The move to rename J.J. Byrne Park as Washington Park is continuing to make progress. Mr. Byrne was a Brooklyn borough president elected in 1926 who died in office four years later. The park would be given the name it had in the 1880s “when it was home to the baseball team that would become the Dodgers. That name is a nod to the 1776 Battle of Brooklyn, in which British and American forces fought for control of the farmhouse. As a consolation prize, a playground within the park would be named after Mr. Byrne.” The legislation is expected to pass the City Council.–NYT
Bklink: J.J. Byrne Washington Park
April 6th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Tags: Park Slope · Parks · Shortlink
1 response so far ↓
1 Gringcorp // Apr 6, 2008 at 5:22 pm
They should name it after Leopold Philip de Heister, the Hessian general that retook the Old Stone House in the face of stubborn resistance from the house’s out-of-state Maryland defenders. A lot of people give the Hessain mercenaries serious flak for what they did in the American Revolution, but you know, they were just trying to get by, make some money, send it back to their families. I mean, if you watch the Patriot, that unimpeachable bit of history from Mel Gibson, all the baddies have fruity accents. The Hessians were talented and disciplined soldiers with a keen ethical compass. It was the Brits who were the drunken troublemakers. Of course, by about 1913 those characteristics were reversed. Except for the drunkenness. Anyway, leave Hessians alone.