CHAPTER III 

 GENERAL MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY PARK PLANNING 



For convenience in presentation, the municipal corporations of the 

 United States as of 1920 (villages, towns, cities) are grouped into arbitrary 

 divisions as follows: Group I, all incorporated communities under 2,500 

 inhabitants; Group II, 2,500 to 5,000; Group III, 5,000 to 10,000; Group 

 IV, 10,000 to 25,000; Group V, 25,000 to 50,000; Group VI, 50,000 to 

 100,000; Group VII, 100,000 to 250,000; Group VIII, 250,000 to 500,000; 

 Group IX, 500,000 to 1,000,000; Group X, 1,000,000 and above. In a final 

 division, illustrations of what some representative counties have done in 

 park planning will be given. 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF WHAT is BEING DONE BY MUNICIPALITIES OF 

 VARIOUS POPULATION GROUPS AND BY COUNTIES' 



For the purpose of rough analysis of the numbers in different age 

 groups in any given community where the actual figures are not known, the 

 following table showing the percentage of the total population of different 

 age groups during the past five decades is presented: 



1920 1910 1900 1890 1880 



Under 5 years 10.9 n.6 12.1 12.2 13.8 



5 to 14 years 2O.8 20.5 22.3 23.3 24.3 



15 to 24 years 17.7 19.7 19.6 20.4 20.0 



25 to 44 years 29.6 29.1 28.0 26.9 25.8 



45 to 64 years 16.1 14.6 13.7 13.1 12.6 



65 and over 4.7 4.3 4.1 3.9 3.4 



Age unknown o. i 0.2 0.3 0.3 ... 



The average of the age group under 5 years for these decades is 12.1 per cent; and of the age group for the 

 years from 5 to 14, inclusive, is 22.24 P er cent. It will be noted that the percentage of the age group under 5 years 

 has decreased every decade, and that the same is true in the main for the age group from 5 to 14 years. This 

 probably means that fewer children are being born, since the greatest advance in lowering the general rate of 

 mortality has been made with children. 



The first three age groups correspond in a general way to those groups 

 considered in connection with little children's playgrounds, children's play- 

 grounds and neighborhood playfield-parks respectively. By the use of the 

 above table it is possible to estimate fairly accurately the numbers of each 

 age group in any given community, and this information, taken with the 

 principles stated in Section I of the preceding chapter, will make possible a 

 rough calculation as to whether any given community has made ample 



1 In connection with a study of this chapter it is desirable that the student or reader have at hand the Statis- 

 tical Report of the Park Study published by the United States Labor Department. Special attention in this 

 report is called to table "Aggregate Park Acreage in Municipalities Covered by Park Study." 



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