This month’s featured map of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park was first posted on our blog by Allison back in May 2010 – but it is so beautiful that we wanted to showcase it again. An 1871 design from Olmsted, Vaux & Co, Landscape Architects, the map was made while the park was both open and still under construction. Today the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library and Mount Prospect Park sit on what was the reservoir’s land. Also of interest is the land for sale around the reservoir — part of which makes up today’s Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Design for Prospect Park in the City of Brooklyn. Olmsted and Vaux (Firm). 1871. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library’s open hours, Wed.-Fri., from 1-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary to view most maps. Our cataloged maps can be searched through BobCat and our map inventories through Emma.

Map of the Month is part of a project to catalog our map holdings, funded through the Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Collections program. If you would like to help us do more of this kind of work with our exciting map holdings, donate here.