The Development of Park Systems in American Cities 19 



ests of the individual and the greatest good of the greatest number. 

 While the discussion of this subject in America has been con- 

 fined chiefly to occasional articles in more or less technical maga- 

 zines, such as engineering and architectural monthlies, and to special 

 reports of associations, its progress throughout Europe, both in 

 England and on the continent, has been considerably greater, and 

 in Germany the development of the subject has been quite remark- 

 able. The question of planning the suburban sections of the smaller 

 and larger German cities has secured the attention of the public to 

 such an extent that at the beginning of 1904 a beautifully illustrated 

 magazine, devoted principally to the discussion of plans for street 

 extension, was launched upon the public. We have not reached 

 the point where publishers recognize that there is a business prob- 

 ability that a magazine entitled "The City Plan" will be successful. 

 It is probable that we will reach that point before many years, and 

 this as a direct result of the movement for the City Beautiful. 



Outer Park System. 



The most striking results of the movement so far secured 

 consist in what are termed outer park systems. The word 

 "outer" in this connection is misleading; it seems to convey the 

 idea that somewhere away beyond the built up portions of a city 

 there are natural parks which the city has secured so that for all 

 time its inhabitants will have some place to go in the country. Yet 

 in fifty years it is probable that the outer parks of to-day will be as 

 completely inner parks as Madison Square in New York, Washing- 

 ton Square in Philadelphia and the Commons in Boston, are to-day. 

 The site of the Fifth Avenue Hotel in 1852 was a truck patch. 

 Again the term "outer" seems to imply that the agitators of the 

 movement are making the same mistake that was made a genera- 

 tion ago when during the sixties and seventies the majority of the 

 large parks of the country, such as Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, 

 Franklin Park in Boston and Central Park in New York, were being 

 secured. That mistake consisted in being so completely absorbed 

 with the idea of the single great country park as to fail to recognize 

 the value of the small open spaces four and five acres or less in 

 extent. The term "comprehensive park movement" is more descrip- 

 tive of the character of the agitation to-day. 



In the eighties there began an agitation for the creation of these 



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