Prospect Park And The End Of The Litchfield Empire
Part II: A New Park And A Toxic Gowanus Lead To The Fall Of The Litchfield Empire
Nick Bello is a writer and photographer based in Park Slope. He loves to capture local scenery as well as research local history. Follow him on Instagram @nbello8 or on substack at:
In 1858, Edwin Litchfield invited Egbert L. Viele, a civil engineer and engineer-in-chief of Central Park which was just being built in Manhattan, to dinner at Grace Hill (now Litchfield Villa). As we talked about in part one of this series, Edwin Litchfield owned a significant chunk of land where his mansion Grace Hill sat. Viele floated the idea of building a park in essentially Litchfield’s backyard which would be the crown jewel of Brooklyn. Litchfield latched onto this since he was strapped for cash as the Panic of 1857 had taken a hit on his financials as well as the slow growth of his land holdings in Gowanus. In 1860, Litchfield lobbied the state government to build the park and in April 1860 it was approved. Litchfield hoped this would drive up the property values not only of his estate but also the neighborhood. While he would be right about that, it would come at a personal cost.
Building Prospect Park
While Viele was the one who first floated the idea to Litchfield, the park was ultimately the brain child of businessman James Stranahan. Like Litchfield, Stranahan had real estate interests in Brooklyn and also believed that building a park would not just be of value to residents, but to his interests as well. Stanahan would become the first president of the Prospect Park Commission and oversaw the whole project. In 1890, a statue of Stranahan would be commissioned inside the Grand Army Plaza entrance of the park. Throughout the design process, there would be a lot of people involved. Stranahan birthed the idea while Viele drove it close to completion, in the end however it would be up to famed designers Calvert Vaux and Fredrick Law Olmsted to finish it.
Viele would take the first stab at designing Prospect Park in 1861 which only required Litchfield to give up a little bit of land to the park. Stranahan was not completely on board with Viele’s plan however, so he brought on one of the Central Park designers, Calvert Vaux, to sketch out a new plan. Vaux’s plan ultimately got Stranahan’s approval. Later that year the Civil War would break out, stopping the planning and construction of the park. In 1865, the operation would resume and with it came the addition Frederick Law Olmsted, Vaux’s partner in designing Central Park. They would create a new plan and determined that the land acquired to originally build the park was not significant enough. One of the biggest things they wanted was to purchase all of the Grace Hill estate, which Litchfield opposed. In 1867 however, both parties would come to an agreement that Litchfield only had to give up land leading up to the back of his estate and a bill was drawn up. This agreement was short lived as another lobbying group comprised of residents in what is today Prospect Heights put enough pressure to veto the bill.
That same year on October 19, part of the east side of the park was opened, allowing residents to get a taste of Brooklyn’s new backyard for the first time. However, the opening was fairly disappointing according to an article in the Brooklyn Eagle. Very little progress had been made and only one measly road had been created. Flags were put in place for where certain features would go so people could use their imagination for what things might look like in a few years. More than 8,000 people visited the park that day to get their first glimpse of what would become a Brooklyn staple.
The End of Grace Hill
