PARK AND CEMETERY. 
440 
the city among the four districts in 
such a way as to correspond with the 
relative cost, as it had been esti- 
mated, of the improvement work to 
be undertaken within the lines of the 
districts. 
The estimates of the cost of the 
acquisition of land and the construc- 
tion of embankments to carry drive- 
ways, that will at times serve as levees 
for the four districts, amounted to 
$2,389,133. 
By far the larger part of the cost 
•of the new work is in the acquisi- 
tion of ground, and the growth of 
real estate values is such that each 
year’s delay means larger increases in 
the cost of land purchases. The esti- 
mated cost of the work is neces- 
sarily little more than conjecture, al- 
though it is figured that in accord- 
ance with the estimates made at the 
time the districts were being fixed, the 
cost of the work contemplated to be 
done along White River, Fall Creek, 
Pogues Run and Pleasant Run, based 
•on present land values, makes a total 
of about $2,320,000. 
The first work undertaken under 
the new law was in the North Dis- 
trict. An assessment of benefits was 
levied aggregating $133,862.97. This 
was for the purchase of ground for 
a parkway along the west and north 
bank of Fall Creek, extending from 
Twenty-third street to Illinois street, 
and along the west and north bank 
of Fall Creek, extending from Cen- 
tral avenue to Thirtieth street, and 
for the construction within both of 
the limits stated of an embankment 
to serve as a levee and to carry a 
park road. The park area thus ac- 
quired, including both the tracts 
named, is about 64.90 acres. This is 
a very considerable addition to the 
park land in the city, and is operated 
as a very important step in the direc- 
tion of the construction of a line of 
parkway that will eventually include 
both banks of Fall Creek, extending 
from the mouth of the stream in White 
River to the city limits at the north- 
east. 
Work is contemplated in all of the 
other districts in the city, but the 
process of doing this work is neces- 
sarily somewhat slow because of the 
tedious processes of land acquisition, 
and the amount of work necessary in 
making up the levies of benefit as- 
sessments. 
In the East District, the Board is 
already under contract to purchase 
the Ellenberger woods, in Irvington. 
This will provide a park in a section 
of the city which virtually has no 
park at the present time. The area 
of the woods and adjacent land to be 
acquired is 31.7 acres. 
The Board takes particular satis- 
faction in one work which was com- 
pleted during the year and was the 
real start in the direction of larger 
improvements, the contemplation of 
which made the new law necessary. 
The contract for the construction of 
a roadway embankment along the 
north and west bank of Fall Creek, 
extending from Northwestern avenue 
to Twenty-third street, was com- 
pleted by the Mansfield Engineering 
Company and accepted by the Board 
of Park Commissioners. A great deal 
of work still remains to be done in 
changing the rough nature of the 
ground along this improvement, so 
SAME VIEW OP NORTH BANK OP FALL CREEK, EIGHT MONTHS LATER. 
NORTH BANK OF PALL CREEK; A START TOWARD FINISHED CONDITIONS 
ON NEW CONSTRUCTION, 1909. 
that it may be made a real park. It 
is hoped that such a decided improve- 
ment in conditions in that section will 
soon convince all of the value and 
permanent worth of the Fall Creek 
parkway plan if carried out on the 
broad lines in . which it has been con- 
ceived by the landscape architect. 
The total cost of the Mansfield Engi- 
neering Company’s contract, includ- 
ing some filling of an old bayou, and 
the softening of the slope on the 
creek side of the embankment, was 
$17,503.83. The work will not be 
complete, however, until a permanent 
macadam roadway, curbs and gutters 
and cement sidewalks on the private 
property side of the line have been 
built upon the embankment. 
Near the close of the year the city 
came into possession of a beautiful 
rural park, the gift of William Wat- 
son Woollen. This is a forty-four 
