A map with a crezy definition of Prospect Heights

Speaking of neighborhood boundaries and how they change -- I think over the next ten years there will be some more huge changes around Washington Ave. We're moving out of a time when the heart of many Brooklyn neighborhood was an enclave: a low-traffic street, often without a major subway stop. Back then higher traffic arteries with subway stops were typically the somewhat dangerous boundary streets between neighborhoods.

Right now the center of gravity is moving towards busy streets with subway stops. Think of the retail heart of Park Slope 15 years ago: it was around 7th Avenue and Union. Back then 9th Street was the down-at-the-heels boundary with the South Slope. Today the 9th Street F-Stop is much closer to the heart of the neighborhood.

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/37/32_37_gk_prospect_heights_historic.html

I just ran across 2 maps:
http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/Brooklyn.htm (the "northwest corner" maps)

that show, among other things, some of the development of PH between 1891 and 1897...interesting stuff. Note, for instance, the east/west cross streets laid out across what became the Botanic Garden in the 1891 map, gone in the 1897 map...

there are also some neighborhood or development names on those maps I've not seen before, like "Blythebourne" (north of New Utrecht) and "South Greenfield" (west of Flatlands)