PARK AND CEMETERY. 
714 
APPROACH TO MERIDIAN ST. BRIDGE OVER FADE CREEK, 
INDIANAPOLIS, 1910. 
APPROACH TO MERIDIAN ST. BRIDGE OVER FALL CREEK ONE 
YEAR LATER. 
and South Bend, that these cities are 
discussing the advisability of asking 
the Indiana General Assembly to 
modify the Indianapolis statute so 
that its provisions may apply to them. 
It is probable that the second-class 
cities will ask the legislature so to 
modify the 1909 law. 
George E. Kessler, the landscape 
architect of the system, says in his 
report to the board: 
“You have made a number of im- 
provements along the streams that 
have brought about revolutionary 
changes in the appearance of several 
districts, and these encourage the ex- 
pectation of similar improvements 
along other water courses. While 
these really fine improvements are 
not costly, they will in a very short 
time make this city famous for the 
beauty of its streams’ parkways, its 
chief characteristic. Incident to and 
an important part of these connect- 
ing and encircling parkways, as 
means of communication through and 
about the city, you have in these a 
series of extremely valuable and well 
distributed playgrounds. Every bend 
of the streams has ground large 
enough for local playgrounds, some 
large enough for all the outdoor 
sports, and many finely located for 
small children’s recreation grounds. 
All of these will have the fine setting 
of ample park space, creating espe- 
cially in the children an appreciation 
of good appearance of their surround- 
ings. Through the creation of these 
ample parkways of broad open spaces 
in all sections of the city, there is lit- 
tle or no encouragement to the estab- 
lishment of congested dwelling house 
or slum districts in Indianapolis. This 
is in sharp contrast to so many older 
cities, where the park development 
was delayed or neglected until too 
late. In turn, it leaves but little need 
for the creation of large numbers of 
the playgrounds, so called, in closely 
built up districts where open space 
and a bit of gymnastic apparatus are 
the only possible forms of improve- 
ment. When these latter do become 
necessary, they should be entirely on 
school grounds, provided and gov- 
erned by the educational department, 
and treated as outdoor school work.” 
The principal work done in River- 
side park during the year — a work im- 
portant in that it marked the begin- 
ning of an improvement that will in 
time change the entire structure of 
the park’s system of drives — was the 
construction of an embankment to 
carry a broad roadway extending 
north from the Thirtieth street bridge 
on the west side of White river. 
A work entirely different in char- 
acter but similar in results, that was 
started in Riverside park during the 
last year, was that of clearing out a 
great many trees in the old fence 
rows cutting east and west across the 
park, south of Thirtieth street and 
east of White river. Although the 
fences had been demolished at the 
time the several farms and tracts of 
ground were acquired to make up 
Riverside park, the trees were left 
standing. These rows of trees, cut- 
ting across the line of vision from 
any point north and south, gave the 
park the appearance of being com- 
posed of semi-isolated sections, and 
destroyed the effect of continuity and 
broad perspective, which should be 
the primary feature of the landscape 
in a park of the extent of Riverside. 
A great many trees in these rows 
were cut out during the last year, and 
this made a vast improvement. There 
is still more work of this kind to be 
done from time to time as the forces 
at work will make it possible, and the 
same kind of work is to be done also 
on the west side of White river south 
of Thirtieth street. 
Another important work done dur- 
ing the last year in Riverside park 
was the building of a new roadway 
on the Thirtieth street hill on the 
west side of White river. 
By remodeling the old shelter in 
the south grove in Riverside park, 
the department was placed in posses- 
sion of a very substantial and roomy 
shelter house, that will be of much 
service to those who use that section 
of the park. 
Acting at the instance of the Mar- 
