Park Department 
33 
to fifteen thousand people. This splendid attendance sub- 
stantiates the theory that down-town concerts will not only 
bring more cheerful and helpful moral conditions to the home, 
but will bring thousands of people to realize that their home 
park is the place to spend the sultry evenings with their famil- 
ies, instead of gradens that have questionable moral influences. 
At this park there was planted some fifty trees and about 
one hundred shrubs. It will be necessary to plant from two 
to three hundred trees yearly here until we have a suf- 
ficient number to furnish shade, the older trees having 
deteriorated to such a degree and the replacing having been 
neglected for so long that there is not more than one-tenth 
the necessary trees at this time. 
There is also extreme need of a recreation field at this park. 
I would recommend to your honorable board that the property 
extending south from Lincoln Park to Clark Street be pur- 
chased for that purpose. As the buildings amount to very 
little, the purchase price should therefore be reasonable. 
This would provide ample recreation grounds for the entire 
community. 
Washington Park 
Washington Park is located in one of the most thickly-popu- 
lated parts of the city. The beautiful green grass, splendidly 
studded with beds of blooming plants, and the inviting shade 
of ornamental shade trees during the summer months, all 
appeal to the down-town resident as an oasis does to the 
way-worn traveler. The verification of this is exemplified at 
this park every day of the year unless the masses are driven 
out by atmospheric precipitations. 
As a matter of consequence, the maintenance of this park is 
greater than any other down-town park in the city. Twenty- 
five new trees and shrubs were planted and a special mixture 
of grass-seed was sown here. Some three-thousand bedding 
and ornamental plants were also placed in the park during 
the summer months, which provided a very cheerful aspect 
for the hundreds of tired mothers who constantly seek fresh 
air in this place for their infant children, as well as furnish- 
