#ThrowbackThursday: The Original Plans for the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument

The original plans for the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument included an observatory and a rostrum, which were never built. (Image courtesy Images of America: Fort Greene by Howard Pitsch)
The original plans for the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument included an observatory and a rostrum, which were never built. (Image courtesy Images of America: Fort Greene by Howard Pitsch)

This week’s #ThrowbackThursday is an image of the original design of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park. Landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who designed Central Park, began redesigning Fort Greene Park in 1867. Their plans for the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument included an observatory and a rostrum – a platform for public speakers. But due to an economic downturn in 1873, only the vault for the soldiers’ remains and the foundation for the memorial were built.

Do you have old photographs of the neighborhood you’d like to share? Send them to us at TheNabe@TheNabe.me or tweet us at @TheNabeCUNY.