PARK AND CEMETERY. 
lie in 1880. The drive is complete with the excep- 
tion of a bridge which is to be erected across Ninety- 
sixth street, but the park is fully completed. Grant’s 
monument, which was unveiled in April, stands on 
the highest point of the park near One Hundred 
and Twenty-fifth street. North of this, at Clare- 
mont, the land drops very abruptly to the north and 
west and from there an unrivaled view of the Hud- 
son can be had. 
The commission of 1807 laid out between Third 
and Seventh avenues, and Twenty-third and Thirty- 
fourth streets, an enormous parade ground, which, 
however, was never carried out, the land never 
having been acquired by the city. The only square 
in this area is Madison square. It is very evident 
that the government of the city at that time did not 
look as far ahead as the city has done during the 
past twenty years, especially when the parks north 
of the Harlem were laid out. 
To the other smaller parks on Manhattan 
Island it is only necessary to refer briefly. Madi- 
son square was originally laid out in the latter 
part of the last century as a potter’s field for 
the burial of paupers. The potter’s field was, how- 
ever, soon removed to what is now Washington 
square. On Madison square the United States 
government at the beginning of this century 
erected an extensive arsenal, which was afterward 
abandoned. 
Union square, Tompkins square and the other 
small parks of the city do not call for any particu- 
lar mention, but it may be generally stated that of 
the parks south of Fifty-ninth street only those 
which have been laid out within the last few years 
were originally planned as parks or for the use of 
the people generally. In most every other instance 
they were used as parade grounds, or, as we have 
seen, for market and other purposes, some are the 
result of gradual growth. 
Bryant Park, comprising almost five acres of 
land lying between Fifth and Sixth avenues and 
Fortieth and Forty-second streets, has been se- 
lected as the site of the new great public library, 
formed by the consolidation of the Astor and 
Lenox libraries and the Tilden fund. The old res- 
ervoir, one of the chief landmarks of the modern 
city, is to be torn down to make way for the new 
structure, which will probably be erected at public 
expense. The legislature has authorized the trans- 
fer of the land for this purpose, and it is expected 
that the w r ork of removing the reservoir will begin 
within the present year. 
The park system north of the Harlem river, 
which was laid out pursuant to an act of the legis- 
lature passed in 1883, provides for nearly four 
thousand acres of park land, consisting of three 
131 
large parks, Van Cortlandt, Bronx and Pelham 
Bay, and three smaller parks, Crotona, Claremont 
and St. Mary’s. The larger parks are connected by 
parkways, a wise provision, as they will not only 
beautify the city when this part of New York is 
built up, but will also provide a means of reaching 
one park from another without going through the 
streets. Of these new parks both Van Cortlandt 
and Pelham Bay cover more acres of land than all 
of the parks on Manhattan Island together. Pel- 
ham Bay Park covers 1,700 acres, being the largest 
within the city limits. It was laid out especially 
with a view of having a water front, and it needs no 
description to recall to anyone who has been on the 
shores of Long Island Sound in summer the beau- 
ties of the, park at this point. 
Van Cortlandt Park covers an old estate once 
owned by the Van Cortlandt family. The old 
manor house still exists. Near it is a hill known as 
Vault Hill, so called from the vault which was 
used as a burying ground by this family. The 
American troops during the revolution were sta- 
tioned at various times along the hills at this point; 
the British troops were very near them to the south. 
The easterly end of Pelham Bay Park was the site 
of a sharp action between a small number of Ameri- 
cans and a large party of British just before the 
battle of White Plains. 
Bronx Park has been laid out on either side of 
the Bronx river, through what was once the old De 
Lancey estate, afterward in part owned by the Mor- 
ris family. The river winds through the park and 
the vegetation on its banks shows no sign of hav- 
ing been touched by human hands. In this park 
are to be constructed the botanical gardens and the 
zoological gardens. The park contains various cu- 
riosities, among others an old pine tree, known as 
De Lancey’s pine, which is known to have existed 
for many generations. Bronx is one of the most 
beautiful of New York's parks. Within its limits 
are to be found the wildest bits of scenery obtain- 
able in the vicinity of the great city, while the run- 
ning river stream affords a charm, constant, but ever 
varied and novel. Here nature has been left alone 
and the artificial has no part in the general scheme 
of beauty that meets the delighted visitor’s view. 
It is possible to wander there without having the 
fact of the nearness of the city borne home to one. 
Thus in many respects Bronx is the most fascinat- 
ing pleasure ground in the greater city. 
Numerous other parks are being laid out in the 
city, and the necessity for further parks has become 
so apparent that enormous sums of money have 
been spent for acquiring land in districts occupied 
by tenements, in order to provide breathing spaces 
for the people, especially in summer. 
