261 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
COPYRIGHT BY SWEET, 1904. 
GENERAL VIEW OF LORING PARK, MINNEAPOLIS. 
Annual reports or extracts from them^ historical sketches^ 
descriptive circulars^ photographs of improvements or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this department- 
The Mayor of Streator, 111 ., has appointed a park commis- 
sion, composed as follows: President, Dr. C. R. Taylor; 
Secretary, Mrs. R. Schurtz ; Richard Purcell, Louis Nater, 
and Mrs. Jay Baker. 
* * * * 
The Springfield Botanical Society, Springfield, Mass., has 
taken up the question of having the various species of trees, 
shrubs and flowers in Forest Park accurately and perma- 
nently labeled. A committee was appointed to make an in- 
vestigation of the feasibility of having something done this 
year. The Board of Aldermen of Springfield have voted to 
expend $20,000 for park purposes, part of which is to be used 
for the purchase of Springdale Driving Park, a private racing 
park, which is to be turned into a public pleasure ground. The 
tract comprises between 20 and 25 acres and has a river front 
of over 1,000 feet. 
* * * 
The City Council of Columbus, O., last fall passed a reso- 
lution authorizing the Mayor to appoint a park commission 
to prepare plans for a general park system for that city. The 
commission is now studying the situation and is to receive 
competitive plans from a number of landscape architects prep- 
aratory to presenting their report to the Council not later 
than July i, 1905. 
* * * 
The City Council of Le.xington, Ky., recently passed an 
ordinance creating a board of park commissioners. M. A. 
Scovell is president of the commission, and Prof. J. W. ' 
Porter, secretary. The commission, in addition to having the 
usual functions of park boards, is empowered to establish 
rules for the planting, care, irrigation and protection of trees' 
upon all streets, avenues and boulevards, driveways and parks 
in the city, including the location and trimming of trees, the 
removal of wormy, unsightly and dead trees, may prevent 
the mutilation of trees by any person or corporation, and may 
specify the kind, size and location of trees to be planted on 
any of the streets, boulevards or parkways in the city; 
The twenty-second annual report of the Board of Park 
Commissioners of Minneapolis is the usual beautifully printed 
and illustrated book, showing many fine park pictures and 
giving a complete account of the year’s work. The Board 
has acquired an additional park area of about 55 acres, the 
location of each tract and its cost being given in the report. 
The most important addition was a tract known as “The 
Parade,” embracing 44 ]^ acres bounded by Kenwood Boule- 
vard, and Erie, Tyndale, and Humboldt avenues. Over half 
of this was donated by public-spirited citizens and the rest 
secured at a cost of $109,279. The expenditures for improve- 
ments amounted to $48,057, and included the erection of a 
new pavilion at Lake Harriet at a cost of $30,000 and a 
shelter-house in the same park at a cost of $1,500. In West 
Riverside Park a tract of 177 acres a new driveway has been 
built from Lake street to Minnehaha, a distance of over 
two miles through heavy timber and over rugged glens. The 
total expenditure for the year was $63,518.85. Loring Park, 
a general view of which is shown in the accompanying illus- 
tration, is one of the most attractive of the city's smaller 
parks. It embraces 36.34 acres and was named for Mr. 
Charles M. Loring in recognition of his long and valuable 
services to the park board. The original purchase price was 
$343,693.31, and an expenditure of $88,232.95 has since been 
made for improvements. 
^ ^ ^ 
The improvements planned or under way in the parks of 
Hartford, Conn., include the construction of a new bridge in 
Bushnell Park and an approach to the new bridge in River- 
side Park. An acre of the latter park will be laid out for 
school gardens with forty-eight separate vegetable and flower 
beds in which pupils will be allowed to raise flowers and 
vegetables. Two of the voting booths have been hired by 
Superintendent Wirth, one of which will be used for a 
household school and the other for the kindergarten. The 
rose garden in Elizabeth Park now covers acres and is 
said to be the largest one in the Eastern states. 
^ ^ ^ 
The Park Commissioners of Cedar Rapids, la., are planning 
an active season of park work. A one-mill tax levy for three 
years was voted last fall, which will produce an income of 
about $19,000 a year. Among the improvements now under 
way is the construction of a “Wirth’s Merry-go-round,” sim- 
ilar to the one constructed by Superintendent Wirth of Hart- 
ford, which has been illustrated in these pages. The board 
will soon begin extensive improvements in the development of 
Ellis Park, a 50-acre tract lying along the Cedar River one 
mile north of the city. Public baths will be installed on the 
beach at Riverside Park, within five minutes’ walk of the 
business district, and a block of ground in the center of the 
city will be improved as a public playground. The old board 
of commissioners was re-elected. W. G. Haskell is chairman, 
and W. M. Krebs secretary. 
