479 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
by fift}- feet. This is the largest as- 
sembb" hall in the park system. The 
two club rooms will be each nineteen 
feet, eight inches, by twenty feet in 
size. 
The swimming pool, varying in 
depth from one foot to eight feet, will 
be 60 by 150 feet in surface area, con- 
structed of reinforced concrete and 
lined with enamel tile. The building 
for dressing booths will be roofed and 
will provide two hundred booths. 
Athletic fields for both sexes, a 
playground for children and a big field 
for baseball and football games and 
skating will be provided. In each ath- 
letic field there will be a concrete 
grand stand for spectators. 
Urgent demand for more ample 
bathing facilities at Mark White 
Square, bounded by Twenty-ninth 
Thirtieth, Halsted and Poplar streets, 
has been met by the construction of 
two additions to the recreation build- 
ing to be used as shower rooms. They 
have marble floors, walls and both par- 
titions of marble and sanitary glass, and 
the best of plumbing fixtures. There are 
sixteen open and eight private showers 
for men and ten open and fourteen pri- 
vate showers for women. A total of 
102,488 baths were given in the 
shower rooms of this park during the 
year, although during October, No- 
vember and December the showers 
were closed on account of reconstruc- 
tion work. 
The park system was increased dur- 
ing the year by the selection of a 
tract of a little more than twenty 
acres between Ninetieth and Ninety- 
first streets, and St. Lawrence and 
South Park avenues. It lies in the 
heart of a district destined to be a 
great industrial community. The land 
was acquired when it could be bought 
cheaply to meet future needs. It ad- 
joins Burnside. 
A new administration building, 
which provides adequate office room 
for carrying on the business of the 
South Park Commissioners, was one 
of the important features of the 
year’s work. Since 1902 the total 
area of the south parks and boule- 
vards has increased from 1,535.14 to 
2,494.59 acres, or more than 62.5 per 
cent. The number of parks and 
squares has been increased from six 
to twenty-four, or 300 per cent; and 
of the six parks controlled in 1902, 
the area of Grant park has been in- 
creased from 74.88 to 205.14 acres; 
and of McKinley park from 34.33 to 
74.88 acres. The mileage of boule- 
vards under the jurisdiction of the 
commissioners has been increased 
from 17,28 to 32.98 miles, or 90.8 per 
cent. The increase in administrative 
work is far greater than the increase 
in acreage would indicate, owing to 
the extensive development of the new 
ideas of park efficiency. 
After securing expert advice and 
obtaining estimates on the cost of re- 
constructing the old building, the 
South Park Commissioners decided 
the economical course was to build a 
new headquarters of substantial and 
durable construction, and of sufficient 
size to take care of imperatively 
needed present requirements and of 
future development. Accordingly plans 
were prepared, specifications written and 
a contract was let August 6, 1909. The 
building, now complete, is of concrete, 
one story high and of rough exterior 
finish. 
Statistics covering the facilities for 
physical and social recreation, pub- 
lished in this report, indicate the ex- 
tent of the administrative work in the 
enlarged park system and the part 
which the parks have come to play 
in the life of the people. The place 
they fill as playgrounds, for all sports 
in all seasons, is shown by the fact 
that there were maintained during 
the year two golf courses; 198 tennis 
courts, of which 148 were equipped 
with nets; thirty- two baseball dia- 
monds; twenty-five football fields; 
eleven swimming pools and one lake 
bathing beach; sixteen wading pools; 
twenty indoor gymnasia ; twenty-two 
outdoor gymnasia and athletic fields; 
twelve children’s playgrounds, and 
thirteen sand courts. For winter 
sports there were nineteen skating 
ponds covering eighty-six acres; three 
curling rinks; one hockey rink and 
one ice-speeding course. Two roque 
courts, an archery range and a bait- 
casting pool were maintained in 
Washington park. The yacht harbor 
in Jackson Park was occupied to its 
capacity by pleasure boats. 
On the two golf courses 336,000 
games were played. In one day 1,400 
persons played over the eighteen hole 
course. 
In the new parks, where it has been 
possible to keep count of patronage, 
there were 1,943,228 users of the out- 
door gymnasia and 302,222 of the in- 
door gymnasia; 1,212,421 baths were 
given in the shower rooms and 758,- 
149 in the swimming pools and bath- 
ing beach. 
In the ten assembly lialls in the new 
parks which were used for lectures, 
dances, dramatic performances and 
similar entertainments, 246,660 per- 
sons gathered during the year. The 
twenty-two club rooms, used for so- 
cial meetings, acscommodated 41,701 
persons. The ten reading rooms ac- 
commodated 637,683 persons. 
All these specified uses of the park 
facilities were in addition to those 
who rode and drove on the boulevards 
and drives, the crowds which gathered 
as spectators of games, and the great 
number of persons who went to the 
park for a day in the open air, to re- 
fresh themselves on the lawns, enjoy 
the beauties of the landscape and 
floral displays, row on the lagoons, or 
ride in the launches. 
Management of the park refectory 
service, which is entirely under the 
direction of the South Park Commis- 
sioners, and the operation of the ice 
cream factory, and of laundries in the 
new parks, which wash the bathing 
suits and towels supplied free to all 
applicants, form important features of 
the administrative work. The boat 
service also is conducted by the South 
Park Commissioners. There are no 
concessions in the south parks. 
In the laundries in the new parks 
2,879,030 pieces were laundred at a 
considerable saving over the cost of 
having the work done in commercial 
laundries. The nursery conducted in 
Marquette park, where all of the 
shrubs and many of the trees used in 
the new planting were propagated, 
showed a saving for the year of $19,- 
402.10 over the cost of obtaining the 
stock from commercial nurseries. The 
refectories and lunch counters were 
conducted to serve the public at the 
lowest possible prices without seek- 
ing a profit. At all of the lunch coun- 
ters the certified milk prepared by 
the Milk Commission of Chicago was 
kept for sale at two cents an half- 
pint bottle. There were 221,309 bottles 
sold. 
Reclamation of submerged land in 
Grand park was completed so far . as 
is provided for in the plans which 
have been adopted by the South Park 
Commissioners. 
Important litigation involving this 
park was begun. A. Montgomery 
Ward obtained a decision from the 
Illinois Supreme Court holding that 
on account of the conditions of the 
original dedication of the lake front 
by the Illinois and Michigan canal 
trustees no building may be erected 
in Grant park. 
Considerable rebuilding and repair- 
ing of boulevard roadways was made 
necessary, as in the past, by the wear 
of automobile traffic. Progress in the 
development of an automobile-proof 
pavement has been more satisfactory. 
The latest improvement is the use of 
asphaltic concrete two inches thick as 
a surface. Asphaltic concrete consists 
