OLD EASTERN PARKWAY MEMORIES: Arching Trees & Fountains
By: Ed Gruber
In 1905 my maternal grandparents, Fannie Schwager and Edward Wolff, were married in the then famous red room of the Willoughby Mansion at 667 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn. That same year they moved from Hall Street into a newly purchased brown-stone house at 347 Eastern Parkway, near Franklin Avenue.
Eastern Parkway, before it was broken up to make way for the IRT subway, was undoubtedly the loveliest street in Brooklyn. Tall stately trees formed a great natural arch over the parkway. Benches instead of being securely cemented down, were portable...
Civil engineers left a map to buried treasure along a major avenue. Who knows what kind of rich stuff lies beneath all that tar and stone? Just to be sure, I kept my eye open for booty traps.