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number of each class, prepared from the returns of the gate-keepers, 

 is given by Mr. Culyer. The fact is noted that a considerable por- 

 tion of the visitors evidently did not come merely from motives of 

 curiosity, but, after their first visit, repeatedly returned. During 

 all the remainder of the season, indeed, not a few resorted to the 

 park as a daily habit, of whom some came from the more distant 

 parts of the town. Considering the extreme inconvenience with 

 which the park is at present reached, and the very limited attractions 

 which as yet it offers, this circumstance is a gratifying indication of 

 the value which it will hereafter possess. 



THE PARKWAY— APPROACHES AND CONNECTIONS. 



The unsatisfactory character of the approaches to the park has 

 been recognized by your Board, from the outset of its undertaking, 

 as calculated to seriously detract from the value of the service which 

 it would otherwise be able to render the city, and it has accordingly 

 been an incidental part of our duty to devise means of improvement. 

 To do so it has been necessary that we should extend our field of 

 study beyond the territory under your jurisdiction. Our first sug- 

 gestion led, through the subsequent action of your Board, to the 

 special appropriation of the ground necessary for the formation of 

 the Plaza, and to the establishment of the several circular spaces by 

 which amplitude, symmetry, and dignity of character was sought to 

 be secured on the street side of each of the park gates. Through 

 the promptness of the necessary legislative action, and of the subse- 

 quent proceedings in regard to the Plaza, a very great advantage 

 was gained at a comparatively small cost for the necessary land, much 

 of the adjoining ground having since been sold in the open market at 

 rates indicating an advance of several hundred per cent, upon the 

 prices paid by the city. 



In our preliminary report accompanying the first study of the 

 plan of the park, without making any definite recommendations, we 

 suggested the leading features of a general scheme of routes of ap- 

 proach to and extension from the park, through the suburbs, in which 

 the sanitary, recreative, and domestic requirements of that portion of 

 the people of the city living at the greatest distance from the park 

 should be especially provided for. In our annual report of last year 

 portions of this project were somewhat more distinctly outlined, and 

 the economical advantages were pointed out, of preparing and adopt- 

 ing plans for the purpose well in advance of the public demand, 

 which it was intended to anticipate, and while land properly situated 

 might vet be selected in the suburbs of such moderate value that no 



