Eastern Parkway

For other uses, see Eastern Parkway (disambiguation).

Eastern Parkway

Near New York Avenue in Crown Heights
Former name(s)	Sackett Street
Maintained by	NYCDOT
Length	4.2 mi (6.8 km)
Width	70 to 200 feet (21 to 61 m)
Restrictions	No commercial vehicles west of Ralph Avenue (excluding service roads)
Location	Brooklyn, New York
Postal code	11207, 11213, 11216, 11225, 11233, 11238
West end	Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Heights
East end	Bushwick Avenue in Bushwick
Eastern Parkway
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark No. 0998
Location	Brooklyn, New York City
Area	63.69 acres (25.77 ha)
Built	1870–1874
Architect	Frederick Law Olmsted; Calvert Vaux
NRHP reference No.	83001689
NYCL No.	0998
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 26, 1983
Designated NYCL	August 22, 1978

Eastern Parkway is a major east–west boulevard in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was built between 1870 and 1874 and has been credited as the world's first parkway. At the time of its construction, Eastern Parkway went to the eastern edge of Brooklyn, hence its name.

The road begins at Grand Army Plaza (the main entrance to Prospect Park) and extends east to Ralph Avenue, along the crest of the moraine that separates northern from southern Long Island. This section runs parallel to Atlantic Avenue and is aligned with the Crown Heights street grid. East of Ralph Avenue, it turns to the northeast, still following the moraine, until it terminates at Bushwick Avenue near the Evergreen Cemetery, where the moraine climbs steeply toward a peak at Ridgewood Reservoir. The initial portion of Eastern Parkway, west of Ralph Avenue, consists of a main road and two service roads separated by landscaped medians. The part east of Ralph Avenue is narrower and is officially known as Eastern Parkway Extension.

Olmsted and Vaux designed Eastern Parkway, along with Ocean Parkway, in the 1860s to connect Prospect Park with neighborhoods further afield. Eastern Parkway was built with the expectation that it would be the centerpiece of a neighborhood with "first-class" housing. Ultimately, the resulting development encompassed a variety of building styles including single-family homes, mansions, and apartment buildings. The parkway extension east of Ralph Avenue was built in the late 1890s. The neighborhoods around the parkway developed into a "Doctor's Row" in the late 19th century, and further settlement occurred with the opening of the New York City Subway's Eastern Parkway Line in 1920. The section of Eastern Parkway west of Ralph Avenue is a New York City scenic landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

Route description

Bicyclists on Eastern Parkway near Rockaway Avenue in 2008

In the short westernmost portion, between Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park (where it intersects with Prospect Park West, Flatbush Avenue, and Vanderbilt Avenue) and Washington Avenue, the thoroughfare consists of a broad, bidirectional avenue of six lanes, separated by a median from a narrow parallel service road on the north side. It passes Brooklyn Central Library, Brooklyn Museum, Mount Prospect Park, and Brooklyn Botanic Garden in this area; all of these are located on the south side of Eastern Parkway. The section between Washington and Ralph Avenues has a second service road on the south side, separated by another median. The parkway passes Bedford, Rogers, and Nostrand Avenues in this fashion before passing Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters and the Jewish Children's Museum in Crown Heights. It continues east, crossing Utica and Ralph Avenues.

East of Ralph Avenue, the parkway is reduced to six lanes, heading in a northeasterly direction toward Bushwick Avenue. Here, Eastern Parkway officially becomes Eastern Parkway Extension and curves northeast to intersect with Howard Avenue, Atlantic Avenue, Fulton Street, and Broadway. In this area, Eastern Parkway runs diagonally to the rest of the street grid, creating several oblique intersections. At Bushwick Avenue, the Extension becomes Vanderveer Street, a dead-end street. The extension connects to the Jackie Robinson Parkway, three blocks southeast, via Bushwick Avenue.

East of Ralph Avenue, the street numbers on Eastern Parkway continue down Pitkin Avenue toward where Aqueduct Racetrack is today. Pitkin Avenue was created by the late 1890s when Eastern Parkway Extension was constructed. Eastern Park, the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers before Ebbets Field, was located at Eastern Parkway and Vesta Avenue (now Pitkin Avenue at Van Sinderen Avenue, respectively).

In Crown Heights, Eastern Parkway divides the black community to the north and the Jewish community to the south. This separation was highlighted during the 1991 Crown Heights riot, which occurred after one of the cars in Chabad-Lubavitch rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson's motorcade struck two Guyanese children (one fatally). Eastern Parkway also divides the two community boards that serve Crown Heights: Brooklyn Community Board 8 to the north and Brooklyn Community Board 9 to the south.

Design

Eastern Parkway at Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights photographed in 2006

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation credit Eastern Parkway as the world's first parkway, built explicitly for personal and recreational traffic while restricting commercial traffic. Frederick Law Olmsted, the parkway's co-designer, described a parkway as "a shaded green ribbon" which might "be absolutely formal or strikingly picturesque, according to circumstances."

Eastern and Ocean parkways were planned together, though Eastern Parkway was intended to be the more grand of the two. The parkway is similar to Ocean Parkway in its layout. West of Washington Avenue, the roadway is about 150 feet (46 m) wide. The section between Washington and Ralph Avenues is 210 feet (64 m) wide between outer sidewalks, with a main road, two service roads, and two medians. The main roads are around 55–60 feet (17–18 m) wide, while the service roads and medians are each around 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. Both medians are about 35 feet (11 m) wide and have trees, benches, and paths for pedestrians. These medians contain sidewalks with hexagonal asphalt tiles and benches made of concrete or wood. Residents along the parkway tend to use the medians as gathering spaces.

Eastern Parkway Extension is 70 feet (21 m) wide between curbs, with two 20-foot-wide (6.1 m) sidewalks, for a total width of 110 feet (34 m). This section has a narrower median of between 5 and 8 feet (1.5 and 2.4 m) separating each direction of traffic. There are three lanes in each direction.

Originally, there were 1,100 trees planted in the medians. As such, Olmsted placed elm trees along the main road and a variety of trees consisting mostly of maples on the service roads. These were provided by John Condor's Brooklyn nursery. The southern median has a bike path, part of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway which runs south from the western end through Prospect Park to Ocean Parkway and east from the eastern end through Forest Park. The southern median's bike path is separated from the pedestrian path by way of a "rumble strip" between the pedestrian and bike lanes. The northern median is for pedestrians only. Many trees along the parkway bear plaques commemorating soldiers fallen in World War I. As of 2023, there are about 25 different species of trees.

Traffic and safety

West of Ralph Avenue, most traffic uses the main road of Eastern Parkway, while the service roads tend to be used by local traffic; commercial vehicles are prohibited on all of the roadways. Trucks are allowed east of Ralph Avenue, where traffic loads are heavy throughout the day. Neither section of Eastern Parkway is designated as a local truck route. By the late 1990s, the parkway was used by 44,440 vehicles a day, traveling at an average speed of 27 miles per hour (43 km/h). As of 2023, segments of the original parkway are used by up to 45,000 vehicles a day, while segments of the extension average up to 35,000 a day.

Between Grand Army Plaza and Ralph Avenue, the main road has traffic lights at every intersection. At several intersections, only one of the two service roads have traffic lights, while the other service road has a stop sign. At intersections with two-way streets, both service roads and the main roads generally contain a traffic light. Since the parkway was not designed for modern traffic loads, traffic lights and crosswalks at the service roads were installed in a piecemeal fashion, creating inconsistencies even between adjacent intersections. At many intersections, there are also no crosswalks between the traffic medians; at intersections where the service roads use stop signs, crosswalks at the curbs of the service roads are also missing. Furthermore, drivers frequently exceed the speed limit of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) due to the design of the main road, which is long, wide, and straight.

Due to its width, as well as the lack of traffic lights on some service roads, Eastern Parkway contains a number of dangerous intersections, especially at those with two-way cross streets or one-way southbound cross streets. This is exacerbated by cars attempting to turn from the main road onto the side streets, who frequently block the crosswalk or make quick turns onto these streets. The intersection with Utica Avenue, a two-way street, was regarded in the 2010s as the most dangerous intersection in Brooklyn. This was once the second-most-dangerous intersection in the city, with 88 pedestrians being hurt and four being killed between 1995 and 2001. Another intersection with Washington Avenue, a two-way street, formerly lacked a traffic light for the northbound service road. Between 1995 and 2005, the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue saw one fatality and 39 injuries, though the intersection with Washington Avenue was later upgraded with a traffic light. The New York City Police Department also identified other intersections, such as Eastern Parkway's junctions with Kingston Avenue and Nostrand Avenue, as dangerous during the late 20th century.

Because of the high number of traffic incidents on Eastern Parkway, the parkway is designated as a Vision Zero traffic safety "priority corridor". In an effort to reduce injuries, the city proposed installing traffic signals on all of the service roads during the 2010s. In addition, dedicated turn lanes were added, and traffic signal phases were modified so cars did not conflict with pedestrians and cyclists.

History

Planning and construction

Eastern Parkway is located on the high edge of Harbor Hill Moraine, a terminal moraine. Approximately 17,000 years ago the moraine of the receding Wisconsin Glacier that formed Long Island established a string of hills. Mount Prospect (or Prospect Hill), near the present-day intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway, is one of the tallest hills in Brooklyn, rising 200 feet (61 m) above sea level. During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the area was a site of the Battle of Long Island (also known as the Battle of Brooklyn). American forces attempted to hold Battle Pass, an opening in the terminal moraine where the old Flatbush Road passed from the villages of Brooklyn to Flatbush. It fell after some of the heaviest fighting in the engagement, and its loss contributed to George Washington's decision to retreat. Even though the Continental Army lost the battle, they were able to hold the British back long enough for Washington's army to escape across the East River to Manhattan.

Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who were also responsible for Central Park and Prospect Park, suggested the construction of Eastern Parkway and Ocean Parkway to Brooklyn park commissioners in reports prepared in 1866. The proposed parkways would connect Prospect Park with Coney Island and East New York, and the parkways were inspired by boulevards such as Under den Linden in Berlin and Avenue Foch in Paris. Ocean and Eastern parkways were considered to be improvements over the European thoroughfares, since both would contain service roads separated from the main road by tree-lined medians. Olmsted and Vaux intended the parkways to be the center of a parkway system in Brooklyn. Though this plan did not come to fruition, it spurred plans for other park and parkway systems in the United States. The design of Eastern Parkway also popularized the concept of tree-lined parkways in the U.S.

Until the 1860s, the road was known as Sackett Street. On May 6, 1868, the New York State Legislature approved the street's widening between Washington and Ralph Avenues, the latter street being the boundary of the City of Brooklyn at the time. The grading of the site began in August 1870, and because the road was to run at the top of the high ridge of a moraine, this work was difficult. The grading resulted in the excavation of topsoil that was then used to landscape the medians. Gangs of workmen started to break up stone for gravel, paving stones, and Belgian blocks. By August 10, 1871, grading between Washington and Ralph Avenues had been completed and paving had begun. Brooklyn's park commissioners expected that, considering Prospect Park was nearly complete, the parkway would be finished along with the park.

Late 19th century

Land development

View of Eastern Parkway looking toward the Brooklyn Museum, cellulose nitrate negative photograph by Eugene Wemlinger c.  1903–1910 Brooklyn Museum

By 1874, Eastern Parkway was almost completed, and lots were put for sale on the route of the parkway. The Report of the Brooklyn Park Commissioners for the Years 1874–1879, contained a description of "Parkways, Avenues, Streets and Roads, graded, paved and otherwise improved by the Brooklyn Park Commissioners" between 1866 and 1879. The report classified Ocean Parkway as a "gravel roadway" and Eastern Parkway as being of "macadam stone, Belgian block and cobble". Specifically, the main road was paved with macadam while the service roads were of stone blocks.

In conjunction with the development of Eastern Parkway, a special zoning ordinance was implemented (see § Structures). The plan was supposed to spur "first-class" construction on the parkway; according to Brooklyn city official James S. T. Stranahan, similar development had occurred in Brooklyn Heights and at the original location of Columbia College. However, development was stymied by disputes over the ownership of the "East Side Lands" of Prospect Park, at the parkway's western end. The city of Brooklyn sold off some of the property north of the parkway in 1881. The city's attempts to sell the remaining lotd led to a lengthy lawsuit, in which the New York Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the city. Some of the land lay undeveloped until a realty company vouched for the property title in 1910.

Like some later roads on Long Island, Eastern Parkway was designed to use land that was idle because it was high, rocky, and unsuited to farming. The presence of the road, however, made the area desirable as a residences people whose income derived from elsewhere. Thus it became inhabited in the next few decades, while land on slopes to the south and north continued to be used for farms into the 20th century. Eastern Parkway divided the Crow Hill section of Crown Heights to the south and the African American village of Weeksville to the north. The area became known as "Doctor's Row" due to the high concentration of professionals that moved to the area by the 20th century. By the early 1900s, the area around Eastern Parkway had been developed; though a few single-family homes had been built, mostly along President Street, the majority of structures did not follow Olmsted's 1868 zoning regulations.

Extensions

Bike path on Eastern Parkway

While Stranahan originally envisioned one large park between Prospect Park and Jamaica, Queens (with the parks being connected via Eastern Parkway), rapid development made this impossible. Through the 1890s, the parkway was seldom used east of Bedford Avenue. The eastern end of the parkway, at Ralph Avenue, led nowhere; this contrasted with Ocean Parkway, which ended at the Atlantic Ocean.

In the 1890s, Brooklyn officials proposed extending the parkway northeast to near Cemetery of the Evergreens, Highland Park, and the Ridgewood Reservoir along Brooklyn and Queens' Cemetery Belt. The extension was to travel northeast to Stone Avenue (Mother Gaston Boulevard), then north to Fulton Street and northeast to its terminus at Bushwick Avenue. State legislators authorized the extension of the parkway in 1891. Brooklyn's park commissioners appropriated $600,000 for the project, and they planned to obtain 368 land lots through eminent domain. The parkway was to be extended in three phases. In 1896, Governor Levi P. Morton authorized the parkway's extension and the acquisition of further land for the parkway. The city of Brooklyn added a macadam strip in the middle of the existing parkway, and the lampposts on Eastern Parkway's bike path were removed. In addition, the intersection with Bedford Avenue was repaved in brick, and a sidewalk was laid on the south side of the parkway west of Washington Avenue.

Brooklyn's Department of City Works also wanted to build a second extension about 500 feet (150 m) east from Ralph Avenue to East New York Avenue; the extension was 80 feet (24 m) wide. After the consolidation of the City of Greater New York, a further extension eastward was originally planned as part of Eastern Parkway; this later became Interboro (now Jackie Robinson) Parkway. There were also proposals to extend Eastern Parkway southeast to Rockaway Parkway and east to the Long Island suburbs.

Early and mid-20th century

An equestrian statue of Henry Warner Slocum was installed in the middle of the main roadway, at the intersection with Bedford Avenue, in 1905. The service roads were widened in 1907, and dead trees along the parkway were replaced in the 1900s.

The early 20th century brought proposals for New York City Subway lines to Brooklyn, and builders anticipated that development would increase along corridors with subway lines. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) decided to extend its Brooklyn Line under Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway starting in 1914. Due to concerns that the subway would damage 800 old elm trees on Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn park commissioner Raymond Ingersoll recommended that the plans be modified to avoid damaging the trees. As a result, plans for the line were changed in October 1914. The four-track tunnel under Eastern Parkway had to be built as a double-decked structure, except at the Franklin Avenue station, where all tracks were on the same level. The tunnel between Grand Army Plaza and Nostrand Avenue was built using the cut-and-cover method, with two steam shovels excavating an estimated 600,000 cubic yards (460,000 m³). Dirt from the excavation of the tunnel was used to infill the old Brighton Beach Race Course. The subway extension under Eastern Parkway opened in 1920.

In advance of the subway's opening, large numbers of residential buildings were developed along the parkway, especially near stations that were to be served by express trains. Following the subway's completion, a large number of Jews and African-Americans moved into high-rise buildings along Eastern Parkway. These developments included Copley Plaza and Turner Towers, as well as the Lubavitch world headquarters. In addition, brick houses and religious buildings were developed along the parkway. Rents for storefronts on the parkway increased by more than 100%, from $1,000–1,200 before World War I to $2,500–3,000 afterward. By the 1920s, the area around the parkway was an upscale residential neighborhood, where people would visit just to see wealthy residents drive by.

The Slocum statue at the intersection with Bedford Avenue was relocated in 1924, and concrete benches were installed along the parkway's bike path in the early 1930s. In addition, through the 20th century, veterans' groups affixed memorial plaques to many of the fences that surrounded the parkway's trees. The fences were removed in 1939 because they blocked the growth of the trees, and the plaques were reinstalled on granite stones at the bases of each trees. Although a Works Progress Administration guidebook from 1939 stated that Eastern Parkway "recalls the Champs-Élysées", the parkway's condition gradually declined during the mid-20th century due to a lack of maintenance. In the late 1950s, to improve safety, the New York City Department of Transportation installed yield signs and traffic lights on Eastern Parkway's service roads at some intersections. At the time, only the main road had traffic lights, and drivers on the service roads had to yield to traffic turning off the main road; this created a hazardous condition because the wide medians hindered visibility.

Late 20th century

The intersection with Nostrand Avenue

The New York City Board of Estimate allocated $965,000 in 1973 for a renovation of the parkway. The work was to include new trees, restoration of the medians, and repairs to the service roads. By then, the parkway saw relatively few visitors at night due to fears of crime. A computerized traffic signal system was added to the parkway that year. In 1976, Borough President Sebastian Leone asked the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate Eastern Parkway a New York City scenic landmark, following a similar designation for Ocean Parkway. The parkway was declared a scenic landmark on August 22, 1978. The parkway was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 26, 1983.

Due to the aftermath of the New York City fiscal crisis, the city government had comparatively little money on hand to repair Eastern Parkway in the 1970s and early 1980s. By the mid-1980s, many of the elm trees on the parkway had died because of Dutch elm disease, and there were holes in the pavement, broken benches, and missing pieces of curb. This prompted the city to spend $40 million in 1986 to redesign Eastern Parkway, starting with the section between Washington and Pitkin Avenues. There were also plans to integrate the parkway into the Brooklyn–Queens Greenway, a bike and walking path across Brooklyn and Queens. The New York City Department of Transportation began requesting bids for the reconstruction of Eastern Parkway west of Pitkin Avenue in November 1986.

Work officially commenced on the project in August 1987. A $59 million, three-year contract was awarded to Naclerio Contracting Company. even though several of the company's previous projects had been delayed significantly. About $27.8 million of the funding came from the federal government, which had originally earmarked the funds for the unbuilt Westway project in Manhattan, while the city government paid the rest of the cost. The reconstruction of Eastern Parkway was initially slated to take three years. The project entailed installing water and sewage pipes, as well as rebuilding the roadways, sidewalks, and medians. One of the inner roadway's six travel lanes was removed. Granite curbs were installed; benches, street lights, and traffic signs were replaced; and a bike lane with hexagonal asphalt blocks was added. The medians were replanted, and 1,000 trees were added.

The project required the temporary removal of nearly 2,500 parking spaces, so people frequently double-parked in travel lanes. The West Indian Day Parade. which performed on Eastern Parkway every year, was not displaced by the project. Due to a dispute with the New York City government, Naclerio temporarily halted work on the reconstruction of Eastern Parkway from 1988 to September 1989. Naclerio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1990 without finishing the project. The city refused to fire Naclerio, though they did file a lawsuit to force the renovation's completion. A representative of Brooklyn Community Board 9 said that residents had "been victimized long enough" by the prolonged renovation, while the chairman of Brooklyn Community Board 8 said, "I went away to war and came back and nothing was changed." The project was nearly completed by 1992. After the Tully Construction Company resumed construction in 1993, the cost of the renovation increased to $62.4 million. The renovation was completed that year.

21st century

A bus at the intersection with Utica Avenue

The four-block section of Eastern Parkway between Grand Army Plaza and Washington Avenue was the only part of the original parkway that was not rebuilt in the 1980s and 1990s. Although the New York City government had spent $362,000 to redesign that section of the parkway, funding for construction was delayed after the city councilman for the area, James Davis, was assassinated in 2003. Work on a $5.9 million rebuild of that section began in October 2005. In the early 2010s, the reconstruction of the 0.5-mile (0.80 km) section between Grand Army Plaza and Washington Avenue was completed. The work included a westbound bike lane in the northern median and a traffic light at the intersection with Washington Avenue. As part of a pilot program, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) also replaced the parkway's street lamps with LED lights in the early 2010s; this was later extended across the city.

The NYCDOT added concrete pedestrian medians at two intersections in 2015 but removed them after local officials said the islands would obstruct the West Indian Day Parade; these were replaced with removable rubber medians. In 2017, as part of the Vision Zero traffic-safety plan, also NYCDOT proposed installing traffic signals on all of the service roads. In 2020, the NYCDOT upgraded the segment of Eastern Parkway between Lincoln Place and Pacific Street to make it more usable for cyclists and pedestrians. The intersection of Eastern Parkway and Buffalo Avenue was upgraded in 2022, and the NYCDOT proposed further upgrades to the section between Rogers to Troy Avenues in 2023.

Structures

The design of the original parkway was supposed to spur the construction of prestigious residential structures between Douglas Street to the north and President Street to the south. On the service roads, Olmsted proposed erecting only "first class" residences with buildings set back 20 feet (6.1 m) from the sidewalk. The service roads themselves would be relegated to 35-foot-wide (11 m) driveways filled only with greenhouses, carriage houses, and stables. Olmsted believed he could narrow the paved portion of the main road to 40-foot-wide (12 m) and widen the medians to 50 feet (15 m). In accordance with this, Douglass and President Streets, which ran parallel to the parkway two blocks away, were widened. On the next streets to the south and north (respectively, Union and Degraw Streets), all new construction was banned except for horse stables. Because of these restrictions, and the fact that the eastern end of the parkway led nowhere, these sites remained under-developed into the end of the 19th century. The housing restriction was repealed in 1903. Other restrictions were put in place, including a requirement that all proposed plantings be approved first.

Apartment building on Eastern Parkway across from the Brooklyn Museum

In the 21st century, Eastern Parkway contains a variety of zoning uses. While the parkway is mostly zoned for mid-to-high-rise residential structures, there are also small areas of commercial zoning, as well as industrial zoning at the extreme eastern end, where there is a high concentration of transit-related infrastructure in the area around Broadway Junction. In addition, high-rise zoning is allowed at the western end, especially closer to Grand Army Plaza. Eastern Parkway is lined with one-and-two-family rowhouses, apartment complexes, semi-detached residences, and freestanding mansions. There are many pre-war apartment buildings on the parkway, which were subsequently converted to cooperative apartments. Some of these apartment buildings, such as Turner Towers and Copley Plaza, are similar to apartment developments on Park Avenue in Manhattan. These buildings coexist with some of the grander structures on the parkway, such as the Beaux-Arts Brooklyn Museum and the Art Deco Central Library. Commercial uses are more common at Franklin, Nostrand, Kingston, Schenectady, and Utica Avenues, where there are subway entrances. Generally, Eastern Parkway Extension has fewer institutions or commercial structures, while predominating in residential or industrial uses.

Present-day attractions and notable buildings along Eastern Parkway include the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Public Library's central branch, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Lubavitch world headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, Zion Triangle, and the Jewish Children's Museum. There are also numerous parks along Eastern Parkway's route. In addition to Prospect and Highland Parks, Eastern Parkway passes by Mount Prospect Park at its west end, as well as Callahan and Kelly Playground at its eastern end. There are also numerous schools and educational institutions, such as PS 155, PS 157, PS 167, Prospect High School, Clara Barton High School, and Medgar Evers College.

Events

Eastern Parkway is the route of the West Indian Day Parade, a festive annual celebration taking place during J'ouvert, around Labor Day. The parade, which has been held on Eastern Parkway since the late 1960s, attracts between one and three million participants each year. The West Indian Day Parade has also been the site of shootings and stabbings on the route, both during and following the parade. As of 2023, as part of New York City's annual Summer Streets event, the street is closed to traffic for pedestrians and cyclists for one Saturday in August. Eastern Parkway has also been used as the route of the Brooklyn Half Marathon. The parkway hosted large Memorial Day parades every year for much of the 20th century; by the 2000s, these parades had been moved to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, due to declining attendance.

Transportation

The New York City Subway's IRT Eastern Parkway Line runs under the parkway. There are stations at Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum (served by the 2​ and ​3 trains), Franklin Avenue (served by the 2, ​3, ​4, ​5​, and S trains), Nostrand Avenue and Kingston Avenue (both served by the 3 train), and Crown Heights–Utica Avenue (served by the 3​ and 4 trains). The Broadway Junction station on the A, ​C​, J​, L​, and Z trains is located at the extreme eastern end of Eastern Parkway Extension. The B14 and westbound B17 buses of MTA Regional Bus Operations travel on the parkway for short stretches.

See also

• List of parkways in New York
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Brooklyn

References

Sources

• Annual reports of the Brooklyn Park Commissioners, 1861–1873. [Brooklyn] : The Commissioners. 1861.
• Bosselmann, Peter; Macdonald, Elizabeth; Kronemeyer, Thomas (June 30, 1999). "Livable Streets Revisited". Journal of the American Planning Association. 65 (2): 168–180. doi:10.1080/01944369908976045. ISSN 0194-4363.
• Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Barbaralee (2011). The Landmarks of New York (5th ed.). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-3769-9.
• Eastern Parkway (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. August 22, 1978. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
• Eastern Parkway Extension Master Plan Part 1 (PDF). nyc.gov (Report). New York City Department of Transportation. September 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 20, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
• Eastern Parkway Extension Master Plan Part 2 (PDF). nyc.gov (Report). New York City Department of Transportation. September 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 20, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
• Eastern Parkway Extension Master Plan Part 3 (PDF). nyc.gov (Report). New York City Department of Transportation. September 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 20, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
• Eastern Parkway Safety Improvements and Service Road Signalization (PDF). nyc.gov (Report). New York City Department of Transportation. September 26, 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
• Federal Writers' Project (1939). New York City Guide. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-60354-055-1. (Reprinted by Scholarly Press, 1976; often referred to as WPA Guide to New York City.)
• Morrone, Francis (2001). An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn. Photography by James Iska. Gibbs Smith. ISBN 978-1-4236-1911-6.
• Ocean Parkway (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. January 28, 1975. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2019.

External links

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• Media related to Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn) at Wikimedia Commons