July 13, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



327 



roads will enable him to reach, in less time, the more formal 

 section of the .y^rounds. There are many points about Fair- 

 mount Park which give it exceptional advantages as a place of 

 resort, and the admixture of formality with rustic wildness 

 gives food for all tastes. The Wissahickon drive has always 

 been full of charm for those who love the shaded banks of a 

 tumbling stream, winding through dense foliage and bordered 

 by picturesfliie rocks lumg with vines and ferns, and this, to 

 the lover of seclusion and country charm, will always be the 

 loveliest and most delightful portion of the park. But, on the 

 other hand, the great bridges overarching the broad Schuyl- 

 kill, the thronged driveways along its willow-planted banks, 

 the group of buildings that survive the centennial exhibition 

 with their surrounding of formal flower-beds, and, added to 

 all, the view of the huge city with its towers and spires, will 

 be ever full of attraction for the general public. 



These two rivers, the Schuylkill and the Wissahickon, are the 

 distinctive feature of this park ; theonegiving to it an imposing 

 effect, and the other an exquisite rural charm. The great rail- 

 road bridge that spans the larger stream frames pleasing 

 pictures in its arches. Along either bank wind wide, smooth 

 driveways thronged with carriages and pedestrians, while 

 countless gayly painted boats of varying shapes and sizes add 

 to the cheerfulness of the scene. The shores of the river 

 show wooded capes and pleasant bays of foliage ; the throng 

 smiles anil chatters ; groups of laughing young people rattle 

 by on bicycles. Now and then a little cavalcade of riders 

 dashes along, and the whole effect is joyous and gay. 



I note the generally cheerful aspect of the frequenters of 

 American parks, in contrast with the bored and uninterested 

 look of people in London and Paris, who take their perfunc- 

 tory airing leaning back languidly against the cushions and 

 looking neither to the right nor to the left. Here, people en- 

 joy the parks; they smile, they sit erect, there is an air of 

 exhilaration and happiness about them refreshing to behold. 

 There is a certain infectious gayety in the scene, as if the world 

 took its airing because it desired the fun, and not simply to be 

 in the fashion. This is very apparent even among the serious 

 Philadelphians, who relax the gravity of their aspect when they 

 drive, and seem evidently to rejoice in the bright air and quick 

 movement of the changing scene. 



Two buildings of the exhibition of 1876 are still preserved in 

 the park — Memorial Hall, which serves as a niuseum of pic- 

 tures and relics, and Horticultural Hall, which affords shelter 

 for tropical plants and for other delicate things which are used 

 for the summer adornment of the grounds. Around these two 

 edifices formal gardening is befitting, and here I found, in April, 

 thickgay beds of Pansies and Tulips and Hyacinths that filled the 

 air with fragrance. It was too early for much foliage, but 

 there was a shimmer of green amid the ruddy tree-tops of the 

 woods. Cherry and Peach-trees were blossoming bravely, and 

 the Willows were in early leaf, casting golden reflections into 

 the streams over which they hung. The charm of budding 

 spring breathed gayety and cheer, and the whole effect of the 

 park, thronged with people, was inspiring. The Philadelphians 

 take pride and delight in their park, as well they may, for such 

 an open tract of ground (2,800 acres) near a great city is a won- 

 derful possession, and the story of its gradual growth from its 

 original small size is full of interest. 



It dates back as far as 1812, when the Philadelphians, desir- 

 ing to obtain a supply of fresh water free from the impurities 

 of city drainage, purchased the precipitous bluff known from 

 earliest days as "Faire Mount" over Schuylkill, which was 

 then considered a remote spot. The first purchase was of five 

 acres, but gradually other land was acquired, so that as early 

 as 1828 the whole quantity was twenty-four acres, for which 

 about $117,000 had been paid. After the water-works had been 

 established on a scale unexampled at that time for magnitude 

 and excellence, the good taste and judgment of the projector 

 suggested the planting of trees and vines to hide the rugged 

 rocks. At that time all the surroundings were rural; beauti- 

 ful country-seats were situated on either bank of the Schuyl- 

 kill, and there were no factories or villages along the river 

 for a stretch of fifteen miles. 



For more than twenty years Philadelphia reposed in the be- 

 lief of the unsurpassable excellence and perpetuity of the Fair- 

 mount water-works, but at the end of that time it was rudely 

 awakened to a consciousness that the ancient country-seats 

 were being deserted, and that manufactories and villages were 

 clustering upon the river-banks, and endangering the purity of 

 the water-supply. With characteristic public spirit the leading 

 men urged prompt action, and, in spite of the usual opposition 

 always encountered by the advancers of popular improve- 

 ments, they were able to accomplish their purpose. An op- 

 portunity offered for buying Lemon Hill, an estate of forty-five 



acres, belonging in Revolutionary times to Robert Morris, the 

 patriot financier, and later to a successful merchant of liberal 

 taste, whose embellishments had made it the pride of Phila- 

 delphia as Pratt's garden. It finally fell into other hands, and 

 a commercial revolution enabled the city to purchase it for 

 $75,000 to protect the water-works. But not as yet was this 

 ground considered a park for the people. For twenty years 

 more there was a struggle between public spirit and official- 

 ism, and not until September 28, 1855, was an ordinance of 

 councils approved which " devoted and dedicated to public 

 use as a park the Lemon Hill estate, to be known by the name 

 of Fairmount Park." 



Another tract of land of forty-five acres was tendered to the 

 city in 1854 by some generous citizens; but, as such benefac- 

 tions are often treated, it was received with reluctance, and 

 two years elapsed before the conditions of acceptance were 

 fulfilled by laying out avenues and walks to enable it to be 

 used as a pleasure-ground. 



In 1857 thirty-four acres more were bought by subscription 

 and tendered to the city, and again this gift was stoutly resisted 

 by an opposition that did not shrink from denouncing not only 

 the action, but the motive of the donors. But at last the large- 

 minded men carried their point, and the Sedgeley tract, vvhich 

 also was once the property of Robert Morris, was added to 

 Fairmount Park, and the munificence of the donors was 

 gracefully recognized by the reluctant city. 



A reference to the old documents in the Philadelphia library 

 shows Holmes' map, dated A. D. 1687, to contain a manor of 

 nearly two thousand acres called Springettsberry, which con- 

 tains Faire Mount. This manor, sold by the commissioners of 

 William Penn, and passing through various hands, has most of 

 its disjointed fragments reunited as one body in the eastern 

 area of Fairmount Park. Many of the' contributions for the 

 two tracts given by subscription were of a most generous na- 

 ture, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, but the greatest number 

 of them were in sums of $100. 



From this point there was less obstruction, the park grew in 

 popular favor, and a large tract of land was bought on the 

 western bank of the Schuylkill by four patriotic citizens, and 

 then offered to the city at the reasonable price at which it had 

 been obtained. This time there was no hesitation, and the 

 noble estate of Lansdowne, containing over one hundred and 

 forty acres, was secured for something less than $85,000, being 

 a smaller price per acre than was paid for any other piece of 

 land bought for this purpose up to that time. In 1867 an act 

 was passed by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of 

 Pennsylvania, with the entire concurrence of the city of 

 Philadelphia, giving a right, title and ownership to the ground 

 appropriated for public purposes to the city, and providing 

 that it should " ever be maintained as an open public place or 

 park, for the health and enjoyment of the people of said city 

 and the preservation of the water-supply of Philadelphia." 

 The act further provided a Park Commission, composed of 

 certain city officials and ten private citizens, to be appointed 

 every five years by the District Court and the Court of Common 

 Pleas, and to them the care and inanagement of the grounds 

 were entrusted, as well as the plans and necessary expenditures 

 for their improvement and maintenance. 



In 1868 the Park Commission prepared a bill for the Legis- 

 lature concerning the boundaries of the park, and at that time 

 the total area prescribed by the Assembly amounted to 2,240 

 acres, to which two more public-spirited citizens, Jesse and his 

 sister Rebecca George, members of the Society of Friends, added 

 as a benefaction eighty-three acres of valuable land which had 

 been the uninterrupted home of their ancestors for many gen- 

 erations, only reserving an annual payment to Jesse George of 

 four thousand dollars by the city during his lite, and one thou- 

 sand to his sister, whose share of the property was one-fifth. 

 This part of the park, in memory of the generous givers, is 

 known as George's Hill, by resolution of the commission, in 

 handsome acknowledgment of this munificent grant. 



After consultation with Messrs. Olmsted and Vaux, of New 

 York, and Mr. Robert Morris Copeland, of Boston, a still 

 further extension of the park was urged by the committee, 

 both for the preservation of the water-supply and for the ac- 

 commodation of the rapidly increasing population, and it was 

 suggested that the romantic scenery of the Wissahickon would 

 form an addition of untold value to the beauty and usefulness 

 of the park. 



This suggestion of the committee was accepted, and a chief 

 engineer appointed to carry out the work. Drives and walks 

 were constructed, springs were improved and ornamented, 

 thousands of trees were planted, and permanent park bound- 

 ary monuments placed in position, new acquisitions of land 

 were made, and the work progressed steadily, till in 1878 



