175 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
port recommends that a 3^^-mill tax be 
levied which would give an income of 
about $10,000. It seems hardly possible 
that a city of Madison’s size and 
wealth should refuse to maintain a fine 
park system that the generous and un- 
selfish efforts of its citizens have se- 
cured and improved, and its officers 
cannot fail to realize how fortunate it 
is in having the opportunity to take over 
a park system ready made, where other 
cities have had to do with public funds 
what private generosity has done here. 
It is estimated that the work of the 
association has added no less than 
$2,000,000 to the assessed valuation of 
the city, which produces an increase in 
taxes of $28,000, more than double what 
the city is asked to raise for mainten- 
ance. When the city voted a bond issue 
of $19,500 two years ago to aid in the 
improvement of Brittingham and Henry 
Vilas parks, Mr. Olin predicted that the 
park improvements would add $300,000 
to the assessed valuation in that sec- 
NEW PARKS AND 
The grounds surrounding the jail 
at Cairo, 111., are to be made into a 
public park. Settees, swings and a 
sand pit are to be features of the 
equipment. 
A small public park is to be es- 
tablished on the site of the old City 
Hall in Minneapolis, and the city 
clerk has advertised for bids for de- 
molishing the building. 
An immense natural arbor to be 
covered with honeysuckle vines is 
being built in Alum Rock Park, San 
Jose, Cal. 
Two elaborate stone entrance gates 
are to be erected at Budd Park, Kan- 
sas City, Mo. 
The United States government is 
to turn over to the city of Baltimore, 
for park purposes, the grounds of Ft. 
McHenry near that city. 
J. W. Hollenback has donated a 
seventy-five acre track to the city of 
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for a public park. 
Olmsted Bros., Brookline, Mass., 
are revising the plans for Grant Park, 
now being completed on the Lake 
Front in Chicago. The new plans 
make a more substantial provision 
for atheletics and will include grounds 
for base-ball, tennis, golf and well- 
equipped play-grounds. 
The city council of Milwaukee has 
finally decided to purchase the Lind- 
wurm farm for a public park. The 
tract v/ill be known as Jefferson 
Park and will cost $112,000. 
The annual appropriation recently 
passed by the commissioners of the 
tion of the city. The prediction was 
more than verified for the actual in- 
crease as shown by the assessor’s books 
in 1906 was $454,220, and when the 
parks are fully completed an even 
greater increase will undoubtedly come. 
Lots near Henry Vilas Park which sold 
in 1904 for $300 to $350 each, have 
since sold for $1,200 and $1,500 each, a 
striking example of the actual value in 
dollars and cents of park improvements. 
The work of this association has been 
unique, and has been praised by experts 
in all parts of the country. The city 
can do no less than continue in the same 
spirit the work its citizens have begun 
with such signal success and such zeal- 
ous, well directed public spirit. 
Much of the success of the work has 
been due to its able and enthusiastic 
president, Mr. John M. Olin, and the 
other officers who have rendered faith- 
ful service are : Vice-president, Andrew 
S. Brown ; secretary, Charles N. Brown ; 
treasurer, Frank W. Hoyt. 
IMPROVEMENTS 
Pleasure Driveway and Park District 
of Peoria, 111., calls for an expendi- 
ture of $147,000. 
Extensive plans are being made for 
the improvement of Langdon Park, 
Portsmith, N. H. A landscape archi- 
tect is to be employed to plan this 
park as a part of a system extending 
on both sides of the South Pond from 
Haven Park to the hospital. 
Minneapolis is. considering, accord- 
ing to a suggestion by Park Superin- 
tendent Wirth, to run a canal, fifty 
feet wide, between the Lake of the 
Isles and Lakes Harriet and Calhoun 
to be spanned by five or more bridges. 
It is proposed to make a public 
park of the site now occupied in Phil- 
adelphia by the Potters Field, the 
Dog Pound and Municipal Hospital. 
John H. Beatty has been appointed 
Superintendent of Parks for the Bur- 
oughs of Manhattan and Richmond, 
New York City, in place of Frank 
Joyce, who was removed, as noted in 
our last issue. The chief cause of 
the dismissal was the bad condition 
of Central Park. The new superin- 
tendent has been employed in the 
park department for twenty years, 
and at times has been the acting su- 
perintendent. He is said to be thor- 
oughly familiar with the work and is 
expected to reform the management 
of the parks. He will have charge of 
1,000 men and draw a salary of $3,000 
a year. 
The City Council of Saginaw, Mich., 
has accepted a gift of $50,000 from 
Ezra Rust for the improvement of 
Rust Park on condition that the city 
appropriate the same amount. 
The Park Board of Kansas City, 
Mo., has started condemnation pro- 
ceedings to secure the grounds of the 
old Guinotte Homestead for a public 
park. The tract contains 14 acres and 
will cost $120,000. 
The Board of Public Works of 
Holyoke, Mass., has turned over to 
the park commissioners a small tract 
to be converted into a park. 
The Lincoln Park Board of Chi- 
cago has purchased ground for a new 
small park at Orleans and Sedgwick 
streets at a cost of $85,000. 
A new aquarium containing twelve 
large tanks has jus't been opened at 
Silver Lake Park, Akron, O. 
A new heating plant is to be in- 
stalled in the Palm House at Glen 
Oak Park, Peoria, 111. 
The Northern Pacific Railway has 
offered to donate to Stillwater, Minn., 
portions of its land between the Union 
Station and the St. Croix river for 
park purposes, on condition that the 
city will improve this tract and' the 
steamboat landing. 
Highland Park, Rochester, N. Y., 
one of the unique parks of the coun- 
try, is built entirely on a hill. A 
new cement walk 1,175 feet long re- 
cently constructed in that park in- 
volved the building of nineteen flights 
of steps at various points. 
The city of Moline, 111., will pur- 
chase a tract of thirteen acres for a 
public park at a cost of $8,000. 
A new park to be known as Yeat- 
man Square is to be laid out on the 
site of a former quarry at St. Louis. 
Plans are to be prepared for it by 
Geo. E. Kessler, of Kansas City. 
Olmsted Bros, are preparing plans 
for a new addition to Carroll Park, 
Baltimore, Md. The new part in- 
cludes 115 acres. 
Lawrence Park, a new public ser- 
vice park modeled after the success- 
ful ones in Chicago, is soon to be 
opened at Pittsburg. It is controlled 
by the Play Grounds Association and 
is located on Butler street. 
Yonkers, N. Y., is to get a park of 
163 acres as a present from the city 
of New York in connection with the 
Catskill water supply system now 
under construction. The new Water 
Commission is to improve the tract 
into a handsome park. 
The Park Commissioners of San 
Francisco and the Outdoor Art League 
are endeavoring to induce the super- 
visors to purchase Telegraph Hill for a 
public park, one of the city’s landmarks 
that is being destro}''ed by quarrymen. 
