PARK AND CEMETERY. 
266 
'kKm s M>&z 
PARK NEWS. 
■ 
( 1|1 
m 
ma 
The .first plans of Boston’s new school- 
boy stadium, first of its kind in this coun- 
try, and the only schoolboy stadium in the 
world, were recently published by the Bos- 
ton Post. The structure follows the de- 
termination of Mayor Fitzgerald that the 
schoolboys should have adequate room for 
their athletic contests, and he regards its 
erection as one of the achievements of his 
administration. The City Council will be 
asked to appropriate $40,000 for the cost 
of the new stadium, which is to be located 
in Franklin Field, and its construction will 
begin early in the spring. 
The bond election for the purchase of 
a public park recently held at Redondo 
Beach, Cal., failed to carry by 53 votes. 
The trustees of the City Club of New 
York are planing to permanently com- 
memorate the services of the late Fred- 
erick Law Olmsted, who designed and 
created Central Park. In 1856 New York 
City purchased the site of Central Park, 
and in the year following Frederick Law 
Olmsted was appointed Park Superintend- 
ent and began the work of transforming 
waste land, reeking with the overflow of 
sties, slaughter houses and bone boiling 
works, into the most famous park in the 
nation. The park plan submitted under 
the pseudonym of Greensward by Olmsted 
and his friend, Calvert Vaux, was adopted 
in 1858. 
A Christmas gift of nine acres of land, 
comprising the old King estate in the heart 
of the city of Newport, R. I., assessed on 
a valuation of $106,620, was made to the 
city on December 24, by George Gordon 
King of New York and Newport. The 
estate is given for the purposes of a public 
park and playground. 
Ordinances have been introduced into 
the City Council of Columbus, O., pro- 
viding for the purchase of two more park 
sites. 
A one mill tax will be levied in Racine, 
Wis., for park purposes for the year 1913 
and the question of issuing $50,000 for 
park bonds will be submitted to a vote 
of the people at the April municipal elec- 
tion. 
It is announced that the Department of 
the Interior proposes to expend $268,403 
in the national parks in California in the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, if the 
amount is appropriated by congress. For 
the development and care of the national 
parks the secretary of the interior has 
asked Congress to appropriate $733,014, an 
increase of $505,464 over the appropria- 
tions for the current fiscal year. It is pro- 
posed to expend a liberal amount on the 
improvements of existing roads and in 
the construction of others to make the at- 
tractions of the parks more accessible. 
Chicago’s great fight against the inter- 
ests which made a strong effort to de- 
prive the city of its beautiful lake frontage 
on the South Side is proving successful. 
The Lake Shore Reclamation Commission 
has so far succeeded in settling and con- 
firming title to the South Park Commission 
of the greater part of the lake front be- 
tween Jackson and Grant parks. 
The Board of Trade of Phoenix, Ariz., 
has appointed a special committee for the 
purpose of taking the necessary steps to 
have the public land about Hole-in-the- 
Rock, Camelback and Echo Canyon, set 
aside as a national park. 
Sir Spencer Maryon-Wilson, who has 
presented the London County Council with 
thirty-one acres of land at Charlton, a 
suburb of London, for the purposes of a 
park, was thanked at a recent meeting of 
the council in a resolution moved by Vis- 
count Hill and seconded by Sir John Benn. 
The latter described the gift as a most 
generous and graceful one. 
As a Christmas gift, Mrs. Mary L. Deere 
and Mrs. Katherine Butterworth have 
deeded to the city of Moline, 111., a tract 
of a little over thirteen acres between 
Seventh and Ninth streets and Thirteenth 
and Sixteenth avenues. The park is to be 
designated as the Deere Memorial Park, 
and is to be in the nature of a memorial 
to the memory of the late Charles H. 
Deere, Moline’s manufacturer. Among the 
conditions in connection with the deed are : 
That the tract shall never be used for other 
than public purposes, and that it shall never 
be commercialized. 
In connection with the distribution of 
the proceeds of the B. F. Ferguson fund 
for providing artistic embellishments for 
Chicago, the trustees of the Art Institute 
who have charge of the fund propose to 
look after the bridges. After completing 
the Great Lakes monument and the Cherry 
Mine memorial, the imorovement of Madi- 
son street is to be undertaken, the bridge 
and its approaches being the first to re- 
ceive attention. 
Ernest Thompson Seton, chief scout of 
the Boy Scouts of America, in commend- 
ing the project to establish a Canadian Na- 
tional Park on the north side of the Ot- 
tawa river, between the Gatineau and Cou- 
longe rivers, says : “As a business specu- 
lation all the parks in the United States 
have proved enormously successful. The 
statesman who gives his country a great 
national park is doing far more for the 
community than if he left a towering mon- 
ument in, stone.” 
William T. Cox, state forester of Minne- 
sota, is negotiating with the Pine Tree 
Manufacturing Co. for 700 acres of timber 
land in the vicinity at Itasca Park. The 
timber is wanted to add to the beauty and 
utility of the park. 
Improvements and Additions. 
The Park Board of Waterloo, la., has 
laid out a program of improvement which, 
though limited by reason of a small ap- 
propriation, is wide in its scope. A public 
comfort station is provided for Lincoln 
Park, and a . movement is under way to 
erect a similar structure in the center of 
the city. Popular interest in the park 
system is constantly growing stronger. 
Among the extensive changes now un- 
der way in Luther Burbank Park, Porter- 
ville, Cal., is that of lining the lake and 
chain of ponds with concrete, to prevent 
the loss of water from the irrigating sys- 
tem and also prevent growth of water 
grass. Several new buildings are in course 
of completion, including a picture house 
over the falls into the lake, a new tea gar- 
den house in rustic style, and an observa- 
tory for the top of Murray Hill, from 
which an imposing view may be had of the 
surrounding country. 
By the will of Henry F. Coggshall, 
former treasurer of the Fitchburg Gas & 
Electric Light Co., $14,500 is left to the 
city of Fitchburg, to be used in beautify- 
ing Coggshall Park, which he gave to the 
city several years ago, together with his 
summer home on Mt. Elam road. 
Superintendent R. B. Wainwright, Wal- 
nut Hill Park, New Britain, Conn., has 
a busy time this season in taking care of 
surface water. Among the improvements 
to be made is a skating pond, 400 1 feet 
long by 150 feet wide. 
Between $15,000 and $20,000 is to be ex- 
pended on an animal house at Miller Park, 
Bloomington. In style and architecture it 
will resemble the new building in Lincoln 
Park, Chicago. 
Paul Riis, superintendent of Rockford, 
111., parks, is considering the construction 
of a putting green for practice at Sinnissippi 
Park next spring. The green will prob- 
ably be near the starting point of the 
course. It will have a smooth green and 
several cups. 
A brick pavilion is to be constructed at 
Wing Park, Elgin, 111. 
The Park Commission of Birmingham, 
Aia., is again seriously considering the de- 
velopment of its parks and boulevards on 
a properly laid out system. 
The Finance Committee of the Common 
Council of Milwaukee, Wis., has recom- 
mended an appropriation of $10,000' for 
the purpose of erecting a grandstand along- 
side the Washington Park driving track. 
The City Council of Beaumont, Tex., 
recently directed the mayor to employ a 
landscape architect to prepare plans and 
specifications for the improvement of the 
