REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF PUBLIC 

 INSTRUCTION FOR 1927 



Dr. C. Stuart Gacer, Director. 



Sir: I take pleasure in submitting herewith my report for the 

 year ending December 31, 1927. 



Registration at Entrance Gates 



Perhaps one of the most striking facts to he recorded in the 

 history of the Garden's development is the enormous increase in 

 the number of visitors, as attested by the registration figures of 

 the turnstiles at the entrance gates (see Table I). Since the 

 turnstiles were being repaired in 1926, and therefore not in op- 

 eration, no definite figures are available for 1926; but the mere; se 

 from the 504-595 figure in 1925, to 1,013,293 in 1927, or more 

 than double, is truly phenomenal. 



When we seek for the causes for this rise, they are not hard 

 to find, although one could hardly have predicted such remarkable 

 results. To begin with, two large high school buildings have been 

 erected within a little more than three years on Classon Avenue, 

 within a short distance of the Garden. One. the Girls' Com- 

 mercial High School, with now about 5,000 pupils, was opened 

 December 15, 1924; while the other, the Bishop McDonnell Me- 

 morial High School, with now about 1.200 pupils, commenced 

 class-work in September, 1926. The presence of these large 

 institutions in such close proximity to the Garden cannot fail to in- 

 crease the gate registration, both on account of the frequent 

 classes that are conducted by their teachers and our curators in the 

 Garden, and also from the fact that many of the pupils walk 

 through the Garden on their way to and from school. 



Another considerable factor is the increasing amount of pub- 

 licity given to the Garden and its activities. In this connection, 

 the remarkably successful campaign for the Rockefeller Endow- 

 ment Fund in 1926 succeeded not only in the acquisition of the 

 fund, but also brought the attractions of the Garden to the notice 

 of many people who had hardly been aware of its existence. The 

 donation of a fund by Mr. and Mrs. Walter V. Cranford for the 

 new Rose Garden during the past year has had a similar effect. 



