THE METROPOLITAN PARK SYSTEM. 167 



spirit of the progressive citizens of Lynn — among whom particular 

 credit belongs to Mr. Philip A. Chase, the Chairman- of the local 

 Park Commission as well as a most valuable member of the 

 Metropolitan Commission — is naturally to be considered as 

 belonging to the Metropolitan Park System, and forming one of 

 its most important features. Counting its two thousand acres, the 

 three great metropolitan reservations have a total area of more 

 than nine thousand acres, which, with prospective additions, will 

 carry the total to something over ten thousand acres. 



Before the Metropolitan Park Commission began the work of 

 securing reservations, there was already, in the outlying cities and 

 towns of the Metropolitan District, about three thousand seven 

 hundred acres of land appropriated for parks and pleasure grounds 

 and other public purposes ; including the water supply reserves 

 of Brookline and Newton along the Charles River in Newton, 

 Wellesley, Needham, and Dedham, which covered two hundred 

 and fifty acres, and seven hundred acres respectively, while within 

 the city limits of Boston, about sixteen hundred acres had been 

 set apart for park purposes. These areas, with those which the 

 Metropolitan Park Commission has secvired, and others which it 

 will soon acquire, make a grand total of between thirteen and 

 fourteen thousand acres, for the metropolitan district. 



Boston may thus be seen to be ihe most favored city in the 

 United States, in the way of space devoted to recreative purposes, 

 so well distributed in all directions as to meet the needs of the 

 population most admirably. The thing most lacking throughout a 

 great extent of the metropolitan region is sufficient space for small 

 local playgrounds or breathing-spots. Some communities, like the 

 city of Everett, for instance, have not so much as a square foot of 

 public pleasure grounds. 



We have already seen that there is a great work 'for the Metro- 

 politan Commission remaining to be accomplished. Chief of these 

 as yet untouched features is the contemplated reservation of Revere 

 Beach, which may be regarded as perhaps the most important 

 feature of all, from the recreative value which the ocean side 

 possesses for the multitude. Then there is the important Charles 

 River problem, to which Cambridge as well as Boston, together 

 with Newton and several other communities along the stream are 

 giving their direct attention, while the Metropolitan Commission 

 and the State Board of Health are considering this matter in its 



