Crown Heights History: The Majestic Eastern Parkway

This series on Crown Heights History has been compiled by Instagram account @crownheightshistory, a born and raised Crown Heightser, and shows some of the ongoing research taking place.

Built between 1870 and 1874, Eastern Parkway is the world’s first parkway to be built explicitly for personal and recreational traffic while restricting commercial traffic. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux (who also designed Central Park and Prospect Park, as well as other parks and parkways).

The road was originally known as Sackett Street Boulevard, then Jamaica Parkway, and then East Parkway, East Side Parkway (1872). On May 6, 1868, the NYS Legislature approved the street’s widening between Washington and Ralph Avenues.  The site’s grading began in August 1870. By 1874, Eastern Parkway was considered to be completed, and lots were put for sale on the route of the parkway. For a period thereafter, parts of Crown Heights were referred to as the Eastern Parkway District.

In 1920, the IRT Eastern Parkway Subway Line was opened, which further connected Crown Heights to the rest of New York and encouraged development in Crown Heights.

On Aug. 22, 1978, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Eastern Parkway as a landmark. According to the NYS DOT, nearly 45,000 cars drive on Eastern Parkway daily.