OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 63 



THE METROPOLITAN PARKS AS A WHOLE 



It is made evident, by the plan of the Boston Metropolitan district and its reser- 

 vations, that ample open spaces have been provided for the people upon the high bordering 

 hills, upon the banks of the traversing rivers, and upon the bounding ocean shores. The 

 plan also shows the parkways which tie the various reservations to one another and bring 

 them within reach of the people of the cities. The uniform distribution of open spaces 

 around and within the district, and the effective parkway connections between them and 

 the heart of population, characterize the Boston Metropolitan Parks as a system, well 

 balanced, and well knit to the great metropolis of which it has become an organic part. The 

 lands thus secured to the public amount to 3,710 hectares (9,280 acres), and include in 

 addition 27 kilometers or 17 miles of connecting parkways. The cost of the system, to 

 date (1900), for land and improvements, is $5,135,000. 



THE RESERVATIONS 



It has been the policy of the Commissioners to develop acquired lands to no greater 

 extent than to improve existing roads, to establish fire patrols, to maintain superinten- 

 dents, police- forces, and sufficient numbers of laborers to mend roads and to attend to 

 minor forest inprovements. In the case of the Revere Beach Reservation, however, the 

 Commission has undertaken the execution of completed works from carefully prepared 

 plans. In order to set forth the policy of the Commissioners in these matters, and to describe 

 the chief characteristics of two of the reservations, it will be profitable to refer briefly to 

 the Revere Beach and Middlesex Fells Reservations. As for the other open spaces, no 

 further reference can be made to them within the limits of the present description. 



The Revere Beach Reservation. — ^The occupation of Revere Beach, previous to its acqui- 

 sition by the Board, by an objectionable class of hotels, dance-halls and shops, and its 

 patronage by a rough element in the communtity, to the discomfiture of others, has been 

 described already. Upon securing this tract of shore for the public, the commission removed 

 all buildings from the front slope of the beach, and cooperated with the railroad, which 

 occupied its crest, to find a new location behind the remaining houses. Upon the original 

 site of the railroad, a driveway with bordering promenades was provided, extending for 

 a distance of over two miles along the crest of the beach. This radical change not only 

 made the beach accessible to a much larger number of persons than had enjoyed it before, 

 but it brought about a remarkable improvement in the buildings bordering the new prop- 

 erty at the hands of their owners, who found it profitable to prepare for a better class 

 of patronage. Not satisfied with these improvements, the Commission provided shelters 

 at various points along the waterside promenade for the accommodation of sightseers; 

 and it also erected an administration building, in conjunction with two extensive bath- 

 houses for surf-bathing. In connection with these buildings, a laundry, a bicycle-storage 

 shed and a police station were installed. Dressing-rooms to the number of 1,700 were 

 provided, and over 7,000 men and women have used them in one day. A small charge 

 is made for the dressing-rooms and for the use of bathing suits and towels. The receipts 

 from this source in 1899 covered the cost of the year's maintenance, which amounted to 

 $20,000. The natural resources of the reservation, in a shore offering unexcelled oppor- 

 tunities for bathing and an inspiring view of the open sea, when combined with the pro- 



