PARK AND CEMETERY 
97 
Annual reports or extracts from them, historical sketches, 
descriptive circulars, photographs of improz'ements or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this department^ 
A river front park is to be laid out along the Grand River 
at Lansing, Mich. There are i6 acres on the strip having 
a frontage of nearly a mile. The land is timbered and the 
only improvement will be a winding boulevard. The park 
will be called Moore’s Park, in honor of the donor, J. H. 
Moore, a resident of Lansing. Mr. Howard Evarts Weed has 
the improvement in charge. 
* * * 
A recent issue of the Good Roads Magaoinc. tells of the 
use of “Westrumite,” the new road sprinkler that ha.= been 
described in these columns, in the construction of a gravel 
road at Colorado Springs, the first experiment of the 
kind in this country. It is claimed that if the preparation 
is mixed with the road surfacing material during con- 
struction that the road surface will become water tight 
and withstand heavy traffic. The e.xperiment will be watched 
by road builders with interest. 
* * * 
The House committee on military affairs of the late Con- 
gress favorably reported a bill creating one military park com- 
mission to have charge of all the military parks now in 
existence and which may hereafter be created. There are 
now four military parks — Chickamauga, Shiloh, Gettysburg 
and Vicksburg. It has been proposed by bills introduced 
to have military parks or plats set apart and marked at the 
following places : Appomattox. Atlanta, Balls Bluff, Brandy- 
wine. Franklin, Fort Frederick, Fredericksburg, Guilford, N. 
C., Petersburg, Perryville, Fort Reno. D. C., Fort Stevens, 
Stone River, Valley Forge, Wilson Creek, Yorktown, and 
Valley of Virginia Memorial Park. 
* * ^ 
Appropriations have been passed by Greater New York for 
park and parkway improvements in Brooklyn and Queens 
costing in the aggregate $634,930. The most important of 
the improvements for Prospect Park are a new shelter 
house for tennis players to cost $50,000, and an ornate 
entrance at Fifteenth street and Prospect Park West. This 
will cost $25,000. New ornamental shelters are to be con- 
structed in Sunset Park, City Park and Winthrop Park at 
an aggregate e.xpense of $72,000, and a public comfort station 
at the Prospect Park plaza, at a cost of $12,000. Large 
expenditures are to be made on new parks. Maxwell Park, 
now officially called McLaughlin Park, recently laid out ad- 
joining St. James' Pro-Cathedral, is to be provided with 
gymnasium equipment for both boys and girls, and with 
concrete walks, at a cost of $35,000. Fulton Park is to have 
a $10,000 shelter. The little extension of Institute Park 
at the south end is to be “cleaned up” at a cost of $5,000. 
Amesfort Park is to get $1,500 worth of trees, shrulrs and 
topsoil. Greenpoint Park, lately McCarren Park, is to be 
graded and improved for school gardens at a cost of $25,000. 
Propagation greenhouses, in addition to those built last year, 
are to be constructed in Forest Park at a cost of $6,500. 
The South Park Board of Chicago, is encountering legal 
difficulties in its plan to allow sites for the Crerar Library 
and the Field Museum in the new Grant Park now being 
filled in on the lake front. Montgomery Ward, one of the 
adjacent property owners, objects to the erection of any 
structures in the park and has taken the matter into the 
courts. There is quoted a Supreme court decision of 189b, 
amplified in 1902, which is considered sufficient to prevent the 
erection of any structure on the lake front, the owners of 
property on the west side of Michigan avenue having a right 
to an unobstructed view of the lake’s waters, no matter 
how far away the receding shore line may be carried. For 
the other side there is cited an act which passed the legisla- 
ture in 1903 authorizing park boards to permit libraries and 
other municipal institutions to have space in public parks. 
In this law a clause was inserted with a definite bearing upon 
the case now at issue, providing that no adjoining property 
holder can completely block any such procedure, but per- 
mitting a reference of the question to a jury for adjudication 
of the exact amount of value in the individual owner’s ease- 
ment. The one party believes that the court decision still 
stands, and that any action taken by library or park board 
is in the nature of contempt of court. The other party be- 
lieves that the legislative act has set aside the former court 
decree, and hopes that it will be so recognized by the courts. 
* * * 
NEW PARKS. 
The park committee of the city council of Norfolk, Va., 
has recommended the purchase of a new tract of 116 acres 
on the w'estern branch of the Elizabeth River for a public 
park. 
The Director of Public Safety of Philadelphia has let the 
contract for the construction of a small park at Germantown 
avenue, York and Eighth streets. 
The city of Akron, Ohio, has secured by condemnation 
proceedings a tract of land to be known as Glendale Park. 
The cost is about $10,000, and it is estimated that $10,000 
more will be needed for its improvement. 
The board of aldermen of Chicopee, Mass., recently passed 
an order instructing Mayor Albert E. Taylor to appoint a 
commission of three members to investigate the advisability 
of setting aside a portion of the Poor Farm property for a 
public park. 
An association recently purchased at auction the farm on 
which Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky to preserve 
it as a National Park. Gov. Jos. W. Folk of Missouri is 
president of the association and Richard L. Jones, of Col- 
lier’s Weekly, is secretary. The property comprises no acres. 
Mrs. Sarah Gleason has presented to the town of Eau 
Claire, Wis., a twenty-acre tract to he used as a public park. 
The city council of Bristol, Va., has voted to purchase a 
thirty-three acre grove for a public park at an expenditure of 
$14,000. 
Park Board of Westfield, Conn., has let the contract for 
the improvement of a small park at Mountain and Lawrence 
avenues. 
The town of Beverly, Mass., has appropriated $r.5CO for 
the purchase of a new park. 
The city council of Grand Rapids, Mich., is considering the 
improvement of the tract surrounding the city stand pipe 
as a public park. 
The proposition of issuing $150,000 in bonds for the 
establishment of parks and public squares is to be submitted 
to popular vote at West Mount, Quebec. 
The South End Advancement Association of Milwaukee 
is considering the purchase of a tract on the lake shore in the 
(Contioued on pag'e XIII.) 
