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Willink Plaza facts for kids

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Prospect Park Brooklyn Mar 2019 01
The Willink Entrance to Prospect Park.

The Willink Entrance area, also known as Willink Plaza, is an important public space in Brooklyn, New York City. It's where Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Empire Boulevard all meet. This area is right next to the eastern part of Prospect Park and the southern part of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

You can get there by taking the New York City Subway to the Prospect Park station. The Willink Entrance area has several public spots and old buildings. It's considered the northwestern tip of the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood in Flatbush, and it's also close to Crown Heights.

A Look at Its Past

The Willink family used to own land in this area, right next to the Lefferts family. That's why Willink Hill and the Willink Entrance to Prospect Park are named after them. The original Willink house was even moved and used as the Melrose Hotel for a while, near where the Prospect Park subway station is today.

Around the year 1900, there were plans to create a special area just for people walking, a bit like a town square. However, this idea was never fully completed. Today, this busy intersection usually doesn't have a specific name. The only property the city bought for this plan was the Melrose Hotel site, at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Ocean Avenue.

In 1918, a big train accident happened underground, right below this intersection. Because of how well-known this disaster became, "Malbone Street" was renamed Empire Boulevard. In 2018, people gathered here to remember the event 100 years later.

You can see two small grassy areas with trees in the middle of Flatbush Avenue, just north and south of the main intersection. As of 2019, there have been ideas to make this area safer and calmer for traffic.

The Green Side: Parks and Gardens

On the northwest side, you'll find the Willink Entrance to Prospect Park. It's on the west side of Flatbush Avenue, just north of the main intersection. This entrance is easy to spot because it has two tall granite towers. This entrance is currently being fixed up.

Further north inside Prospect Park, you'll find the "Children's Corner." This area has lots of fun things for families, like the Prospect Park Carousel, the Lefferts Historic House, and the Prospect Park Zoo.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden also has an entrance on Flatbush Avenue, on the east side. It has a cool brick archway. Right next to it is an old fire station building on Empire Boulevard that is considered a landmark.

The Urban Side: Buildings and Art

On the southeast side, which is more urban, you'll find the Prospect Park subway station on the west side of Flatbush Avenue. The northern exit of the station has artwork featuring animals from the Prospect Park Zoo.

Right next to the station, at the corner of Ocean Avenue, there's a city-owned area. This spot includes a parking lot for the MTA (the subway company) and a special sculpture called "Flatbush Trees." This sculpture acts like a welcome sign for the neighborhood. It has three concrete cylinders with green metal tops. They were put up in 1979 as part of a plan to give the neighborhood a unique look. In 2015, they were redecorated with colorful stickers that look like flowers.

On the east side of Flatbush Avenue, you can see the historic Bond Bread Bakery. It's famous for its tall clock tower.

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