24 The Annals of the American Academy 



home, and that recreation grounds for the larger boys shall be 

 nowhere more than a mile distant from their homes. 



This playground movement is gaining headway throughout 

 the country; all the larger cities are rapidly falling into line. One 

 of the achievements of Mayor Low's administration in New York 

 was the. opening of eight such playgrounds. Chicago, as will be 

 noted later, is also securing a considerable number of them. 



The cities that have followed to some extent the example of 

 Boston in preserving places of natural beauty, in addition to Kansas 

 City and Omaha, are Hartford, Buffalo, Minneapolis, and to a 

 smaller extent its twin city of St. Paul, the borough of the Bronx, 

 and to some extent Brooklyn. Cities that have somewhat less devel- 

 oped systems are Cleveland, the upper portion of the Borough of 

 Manhattan, N. Y., and Memphis, Tenn. Cities that are at the 

 beginning of the acquisition of comprehensive systems are Wash- 

 ington, D. C. ; Baltimore, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Providence, 

 Portland, Ore. ; Seattle, Wash. ; Louisville, Milwaukee, Staten Island, 

 St. Louis and Ottawa, Canada. Such lists as these are accurate one 

 day, but inaccurate the next because of a new recruit. 



In Baltimore the movement was undertaken by the Municipal 

 Art Society, which secured the services of the Olmsted Brothers in 

 planning a system. Their plan, which was published in the summer 

 of 1904, will, when carried out, give that city twenty-four new small 

 parks, covering two hundred and four acres, additions to existing 

 parks amounting to three hundred and twenty acres, and park con- 

 necting links, either formal or valley parkways, fifty-eight miles in 

 length, their width varying from two hundred feet to a quarter of 

 a mile, with yet larger outlying reservations several thousands of 

 acres in extent. Despite the fire, a beginning has been made toward 

 executing the plan. 



In Providence the park agitation, which has been going on 

 for some time, resulted in the appointment of a commission in 

 November, 1904, which is to report to the Legislature in January, 

 1905 ; which report will therefore have been rendered before this 

 sketch, of the park movement is published. 



In Philadelphia, forty-five organizations, including official rep- 

 resentatives of the city government, philanthropic organizations, 

 local improvement associations and civic organizations of many 

 kinds, have joined with park associations under the title, "Organ- 



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