PARK AND PLAYGROUND SYSTEM 



True value of real estate in 1900 $17,930,370 



True value of real estate in 1908 34,314,259 



Increase during the period of . $16,383,889 



Or an average annual increase of $2,047,986 



Of this amount, 12%% is due to park work, or .... 255,998 



That is, during this period there has been added each 

 year to the wealth of the real estate by virtue of the 

 park work the sum of ' 255,998 



The above comparisons are based on the true or actual 

 values of property within the city. Taking the assessed values, 

 the results shown by this report are equally interesting. Con- 

 fining the comparisons to real estate, it is seen that the as- 

 sessed value in 1901 was $15,201,182, which rose in 1908 to 

 $21,738,975, making an average annual increase for the seven 

 years covering this period, in the assessed value of the real 

 estate of the city, of $933,970. On the basis that 12j/ per 

 cent, of this increase is due to the park work, there has been 

 added each year during this period to the assessed value of 

 the real estate by reason of the park work $116,746.25. 



Another interesting fact brought out by this report is that 

 the average annual increase in the assessed value of real estate 

 in the city from' 1893 to 1900 was only $314,772, while the 

 average annual increase from 1901 to 1908 is $933,970. It 

 may be said that this comparison is unfair because, in 1901, 

 the first attempt was made to assess real estate at figures more 

 nearly approaching its true value. But this objection is met 

 by the fact that in the comparison for the later period the in- 

 creased assessment of $15,201,182 (which includes the new 

 tenth ward) is taken as the starting point, and the assessments 

 made for the first period, 1893 to 1900, are all doubled. Hence, 

 the figures demonstrate that since 1901 the average annual 

 increase in the assessed value of real estate has been substan- 

 tially three times the average annual increase for the period 

 from 1893 to 1900. 



Now, it is an interesting fact that the park work within the 

 city started in the spring of 1899, by the securing of what now 

 constitutes a part of Tenney Park. It was two years, however, 

 before this land was filled ready for planting. Then followed 

 the Yahara River Improvement in 1903, and the Henry Vilas 

 Park and Brittingham Park Improvements in 1905, and the 

 work on these different improvements has not yet been com- 

 pleted, although pushed as rapidly as possible. The point here 



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