PARK AND CEMETERY. 
209 
24 by the Schenectady, N. Y., public wel- 
fare board looking to the acquisition 
within the city of several large tracts 
of land available for park sites, and the 
development of the land at an approxi- 
mate cost of $800,000. The proposi- 
tion to establish a chain of parks has 
been under consideration for several 
months, and the general scheme has 
been worked out by Mr. John Nolen, 
of Boston. The public welfare board 
passed a resolution favoring the imme- 
diate purchase of the necessary land 
and another resolution for establishing 
a park commission. The resolution of 
the board places that body on record 
as favoring the purchase by the city of 
the unoccupied land still remaining in 
what is known as the Cotton Factory 
Hollow, and the large Brandywine ra- 
vine. The plot is more than a mile and 
a half in length. It contains the Veed- 
er Hill pond, Cotton Factory Hollow 
stream, and the Brandywine lake. 
Should it be decided by the city of 
Syracuse, N. Y., to purchase Thorn- 
den, a romantic spot, and add it to the 
system of parks, there will come under 
the control of the Park Commission 
what has been declared to be the larg- 
est weeping beech in the world. The 
tree stands upwards of 30 feet in height, 
and the spread of its limbs and branches 
is rather more than 60 feet in diameter. 
A bond issue to the amount of $25,000 
' is proposed for Bartlesville, Okla., for 
improving and enlarging the park sys- 
tem. 
The first children’s playground for Jo- 
liet, 111., was dedicated in that city on 
October 14. The playground equipment 
consists of two chutes, twenty-eight 
swings, two teeter-totters, two turning 
poles and four trapezes, besides other 
minor paraphernalia. This will add ma- 
terially to the progress of the City 
School system. Among the things the 
board has so far done for the children 
are: Public playground, free baths for 
pupils, free skating rink, besides a num- 
ber of other innovations found only in 
the Joliet school system. 
Distribution of perishable flowers and 
shrubs by the park department of 
Ft. Worth, Tex., with the advent 
of colder weather brought out a 
large number of school children, to 
whom the plants were given. Each year 
as the time for early frost approaches 
the park department makes it a rule 
to give away many of the perishable 
flowers and plants which would soon 
be destroyed by the cold. This year the 
flowers, etc., were given to the school 
children and there was a general de- 
mand for them. 
Urging the extension and ultimate 
completion of the McMillan Park sys- 
tem in Washington, D. C., the Board 
of Trade, through its executive com- 
mittee, has instituted a nation-wide 
campaign to center the interest of the 
people of the United States on the de- 
velopment and beautification of Wash- 
ington. 
So confident are a number of resi- 
dents of the village of Port Washing- 
ton, L. I., that the Town of North 
Hempstead will take possession of the 
land on Manhasset Bay, which M. Linn 
Bruce in an opinion claims is owned by 
the town, that they circulated a peti- 
tion, to be decided on Nov. 5, for the 
expenditure of $10,000 for improving the 
property and converting it into a pub- 
lic park. The tract of land, which ex- 
tends along Manhasset Bay from the 
foot of Prospect avenue to a point in 
front of Nostrand’s store, would make 
an ideal public park. 
A new playground for Tacoma, 
Wash., will soon be established, Engi- 
neer M. Roy Thompson having recently 
completed his efforts to obtain for the 
city free of cost for public park pur- 
poses the beautiful natural garden land 
surrounding Snake lake. 
The City Council of Springfield, O., 
has accepted the offer of W. O. McCabe 
to donate the land known as McCabe 
park to the city, with all the reserva- 
tions named. The land is worth $25,000. 
The realty board committee of Bak- 
ersfield, Calif., has concluded that the 
needs of the city will be best met by 
about five small parks of one or two 
blocks, each so situated that the people 
in every part of town will have access 
to a park. A bond issue for $200,000 
is favored. 
Estes Park, Fort Morgan, Colo., to 
be renamed the Rocky Mountain Na- 
tional Park, is to become a national 
park, and an automobile road is to be 
constructed from Denver to the tract. 
The board of park commissioners of 
Indianapolis, Ind., has adopted a reso- 
lution to buy 25 acres of ground be- 
tween Garfield park and Shelby street, 
from Garfield drive to Southern avenue 
to add to Indiana park. 
Seattle, Wash., owns twenty-two play- 
ground sites with a total acreage of 
103. The suburb of Youngstown is 
now assured of a 14 acre playground. 
Sacramento, Calif., is making arrange- 
ments to acquire Recreation Park at 
35th street and Park avenue. It will 
cost $80,000. 
A playground for children at Twenty- 
first street and Cressey avenue, Spring- 
field, 111., has been purchased at a cost 
of $4,767.70. It has a frontage of 480 
feet and a depth of 320 feet and is very 
desirable for the east end of the city. 
The park board of Milwaukee, Wis., 
has authorized the completion of plans 
for the Lapham park social center, to 
cost $45,000. 
On October 3, in the presence of a 
large crowd at the Gateway rocks of the 
Garden of Gods, that world famous 
park was formally turned over to the 
city of Colorado Springs, Colo., in con- 
nection with the unveiling of the hand- 
some bronze tablet in honor of the 
donor, the late Charles Elliott Perkins. 
The tablet is placed in a niche in one 
of the Gateway rocks, and the inscrip- 
tion reads : “The Garden of the Gods, 
given to the city of Colorado Springs 
in 1909 by the children of Charles El- 
liott Perkins in fulfillment of his wish 
that it be kept forever free to the pub- 
lic.” The tract comprises 480 acres and 
is valued at more than $200,000. 
Park Improvements. 
A fine new pavilion for South park, 
Peoria, 111 ., has teen designed by 
Frederick J. Klein, architect, whose 
plans were adopted by the park board. 
The building will replace the present 
pavilion. It will be two stories in 
height at the south end and one at 
the north. The main floor will have a 
dancing floor 63 x 41 feet with an 
elevated stage at one end for an or- 
chestra. This floor will contain a re- 
fectory and ladies’ parlor, with a 
check room. At the south end on the 
ground floor rooms will be provided 
for the park custodian and family, 
while on the north end will be toilet 
rooms for men and women. The ex- 
terior of the building will be of orna- 
mental brick; the roof, floors and ceil- 
ing, with spacious verandas, will be 
of fire proof material. This structure 
will be commenced immediately and 
completed in the early spring. 
The fund of $10,000 left by the late 
Governor Frank W. Higgins as an 
endowment, the income of which was 
to be used to maintain Lincoln Park, 
Olean, N. Y., so long .as Mrs. Pliggins 
should make her home in the hand- 
some colonial house just south of the 
park, has since his death in February, 
1907, yielded about $1,500 which is to 
be expended at once on much needed 
improvements, particularly in new 
walks. 
Improvements to cost $15,000 are 
to be made in Linden Park, Corona, 
L. I. A number of young trees are 
to be planted, and a new fence around 
the park is under consideration. 
After carefully investigating the 
merits of the three prospective sites for 
the Zoo, the park commission of Bir- 
mingham, Ala., has recommended that 
Avondale park be selected, and have 
notified the city commission of their 
choice. 
