Til 
FOREWORD 
To the Honorable Board of Park Commissioners, Cincinnati, O.: 
Gentlemen— In 1907, four years ago, a special temporary 
. Park Commission and Advisory Commission, working together, 
^ authorized the writer to develop for the city a general scheme 
^ of park improvements. 
Although four years have intervened between the submission 
of that general plan and a real beginning toward its accomplish- 
ment, the value of such a general plan has evidently impressed 
itself most thoroughly upon the public, and particularly upon 
those having given sufficient attention to the plan itself to feel 
that this development is possible and essential and worthy of the 
^ city's importance. It is, therefore, particularly gratifying to find 
I that in the considerable current purchases the general plan has 
been consistently adhered to, and so, with one fragment after 
S another coming into public possession, the ultimate accomplish- 
g ment of the entire development seems possible. 
^ ^ While it required two years to secure a park commission in 
^ its present form, and a further two years, making four in all, 
-^to secure, after exceedingly earnest efiforts, one million dollars 
cTfor acquisition and improvement of properties within the lines 
^ of the general plan, it is distinctly encouraging that the com- 
^ munity shows a realization of its needs. The present time is, 
Y therefore, the real beginning of establishment of these exceed- 
ed ingly necessary improvements in the City of Cincinnati. 
^^^^y S^^^^ enjoyment which the public, particularly the 
f children, received from playgrounds and open spaces established 
in these four years out of former Park Extension Funds, most 
