| Grand Army Plaza | |
|---|---|
 Grand Army Plaza viewed from the southeast, anchored by theSoldiers' and Sailors' Arch | |
  Location within New York City Show map of New York City Location within New York Show map of New York Location within the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Location | Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°40′26″N73°58′12″W / 40.67389°N 73.97000°W /40.67389; -73.97000 |
| Area | 14.26 acres (5.77 ha)[1] |
| Elevation | 131 ft (40 m)[2] |
Grand Army Plaza, originally known asProspect Park Plaza, is a publicplaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance[3] ofProspect Park in the New York Cityborough ofBrooklyn. It consists of concentric oval rings arranged as streets, with the namesake Plaza Street comprising the outer ring. The inner ring is arranged as an ovoid roadway that carries the main street,Flatbush Avenue. Eight radial roads connectVanderbilt Avenue; Butler Place; two separate sections of Saint John's Place; Lincoln Place;Eastern Parkway; Prospect Park West; Union Street; and Berkeley Place. The only streets that penetrate to the inner ring are Flatbush Avenue, Vanderbilt Avenue, Prospect Park West, Eastern Parkway, and Union Street.
The plaza includes theSoldiers' and Sailors' Arch; theBailey Fountain; theJohn F. Kennedy Monument; statues ofCivil War generalsGouverneur K. Warren andHenry Warner Slocum; busts of notable Brooklyn citizensAlexander Skene andHenry W. Maxwell; and two 12-sided gazebos with "granite Tuscan columns,Guastavino vaulting, and bronze finials".[4]: 668
The site of the future Grand Army Plaza was in the 17th century a pass through theHeights of Guan. It played a small role in the 1776Battle of Long Island, the biggest battle of theAmerican Revolutionary War.
The 1861 plan for Prospect Park included an elliptical plaza at the intersection of Flatbush and Ninth avenues.[5] In 1867, the plaza was designed byFrederick Law Olmsted andCalvert Vaux as a grand entrance to the Park to separate the noisy city from the calm nature of the Park. Olmsted and Vaux's design included only theFountain of the Golden Spray and the surrounding earth embankments covered in heavy plantings. Theberms still shield the local apartment buildings and theBrooklyn Central Library from the noisy traffic circle that has developed. By 1869 theAbraham Lincoln statue byHenry Kirke Brown[6] was north of the plaza fountain's stairs, and the statue was moved to the lower terrace of the park'sConcert Grove in 1895.[5]
The original 1867 fountain was successively replaced by an1873 lighted fountain, an1897-1915 fountain for exhibitions, and the 1932Bailey Fountain, renovated in 2006.
In 1895, three bronze sculpture groups were added to the 1892Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch.
In 1926, the plaza, previously known as Prospect Park Plaza, was renamed Grand Army Plaza to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the foundation of theGrand Army of the Republic, afraternal organization composed of veterans of theUnion Army and other military services who served in theAmerican Civil War.[8]
In 1975, Grand Army Plaza became aNational Historic Landmark.[9] A private funding campaign in 1999 was established to restore the monument. In 2018, keystones from the roof fell and protective barriers were placed around the monument to safeguard pedestrians. A full restoration of the arch and statue was done in 2021, sponsored by the City andProspect Park Alliance.[10]
In 2008, a competition was held for designs to reorganize Grand Army Plaza to make it a more integral part of Prospect Park and more accessible to pedestrians.[11] At the same time, theNew York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) made improvements in accessibility, putting sidewalks and planters in many of the striped areas. These improvements made it somewhat easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to cross from the park to the library and to the plaza. The changes made by the NYCDOT were modest in comparison to those in the designs in the competition, most of which called for the rerouting of some of the vast traffic flow.[12]
In November 2022, the NYCDOT started soliciting public feedback for a proposal to close Grand Army Plaza permanently to vehicular traffic, converting the plaza to apedestrian zone.[13][14] The proposed pedestrian zone would connect with Underhill and Vanderbilt Avenues; these roads are part of the city'sOpen Streets program, where vehicular traffic is restricted during certain times of day.[14]
The area around the Arch forms the largest and busiesttraffic circle in Brooklyn, being the convergence ofFlatbush Avenue,Vanderbilt Avenue,Eastern Parkway, Prospect Park West, and Union Street. In 1927, Brooklyn's "Death-O-Meter", a sign admonishing drivers to "Slow Up" and displaying a continually updated tally of traffic accident deaths in the borough, was installed.[15]
A popular farmer's market, part of theGreenmarket program of GrowNYC is held on the plaza in front of Prospect Park every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.[16]
The station is served by twoNew York City Subway stations and multiple bus routes. TheGrand Army Plaza station (2 and 3 trains), built in 1920 on theIRT Eastern Parkway Line, is on the north end of the Plaza, while theSeventh Avenue station (B and Q trains) on theBMT Brighton Line is several blocks northwest.[17] TheB67 andB69 buses stop at Union Street and 7th Avenue, two blocks north, while theB41 bus stops on Flatbush Avenue.[18]
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Entering at the main entrance or plaza, the visitor leaves on either side the mounds which flank the spot selected for the Fountain of the Gold Spray.
On 20 October 1917 Brooklyn celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of Prospect Park, and the ceremony took place at the triumphal arch on Grand Army Plaza.
In 1975, Grand Army Plaza became aNational Historic Landmark
Media related toGrand Army Plaza at Wikimedia Commons
