1G3 



Whole cost of land taken for the park $2,268,909 70 



The cost of improvement, as appears from 



the financial statements appended to 



this and to previous annual reports, is. . $1,109,604 70 



Making the entire cost of the park to date, $3,438,514 40 

 exclusive of a small amount paid for 

 interest. 



Payment of the first of these acquisitions was met by an 

 issue of city bonds, bearing an interest of six per cent., and 

 having ninety years to run. The residue of the amount was 

 raised by sales of seven per cent, bonds, payable in forty-five 

 years. Xone of these bonds have been disposed of by the city 

 at less than their par value, and some of the seven per cents, 

 have sold at a premium. The interest, payable semi-annually, 

 is raised by annual tax on - the first twelve and the twentieth 

 wards of the city. And for the payment of the entire debt, 

 both principal and interest, the whole park domain, with its 

 improvements, are specifically pledged. 



A sinking fund is also provided by law, consisting partly of 

 an annual tax on said wards, running on to the maturity of the 

 bonds, and partly of an assessment for benefit on the property 

 adjacent to the park. This assessment has not yet been laid, 

 but will doubtless realize a large sum of money, and will begin 

 to be collected as soon as it shall have been properly appor- 

 tioned by the Commissioners appointed for the purpose, by 

 means of an annual tax, to be levied in installments for twenty 

 years successively in the locality specially benefited. 



This ecpiiitable adjustment of the park debt between those 

 wards at whose instance the park was projected, and the owners 

 of property particularly benefited by the improvement, has not 

 only proved wise and practical, but bids fair to realize the most 

 sanguine expectations of its projectors. Soon after work com- 

 menced on the park, the price of lots rose rapidly in the neigh- 

 borhood, and recent sales continue to show an increasing value. 

 The assessed value of real estate in the eighth ward, exclusive of 

 the amount assessed for buildings, has increased over thirty 

 per cent, during the last year. While the increased value of 

 the real estate of the eighth and ninth wards, being the two 

 wards immediately contiguous to the park, has for the same 



