Brooklyn Standard Union
6 November 1906
(2 articles)

WANT OLD BURIAL GROUND FOR PARK UNION CEMETERY

Demanding more public parks for Brooklyn, a host of Brooklynites stormed the Board of Estimate meeting in the City Hall, to-day. Most of those present were there to advocate the laying out of a public park bounded by Knickerbocker avenue, Putnam avenue, Palmetto street and a new street to form the southwesterly boundary of said park; in other words, on the old Union Cemetery site. Jared J. CHAMBERS, president of the Twenty-eighth Ward Taxpayers' Protective Association, headed the delegation, which represented thirteen Brooklyn civic bodies. Mr. CHAMBERS did all the speaking, because when he got through the Mayor said Mr. CHAMBERS had fully enlightened the Board, Mr. COLER adding that there was apparently no opposition. Mr. CHAMBERS said in part: "We are here to advocate a public playground for the Bushwick and Ridgewood section, on the old Union Cemetery site, in the Twenty-eighth Ward. Our ward is composed mostly of tenement houses, and many of the parents who occupy them can ill afford to send their children to the country in the summer, and the time after school hours and before dark will not permit the child (even if their parents would allow them) to visit the playgrounds and large parks in other parts of our borough." "In 1896, notwithstanding our ward, the Twenty-eighth, was the largest in the old City of Brooklyn, the authorities purchased a small plot of ground, three and one-half acres, for a park. This park, Irving Square, is one of the smallest in the borough, and the children have no room in it to play. In 1897, the first year of the consolidation, the Union Cemetery, right in the heart of a congested district of the ward, was sold, and the bodies were removed to Cedar Grove Cemetery. The ground was left in a terrible condition, and it is worse to-day than ever. This large plot is surrounded by large tenements, some of them containing eight familes." "In view of the fact that this congested section, known as the Bushwick-Ridgewood district, has no park or playground, and that this site presented an ideal place for a playground, where the children could play, exercise and having a breathing place, and as this was unimproved property, we started a movement to secure a public playground on that site. According to the census of 1900 the ward numbered 77,913, and so rapid has been the growth that to-day we have a population over 100,000, and still increasing. A large part of the Twenty-seventh ward and a portion of the Borough of Queens which borders on the Twenty-eighth ward would be benefited by this playground, as it would be very close to them."

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Sunday 12 May 1907

PLAY GROUND AND SCHOOL ON OLD UNION CEMETERY SITE.

The old Union Cemetery is to be bought in by the city to be used as a public play ground. The cemetery, which has long been disused and from which all bodies have been removed, is located between Irving and Knickerbocker avenues and Madison and Monroe streets. The appraiser of real estate for the Department of Finance, Thomas F. BYRNES, recommended to Controller METZ that he bring the matter of buying the site before the Board of Estimate. He suggested that the city buy the plot for the sum of $224,000. He thinks that the cemetery can be bought as private sale for that amount of money. He proposed that the greater proportion of this plot, consisting of about two city blocks, be turned over for play ground purposes and that the remainder, comprising about one city block, be used as the site for a school building. The Board of Estimate, in accordance with the request of the controller, passed resolutions for the buying in of the cemetery site. In his report to the controller, Mr. BYRNES states: "The Board of Estimate and Apportionment at its meeting held March 22, 1907, adopted a resolution authorizing the Controller to select two blocks within the territory bounded by Knickerbocker avenue, Irving avenue, Putnam avenue, Palmetto street and a new street to form the southwesterly boundary line of said territory, and to submit to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for their approval a map of plan showing the two blocks so selected. "It appears that the Board of Estimate and Apportionment [Bd of E & A] on Nov. 2, 1906, considered the advisability of laying out a public park or playground bounded by Knickerbocker avenue, Irving avenue, Palmetto street and a new street to form the southwesterly boundary of said park or playground, and the said board gave a public hearing to all persons interested in the matter, who appeared, notice of which hearing was to be advertised in the City Record and the publishers of the corporation newspapers, and the matter of the resolution of the Bushwick District Local Board recommending the laying out of the said property was referred to a select committee composed of the Controller, the President of the Board of Aldermen and the President of the Borough of Brooklyn, which committee reported upon the matter to the said board on March 22, 1907, the said report is part stating as follows: "That the proposed site is in a thickly populated section, which consists of and old and long disused cemetery, a small portion of which has been built upon, and that it is advisable to acquire the site as a playground. The Committee is of the opinion, however, that the entire plot of ground suggested should not be purchased, but only two blocks of the same." "This tract, a portion of which will be acquired by the city, is know as Union Cemetery, which was abandoned some years ago and from which the bodies have all been removed. It comprises what would be three city blocks, Woodbine and Madison streets, never having been laid out, between Knickerbocker and Irving avenues, the chief engineer of the Bd. of E & A reported that it would be very unwise to include buildings recently erected on Knickerbocker avenue, and that a new street should be laid out to the east of this property. "After investigation as to the possibility of acquiring two blocks of the three blocks in question at private sale, it appears that the property between the center line of Monroe street and Putnam avenue, and Irving avenue and a line drawn parallel with Knickerbocker avenue, 100 feet approximately from Knickerbocker avenue, can be acquired at private sale. "The Board of Education [Bd of Ed] has recently requested the acquisition of a school site situated on the westerly side of Irving avenue, between Monroe street {Woodbine street} and Madison street, having frontage of 200 feet on Irving avenue with a frontage on each of the latter named streets of 200 feet. This property is included within the area of the proposed playground and if a school building were erected thereon the proximity of a playground would be advantageous. "The price at which the property can be acquired at private sale is approximately the sum of $224,000 for about 115 lots of the size of 20x100 feet. "I would respectfully recommend that the Bd of E & A adopt a resolution pursuant to the provisions of Section 1436 of the Revised Charter, that the property between the centre line of Monroe street [formerly Woodbine street] and Putnam avenue, and between the westerly side of Irving avenue and a line drawn parallel or nearly so with Knickerbocker avenue, approximately 100 feet easterly therefrom, should be acquired at private sale at a price not exceeding two hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars [$224,000], which amount shall be divided as follows: The sum of $40,000 to be paid out of the school building fund for the property on the westerly side of Irving avenue, between the northerly side of Madison street and the southerly side of Monroe street [formerly Woodbine street], and the balance of $264,000* to be paid for the remainder of the plot our of the fund for playgrounds for the children of the city, acquisition and construction of. A map or plan of the proposed playground, showing the number of lots contained therein, together with the location of the proposed school site, is herewith attached, a more specific description being contained in the resolution which is herewith submitted for adoption.?|" (*transcriber's note: these sums don't seem to add up to $224,000.) **In the book, "The graveyard shift," Carolee Inskeep states that about 30,000 people were buried in Union Cemetery (Methodist Protestant) between 1851 and its closure in 1893. Bodies were moved to Cedar Grove Cemetery, along with records, after it was sold for development. Write to: Cedar Grove Cemetery 13416 Horace Harding Expressway Flushing, NY 11367-1099 718-939-2041 Transcribers: Barbara Stein Marilynn Wright Back to CEMETERY INDEX Back to CEMETERY INDEX Back to BROOKLYN Page Main