PARK AND CEMETERY. 
608 
BEFORE AND AFTER VIEWS OF THE PASEO AT SIXTEENTH STREET, 1907 AND 1911. 
able that in spite of topographical 
difficulties, and these were particu- 
larly prominent in this case, the orig- 
inal design has been so closely ad- 
hered to. The difficulties of topog- 
raphy after all “afforded the basis 
upon which to form the city’s diversi- 
fied system of parks and boulevards.” 
The principal adopted “in the very 
beginning was to follow nature as 
closely as possible, to adapt the plan- 
ning to natural conditions.” 
Another particularly noticeable 
fact, and one which “points a moral,” 
has been the change from early oppo- 
sition to the great plan, to a later 
pronounced encouragement. “The 
greater part of the park area as it 
exists today cost nothing for land. 
Not only did popular sentiment grow 
with the development of the system 
as originally planned, but large prop- 
erty owners have aided by liberal 
gifts.” To quote an instance from 
Mr. Kessler’s, the landscape archi- 
tect’s contribution to the report: “To 
condemn the ground and remove the 
several hundred structures of Penn 
Valley Park cost nearly a million 
dollars. But when the people realized 
what was possible in Penn Valley 
Park a volunteer neighborhood move- 
ment to the southwest was started 
to transform a locality unsettled but 
similar in its ruggedness to Penn Val- 
ley. As a result of this volunteer 
action most of the ground was given 
by nearby property owners to create 
the beautiful Roanoke Park. A 
broken region in the midst of one of 
the most prominent residence sections 
was in danger of occupation by cheap 
houses and small industries. It is 
now a park, preserving and enhanc- 
ing the character of the residence 
section surrounding it.” 
Especial care was taken in laying 
out the system of boulevards, insepa- 
rable as it must be from that of the 
parks, but the landscape architect 
at the time of presenting the origin- 
al plan said: “The chief objects 
sought in making this class of im- 
provements are to fix for residence 
purposes the character of the districts 
through which the boulevards lead, 
and to present pleasant driveways 
leading from populous centers 
through proper surroundings to 
points of special interest. The boul- 
evard routes selected meet these re- 
quirements very fully.” 
The names and areas in acres of 
the larger parks are as follows: 
Penn Valley, 131.92; West Terrace, 
33.41; North Terrace, 257.21; The Pa- 
rade, 20.99; The Paseo, 94.58; The 
Grove, 10.49; Gilham Road, 124.65; 
Spring Valley, 27.33; Budd, 25.88; Ro- 
anoke, 36.04; and Swope Park, 1,- 
331.88. A number of small parks add 
to the total acreage. The question 
of an outer park belt has not been 
entirely overlooked, and it was while 
considering the matter some years 
ago that Col. Swope made his mag- 
nificent gift to the city, and this in 
itself is a capital start for the outer 
plan, for which, by the way, consid- 
erable investigation has been made. 
Nor has the small playground park 
question been neglected. No Kansas 
City boy has to take a street car ride 
to find a base ball field. Wherever 
“the system has penetrated well set- 
tled localities the policy has been to 
provide playgrounds for children, 
tennis courts and baseball diamonds 
for older youth.” There is much to 
be done in fully equipping all the 
playgrounds, but every part of the 
city is cared for in this respect. 
A recreation field is to be estab- 
lished in the East Bottoms, where 
numbers of industrial employes live. 
“There are playgrounds in West Ter- 
race Park. The Paseo has its play- 
grounds. Where that chain of small 
parks widens into the twenty-one 
acres of The Parade is an athletic 
field, a sunken portion of which be- 
comes an out-door skating rink in 
winter. There is also the free bath 
house.” Holmes Square is less than 
three acres in area but it has its free 
bath, its gymnastic apparatus, its 
sand court, its public fountain and 
its shelter. The development of this 
playground has changed the children 
"from little vandals into self-appoint- 
ed guardians of the peace.” 
The standard for boulevard con- 
struction was recommended by the 
landscape architect and adopted by 
the first board of park commissioners 
in 1893. Results have endorsed the 
decision. The boulevards are 100 feet 
wide, the space divided as follows on 
all routes not occupied by street rail- 
ways: A central roadway 40 feet 
wide and parking 30 feet on each 
side. The park is arranged with a 
curb and gutter combined; next to 
this turf 17 feet wide, then 8 feet of 
walk, and 5 feet between the latter 
and the property line. On the park- 
ing space three lines of trees, almost 
equally spaced, are planted. In the 
event of the roadways having to be 
widened a strip can be taken from 
the parking on each side of the road- 
way, even to removing the trees next 
to the, curb without interfering seri- 
ously with the boulevard plan. 
Perhaps no city in the country has 
more clearly demonstrated the fact 
of the increase in property values 
which follows tlTe development of 
a well devised park and boulevard 
system. It is always freely used as 
an argument in favor of taxes and 
expenditures for park purpose, but 
does not always exercise the influ- 
ence it should be expected to do, and, 
for one reason, because beneficial park 
development is often slow and covers 
long periods. In Kansas City, less 
than a generation has elapsed since 
the park plan was actively inaugurat- 
ed and the following statistics will 
