow, ca. 1900.

The Tennis House, Prospect Park, unknown date. Built by Helmle, Huberty and Hudswell — the same architects who constructed the Prospect Park Boathouse — the Tennis House was constructed in 1910 to provide lawn-sport players with lockers and shelter. While it still stands today on Long Meadow’s west side, it no longer serves the same purpose, having been converted for Park Landscape management.

Lafayette Memorial, unknown date. Marshal Joseph Joeffre of the French War Commission unveils the memorial to the Marquis de Lafayette; May 10, 1917. Daniel Chester French's bronze sculpture, a gift of Henry Harteau, depicts Lafayette, his groom James Armistead Lafayette, and his horse. The memorial's carved dedication omits James Armistead Lafayette, an African American born into slavery in Virginia who later served the Continental Army as a spy during the Revolutionary War. After the war, Lafayette, a staunch abolitionist, interceded to secure Armistead's freedom. In a gesture of appreciation, Armistead adopted the surname Lafayette as a free man.

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.

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, ca. 1913.

View of Bartel-Pritchard Square, 1951. Dedicated in 1923, the Bartel-Pritchard Square was named for two local boys who perished in the First World War. Emil Bartel and William Pritchard were good friends who enlisted in Brooklyn’s 13th Regiment of the National Guard and served in the 59th Regiment, Coast Artillery. In 1965 a local VFW post erected an additional memorial. The polished black granite monument honors in memory of the men of the community who gave their lives in wartime defense of their country.

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.

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.