96 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



The two improvements mentioned above have caused the 

 abandonment of the old street long known as West Farms Road, 

 which originally traversed the southeastern corner of the Park, 

 and passed out eastward into the region known as Van Nest. 

 It is now possible to thoroughly improve and utilize, as never 

 before, the southeastern region referred to. To this end a com- 

 plete re-study of the necessities of the eastern side of the Bronx 

 River is being made, with a view to the elimination of all un- 

 sightly features, and bringing thoroughly into harmony with the 

 other portions of the Park a region which is now in a state akin 

 to disorder. The abandonment of the old road is destined to 

 prove of great benefit to the development of the area referred 



to. 



In connection with the improvement of the original grounds 

 of the Zoological Park, the development of the recently added 

 area will undoubtedly be taken in hand by the Park Department, 

 and within a comparatively short time the whole eastern area 

 will assume conditions very different from those which now 

 prevail. 



As a beginning, the low, wet, open grounds in the extreme 

 southeastern corner of the Park, are being filled to a depth of 

 two feet — practically without expense to the city — and when 

 completely filled and levelled, this area will probably be estab- 

 lished as a baseball ground. The old West Farms Road will, as 

 far as possible, be obliterated. A commodious shelter pavilion 

 will be constructed about 400 feet north of the dam ; the riverside 

 walk will receive a new^ surface, and a concrete bridge will be 

 built in the upper end of the east-side grounds, across the brook 

 that enters the Bronx River through the nursery. While these 

 improvements are being carried on, it is reasonably certain that 

 the Park Department will construct a spacious driveway through- 

 out the entire length of the newly acquired addition to Bronx 

 Park, beginning at West Farms and terminating at Pelham 

 Avenue. In Bronxdale, all the unsightly buildings recently ac- 

 quired by the city have been removed, and within a reasonable 

 time, the whole appearance of that section will be transformed 

 by filling, grading and planting. 



PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS PROPOSED FOR 1912 



Buildbifjs and Ycu'ds for Hoxpital and Qi(aiv)iti)i('. — Up to 

 the present time we have been carrying on the Zoological Park 

 without any permanent plant in which to quarantine newly- 

 arrived animals that may be suspected of carrying diseases, or 



