EXPERIENCES—RECOMMENDATIONS 299 
fifteen new parks of that system “Neighborhood-Center 
Buildings,” or “field houses,” is, I believe, most commend- 
able and a practical move in the right direction. 
In these recreation houses are assembly halls, for district 
meetings, lectures, etc. ; a branch of the public library, club- 
rooms, refectories, gymnasiums, swimming pools, etc. All 
have running tracks, and an outdoor gymnasium for addi- 
tional service in summer, wading pools and sand pits for 
children, swings, giant strides, and other athletic para- 
phernalia, all under the supervision of a gymnasium direc- 
tor, and all free to any person conducting himself or her- 
self properly. 
Although these field houses were opened for the first 
time in the past summer (1905), they have been patronized 
by hundreds of thousands of people, and beyond the expec- 
tations of those advocating their construction in the parks. 
The “Public thus receives a continuous and ample return 
on its investment—daily dividends in health, happiness 
and progress.” 
While this plan for the enlarged use of public parks 
is something of an innovation, it combines, with the “park 
beautiful,” the park practical, and vastly increases for the 
mass of people the usefulness of their pleasure grounds 
throughout the year. That the present trend of activity 
and agitation for more playgrounds in all centers of popu- 
lation will gradually develop into some such enlarged use 
of the parks, is, I believe, inevitable. And the sooner the 
people of Essex County are enabled to enjoy increased 
benefits and extended opportunity for recreation, in return 
for their generous appropriations for the parks here, the 
better. While the park system has been irretrievably in- 
jured by the loss of one of the vitally important parkways, 
the parks are susceptible of great possibilities for the fu- 
ture. The 3,600 acres of park lands are forever dedicated 
to park uses. A portion of this area is already embellished 
with the best of modern park improvements. Other at- 
tractive features and utilitarian conveniences will from 
time to time be added. . 
