Prospect Park: Olmsted & Vaux’s Brooklyn Masterpiece by David P. Colley

Abstract

656 ■ NEW YORK HISTORY it as a dangerous impingement on governmental authority (91). He concludes that the trial reveals much about the colony’s political structure: its governmental framework lagged behind its transformation from a series of trading posts into a settler community. Contrary to how Stuyvesant is usually portrayed, Jacobs cast him as an official whose power and authority were constrained. Other chapters engage with specific legal practices. Martha Dickenson Shattuck examines the “right to petition,” contrasting the practice in the Netherlands and New Netherlands. Tracing the changing use and frequency of petitioning in the colony as its government evolved from corporate to municipal and then to English rule, she concludes, its “usage by the Dutch for granting their rights and privileges was not forgotten” (21). Troy A. McKenzie and Wilson C. Freeman trace an informative history of arbitration from the Board of Nine Men appointed by Stuyvesant in 1647 through the 1920s. As lawyers rather than academic historians, they are concerned with lessons from the Dutch period that might be used to reform the modern American arbitration system. Michael E. Gherke writes on marital law, exploring “similarities and differences in application of Dutch and English Law.” Unlike most of the authors here, Gherke explicitly places himself within the particulars of legal historiography. Opening Statements is a valuable addition to New Netherland scholarship , not only for its contribution from several individual pieces, but also as a whole, in that it is uniquely focused on the role, function and legacy of law and jurisprudence and the history of Dutch New York. Prospect Park: Olmsted & Vaux’s Brooklyn Masterpiece. By David P. Colley. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2013, 207 pages, $45.00 Cloth. Reviewed by Lucas G. Rubin, Assistant Dean for Academic Programs and the Department of Classics, Brooklyn College Of the millions of visitors who enter Brooklyn’s Prospect Park from its main entrance at Grand Army Plaza every year, few likely pay much attention to the statue of James Stranahan that greets them. Needless to say, Book Reviews 657 this is a lamentable turn of events for the individual who was one of the most important figures of nineteenth century Brooklyn, and without whose efforts a park on the scale executed might have never been undertaken. In part, this circumstance is a reflection of the surprisingly limited amount of formal inquiry into Brooklyn’s history. Though Brooklyn’s two decade long renaissance—which has seen its evolution from a second choice residential borough to premier destination and global brand—has helped turn the tide, much remains to be considered. One such recent contribution —and a welcome one at that—is David Colley’s 2013 examination of Prospect Park, the borough’s 528-acre central sylvan enclave. Colley is primarily a military historian, having authored several books on the actions of the U.S. Army in Europe in 1944–5. Though this offering is something of a departure, it shares the same sense of context and purpose that characterize his previous works. In this regard, Prospect Park’s eclectic mix of material—historical images, archival maps, plans, stunning contemporary photography (captured by the author’s wife, Elizabeth Keegin Colley), as well as reminisces by several leading civic leaders—helps vivify the subject matter, connecting its history with that of its resurgent popularity . Colley’s approach is chronological, with specific topics (e.g. architecture, sports, recreation) incorporated at appropriate junctures. The book opens with a brief natural history of Brooklyn, utilizing the area of the park as a point of reference. Topography was to play a critical role in the park’s evolution, in part because it had been the location of a number of major engagements during the Battle of Brooklyn (August 27, 1776). Several key areas—Lookout and Redoubt Hills, and Battle Pass—were subsequently incorporated into the park’s design and, as Colley notes, “it is in today’s Prospect Park that we find the only Revolutionary War battle site that still exists almost as it was in 1776” (29). Impetus to build a park was born of the great changes that came in the decades following independence: “in 1840 Brooklyn covered twelve square miles and had a...