contains about two hundred acres. It has an exceedingly irregular 

 shore line, picturesque and beautiful lagoons; and if properly de- 

 veloped might easily rival the famous Belle Isle Park of Detroit. 

 Indeed, the views of River scenery are much finer than those from 

 Belle Isle. But to make Pettibone Park a thoroughly satisfactory 

 recreation ground, it should be raised securely above the high water 

 of the Mississippi River and the control and jurisdiction of the 

 Island transferred by the Legislature of Minnesota to the City 

 of La Crosse. 



Yet, after all, Pettibone Park only prepared the way. The 

 real beginning was made when the Common Council of La Crosse 

 on May 15, 1908, passed the ordinance creating two park districts 

 and establishing a Board of Park Commissioners. By this ordinance 

 a non-political, unpaid commission of four members was provided 

 for. These Commissioners were to be appointed by the Mayor, 

 subject to the approval of the Common Council. Acting in accord- 

 ance with this ordinance, Mayor Wendell A. Anderson, whose 

 splendid services for parks and the welfare of the city generally, 

 cannot be overestimated, appointed as the first Board of Park 

 Commissioners, J. M. Hixon, L. F. Easton, E. L. Colman, and 

 Henry Gund, — all men of public spirit, high standing and great 

 ability. 



Landscape Architect Engaged. 



The next step was the selection by the Board of a landscape 

 architect as its expert adviser and the arrangement soon after for 

 a public mass meeting to present to the general public the tentative 

 plans for a park system and the reasons for such a system in a city 

 like La Crosse. The meeting was held in the Opera House. The 

 arrangements were unusually well made, the local newspapers 

 co-operating heartily and as a result a large and representative 

 audience completely filled the Hall. The Mayor presided. The 

 speakers pointed out that in nothing is the welfare of a city so 

 permanently influenced as in the selection of sites for parks and the 

 construction of an adequate system of play and pleasure grounds. 

 A park system, it was said, should be comprehensive, including city 

 squares, equipped and supervised playgrounds, small and large 

 parks and scenic reservations, all connected, one with another, by 

 parkways or boulevards. And to be adequate, such a system should 

 not only meet the demands of all classes of the people in all parts 

 of the city to-day, but should reasonably anticipate the needs of 

 the future. The contribution that parks make to pleasure, to health 



Thirlf on 



