75 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
PARK NEWS. 
'm& 
In keeping with the thoroughness 
of all the park work in Minneapolis, 
the Park Board of that city has in- 
stituted a competition among archi- 
tects and bridge engineers for several 
bridges to be built as a part of the 
elaborate improvements in connecting 
several of the beautiful lakes in that 
system. It is the intention of the 
Park Board to get the best and most 
appropriate designs possible for the 
locations which are liberally endowed 
with natural features of great beauty 
and attractiveness. Superintendent 
Wirth has accordingly prepared an il- 
lustrated booklet of detailed specifi- 
cations showing by drawings and pho- 
tographs the exact nature of the sur- 
roundings of the proposed bridges. 
There are three prizes offered, 
amounting in all to $1,500, and a copy 
of these illustrated specifications will 
be sent to any one desiring to enter 
the competition, who will address the 
Park Commissioners at Minneapolis. 
Further details are given in the com- 
mission’s advertisement on another 
page. 
♦ * 
The handsomely illustrated annual 
report of the Park Board of Wil- 
mington, Del., tells of the acquisition 
of considerable new territory, and the 
building of a new swimming pool in 
Kirkwood Park. The Pine street 
playground was found to be in great 
demand and the board will acquire 
some land adjoining and do some ap- 
propriate planting to make it an at- 
tractive breathing spot. The total 
attendance at the two swimming 
pools was 45,541. The expenditure for 
the year amounted to $38,360. Edward 
R. Mack is superintendent. 
* * * 
The annual report of the Park com- 
mission of Council Bluffs, Iowa, shows 
that the city owns ten parks of an 
aggregate extent of 653 acres. 
The parks of Des Moines aggre- 
gate 675 acres, the only other city in 
the state which has a greater park 
acreage than Council Bluffs. This 
compared with a total area of fifty- 
five square miles in the ^y of Des 
Moines as against sixteen square 
miles included in the city limits of 
Council Bluffs. Sioux City, with an 
area of forty-two square miles, has 
forty-three acres of parks. Dubuque, 
covering an area of thirteen square 
miles, has three acres of parks; Ce- 
dar Rapids, thirteen square miles in 
size, has 170 acres of parks, and Bur- 
lington, , with an area of ten square 
miles, has eighty-six acres. 
* 5 {« * 
Under a new anti-billboard law, 
which recently became effective in 
Los Angeles, the county officers of 
Los Angeles county are out tearing 
down miles of advertisements prohib- 
ited under the ordinance, because they 
front upon public property, in this in- 
stance the highways. The law is re- 
garded as the opening wedge for more 
drastic legislation against bill-boards. 
PARK IMPROVEMENTS 
The Civic Improvement League of 
Canon City, Col., has bought a block 
of ground and will improve it as Ha- 
zel Park and present it to the town. 
Guilbert & Funston have prepared 
plans for the extension of Monument 
Square Park at Racine, Wis. 
W. H. Dunn, superintendent of 
parks at Kansas City, Mo., has been 
selected as landscape architect for the 
elaborate park and boulevard system 
for Oklahoma City, recently described 
in these pages, and R. E. Brownell, 
formerly assistant engineer of the 
South Park System of Chicago, will 
be the engineer of the new system. 
The commission is preparing to get 
to work, as the $400,000 bond issue re- 
cently voted is now available. As typ- 
ical of the spirit of the men in charge 
of the work, K. W. Dawson, one of 
the former park commissioners re- 
cently drew his personal checque for 
$20,000 to save an option on a valu- 
able tract that was in danger of ex- 
piring before the commissioners 
could realize on the bond issue. The 
commissioners are to close up at once 
options on 1,340 acres in addition to 
this at $140,000. This land is esti- 
mated to be worth $300,000, as a re- 
sult of the increased value due to the 
proposed park system. Park Com- 
missioner Will H. Clark has been the 
leading spirit in the promotion of 
what will be in many features a unique 
park system. 
J. C. Milliman has presented to 
Logan, Utah, a five-acre tract as a 
park and City Engineer J. C. Mc- 
Cabe has completed the survey of the 
tract. 
State Auditor Ivison of Minnesota 
is to purchase a 30-acre addition to 
the Minneopa State Park near ‘Man- 
kato, Minn., which will increase the 
area of the park to 108 'acres. The 
legislature has appropriated $4,000 a 
year for maintenance and extension. 
Roscoe Conkling Park, Utica, N. 
Y., has been formally turned over to 
the city. 
The city council of Griffin, Ga., has 
asked the legislature to turn over to it 
for park purposes the tract known as 
Camp Northern. 
Grading and building of a lake in 
League Island Park, Philadelphia, has 
been completed and contracts have 
been let for road making, laying out 
an athletic field, administration build- 
ing, shelter houses and an imposing 
entrance. 
The report of the special commis- 
sion on parks and playgrounds ap- 
pointed by Mayor Bruce of Everett, 
Mass., provides for an expenditure of 
about $90,000 in acquiring and de- 
veloping a park system. Two large 
tracts are to be acquired, and several 
smaller ones. 
The lake in Burnet Woods, Cincin- 
nati, will be enlarged, and $1,000 ex- 
pended in equipping a playground 
there. 
The town board of Glen Cove, L. 
L, will lay out a park adjoining the 
court house. 
The Woman’s Improvement Club 
of Vallejo, Cal., has raised $400 as the 
nucleus of a fund for the purchase of 
a public park. 
The committee on Parks and Muni- 
cipal Art, of the Brooklyn League, 
Broolyn, N. Y., is considering raising 
a fund of $4,000,000 by voluntary as- 
sessment of property owners to ex- 
tend the park system of Brooklyn, 
which is far behind Manhattan in 
park area. 
The Plainfield Park Association of 
Plainfield, N. J., has offered that city 
a 70-acre tract for a public park. 
The park board of Louisville, Ky., 
has started condemnation proceed- 
ings to acquire a tract of 57 acres on 
the Ohio river between Fontaine Fer- 
ry and Shawnee parks. 
H. C. Frick will present to the 
city of Pittsburg a 100 acre tract in 
the ,Gunn Hill district for a park. 
The park board of Rochester, N. Y. 
has acquired land for a new entrance 
to Gennesee Valley Park. 
George E. Kessler of Kansas City, 
Mo., has submitted plans for a park 
system for Hamilton, O. It calls for 
the expenditure of $400,000 to be 
raised by an issue of 3j4. per cent park 
bonds to run thirty and fifty years. 
( Continued on page XII ) 
