THE FIRST $1,000,000 103 
boundary of the park be at the old Bloomfield road. At the 
meeting of December 2, this resolution was offered: that 
“all speeches be limited to five minutes, and only two 
speeches be permitted from the same person.” An amend- 
ment to the main resolution that “the territory between 
Bloomfield avenue and Fredonia avenue be treated as a | 
parkway,” was lost—2 ayes, 3 nays; likewise by the same © 
vote an amendment providing that the cost of land in the 
property extension should “not exceed $150,000.” This 
130-acre tract, estimated to cost $160,000, was thereupon 
added to what seemed then, and has since proven, an al- 
ready heavily ballasted financial load; although the re- 
deemed land and the present attractive features of the 
northern section of the Branch Brook Park of to-day afford 
some compensation alike to the public and those responsible 
for the accession. 
The financial part of this undertaking kept full pace 
with, or quite outran, the acreage accumulations. The es- 
timated cost of $361,685 of June, 1895, had, at the close of 
1896, mounted to an actual cash expenditure for land alone 
of $850,687; and a year later to $1,129,086, or nearly one- 
half of the entire county park appropriation for this one 
park of 278 acres. There were very many buildings ac- 
quired with the land purchased, especially in the portions 
of the park south of Fifth avenue; but these, mostly inex- 
pensive residences, realized but little. At an auction sale on 
April twenty-fifth, these houses were disposed of at from a 
few dollars to a few hundred dollars each, and the costly 
experience of making public parks from improved city lot 
property was again exemplified. Only about $16,000 was 
realized from the buildings in this park, that had cost more 
than $500,000. 
HURRYING THE IMPROVEMENTS. 
Concurrently with the consideration of park sites came 
the question of beginning park development. All the com- 
missioners were anxious that the practical work of improve- 
ment should proceed, The public reflected this sentiment 
