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PARK A N D C E M. E T R R Y. 
PLANNING APPROPRIATE SITES for PARK MEMORIALS 
The unmistakable and growing ten- 
dency to give more, atention to plan- 
ning the setting and surroundings of 
our public monuments is one of the 
finest evidences of our advancing 
good taste in matters of public art. 
In a number of recent public memo- 
rial problems, the mater of selecting 
the proper site was the subject of 
much public controversy, and it was 
generally recognized that it is essen- 
tial to give careful attention not. only 
to the proper location of works of 
public art, but to the making of a 
fitting background. It is now the 
common practice in imposing monu- 
mental commissions where large 
architectural considerations are in- 
volved, for the sculptor and architect 
to collaborate, and in a number of 
instances, the landscape architect has 
also been called into consultation to 
assist in securing the proper site and 
surroundings for monuments. 
Art commissions, official and advis- 
ory, in a number of cities have done 
much to teach us that we need not 
only a more educated public taste, 
but an expert consideration that shall 
take into account not only the mon- 
ument itself, but its appropriate- 
ness to its surroundings, and its 
harmony with its immediate 
environment. 
That so many monuments stand 
in unfortunate locations is, there- 
fore, due not to carelessness or 
lack of deliberation, but to failure 
to recognize the fact that a well 
placed monument forms an in- 
tegral part of its surroundings. 
Because of this failure to appreci- 
ate that there should be a distinct 
relationship between a monument 
and its immediate neighborhood, 
many monuments have no relation 
to the shape or size of the place 
where they stand, nor to their 
surroundings. 
Generally speaking, the most 
appropriate locations for. monu- 
ments are recognized to be in the 
little formal parks, plazas or 
squares where park and city 
meet, such as may be seen in the 
many little “circles” and “triangles” 
in Washington where many of our 
great public monuments are so im- 
posingly placed. 
In Wichita, Kas., the problem of 
providing a site for the new soldiers’ 
monument was a subject of warm 
controversy in the daily press for 
several months and a landscape archi- 
tect was engaged to provide a plan 
for the improvement of a small tri- 
angle to provide a more suitable loca- 
tion for the memorial than the Court 
House grounds, where it was at first 
planned to place it. There was an 
overwhelming weight of opinion in 
favor of the Douglas avenue triangle, 
but legal obstacles requiring the me- 
morial to be on county property, and 
the necessity for issuing bonds to 
purchase the new site, caused the de- 
feat of the plan on a referendum vote. 
The plan was nevertheless a suggest- 
ive one for the development of a 
monument site and we are reproduc- 
ing it here. 
The memorial is to be a shaft 45 
feet high, surmounting a base in the 
form of a relic room and surmounted 
by a sheet bronze statue of Peace. 
Statues of the cavalryman, sailor, in- 
fantryman and artilleryman are to 
stand on the four corners of the base. 
The relic room will be twelve feet 
square inside and will contain two 
glass cases for the preservation of 
war relics. The memorial is being 
erected with a county appropriation 
of $25,000, and is to be of Woodbury 
granite, cut by the Woodbury Gran- 
ite Co. of Hardwick, Vt. Frederick 
C. Hibbard of Chicago has modeled 
the figures, and has succeeded in in- 
fusing a certain life and character to 
these conventional symbols of the 
various branches of the service. The 
general design for the memorial and 
two of the statues are illustrated here. 
When the time came to select a site 
for the memorial it was noted that 
the county had given some of the 
money with the understanding that 
the memorial was to be built upon 
county property. As the only prop- 
erty that the county owned in Wichi- 
ta was the court house square, it 
seemed that the only place for the 
monument was on the court house 
PLAN FOR IMPROVING SITE OF SOLDIERS’ MONUMENT, WICHITA, KAS. 
