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The following comments have been left for this page:
[edit] Status
First, read this, a nice retrospective written by his contemporaries.
- Some information in the main name space article seems scrambled: Prospect Park was managed by eight commissioners in the nineteenth century, not a 'board of trustees.' Stranahan was president of this Park Commission from 1861 to 1882, when Mayor Seth Low did not appoint him for another term. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 15 June 1882
Hardly any references at all are cited; I'm wondering if this is a cut-and-paste from another web site.
- Wrongo! PaulHanson cleaned up what looked to be nineteenth century prose, (and a copy vio) to give credit where credit is due. Still no references, and a few things did get scrambled in the translation. The nineteenth century source does mention the Docks and gets the Park Commission bit correct. Gosgood 21:17, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
- No mention of the Atlantic Docks, which secured his financial place in the city.
- His contemporaries called him the 'Magician'; some did not mean the term in an entirely complementary way.
- Toward the end of his life, he was more often called the 'First Citizen' of Brooklyn.
- That praise notwithstanding, he was a supporter of consolidation with New York City, and lived to see it.
- He was still alive when his memorial statue went up in Prospect Park and was known as 'the Father of Prospect Park.' Some would say that the park's existence is due more to Stranahan than Frederick Law Olmsted or Calvert Vaux; the latter two had the artistic vision, the former moved the politicians and found the money.
Probably, to get this up to a 'B', an editor should search on 'James S. T. Stranahan' at Google Books. That turns up most of the useful references.
Maybe, someday, I'll visit this puppy, but I hope somebody beats me to it. Gosgood 21:01, 25 May 2007 (UTC) (edit)
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