The ballroom at Niblo's, one of New York's most popular amusement centers. In addition to the ballroom, Niblo's boasted a theater, gardens, and a refreshment center. There is no park on the island deserving the name ... [and] I think that the expenditure of a sum necessary to produce and lay out a park of sufficient magnitude to answer the purposes above noted would be well and liMely appropriated, and would be returned to us fourfold, in the health, happiness and comfort of those whose interests are specially entrusted to our keeping—the poorer classes.19 Although Kingsland recommended no specific site, his action was most important because it forced the council to take formal action on the issue. Clothed as a public panacea—a device to placate the poor, serve the rich, improve public health and happiness—the idea seemed irresistible. The Evening Post naturally gave the mayor's message its 19 In Edward Hagaman Hall, "Central Park in the City of New York" Sixteenth Annual Report, 1911, of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society (Albany, 1911), 450.