WEST EOXBURY PAEK. 61 



the final decision of the conit.s had left no donbt a.s to 

 the legaHty and constitutionality of the act. 



In 1852, the estimated vahie of the hnids taken by 

 the act was $1,407,325; but the amount iinally paid 

 for them was $5,406,11)3. By the evidence produced 

 in court during the trials, it appeared that ibr some of 

 the lands so taken the commissioners had awarded only 

 50 per cent, of what the owners had i)aid lor them at 

 pnblic auction in December, 1852, only about six 

 months previous to their being taken for the park. 

 Taxes were assessed upon the lands until 1856. 



The assessments for betterments on surrounding es- 

 tates, made in 1860, amounted to .fl,661,395, which 

 reduced the cost of the park lands to the public treasin-y 

 really to 13,744,798. Of these 773 acres, taken as a 

 park, 135 acres already belonged to the city, and 57 

 either to the state or public institutions, leaving the net 

 amount purchased 583.45 acres, the average price paid 

 being .f 9,266 per acre, or 21.27 cents a foot. 



From 153 to 1857 this matter was so obscured with 

 donbt and uncertainly as to the result, that the value of 

 three wards, in which the park was located, became 

 greatly rednced; the depreciation in a single year, from 

 1855 to 1856, being nearly 10 per cent. Men who had 

 partly paid for their lands abandoned them in dispair of 

 retrieving anything from the ruin which impended over 

 them, and much private misery was occasioned thereby. 



In 1859, when the valuation of these Avards had risen 

 33 per cent, above the valuation in 1856, it was deter- 

 mined to add 75 acres, lying betw^een 106th and llOtli 

 streets. The lands had been unjustly appraised for 

 taxation at $179,850, and when valued in 1860 by the 



