479 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
PARK PLANS FOR TWO NEW JERSEY CITIES 
A commission on the acquisition of 
park lands for Trenton, N. J., has se- 
cured from Olmsted Brothers, landscape 
architects, Brookline, Mass., a report 
on the physical adaptability of that por- 
tion of the valley of the Assunpink 
creek within the city for park purposes. 
A good plan for permanently caring 
for the creek, says this report, will pro- 
vide the following features : 
(1) A well regulated bed or channel 
of a depth only sufficient to carry the 
normal flow of the stream and bor- 
dered by very low walls or other con- 
struction that may be necessary for pro- 
tection against scour or for the sake of 
neatness. 
(2) Sloping banks, rising to a level 
above that of the highest expected flood, 
far enough apart at that level to give 
the necessary cross section for flood 
water discharge, and protected by vege- 
tation from the scouring action of the 
water. 
(3) A patch on one side or both of 
the creek, at least for purposes of pa- 
trol and preferably as a regular public 
foot passage. 
It is hardly necessary to point out 
PLAN FOR RIVERSIDE PARK, 
NEWARK, N. J. 
that such an arrangement needs very 
little more to give it a considerable 
value for park purposes. Make the 
path broad enough, provide benches to 
sit on and trees to give shade and to 
obscure the adjacent buildings and a 
place is at once created close to a large 
population where people can stroll or 
sit in the open air in quiet and safety 
and with the interest arising from any 
scene containing glimpses of water re- 
flecting foliage and sky. It would not 
be a very grand park, and it would not 
be a romantic sylvan valley secluded 
from human habitation, but it would 
afford many pleasant spots that would 
be warmly appreciated by the people of 
the surrounding districts, and it would 
cost very little more than the cheapest 
thing that can be done to guard against 
floods. 
Detailed recommendations for the 
improvement of each of the sections 
shown on the accompanying plan are 
given. 
In section F there is vacant land. 
Tunning back about 350 feet from the 
creek bank, which it is proposed to ac- 
quire for purposes of a playground. As 
this is the first space on the northerly 
side as you come up from the mouth 
of the creek which is available for play- 
ground purposes without involving the 
destruction of existing buildings, it 
seems highly desirable to acquire it at 
once. 
At the southern end of section G is a 
fair-sized area of unoccupied land be- 
tween Lincoln avenue and the creek, 
which is also recommended for park 
purposes. 
A public walk through the existing 
grove in Section O, which shall follow 
approximately the line and grade of the 
present short-cut path, is recommended. 
A strip of land should be acquired 
which shall include practically all of 
the bank sloping to the old creek chan- 
nel and will preserve most of the exist- 
ing grove of trees. 
At Section P there is some unoccu- 
pied land which they suggest using as 
a playground. 
In the plans for Irvington and River- 
side Parks, Newark, N. J., prepared for 
the Essex County Park Commission by 
Olmsted Brothers, the aim has been to 
make grounds that shall be both at- 
tractive and useful. 
Most of the shrubbery for Irvington 
Park will be placed around the border, 
the main exceptions to this being the 
vicinity of the fieldhouse and the open- 
air gymnasium for women. The large 
tracts for athletics, which are desig- 
nated as ball fields on the plans, are on 
Grove street. They are two in number. 
The one for men measures 275x400 feet. 
The ball field for boys is 190x220 feet. 
There is but one fieldhouse and it is 
in the center of the park. The lower 
story will be used by women and girls, 
while the upper floor will contain the 
lockers for the men and boys. The 
open-air gymnasium for men is east of 
the fieldhouse. It is surrounded by a 
running track, six laps of which make 
a mile. 
The open-air gymnasium for women 
is on the opposite side of the fieldhouse. 
Possibly it is somewhat smaller than 
that for the men and boys, for it con- 
PLAN FOR IRVINGTON PARK, 
NEWARK, N. J. 
