Park Department 
33 
as the time has passed when stock was driven throngh the streets 
I woukl very respectfully request of your honorable board per- 
mission to remove the fence from around Garfield Park, in order 
that its beauty may be enhanced. 
IttcKinley Place 
This playground is situated in one of the most congested districts 
of the city, and from early morning until late at night there can 
be seen mothers with small babies, as well as older people, who 
find great pleasure in sitting on the comfortable seats provided 
there and viewing the pleasant green grass which borders the 
playground in this beautiful little park — a treat that can be found 
nowhere else in that locality. This feature, connected with the 
great number of children who avail themselves of the space pro- 
vided for their amusement, points clearly to the fact that a 
number of other breathing-spaces of this character should be 
placed throughout the thickly-settled portions of the city. 
In constructing this park there was one serious omission, and 
that was the placing of several drinking-fountains for the chil- 
dren. I expect, as soon as there are available funds, to have 
four drinking-fountains placed in this park, which will add 
greatly to the comfort of those who find so much pleasure in 
visiting this place, and be a great deal more convenient to the 
children of the neighborhood, who now have to go to their homes 
in the hot weather for drinking-water. 
We placed about eight hundred yards of sod on this park 
during the past summer, besides sowing it down thoroughly with 
our especial mixture of grass-seed, and it is now one of the 
beauty-spots of the city. 
There has been placed within the park fifty benches, six 
teeter-totters, and two sand-boxes, all of which help to provide 
comfort and pleasure for the children of the neighborhood. 
