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.

Vale of Cashmere, ca. 1913.

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, unknown date.

John Howard Payne Memorial Bust, ca. 1968. Here once stood a statue of John Howard Payne, an American actor and playwright of the mid-19th century. The statue was installed here in 1873 and remained until 1974, when it was relocated to the Home Sweet Home Museum in East Hampton, New York. The Home Sweet Home was Payne's childhood house, now a museum dedicated to the playwright. The name of the museum comes from a popular song written for one of his plays. Payne was born in 1791. He wrote his first play as a teenager, and attended Union College for a time. He left school to begin earning a living. He had his first staring role at the age of 18 and the play was a major success. Payne performed in London, Paris, and New York. Later in life, he became an advocate for Native American rights and served as the American Consul in Tunisia.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Dairy in Prospect Park, unknown date. Designed in 1869 by Calvert Vaux and completed by 1870, this stone cottage, known as the Dairy, once stood just north of Boulder Bridge in Prospect Park’s Midwood. It became a main attraction to 19th century picnickers as it offered park-goers a reliable alternative to the vile milk that was then being produced by Brooklyn’s diseased cows. In the summer of 1871, over 11,000 quarts of milk were produced at the Dairy alone. Cold beef, ham and tongue sandwiches and pickled oysters were also sold inside the cottage. The Dairy's interior included "retiring rooms" for people to relax and recharge next to a fireplace. The Dairy was razed in 1935 to make way for the zoo. Since then, picnickers in the park have shifted across the lawn to Long Meadow.

Nellie's Lawn, ca. 1890.

Lefferts Homestead Although this is basically a Dutch Colonial farmhouse, we are amazed at the beauty of the detail of the main entrance, where delicate colonnettes and exquisite reeding set off leaded lights and a fine Dutch door.

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.

Prospect Park Boathouse, ca. 1907.

Trailer #100 and Car #725 in Malbone Street Tunnel, November 2, 1918. On November 1, 1918 the worst transit disaster in New York City history occurred just outside the eastern edge of Prospect Park. Just below the intersection of Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Malbone Street (now Empire Boulevard) a five-car wooden train on the B.R.T Brighton Beach line took a sharp turn at a speed more than five times faster than it was meant to travel. The first car derailed and smashed into a concrete partition and the second and third cars scraped violently against the tunnel walls. In all about 100 people were killed, and more than 250 passengers were injured in this rush hour crash. A number of factors played into this disaster. The sharp curve in the tunnel, known as "Dead Man's Curve" even before this accident, was a result of a multi-year rerouting of I.R.T and B.R.T lines. The motorman, Edward Luciano, was an inexperienced driver who usually served as a dispatcher, but was pushed into service by a motorman's strike. He was also suffering from the flu, was on a double shift, and had only the week before lost a child to influenza. Malbone Street was soon renamed Empire Boulevard, to distance it from the tragedy.

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.

The Lefferts Historic House, ca. 1783. The Lefferts Historic House is the former home of Continental Army Lieutenant Pieter Lefferts. Originally located on Flatbush Avenue when it was built 1783 (really rebuilt from the remains of the earlier home burned by the British during the war), it was relocated to Prospect Park in 1918 and later landmarked. Today it operates as a museum that specializes in children’s educational programs and exhibits the family life of rural Brooklyn in the 1820s.

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.

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.

Former Prospect Park Carousel, ca. 1900.

The ca, 1783 Lefferts Historic House is located in the southeastern corner of Prospect Park. It was moved to this site in 1918 from its original location on Flatbush Avenue between Maple and Midwood Streets after being given to the city by the Lefferts family. Peter Lefferts (1753-1791), builder of the house, was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and later a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and one of the wealthiest men in Kings County. Peter's descendant, John Jeffers (1827-1893) was no only a principal of the Flatbush Water Works and the Flatbush gas Company, but was also a director of three of the county's banks. The Lefferts House has been operated as a museum since 1920 and represents the large, finely appointed Dutch-American farmhouses that evolved in the later 18th century as Dutch families adapted elements of English Georgian architecture and decoration, such as the two-tiered gambrel roof and the central hall.

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.

Institute Park, unknown date.

Niederstein's Prospect Park Hotel at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Malbone Street (Empire Boulevard); ca. 1900. The proprietor, John Niederstein, Jr., was born in New York in 1871. His father, also John Niederstein, had emigrated from Prussia and owned the Niederstein Hotel and Restaurant in Middle Village, Queens. The younger Niederstein's hotel — really a tavern with a few furnished rooms for rent attached in order to skirt the Raines Law, which prohibited alcohol sales on Sundays — often made local headlines as an establishment of ill repute. In response to a letter attributed to "a young man," the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an investigation into Niederstein's establishment on October 15, 1901, under the headline "Objectionable Resort Located in Flatbush." The report largely corroborated the "young man's" allegations that dancing and drinking in mixed company went on until the early morning hours. Three days later, the Eagle printed a letter from Niederstein refuting the claims, and asserting that "the dances conducted in his hall are conducted in the straightest possible manner," that his establishment was "the resort of the best element of Germans in this city," and that insinuations of louche behavior and drunkenness were untrue, as were claims that rooms could be rented for racy assignations — but that "if such places are there it is the business of somebody to look after them — not his." Niederstein's made the news for a variety of reasons, some mundane (social function listings); some odd (Niederstein and his hunting partners "shot a big moose" in the Maine woods); and some salacious, including a 1902 tale of an impromptu wedding featuring a runaway groom with a false name and a wooden leg. (The latter spurred a libel suit against the Eagle, which concluded with a $5,000 judgement in the bride's favor.) As early as 1900, plans to expand subway service along the BMT's Franklin Avenue and Brighton lines called for razing Niederstein's hotel to make room for a rail yard. Plans eventually shifted to storage tracks beneath Ocean Avenue, with the site eventually becoming part of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden grounds. The Parks Department's 1903 Annual Report indicated that property was "in the process of being condemned," and the hotel itself was likely demolished by 1905. After the closure of his Brooklyn establishment, Niederstein went on to have a second act in politics: he was elected Queens County clerk in 1906, over the objection of opponents who cited his hotel's reputation. Niederstein died of cirrhosis four years later, shy of his fortieth birthday.