92 
Pi\RK AND CEMETERY 
(Continued from page 76); 
G. A. Parker, superintendent of parks, Hartford, Conn., 
read an interesting and well-thought paper on the value of 
the government census statistics in park work. 
He said the Census Bureau is doing good work in giving 
us the ph3^sical facts about the parks, the areas, yearly ex- 
penditures, etc., but thought it should go further and record 
what the parks are giving the people, what they are prepared 
to furnish, and what use the people are making of them. 
“This,"’ said the speaker, “is what I would like to have 
the national government do in addition to the statistics it 
is now sending out : To find some person with a practical 
park experience, who knows parks, and loves them, and who 
knows municipal affairs and the province of the different city 
functions, who knows the people and is in sympathy with 
that great majority of all cities — the common people, who 
knows trees and plants as a father knows his children, who 
can interpret lines, surfaces, forms and colors, and the influ- 
ence they have on the human mind and heart, a man who is 
capable, if it was known, of understanding and appreciating 
all that parks may mean to a city; and when they have found 
such a man to send him forth to learn the lesson of the parks, 
to write it out step by step and publish it for our parks." 
Friday, June 15, as many of the members as could remain 
went to Baltimore, and paid a Hying visit to the parks of that 
city. 
A7inual reports or extracts from them^ historical sketches, 
descriptive circulars, photographs 0 / itnprovements or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this dcpartinent* 
FROM THE ANNUAL REPORTS 
The annual report of the Park Board of Haverhill, Mass., 
gives a brief statement of the work of the year, of the annual 
expenditures, and the park rules and regulations. It is planned 
to establish a new deer park on the thirty-acre tract between 
the Dudley Porter road and the lake. Successful work is re- 
ported in exterminating the browntail and gypsy moths. In 
the future this work will not be carried on by the park board 
although it will still be under the supervision of the superin- 
tendent of parks. The expenditures for the year amounted 
to $11,379.00. 
The fifteenth annual report of the park commissioners of 
St. Paul, Minn., tells of some important legislation that it has 
secured during the year. An act in the charter formerly pro- 
hibited the board from paying more than forty per cent for 
land condemned for park purposes, requiring the remainder 
of the costs to be raised by assessment. The new act enables 
the board to pay all of the sum necessary. Another act pro- 
vided for an issue of bonds to the amount of $100,000, and 
the council has authorized the issue of $75,000 of this sum. 
Forty acres of forest land between Phalen Park and Arcade 
street have been condemned for an addition to that park, and 
land has also been secured for an extension of the river boule- 
vard and the widening of Como avenue. St. Paul has a total 
park area of 1.251.65 acres, including four large landscape 
or scenic parks, and twenty-five neighborhood parks. The 
larger tracts are as follows : Como, /;24 acres ; Phalen, 469 
acres ; Indian Mounds, 76 acres ; ana Shadow Falls, 35 acres. 
A charter amendment in 1904 authorized the council to ap- 
propriate $10,000.00 for playgrounds, and Supt. Nussbauiner 
has prepared a plan for an extensive playground in Como 
park. The board has adopted an important rule requiring that 
any monument or other ornamental structure must be ap- 
proved by an advisory expert or committee before it can be 
erected in a public park. The total expenditure for the year 
was $96,312.00. 
The twelfth annual report of the park board of Des Moines, 
Iowa, for 1905 recommends the consolidation of the park dis- 
tricts of Des Moines and Lee townships and the board hopes 
to get a bill passed by the legislature to secure this consolida- 
tion. The entire west shore of the river has been cleaned up 
and terraced and a sea-wall, 700 feet long, built. Other elab- 
orate improvements are planned for the east and west fronts 
of the river. The Des Moines park system includes about 600 
acres in thirteen different parks. Total expenditure for the 
year was $65,398.00. 
* * * 
NEW PARKS. 
The South Park Board of Chicago is to build a new play- 
ground on the site formerly occupied by the old postoffice on 
the lake front. 
The city of Lawrence, Mass., has been presented with a 
tract of eleven acres to be used as a public park. 
The Park Commission of Duluth, Minn., is planning to se- 
cure a tract of ten acres on the lake shore for a new public 
park. 
The Commercial Club and the city council of Tulsa, 1 . T., 
are co-operating to secure a site for a city park. 
A new park and playground is being improved at Rockport, 
Mass. 
The Dorothy Dix Monument Association is planning to im- 
prove a tract of twenty-two acres owned by them at Hamp- 
den, Me., as a public park. 
The Park Board of Providence, R. I., has recommended 
that small tracts in several parts of the city be set aside for 
public playgrounds. 
The town of Orange, Mass., is to buy a seven-acre tract 
of land for a public park, at a cost of $4,000.00. 
The city of Cleveland, O., is to spend $170,000.00 for new 
small parks during the year. 
Niagara Falls, N. Y., has taken its first step toward a city 
park system by appointing a commission to investigate the 
necessity for public parks. 
A bill authorizing the city of New York to expend $2,500,- 
000.00 for a seaside park has been passed by the legislature 
of the state. Various sites have been suggested for the new 
park, the western end of Rockaway Beach being one of the- 
places considered. 
Landscape Architect Geo. E. Kessler, of Kansas City, re- 
cently visited Dallas, Tex., to prepare plans for the improve- 
ment of the fair grounds in that city. He will also prepare 
a design for improving the grounds of Holy Trinity College 
in Dallas. 
An effort is being made in Milwaukee to secure the purchase 
of a tract of land known as Bay View on the lake shore for 
a public park. It is estimated that an expenditure of $100,- 
000.00 will be necessary. 
The Park Board of Minneapolis has adopted a plan for 
connecting all of the parks and park ways along the Missis- 
sippi river, Minnehaha Park has an area of 138.94 acres; Riv- 
erside Parkway, 175.64 acres; St. Anthony Parkway, 80.5 
acres; Riverside Park, 19.78 acres, and the river gorge, 285.14 
acres, making a grand total of 700 acres of connecting parks. 
(ContiDued on page XIII.) 
