4 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
RESERVOIR IN ELYSIAN PARK, LOS ANGELES, 
of dwellings. While of rather simple 
design, the lake has a few charming 
features. Small arms of the water body 
are spanned by rustic bridges of appro- 
priate design and native material, un- 
derneath which are growing aquatic 
The actual average provision for 
parks and public grounds for American 
cities is one acre for every two hun- 
dred of the population. The cost of 
the land, taking expensive and inexpen- 
sive property together, averages about 
a thousand dollars an acre, and the cost 
of construction, while it varies a good 
deal in different communities, averages 
nearly another thousand dollars an acre. 
First-class maintenance amounts to 
about a hundred or a hundred and 
twenty dollars an acre per annum. If 
we assume that the real Chattanooga 
has a population of 100,000 or more, 
with the prospect of a steady increase 
in the future, and that the cost of land 
here is below the average, these figures 
would justify a city park system of at 
least five hundred acres and outlay for 
land and construction of, at least, $500,- 
000; and for annual maintenance $25,- 
000, rising gradually, as the system de- 
velops, to $50,000. Chattanooga should 
be compared in the matter of parks 
with other cities of its class in various 
parts of the country. For example, take 
such cities as Dayton, Ohio; Grand 
Rapids, Michigan ; Tacoma, Washington ; 
Wilmington, Delaware; Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania; Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts; Hartford, Connecticut, and Okla- 
homa City. Dayton has six parks, for 
plants which in season reveal to 
the interested visitor a real taste 
of tropical splendor. At the north 
end of the lake, from which the lake 
gets its water supply, is a charming 
little w'aterfall, or series of falls. 
the acquisition of which it has issued 
bonds for more than $100,000. One of 
its small parks includes a field house, 
with gymnasium, baths, and swimming 
pool, constructed at a cost of $130,000. 
Grand Rapids has parks comprising sev- 
eral hundred acres and worth $400,000. 
The annual appropriation averages $50,- 
000. Tacoma, Washington, with the 
characteristic public spirit of the North- 
west, has secured already 1,000 acres of 
parks and levies an annual tax of 1 y 2 
mills for their support. Wilmington, 
Delaware, by persistent and well-di- 
rected efforts, has acquired and im- 
proved 300 acres of parks at a cost for 
land and construction of about half a 
million dollars. A loan of $250,000 is 
now being proposed for new parks and 
playgrounds. Harrisburg has now 749 
acres of parks and playgrounds, for the 
acquisition of which it has issued bonds 
for $250,000. The city appropriates an- 
nually about $30,000 for maintenance. 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, looks to the 
Boston Metropolitan Park system, in 
which it is included, for its large parks, 
but for local use it has many small 
parks, playgrounds, and open spaces 
which are now valued at more than $4,- 
000,000. Its park loans amount to $1,- 
519,000, and it appropriates about $40,- 
000 a year for park maintenance. Hart- 
Echo Park, located just north of 
Temple street, while containing but 
thirty-three acres, has a long, narrow 
expanse of water that provides a 
course fully equal to that of Westlake 
or Eastlake. It also has charming 
walks, skirted by flowering tree and 
shrub, a wooded island, connected 
with the largest foot bridge in the 
city parks, and many points and de- 
tails of interest. 
Hollenbeck Park, on Boyle Heights, 
is twenty-six acres in size and 
stretched out to the limit, leaving a 
rather narrow strip of land along either 
side of a narrow lake. The space 
at command has, however, been most 
appropriately planted so that the ef- 
fect as a whole is of a much greater 
area. 
Sycamore Grove Park has perhaps 
the appearance of the greatest age, 
covered as it is with majestic groups 
of sycamores. 
Other parks of lesser note are: 
Central, St. James, Sunset, Plaza, and 
Prospect, all bright little spots in the 
thickly settled sections, where breath- 
ing places are of exceptional value. 
100,000 CLASS 
ford, Connecticut, one of the most pro- 
gressive of small American cities, has 
now 21 parks and open spaces with a 
total of 1,335 acres. It appropriates in 
the neighborhood of $50,000 a year for 
maintenance and new work. Oklahoma 
City, with less population than Chat- 
tanooga, has officially adopted a plan 
which provides for 1,966 acres of 
parks and 70 miles of parkways and 
boulevards. A bond issue of $400,000, 
which is $8 per capita, has been ap- 
proved by the people by a vote of 
two to one. 
These figures will at first glance 
appear high as compared with what 
Chattanooga is now spending, but 
it should be remembered that the city 
is at present backward in the mat- 
ter of parks. Moreover, this expense 
would be distributed over a period 
of years. The value of land, if care- 
fully purchased, would always equal, 
indeed soon exceed, the total cost of 
acquisition and construction with in- 
terest ; and the cost for maintenance 
would be covered by an expense of 
less than fifty cents a year per capita, 
which is a low charge, considering the 
benefits that each citizen would re- 
ceive. But, to justify Chattanooga in 
proceeding in this large and business- 
like way, ample grounds should be 
selected in various sections. 
PARK SYSTEMS IN CITIES OF 
From Report to Chattanooga Park Commission, by 
John Nolen, Landscape Architect, Cambridge, Mass. 
