30 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ON CONSOLIDATION OF CHICAGO PARK SYSTEMS 
While in many respects the park 
systems of Chicago have accomplished 
some of the most remarkable and ex- 
tensive works of improvement and 
park building in this country, the 
conditions of their management as 
three separate and distinct systems, 
have long been regarded as anoma- 
lous and wasteful. The work in the 
development of small parks, play 
parks, and service parks in the South 
Park system has been a model for 
the entire country, and indeed is not 
matched anywhere else in the world. 
The South Parks, under many years 
of non-political management, have 
also developed a high degree of ef- 
ficiency in park administration and 
in the rendering of a wide variety of 
service to the people in directions 
seldom attempted by park boards. The 
reclaiming of Grant Park from the 
lake and the development of original 
methods of road construction are 
other examples of remarkable accom- 
plishments in park making that have 
distinguished the work of General Su- 
perintendent J. F. Foster and his able 
corps of professional assistants. 
The Lincoln Park system of the 
North Side, administered by a Board 
appointed by the Governor, has had a 
varied history. Formerly misman- 
aged by a political board, it has in 
recent years been reclaimed and has 
made rapid strides under former su- 
perintendent M. H. West and his 
predecessor, the late R. H. Warder, 
in extension, and in development 
along service lines. Reclamation 
work that has been under way for 
several years on its lake frontage will 
nearly double the area of Lincoln 
Park, and several field houses, serv- 
ice parks, and bathing beaches have 
also been established. 
The West Park System was also a 
prey to politics for many years, but 
under former superintendent Jens 
Jensen, was thoroughly rehabilitated, 
and is at present perfecting a civil 
service system of employment for its 
labor that is expected to maintain 
it in an efficient manner. This latter 
work is under the direction of 
Fred G. Heuchling, who is Secretary 
and Superintendent of Employment. 
There has long been a sentiment 
for the consolidation of the three 
park systems to promote uniformity 
and efficiency in management, and to 
promote this idea the Chicago Bureau 
of Public Efficiency has prepared and 
published a report on the park gov- 
ernments of Chicago, giving the re- 
sults of an extensive inquiry into 
their organization and methods of 
administration. Julius Rosenwald is 
chairman of the Bureau and George 
C. Sykes, 315 Plymouth Court, secre- 
tary. 
The full text of the report, copies 
of which may be had upon request by 
persons desiring it, contains much de- 
tailed matter, of interest to those di- 
rectly concerned in park work. The 
main features of the report, from the 
viewpoint of the public at large, have 
been brought together under the 
heading, “General Summary and 
for the consolidation of the three 
Conclusions,” and from this summary 
the following facts are gathered : 
Under separate management, each 
of the three large park systems of 
Chicago has points of excellence — 
the South Park and Lincoln Park 
systems more than the West Park 
system. From the viewpoint of the 
community as a whole, however, 
there is not only much waste and in- 
efficiency in connection with expen- 
ditures of park funds, but the needs 
of the people for park facilities are 
not properly met, nor can they be, 
so long as the present lack of unified 
management continues. 
There are ten separate park boards 
within the City of Chicago — not 
counting the Special Park Commis- 
sion, which is an arm of the city gov- 
ernment, nor the Forest Preserve 
Commission, intended to have taxing 
authority over the entire County of 
Cook, the act creating which has been 
declared unconstitutional. There are 
portions of the City of Chicago that 
are not within any of the ten sepa- 
rate park districts. The names of 
these ten boards, the amount of the 
outstanding bonded indebtedness and 
of the annual tax levy of each are 
given in the following tabular state- 
ment : 
Total Bonded Taxes Ex- 
Indebtedness at tended by 
End of Fiscal 
Park District. Year 1910. 
South $ 5,920,000.00 
West 2,763,160.66 
Lincoln *1,790,000.00 
Calumet 
Fernwood *13,000.00 
Irving 
North Shore 32,000.00 
North West 
Ridge 32,500.00 
Ridge Avenue 
Cjounty Clerk 
for 1910. 
$2,601,159 
1,437,263 
990,239 
112 
3,867 
9,256 
10,506 
6,542 
3,544 
$10,550,666.66 
Special Park Com- 
mission — • Ap- 
propriation by 
City Council for 
1910 
$5,062,488 
130,102 
$10,550,666.66 $5,192,590 
Less: Sinking 
Fund (See be- 
low) 470,458.81 
Net 
ness 
Indebted- 
$10,080,207.85 
♦Sinking funds held against these bonds 
as follows: 
Lincoln, $470,000.00, Fernwood, $458.81. 
♦♦This park district was not organized un- 
til 1911. 
It was in 1869 that legislative ac- 
tion was secured looking to the crea- 
tion of the three large park systems, 
one for each division of the city. The 
seven smaller park districts, compris- 
ing territory within the city, but not 
under the jurisdiction of the South, 
West or Lincoln Park Boards, have 
come into existence under authority 
of an act of the Legislature passed 
in 1895. 
By legislative action of the late 50’s 
and early 60’s Chicago was dealt with 
as three divisions for street railway 
purposes. This was a serious mis- 
take and has been productive of 
great harm, as the community now 
realizes. Pressure of public opinion 
is being exerted to force the unifica- 
tion of local transportation lines. 
The separation of the city into park 
divisions by the legislation of 1869, 
following close upon the harmful ex- 
ample set by the street railway leg- 
islation of a few years before, was 
likewise a mistake. Chicago, for park 
purposes, as well as for transporta- 
tion purposes, should be treated as 
one community, not three or more. 
