195 
PARK AND CEMETERY.- 
PARK IMPROVEMENTS 
Howard Evarts Weed, Landscape 
Architect, of Chicago, has prepared a 
report for the Common Council of 
Battle Creek, Mich., on the develop- 
ment of Willard Park in that city. It 
is a book of sixteen pages, illustrated 
with a number of photographic views 
and two maps to emphasize the rec- 
ommendations made, which are brief, 
practical and to the point. Mr. Weed 
lays particular stress on the acquiring 
of more land before city growth makes 
prices high, and recommends buying 
50 acres adjoining before other im- 
provements are made. The present 
Willard Park consists of a 16-acre tract, 
two and one-half miles from the city, 
bordering on the south shore of Gou- 
gac Lake. For the most part, the 
land is thickly covered with native 
forest trees, mostly oak and hickory. 
The present entire park area of the 
cit 3 ' is but twenty-eight acres, includ- 
ing the sixteen acres in Willard Park. 
This means one acre of park land 
for over a thousand people. Mr. 
Weed says: 'Tt is thus a good thing 
that some of the people do not take 
advantage of the parks at all, for oth- 
erwise the sign ‘standing room only’ 
would have to replace that of ‘keep 
off the grass.’ ” A comparison of other 
cities of about equal population to 
Battle Creek is also given in this con- 
nection. One of the interesting rec- 
ommendations is for the construction 
of ‘‘Willard Lake” out of a marsh 
which it is proposed to make a part 
of Gougac Lake by the digging of a 
canal as shown in one of the maps 
accompanjdng the report. The water 
level in this marsh, as ascertained by 
the City Engineer, is two feet lower 
than the water level of the lake. A 
canal to connect the marsh with the 
lake would raise the water level of 
the marsh and allow boating facili- 
ties there, so that what is now sim- 
ply a marsh would become a delight- 
ful lake. 
The town of Ashland, Mass., has 
accepted the proposed gift by Col. 
Charles F. Homer of New York City, 
of land in Ashland for a public park. 
The city council of Little Falls, 
Minn., has agreed to furnish $360 to 
make up what was lacking of the pur- 
chase price for a pine grove of fifty- 
five acres to be used for a public park. 
The town of LaPorte, Tex., will sue 
to recover possession of a tract known 
as Sylvan Beach Park on which J. Lo- 
bit who claims ownership, has paid 
taxes to both the' city and county. 
The property is worth from $25,000 
to $30,000. It is claimed by the city 
that the property was dedicated by W. 
B. Lawrence as a public park. 
By the will of the late Eunice M. 
Gerrish, the city of Springfield, Mass., 
is bequeathed land at the junction of 
Walnut and Ashley streets for a pub- 
lic park. The land covers an acre 
and is valued at $15,000. 
The park commissioners of Hol- 
yoke, Mass., will purchase the hospi- 
tal property opposite the city hospital 
for park purposes. 
The Metropolitan park commission 
of Massachusetts is completing ar- 
rangements for extending the Middle- 
sex Fells parkway northward by Spot 
pond with a double roadway. 
The park board of Omaha, Neb., 
has accepted the proposition of S. D. 
Mercer to deed to the city a tract of 
land for park purposes on condition 
that about $17,000 in past due taxes 
be cancelled. 
Harvey J. Blackledge has offered to 
Anderson, Ind., a pretty tract of wood- 
ed land containing twenty-seven acres 
for park purposes. The conditions of 
the gift are that the grounds be 
named “Blackledge Park.” in memory 
of the donor’s wife, and that the city 
improve and beautify the tract. 
The Weyerhauser lumber interests 
have transferred 4,760 acres near Su- 
perior, Wis., to the State Forestry 
Commission for a state park on condi- 
tion that the state maintain it as a 
park and also remove all dams from 
the Brule river, along which the land 
is situated. 
The city council of San Pedro, Cal., 
_has accepted twenty acres donated by 
Mrs. Rudecinda F. S. de Dodson, on 
condition that the city spend $5,000 in 
improving the land within a year. 
The borough board of Torrington, 
Conn., has accepted the plans- by 
Landscape Architect Thomas R. Mc- 
Clunie of Hartford for the layout of 
Coe Memorial Park, which was pre- 
sented to the borough by the heirs of 
the late Lyman M. Coe. 
A concrete peristyle which cost $15,- 
330.20, has been completed in the city 
Park at New Orleans and a new deer 
pen erected. A greenhouse to cost 
$12,000 has been begun, and filling 
done in Orleans street costing $3,999.- 
57. 
Meadowbrook park, San Bernar- 
dino, Cal., is to be enlarged by an ad- 
dition of about half an acre, which 
' will add 300 feet of river bank to the 
park. 
Members of the Auburndale Village 
Improvement Society, Auburndale, 
Mass., have raised $3,600 for the pur- 
chase of a public park and the Board 
of Aldermen have added $2,400 to this 
sum for the immediate purchase of the 
land. 
Mrs. James Stewart has offered to 
the city of Aberdeen, Wash., forty or 
eighty acres of land near the present 
water works as a park in honor of her 
late husband, on condition that the 
city spend $1,000 a year in developing 
the property for the next ten years. 
William Elliott Smith has promised 
to give to the city of Alton, 111., a 
tract of 60 acres of land as a public 
f 
S 
MARSH IN WILLARD PARK, BATTLE CREEK. TO BE 
MADE INTO A LAKE FOR BOATING. 
