87 PARK AND CEMETERY. 
GROWTH AND EXTENT OF OMAHA’S PARK SYSTEM 
The park board of Omaha, Neb., is 
working harder than ever before to 
provide a well-rounded park system 
and breathing spots for the people 
this year. While its greatest pride 
lies in the proposed boulevard ex- 
tension, important park improvements 
are also to be carried out in the ex- 
isting parks. 
The boulevard will be one of the 
prettiest drives in the west when com- 
pleted and will represent an outlay of 
$100,000 when it gets out around Cut- 
Ofif lake and winds around the pret- 
ty and historic little village of Flor- 
ence. 
The funds for the work are largely 
obtained by assessing the property 
fronting on the parks and boulevards. 
In 7,000 pieces of property so assessed 
less than 100 protests were made. 
Property owners realize that good 
parks and boulevards increase the 
value of their holdings. Land in the 
vicinity of parks, say park officials, has 
increased in value from 300 to 500 per 
cent more than other property in the 
city. 
Mr. E. J. Cornish, a member of 
the Park Board, gives some interesting 
figures to substantiate this claim. In 
Hanscom place, consisting of twenty 
blocks, 498 lots contiguous to the 
park on the east, north and south. 
were platted. The following table is 
taken from the tax list in the city 
treasurer's office. The ratio of as- 
sessed value to actual has changed in 
different years, but such change is 
uniform throughout the city and does 
not affect the value of the table; 
Ass’dVal. Ass'd Val. Ratio of 
in 1S74. in 1898. increase. 
Hanscom Place, 
C498 lots)...$ 7,000 $ 580.855 1 to 82.9 
Entire City ... 6.750.544 33,049.503 1 to 4.8 
A great many additions not a part 
of the cit}" in 1874 have been platted 
and included in the assessed value of 
the city in 1898, thereby making the 
ratio of increase in the entire city 
greater. It is fair to conclude that 
the location and improvement of Han- 
scom park set in operation those influ- 
ences that have caused lands in that 
vicinity to increase in value twenty 
times more than the average increase 
throughout the city. 
Condemnation proceedings have al- 
ready begun on the lands and roads 
through which the proposed boule- 
vard must run to complete one of 
;he most popular drives in the city. 
When the boulevard is completed one 
may start from Riverview Park, wind 
about Deer Park and many shady 
nooks to Hanscom, and from there 
through the city to Curtiss Turner 
Park, Fontenclle, Miller, Bemis and 
around to Prospect Hill cemetery, one 
of the highest points in the city, 
where a magnificent view may be ob- 
tained, and on to Cut-Off lake and 
Florence, where the winding drive 
permits of many views. 
Altogether, there are twelve parks 
in the city which are all to be con- 
nected by drives. They are : River- 
view, Deer Park, Hanscom, Curtiss 
Turner, Elmwood, Kountze, Miller, 
Bluff View, Fontenelle, Bemis, Hime- 
baugh and Jefferson Square. 
In 1872 Andrew J. Hanscom and 
James G. Megeath donated Hanscom 
Park, containing fifty-seven and a half 
acres, to the public. For many years 
this was the city’s only park. It is 
in the southwest portion of the city, 
and now comprises nearly sixty acres. 
There are two lakes, a cascade, fine 
flower beds and a large area of natural 
forest growth, which makes it unsur- 
passed in its peculiar beauty. 
In 1891 the city issued $400,000 in 
bonds for the purpose of acquiring 
parks and Riverview, Elmwood, Be- 
mis, Fontanelle and Miller parks were 
acquired. 
Riverview Park is larger than Hans- 
com and has greater variety in scen- 
erj'. The ravines and hills in it dupli- 
cate the similar view in Hanscom 
Park, but in the commanding view of 
