TOWN COMMON 
Modern Treatment 
Any appropriate treatment of the town common must develop 
from its present purpose and modern uses. If it is to be used for 
cattle shows or military drills there will be little difficulty in model- 
ing the common to meet these requirements. If, however, the much 
more usual purpose prevails of keeping the common as a civic center 
for the sake of the beauty and dignity which it may add to the 
community, a different method of treatment is desirable. This 
treatment for what must be considered the typical town common 
may be briefly stated as follows: 
1. Buildings of every sort must be kept off the common. There 
is a constant demand, especially where a large common exists, for 
the location of some public building within the open space. First 
it is a high school, then it is a library, or it may be a town hall or 
even a post office, which is seeking a location. Everybody can see 
that the proposed building would look well on the town common, 
while few people stop to think that, after the erection of one or two 
such buildings, there is no common left. The only way to have both 
the common and the buildings is to place the buildings somewhere 
else. The ideal location for good public structures is facing the 
common — never upon it. This rule is positive and admits of no 
exceptions, unless it be in those very rare instances where a town has 
too large a common. 
2. All other structures should be kept off the common. There 
are two popular infractions of this rule to which a special word 
should be given. The first is the erection of a band-stand upon 
the common. Hundreds of towns have adopted this plan, but in 
every case the effect is to detract from the openness and dignity of 
the grounds. In a large majority of cases the band-stand is a shabby 
and undignified structure in itself, — sometimes an ugly derelict. 
Another fact, too, should have considerable force, viz., that the 
typical band-stand is about the poorest possible contrivance from 
which to deliver a band concert. A stand suitable for band con- 
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