The Small City Park as a Great Asset 



RAIjPH D. CORNELL 

 POMONA COLLEGE 



In the growth of citi«s, the past tendency has generally been to develop 

 tlie commercial, the industrial and the residential districts. During this 

 growth no effort has been made in behalf of the common people to beautify 

 the streets uniformly, to provide for parks or to acquire and hold municipal 

 squares or tracts of land for landscape improvement at such a time as the 

 growth and wealth of the city would warrant the initial expenditure and 

 subsequent upkeep. Blind practicality is apt to come first in the mind of the 

 American of today, and the future welfare of the community and the better- 

 ment of humanity are overlooked in the attempt to excel commercially, indus- 

 trially, or in population. 



The task of properly providing breathing space and places of retreat from 

 the noise and dirt and confusion of a large city is a vital problem. The 

 provision of public parks for public use becomes a live question. Green grass 

 and trees, flowers, fresh air, and .sunshine are all absolutely essential for the 

 health and happiness of the human race. It has truthfully been said that 

 wretchedness and squalor breed crime ; that beauty and cleanliness of sur- 

 roundings inspire worthy thoughts and deeds and tend toward the elimination 

 of things evil. The matter of city parks thus becomes an all important city 

 problem and should be carefully weighed and considered in all city planning. 

 Too much attention cannot be given this subject, and its importance is so often 

 borne in upon the city relatively late in its growi:h, when it becomes necessary 

 to condemn, or acquire by private purcha.se at high figure, lands for such 

 public use. California has ever been inclined to profit from the experience 

 of others, but she is still embryonic in her development and can realize with 

 difficulty, if at all, the enormity of her future growth and progress. 



This one small phase of city growth and welfare applies less to the smaller 

 towns and its importance is proportional to the size of the village ; but it is 

 to the suburban towns, to the valley and foothill municipalities that the writer 

 wishes to call especial attention. Here, the mere smallness of the incorporate 

 limits tends to discourage even the thought of such municipal thrift, and to 

 conceal its true .significance. The lack of funds prevents investment in an 

 enterprise of unquestionable but often underestimated value for the future 

 good of the community. The small number of residents argues that there is 

 enough of the country with its health-gi^^ng freshness and purity and that it 

 is wasted effort to attempt civic park improvement. 



But it is their decided lack of size that argues most strongly, from the 

 standpoint of future welfare, in favor of present consideration of, and action 

 upon the question at hand. In this early stage of development, land can be 

 acquired readily and cheaply, in the most desired locations, relative to the 

 future growth of the city, and reserved for park development till such a time 



