WEST KOXBURY PARK. 13 



exercised and the limited approiiriatioiis made for the 

 attainment of this grand mnnieinal achievement. 



Bnt amid all the congratulations and rejoicings, the 

 writer can not forget the great injustice done to these 

 land owners, and the loud condemnations by those whose 

 property has been ruthlessly sacrificed, being seized or 

 condemned by the commissioners for this magnificent 

 park scheme. The property thus taken was arljitrarily 

 cut down from the former assessed valuation to about 

 twenty or twenty-five per cent, of the I'cal or prospect- 

 ive value; many of these owners had not the means to 

 contend or to go to the courts for redress, therefore 

 they were obliged to submit to arbitrary dictation, and 

 take what they could get; the grinding price offered, 

 sometimes being made, it is alleged, with the remark, 

 "take it or leave it;" adding as a plausible excuse that 

 "we take your property from you under the right of 

 eminent domain,"' against the will of the owner, after 

 the wholesale reduction in valuation hy the assessors or 

 commissioners, or both, until the ])oint was reached 

 whereby the limited appropriations would cover the sum 

 required, these owners being sacrificed for the public 

 good. 



The reader of the above statements must not lose 

 sight of an important fact in connection with these 

 arbitrai-y acts, that during all these years from 1874, 

 when the public park movement earnestly began, the 

 park commissioners being appointed the following year, 

 when the plans and the general development of the 

 park features were more clearly defined, these lands 

 were doomed or condemned, and not one strij) within 

 the area could be advantageously improved by the 



