Bronx Parks as a City Asset. 



Large Area of Parks. — The Borough of The Bronx contains 26,017 

 acres, of which 4,154.2 acres, or about 15.2 per cent., are devoted to park 

 purposes. These 4,154.2 acres exceed by 500 acres the combined park 

 acreage of all the other boroughs. It is of interest to note in this con- 

 nection that Boston has 2528 acres, Cleveland 2050 acres, Detroit 1243 

 acres, Cincinnati 2003 acres. 



Remarkable Diversity of Park Scenery. — A unique feature of the 

 parks of the Borough of The Bronx is the remarkable diversity of land- 

 scape that they afford. In a park lying within the boundaries of a great 

 city, or even of a small city, the visitor rarely sees anything other than 

 formal stretches of well-kept lawn, more-or-less artistically arranged 

 flower beds, and tree-shaded walks, and drives. These familiar features 

 are to be found in all the parks of the Bronx. They give the character 

 to the smaller parks of that borough. But in its big parks, there are 

 great stretches of primeval forest ; tree-embowered lakes ; winding rivers 

 that afford enchanting vistas; rock-walled river gorges; picturesque 

 waterfalls ; rolling, tree-covered hill-country ; green valleys and meadow- 

 lands ; acre after acre of waving sea-grass ; and mile after mile of shore 

 frontage that looks out across the ship-studded waters of The Sound to 

 the soft, blue outlines of Long Island. 



These figures tell the story of the diversity of the Bronx Parks : 



Fine forest lands, over 1,000 acres 



Partly forested lands, nearly 1,000 



Playground and athletic fields, 340 



Lakes and rivers, 44 



Artificial lakes, 7.75 " 



Bay waters, several hundred acres. 



Bay shore frontage, 14 miles 



Roadways, 52 



Walks, 29 



Bridges, 10 



Distribution. — A glance at the map of the entire park system of 

 The Bronx, printed herewith, shows the excellent distribution of the 

 parks throughout the borough. Despite this fact, all the big parks, and 



