PARKS. 



137 



Institution and the extensive National Museum, with 

 their immense collections of objects of nature, art, and 

 industry. 



Passing to the western cities we find Cincinnati not 

 very extensively provided with public pleasure-grounds. 

 Eden Park, on a hill in the eastern part of the city, 

 contains 21 6 acres, and is an attractive place of resort. 

 Burnet Woods, recently purchased for park purposes, 

 contains 170 acres, mostly forest land. In addition 

 there are several small city parks, containing 25 acres 

 in all, the total park area oeing but little over 400 

 acres. 



St. Louis is far better provided. It possesses nearly 

 2100 acres of park lands, embraced in 19 separate 

 parks and squares. The most extensive of these is 

 Forest Park, of 1372 acres. There may be named in 

 addition Tower Grove Park. 266 acres ; O'Fallon 

 Park, 158 acres ; and Carondelet Park, 180 acres. To 

 these must be added the handsome and attractive Shaw 

 Botanical Gardens, of about 276 acres in extent, and 

 embracing the most extensive botanical collection in 

 the United States. These valuable gardens have been 

 donated to the city. 



On the Pacific coast San Francisco possesses, in 

 addition to several small squares, the Golden Gate 

 Park of 1043 acres which extends to and along the 

 ocean beach. Much of this is a bleak and sandy 

 stretch of land, presenting none of the ordinary advan- 

 tages of park localities. About one-half of it has been 

 handsomely laid out in walks, drives, lawns, etc., its 

 greatest attraction being a magnificent conservatory 

 building, modelled after the Royal Conservatory at 

 Kew, England, and well filled with exotic plants. The 

 remainder of the tract, that bordering on the ocean, 

 remains unimproved, and is of an inviting character 

 for park treatment. It will need to be handled with 

 much skill to bring out its possibilities of landscape 

 beauty. 



Chicago needs special mention from having inaugu- 

 rated a park idea of its own, or one borrowed in part 

 from Europe, which has been carried out with the 

 energy for which the Chicagoans are celebrated. The 

 lands surrounding this city are very poorly adapted for 

 park purposes. With flat ground, poor soil, and a 

 deficiency of trees and of the ordinary features of 

 natural beauty except in the vicinity of Lake Michigan, 

 the promise was far from good, yet the result, as shown 

 in Chicago's chain of parks, is very beautiful and 

 attractive. A series of parks have been thrown in a 

 semicircle round tke city, touching the lake at each 

 extremity, and so connected by wide, tree-lined boule- 

 vards as to form virtually a single park, a system 

 which, as we have already said, is designed to be 

 adopted in the new parks of New York city. 



In the southern district, outside the city limits, are 

 the two South Parks, respectively of 372 and 593 

 acres, the larger having 1 J mile of lake front. It is 

 designed to form in the latter a series of internal park 

 lakes connected with Lake Michigan. North of these 

 is the East or Jackson Park, of 600 acres, and 2 

 miles of lake front. It is designed in the future to 

 connect this with the South Parks by a grand boule- 

 vard, 6(X) ft. wide. In the western division of the city 

 lie three parks, the first being Douglas Park, 171 

 acres in area, and connected with the South Park system 

 by a boulevard 9 miles long. Next comes Garfield 

 Park (185 acres), and Humboldt Park (194 acres). 

 Three and a half miles from the latter lies Lincoln 

 Park, touching the lake north of the city, and com- 

 pleting the semicircle. This is the oldest and most 

 elaborated of the parks. It contains 310 acres, has 

 2 miles of frontage on Lake Michigan, and contains 

 a zoological garden, with beautiful flower-beds and 

 groves of native trees. In addition to these there are 

 many small parks within the heart of the city. The 

 parks, with the exception of Jackson Park, are con- 

 nected by broad boulevards, from 200 to 250 ft. in 

 width, which unite the whole system into one. These 

 VOL. IV. i 



are reserved for carriage driving, their total length 

 being 40 miles. 



Others of our cities have park systems resembling 

 that of Chicago. Buffalo, for example, has an inland 

 park of 300 acres, from which rural promenades lead 

 in one direction to an esplanade over Lake Erie, in the 

 other to a parade-ground and public garden. The 

 total park area is 530 acres. 



The new park system of Boston is designed on the 

 Chicago plan. It will begin with the Charles River 

 embankment, an esplanade_of 200 ft. wide and ex- 

 tending 2| miles along the river side. Next will come 

 the Back Bay Park, of about 106 acres ; the Muddy 

 River improvement, of 110 acres; Jamaica Park, 

 comprising a pond of 70 acres and a surrounding drive- 

 way of 52 acres ; the Arnold Arboretum, of 167 acres ; 

 and the West Roxbury Park, of 485 acres. This will 

 make a system of parks, connected by broad parkways 

 8 miles in length, and with an aggregate area of 1059 

 acres. The land has been purchased, but years must 

 elapse ere the scheme can be completed. Besides the 

 above several other parks are designed, which will 

 make the Boston park system, when finished, a very 

 complete one. 



Of Northern cities, not above named, it may be 

 stated that Detroit possesses a park of unusual char- 

 acter, as occupying an island in the middle of Detroit 

 River. This park, Belle Isle by name, is of 700 acres area, 

 with a bridge leading to the main land, with which it 

 is designed to connect a boulevard 9 miles long and 

 150 ft. wide, curving in a crescent around the city. 

 Cleveland possesses 93 acres of park lands, with plans 

 for additional ones. Milwaukee has a pask on the 

 lake front with a fine view over the lake from an eleva- 

 tion of 80 to 100 ft. New Haven has a park of 350 

 acres on the summit of East Rock, on the highest 

 point of which rock is erected a soldiers' monument 

 of 125 ft. height. In the city of Lynn, Mass., a 

 movement is on foot to secure the forest lands of North 

 Lynn, 3300 acres in extent, for a public park ; a project 

 of very ambitious dimensions for a city of 45,000 in- 

 habitants. 



The cities of the South have been less active than 

 those of the North in providing large public pleasure- 

 grounds, though many of them are well provided 

 with small squares. New Orleans is dotted over with 

 such squares and has, in addition, the tastefully decor- 

 ated New City Park of about 150 acres in area, which 

 lies on the river near the north-eastern boundary of 

 the city. The World's Fair and International Cotton 

 Exhibition of 1884-5 was held here, the buildings 

 covering a considerable portion of the area. It was 

 at that time unimproved, though possessed of natural 

 ornaments in the form of live-oak trees with depend- 

 ing drapery of Spanish moss, but for the purpose of 

 the exhibition it was laid put in grass plats and planted 

 with temperate and semi-tropical plants and shrubs, 

 while fountains, bridges, electric lights, and other 

 features of attractiveness were added. The city 

 squares, about 9 in number, are partly improved, 

 though some of them remain in a state of nature. Of 

 these Jackson Square, on the river front, is the favorite 

 resort. It is handsomely laid out with trees and 

 shrubbery and in its centre stands Mills' equestrian 

 statue of General Jackson. 



The city of Charleston is very deficient in public 

 grounds and the misfortunes of fire and earthquake to 

 which it has been subjected are likely to check any 

 enterprise in this direction for years to come. Its 

 principal advantages of this kind are Washington 

 Park, a city square which contains a statue of William 

 Pitt, and Battery Park, a popular promenade which 

 lies near the water's edge and commands an extensive 

 view of the bay. 



Savannah, on the contrary, is unusually well pro- 

 vided, having no fewer than 24 small parks or squares 

 mostly of 1J to 3 acres in extent, at the junction of 

 their principal streets. The largest of these is Forsjth 



