Political Formation and Topography 9 



there are twenty engines and nine hook and ladder trucks, 

 while in the Harlem River is stationed a fire tug. There are 

 fifty public elementary schools and the Gouverneur Morris 

 High School on the Boston Road, while, owing to the rapidly 

 increasing population, new sites are being selected and build- 

 ings erected, though not half fast enough to keep up with the 

 growth of school population. Most of these school buildings 

 are modern in every respect; and while built for utilitarian 

 purposes, the aesthetic side has not been neglected; and, as 

 the sites are often on high ground, these fine examples of 

 school architecture tower above their neighbors and attract 

 the attention of the wayfarer. 



Many of the natural features of the Borough are rapidly 

 disappearing before the march of modern improvements; 

 and the authorities are filling in creeks, swamps, and lowlands, 

 laying out and grading streets, and establishing water mains 

 and sewers for the immense population of the future. In the 

 spring of 1903, a plan of opening and grading 420 miles of 

 streets in the district east of the Bronx River was submitted 

 to the Board of Estimate and approved by them on May 29, 

 1903. In this plan, ample provision is made for several small 

 parks and for a larger one at Seton's Falls; but little or no 

 attention is paid to the preservation of old landmarks, except 

 in the way of some of the more prominent of the ancient 

 highways. 



By the Federal Census of 1900, the Borough had a popula- 

 tion of 200,507; and by the Census of 19 10, a population of 

 430,980, an increase of nearly 115 per cent., more than that 

 of any other borough of the city. The great increase in 

 population and the consequent erection of buildings to accom- 

 modate the inhabitants, with the transfers of property and 

 other matters of record in relation to real estate, became so 



