Eastern Parkway, the grand boulevard that cuts through Crown Heights from Prospect Park, was conceived in 1866 as the nation’s first parkway.
Flanked by pedestrian malls for riding and strolling, this two-mile road features lovely towering elms lining the malls.
Eastern Parkway took on a more somber tone, however, after World War I, when Brooklyn residents began putting up plaques and planting trees honoring the borough’s war dead.
Today, these plaques aren’t always easy to find. Many were removed over the years because they damaged trees. Others became victims of the elements.
But after a restoration a few years ago, some are visible in the grass again—ghostly reminders of Brooklyn’s sacrifice and valor.
Tags: Brooklyn Boulevards, Brooklyn War Memorials, Calvert and Vaux, Crown Heights, Eastern Parkway, World War I Brooklyn
Ephemeral New York 
June 7, 2010 at 4:43 pm |
This is great! Never noticed those. Did you know that there were original plans (I believe by Olmsted and Vaux) to create an entire network of parkways throughout BK? The only ones to materialize, of course, were Eastern and Ocean, and I guess Ft Hamilton, even though that one shouldn’t really count.
June 7, 2010 at 4:52 pm |
Yeah, those guys were visionaries. We need more designers and architects like them! I think I know one….
September 12, 2010 at 11:09 pm |
[…] died and been torn out, but a few of the plaques still remain. You can read more about them here: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2010/05/29/the-war-memorials-lining-eastern-parkway/ I’m not sure how they ended up in Greenpoint though. Maybe living relatives of the deceased […]
August 31, 2015 at 5:24 am |
[…] Quentin was Quentin Roosevelt, 21, fifth child of Teddy Roosevelt. Rambunctious and mischievous as a child, Quentin left Harvard and his fiance, Flora Vanderbilt Payne, in 1916 to volunteer for World War I. […]
April 6, 2017 at 6:23 am |
[…] Brooklyn, memorial trees were planted and plaques laid down—like these hiding in plain site on Eastern Parkway, which honor individual soldiers who never made it back from […]
November 6, 2017 at 5:03 am |
[…] It’s at the southern end of the park near Parkside and Ocean Avenues, surrounded by a granite and bronze honor roll commemorating the 2,800 men and women from Brooklyn who died during the Great War. […]
March 12, 2021 at 10:29 am |
do you know who created them, and who’s in charge of maintenance? I saw roses placed at dozens of them this past week. and there is one that is badly damaged. id love to know.
March 12, 2021 at 5:12 pm |
I imagine the Parks Department is in charge of maintenance, they should be made aware of the one that is damaged.