Named after Mount Prospect, a hilltop once known for its sweeping views.
When Egbert Viele published the first plans in 1861, the space was called ‘Mount Prospect Park’, centred on Mount Prospect, or Prospect Hill. Until the 19th century the hill had sweeping views over Manhattan, New Jersey and the Atlantic. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who laid out the park that opened in 1867, left the hill itself out: it lies across Flatbush Avenue.