663 
PAR K A N D C EM ETER Y. 
€ PARK NEWS. 
Shepardson Park, a new public 
playground, was opened to the peo- 
ple last month. It was a gift of the 
Hon. J. B. Shepardson, and is ten 
acres in extent. 
The town of West Boylston, Mass., 
is to have a park opposite the high 
school building, the result of a be- 
quest in the will of Aaron Goodale, 
subject to certain stipulations. The 
bequest for the park is about 3^2 
acres at the intersection of Crescent 
and Goodale streets. 
Anna Williams by will has left 
seven acres of land on the south 
side of Pearl street, Batavia, N. Y., 
for a village park, provided the vil- 
lage will accept it and properly pro- 
vide for its maintenance. 
Benton Harbor, Mich., has recently 
bought five acres of land adjoining 
the Hall property donated to the city 
a few years ago. This will give a 
ten acre park. 
All difficulties in the way of estab- 
lishing the proposed Ryan Parks in 
Mobile, Ala., have been removed and 
work on clearing the site is under 
way. 
Plans for improving the grounds 
of the Citizens’ cemetery and the old 
potters’ field on Harrison avenue, 
Chattanooga, Tenn., are now being 
worked out by Commissioner J. H. 
Warner, of the department of public 
utilities and buildings, with an idea 
of making a beauty spot out of the 
present disorder of weeds, overturned 
tombs and dilapidated fences. 
Crawford, N. J., on the Rahway 
river, is to have another park. 
Rather than use the remainder of 
the .$1,000,000 park loan for the de- 
velopment of a water-front park, 
Baltimore, Md., the Park Board has 
practically decided to establish a 
neighborhood park in the section be- 
tween City Springs Park and Patter- 
son Park. 
The Irving Park district, Chicago, 
Ilk, organized a year ago, comes into 
possession of approximately eight 
acres of land, located within the en- 
virons of Irving Park. This will 
form the beginning of a park system 
of which Irving Park is the hub. The 
land cost approximately $.50,000 and 
the balance of a bond issue of 
$150,000 will be used in improving it 
as a park. 
The Sherman, Texas city council has 
appropriated $1,000 for the ladies of 
the Sherman Civic Improvement 
League, to be used in improving the 
various parks of the city. Two plots 
of ground recently donated to the ladies 
for park purposes will be cleared and 
put in shape immediately. 
The initial work of preparing plans 
I'or a “city beautiful,’’ for South Bend, 
Ind., has been inaugurated by R. P. 
Barnett, acting for George E. Kessler, 
landscape architect, who has been em- 
ployed by the park board to prepare 
a systematic plan. 
In pursuance of an adopted policy 
to extend the park system of Houston, 
Texas, city officials have closed a deal 
for the acquisition of 19.26 acres of 
land near Highland Park, known as 
the old Lawrence place. 
Urging both the preservation of pres- 
ent roads and trails in the Mount Ta- 
coma national reserve and the extension 
of new ones, the committee appointed 
by the trustees of the Commercial Club 
and ChamlDer of Commerce of Tacoma, 
Wash., to investigate park conditions 
has made its report. 
By the will of Miss Anna Williams 
her home property in Batavia, N. Y., 
has been bequeathed to that village for 
park purposes and it is to be named 
Williams Park. Subject to life estates 
$23,000 is also bequeathed for the care 
and Improvement of the park. 
Capt. Charles Welhausen has donated 
$3,500 to Shriner, Texas, for a public 
park and $1,250 has been raised for 
improvements and maintenance. 
The various legal formalities in con- 
nection with the establishment of the 
Vail Memorial Park, Whippany, N. J., 
have been complied with and construc- 
tion work is being pushed. Mr. Theo- 
dore Vail, chairman of the board of 
the New York Telephone Company, 
has acquired 120 acres of land adjoin- 
ing the historic cemetery of the Pres- 
byterian church at Parsippany, where 
a number of his family are buried. 
The beautifying of the cemetery and 
church grounds was his original pur- 
pose, but the project has grown until 
now it includes the construction of a 
memorial park that will be a notable 
beauty spot. 
The authorities of Portland, Ore., are 
arranging to acquire several pieces of 
property about the city for the pur- 
pose of establishing small parks. 
A new era in national park progress 
is expected to result from Secretary 
Fisher’s attitude on the question. He 
is quoted as holding that the national 
parks, under the present system of ad- 
ministration, present the worst example 
of uneconomic operation, and he would 
conserve park administrative affairs by 
the creation of an able bureau. An- 
other decisive stroke suggested by Mr. 
Fisher is his avowed intention of plac- 
ing tlie forestry division under the jur- 
isdiction of the interior department. 
Better administration of forestry mat- 
ters is the reason he gives for this 
proposed change. 
George M. Miller, a member of the 
school board of Racine, Wis., has sug- 
gested to the common council not to 
accept plats for new additions to the 
city without the real estate owners 
agreeing to donate a block of the prop- 
erty for free parks or school purposes. 
A good suggestion. 
The voters of Menominee, Mich., re- 
jected the proposition to bond in the 
sum of $9,000 to purchase additional 
land for the John Henes park in a 
very decided way. The total vote 
against the proposition was 491, while 53 
voted for bonding. The people think 
the park is large enough for the pres- 
ent : but how about the future ? 
The Alton, III, city council has grant- 
ed a long-withheld permission to the 
Alton Parks Commission to buy a tract 
on the bluffs at Alton as a bluff park 
site. All other public places on the 
bluffs have been shut off, and the view 
of the river was practically forbidden 
e.xcept through the courtesy of priv- 
ate individuals. 
Elmira Heights, Elmira, N. Y., has 
voted to purchase the Oak Ridge Ho- 
tel property, corner of 14th street and 
Elmwood avenue, for a public park. 
The citizens of Chicago are to be 
called upon to vote for a bond issue 
of $1,000,000 for the purchase of new 
park areas for the West Chicago Park 
district. 
,A.t a recent meeting of the Commis- 
sion Charier Freeholders, of Sacramen- 
to, Cal., a minimum tax rate of 10 
cents per $100 valuation was adopted, 
in order to provide sufficient funds for 
the upkeep and improvement of the 
parks. 
It has been suggested by a member 
of the park commission of Los Angeles, 
Cal., that the Illinois Lincoln memorial 
fountain, to be erected in Eastlake Park, 
should be designed after the Saint Gau- 
dens Lincoln monument in Chicago. 
The question of acquiring the 268 
acres of ocean frontage and upland at 
Rockaway, Long Island, N. Y., at a cost 
