EXECUTIVE ORGANIZATION OF A PARK DEPARTMENT 535 



training and experience. In 1890 the number of park areas and the gross 

 acreage of park properties in American cities, even in the larger cities, was 

 comparatively small. Almost universally, with a few exceptions, these areas 

 were wholly landscaped and their use by the people much restricted. Dur- 

 ing the decade following 1890 a wider social significance of parks began to 

 be realized in terms of a broader interpretation of recreation, but there 

 were no outstanding changes over previous decades so far as the prevailing 

 form and spirit of park service was concerned. 



Since 1890 the emphasis has shifted rapidly toward a larger social 

 viewpoint of the functions of park departments indicated by a wider use of 

 existing properties of all types by the people, the addition of several dif- 

 ferent types of properties previously not found in park systems, new types 

 of designs of properties providing for many different kinds of activities 

 formerly not contemplated, and the inclusion of new types of workers on 

 the executive staffs. The inception of this new ideal of service also involves 

 a wider range of cooperative relationships. The executive must not only see 

 to it that the properties and facilities under his immediate control yield the 

 greatest possible dividends in terms of human service, but properties and 

 facilities under the control of private organizations and institutions and 

 other public agencies often present additional opportunities for service at 

 slight cost to community funds. He should see and understand in all this 

 that as an antidote to the human ills of modern urban industrial ways of 

 living and working, as a constructive force for releasing the qualities and 

 powers of the people during their leisure time and hence promoting their 

 physical, mental, moral, civic and cultural development, modern park service 

 represents one of the great social achievements of American civilization. 



The modern park executive should first of all, then, be a student and 

 interpreter of the social needs of the people, in so far as these needs can be 

 met through their leisure time. He must not only be a student and inter- 

 preter of these social needs, but in addition he must be a promoter, a leader 

 and organizer of the people in a great variety of activities designed, on the 

 one hand, to remedy the human ills resulting from the inherent defects of 

 abnormal living conditions, especially in urban communities, and on the 

 other hand, to aid the people to gain a greater measure of happiness in 

 living and a "more expressive life for all." 



The acquisition of every piece of property, every step in the develop- 

 ment of properties, every piece of equipment placed therein, the use of 

 every dollar of money expended, must be predicated upon the above prin- 

 ciple and ideal. Coincident with expanding functions and consequent 

 increase in properties and facilities and activities, larger sums of money 

 are being invested yearly in recreational service. The detailed expenditure 



