PARK AND CEMETERY. 
88 
the Missouri river valley it is unique. 
This year the pavilion is to be en- 
larged and improved, having been 
found altogether too small for the 
crowds that thronged it last summer. 
Riverview is in the southeastern part 
of the city and contains nearly 111 
acres. This park has been left as 
much as possible as nature made it, 
too much improvement tending to 
spoil the wild and woodsy atmosphere. 
The city zoo is also a feature of this 
park. 
At Hanscom there will be new 
macadam roads and permanent side- 
walks built. The greenhouse will be 
enlarged and preparations made to 
handle the crowds. The Sunday after- 
noon concerts have proven very popu- 
lar and will be continued this sum- 
mer. An attendance of 40,000 was nor 
an unusual occurrence on Sunday 
afternoons last summer. 
Bemis Park is distinguished as being 
the radiating point for boulevards to 
the north and northwest. It suggest- 
ed the idea of converting the low 
grounds and ravines that disfigure the 
city on every side into parks and 
boulevards. It was once a forest with 
a rough stream running through it 
from Thirty-second street to Thirty- 
eighth street, where is now a beauti- 
ful wooded residence district. What 
was a spring-fed stream is now a small 
lake, which is to be drained and filled. 
This small sheet of water has been a 
source of annoyance to the residents 
on Lincoln boulevard for some time. 
In the hot weather it is covered with 
a green growth, which was thought to 
be malarial. The park board insists 
that this is a vegetable growth and 
harmless. The placing of catfish in 
the lake to eat the vegetation was 
suggested, but this was rejected be- 
cause the fish would keep the water 
muddy and dirty. So the pretty little 
lake is to be drained and the springs 
tliat feed it will be tiled and cared 
for otherwise. Bemis is covered with 
a growth of native forest trees and 
is a genuine bower of beauty in the 
summer months. 
Elmwood Park was intended to re- 
produce the native woods, hiding an 
occasional spring, which was charac- 
teristic of the hilly lands adjoining 
the Missouri river when first discov- 
ered bj' the white man. It is one of 
the largest jjarks in the city, having 
208 acres, but being -difficult of ac- 
cess has not the crowds that its beauty 
deserves. It is directly west, three 
miles from the postoffice. 
At Fontenelle, four miles northwest 
of the postoffice, at Forty-second be- 
tween Ames avenue and Pratt street, 
50,000 trees are to be set out. This 
pretty park is to be much improved 
this summer. For years it was rented 
for a cow pasture, the sentiment 
against improving distant parks pre- 
venting its development. With good 
roads, a growing tendency towards 
getting away from the city, plenty 
of autos and a realization of the natu- 
ral beauty of the place, the park board 
is sure that the time has come for 
permanent improvements. This tract 
is a natural amphitheater, the bluffs 
rising on three sides and sloping to 
the grassy dells on the fourth side. 
The land cost $90,000, 
Miller Park is distinguished by the 
level drives leading to and through 
it, and the great variety of its trees. 
It is daily coming into greater favor. 
It is bounded by Twenty-fourth, Thir- 
tieth and Kansas streets and Redick 
avenue. A new lake is to be built in 
this park. A golf course was laid out 
last year and the park proved to be 
very popular with the players of this 
game. Many trees have been planted 
and are growing well. The roads 
leading to and through this park are 
level and in. excellent condition. 
Bluff View Park will be on the 
boulevard and offers an extensive and 
beautiful view of the Florence boule- 
ard with its unexpected green bowers 
of beauty. This will be a favorite 
HANScOn 
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MAP OF OMAHA PARK SYSTEM. 
Black Indicates Present Park Areas; Shaded, Proposed. 
