American Park Systems 



REPORT OF THE ORGANIZATIONS ALLIED FOR THE ACQUISITION OF 



A COMPREHENSIVE PARK SYSTEM FOR PHILADELPHIA, 



ON THE EXISTING AND PROPOSED SYSTEMS 



OF OTHER AMERICAN CITIES 



FACTS not fancies, works not wishes, mark the successful national 

 movement for the preservation of places of natural beauty for 

 the use of the public and the substitution of city squares and 

 playgrounds for spots of wretched squalor and ugliness. This move- 

 ment, which has secured marked headway in the last few years, has pro- 

 duced notable results. Park systems in some cities are almost complete, 

 in others they are half finished. In yet others, like our own, where 

 parks however fine in themselves are inadequate for the needs of a city 

 that has far outgrown them, the work of adding well-chosen areas and 

 of connecting the scattered parks into a system has just begun. 



Believing that Philadelphia has opportunities that are second to none 

 in this direction, and that knowledge of what others are doing may be 

 helpful in the realization of the plans that have been made for adding 

 to the attractiveness of all sections of Philadelphia, the allied organiza- 

 tions publish herewith a number of maps which show the existing and 

 proposed park systems and plans for the grouping of important build- 

 ings in several American cities. In each of these maps the ground now 

 in public ownership is shown in green, that which it is proposed to secure, 

 in brown. As the maps are not all made to the same scale, reference 

 to the scale of each is advisable. 



While the mere fact that other cities are acquiring such systems may 

 not prove that Philadelphia should do so, it remains true that the 

 reasons that impelled such action apply with equal force to this city. 



