PARK AND CEMETERY . 
90 
PLAN FOR NEIGHBORHOOD PARK, SPOKANE, WASH. 
Plan for Corbin Park, Spokane, Wash.; Olmsted Brothers, Landscape archs. 
Olmsted Brothers, Brookline, Mass., 
are preparing plans, of which this is 
a preliminary sketch, for the replant- 
ing of Corbin park, Spokane, Wash. 
By the new plan none of the desirably 
features of the park are lost, while 
many new ones are added. The road- 
way shown in the illustration leading 
from Howard to Washington and 
across the park to Stevens street makes 
a short cut, as there is at present, while 
there are more direct paths than under 
the present arrangement. 
One important improvement is the 
elimination of the unsightly lagoon 
that runs through the park from end 
to end. Instead there is a central 
concrete basin of conventional de- 
sign with water fountain in the cen- 
ter. This is to be supplied with fish. 
Around this basin are grouped the 
flower beds, which are thus collected 
instead of being scattered through 
the park as at present, where they 
can not be protected. There is also 
a lily pond and wading pool as shown 
in the illustration. 
The new arrangement is especially 
designed to give the park a vista by 
means of the open lawns at each end. 
The effect of these will be to make 
the park appear much larger. They 
will also provide a lawn upon which 
the public can walk and lounge with- 
out harming the flowers or shrub- 
bery. 
The plans involve a complete rear- 
rangement of the trees and shrub- 
bery. The roadway on each side of 
the park is narrowed to 30 feet. 
There will be toilets and rest rooms 
built for men and women. 
TEACHING THE PEOPLE TO KNOW THE PARKS 
How many people have ever given 
our public parks much personal 
thought? I venture to say that not 
many have and yet I feel that it is 
largely because nothing has ever 
stimulated this kind of thought. We 
are seldom reminded of these matters 
in our daily reading. If we will per- 
mit the love for the beautiful, which 
is inborn with us all, to be unearthed, 
we will find our walks through the 
parks will be enhanced with a new 
meaning. Lend nature your sympa- 
thies and it will seem barbarous to 
ruthlessly tramp over flowers or 
through borders of flowering shrubs. 
No one does this in a spirit of mean- 
ness as they walk through our parks 
but it is an outgrowth of the fact 
that their sense of appreciation of 
the beautiful has never been suffi- 
ciently stimulated. Yet they not 
only mar the beauty of our public 
parks, but are robbing themselves 
of that stimulus which a morning or 
afternoon walk ought to give us all. 
I do not think people are possessed 
of an innate tendency to destroy, as we 
perhaps sometimes might think when 
we see the many trails or cow-paths, 
made by people who go across the 
lawns. They call them short-cuts, 
but as a matter of fact these short- 
cuts seldom save thirty seconds of 
time. The lawns are cut up so that 
they look like a Christmas pie. They 
are careless because their minds are 
full of the business of the day. But 
suppose we could get now and then 
some kindly hints in our daily read- 
ing. Would it not meet with a re- 
sponse? So it has often seemed to 
me that park superintendents do not 
use the public press nearly as much 
as they should. It does not suffice 
to call attention to these matters in 
some horticultural paper, for the cir- 
culation reaches only those men 
who are all very well posted on these 
matters. But every city paper is 
willing to publish something that 
pertains to the welfare of the people. 
A great deal relative to the manage- 
ment, the object and the proper atti- 
tude of the citizen towards our park 
systems might be made much more 
clear to the public, if park superin- 
tendents all over the country would 
just take the trouble to write about 
some of the evils that they are com- 
bating in the way of getting the pub- 
lic to respect the park system. All 
of our leading periodicals are pub- 
lishing long articles touching on 
nearly every subject relative to the 
business world. But our attention is 
not often invited to consider the 
proper use of our beautiful park sys- 
tems. No commonwealth or munici- 
pality would spend the same amount 
to maintain a temple of ihusic or an 
art gallery that they would and do 
for their parks. Yet who has not 
noticed that expression of wonder on 
the faces of those passing through a 
museum where stuffed boa-constric- 
tors and mummified orang-outangs are 
On display? A mock reverence seems 
to prevade the whole museum build- 
ing. How painstaking they are not 
to cut or mar. But how very insig- 
nificant are those museum specimens 
compared with nature on dress 
parade during all our summer 
months, making special preparations 
for the October farewell that speaks 
direct to the soul of every one. Nature 
is ever in style, never too loud or too 
sombre. Everywhere and always she 
is inviting us to a picnic or a walk 
