252 THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 



Mr. Robson, when their issuance ceased. Their publi- 

 cation Avas resumed when Thomas Meehan and vounoer 

 sons established "Meehan's Monthly." in 1890.* 



Thomas Meehan's career as a public man began in war 

 time, when he was joined with a numl^er of prominent men 

 in an endeavor to compromise with the South. He was 

 also instrumental, with others, in the drawing up of the 

 rough draft of the Crittenden Resolutions. In 1876 he was 

 elected a member of the School Board of Germantown. In 

 1880, at the demand of the Independent Republicans, he 

 consented to stand for Common Councils on the Republican 

 ticket. Through his endeavors, in ten years Germantown, 

 from being traversed by dirt streets, became one of the best 

 paved portions of the city. Mr. Meehan also secured the 

 passage of an ordinance requiring that public school-houses 

 be built of two stories. 



One of his first movements as Councilman was to 

 introduce an ordinance to select unimproved plots over the 

 whole city, a few miles apart, leaving them to grow in 

 value, and then sell outlying portions, in order to pay for 

 the parks.t This plan was pronounced illegal by the City 

 Solicitor, the charter of Philadelphia forbidding it to sell 

 real estate. A plan to raise a loan for purchasing the plots 

 was also found to be impracticable, the debt of the city 

 having already reached the limit allowed by law. The 

 only method left was to put such plots on the plan as were 

 not likely to be pushed for purchase for a number of years, 

 so that they could be taken gradually as the annual income 

 of the city permitted. 



* Meehan's Monthly, Devoted to General Gardening and Wild Flowers. 

 Conducted by Thomas Meehan. Published by Thomas Meehan A: Sons, Germantown , 

 Philadelphia. 



t Garden and Forest, VI : 248. 



