353 
PARK AND CEMETERY . 
RELATIONS OF PLAYGROUNDS AND PARKS 
Paper read before American Society of Municipal Improvements by A. M. 
Reynolds, Chief Engineer, Essex County (N. J.) Park Commission 
During the past few years the sub- 
ject of public playgrounds and the 
necessity of providing suitable areas 
for the use of the young people in 
congested city districts has formed 
such an important part in municipal 
government that I deem it a perti- 
nent topic to discuss under the head- 
ing of Park Development and Main- 
tenance, of which committee I have 
the honor to be the chairman. 
The public park as well as the pub- 
lic playground has a function to per- 
form which, if the two can be com- 
bined, form an ideal condition in a 
municipality, and it is this combined 
use of which I will speak. In prac- 
tically all of the large cities through- 
out this country public parks are 
maintained, and in many of these pub- 
lic parks playgrounds have been es- 
tablished. 
As parks are used by all classes it 
is the duty of the designer to provide 
for the enjoyment of all; consequently 
few parks are now laid out without 
provision being made for use of cer- 
tain sections as playground areas. As 
an example of what may be accom- 
plished in the way of park play- 
grounds and gamefields, I do not 
know of a more striking illustration 
than those established by the Essex 
County Park Commission (N. J.) in 
the count}" parks, and the idea- that a 
playground must of necessity be a 
barren tract devoid of all attractive 
features has been disproved. Mr. A. 
A. Hill, secretary of the Metropolitan 
Parks Association, after viewing the 
Essex count}' park playgrounds, 
wrote: “I have long contended that 
playgrounds and gamefields could be 
laid out in practically all our parks 
without detriment to the landscape 
value of the park, and this the Essex 
county park system has proved.” 
Essex county has over 675 acres cf 
usable park land in addition to the 
wooded reservations of South Moun- 
tain and Eagle Rock, comprising 
2,500 acres. Over 100 acres of the 
park land is devoted to playground 
and gamefield use. 
In establishing the park play- 
grounds the commission had in mind 
the idea of providing suitable areas 
where healthful sport and recreation 
could be indulged in under suitable 
supervision. To attain this end certain 
