Real Value. — The real value of the parks can not be estimated in 

 dollars and cents. It has been well said that from the standpoint of 

 health and consequent happiness and efficiency, it is more important 

 that an individual give his lungs an atmospheric bath in fresh, pure air 

 than that he give his body a bath in clean water, great as is the latter 

 need. The big stretches of quiet woodland where the wearied city 

 dweller may lose himself for the day; the many acres of meadowland 

 with their shady nooks where keep-off -the-grass signs do not trouble; 

 the many athletic fields for the youth and the playgrounds for the young 

 and the bathing beaches for all : — these are health-giving factors in the 

 life of the city, the value of which cannot be computed in cash. 



Xo particular record of park attendance is kept ; but an estimate 

 made by those familiar with the matter, places the number of those 

 using the parks in the Bronx on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays dur- 

 ing the summer, at 150,000 to 200,000. It is estimated that, during 

 the season when the polo games are played on the parade ground in 

 Van Cortlandt Park, or when the Xational Guard drills and manoeuvers 

 there, as many as 50,000 people have gathered as spectators. The record 

 number of persons passing in one day through the turnstiles of the 

 Bronx Zoological Park is 61,946; the attendance for the year 1913 

 was 1,943,683. 



derequisition gf Bronx Parks. 



The Commission of 1883. — In 1883 the City of New York (this 

 was before the consolidation) stood sixth in the United States in the 

 matter of area of land devoted to public parks. A number of far-sighted, 

 public-spirited men, in that year, petitioned the State Legislature for a 

 commission to choose land for the enlargement of the park area of the 

 City. In answer to the petition, an Act was passed (Chapter 253 of the 

 Laws of the State of New York, 1883 ), which directed the Mayor of the 

 City of Xew York to appoint a commission of seven citizens for the pur- 

 pose described in the petition. The then Mayor, Franklin Edson, 

 appointed a commission, of which Luther R. Marsh was chairman, and 

 such well-known residents of the borough as the Hon. Waldo Hutchins, 

 and the late Hon. W. \Y. Niles were members. This commission worked 

 with such zeal that its report was ready for the Legislature of 1884. 

 This report urged that the city acquire 3,757 acres of new parks, or the 

 territory now represented by Van Cortlandt, Bronx, Pelham Bay, Cro- 

 tona, St. Mary's, and Claremont Parks. At the time of this recom- 

 mendation, the territory included in Pelham Bay Park was not within 

 the boundaries of the City of New York. 



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