PARK AND CC/nCTCRY. 
PARR NOTES. 
South Pittsburgh, Pa., is seriously agitated over the question 
of small parks, and the Board of Trade has joined in the demand. 
* ■*• * 
H. W. Staples, proprietor of the Old Orchard House, Old 
Orchard Beach, has announced to the local board of trade an 
offer of the free use of the track known as Fern Park, to be used 
as a public park, providing the citizens will beautify it. 
* » ■» 
Some of the features in the floral department at Washing- 
ton Park, Chicago, next year, will be an extensive tulip display, 
and a lake devoted to hardy aquatic plants, — that is aquatic 
plants which will not require artificial heat to perfect them. 
*** 
The gifts of Mr. C. H. Hackley to the city of Muskegon, 
Mich , now aggregate f4ii,ooo, of which $200,000 is for library 
purposes; $26,000, soldiers monument; $45,000, park; $10, 
000, Hackley park assembly; $130,000, manual training school. 
* * * 
Shreveport, La., is working in earnest to establish v/hat has 
long been needed, an attractive piece of park grounds. An 
association including a number of prominent ladies, who are 
thoroughly aroused, has been formed, and subscriptions are com- 
ing in to assure a successful outcome. 
* * * 
Mr. J. C. Olmsted has been examining Indianapolis in re- 
lation to its park system. His opinion is that Indianapolis is 
gaining a size that imperatively demands attention in the secur- 
ing of lands for park purposes. A lack of scenic effects about 
Indianapolis will necessitate much study in laying out the system. 
* * 
The city council of Savannah, Ga.. has agreed to purchase 
the title to the old South Broad street cemetery in order to turn 
it into a colonial park. This is the old colonial burying ground 
of Georgia, originally used by Oglethorpe’s colony. The city 
will spend $10,000 or more to make the future park attractive. 
* *• * 
We note that the park qnestion has taken serious hold of 
the press generally, and frequent allusion is made to the advis- 
ability of immediate action by all communities toward securing 
park sites in our smaller towns, while such can be obtained at 
reasonable cost, and while there are still beauty spots reserved 
from the ravages of the commercial idea. 
» « 9k 
The Chicago Lake front project for a park is now fairly 
started, the city having come to an agreement with the Illinois 
Central R. R. Co., a city ordinance passed governing the scheme, 
and the secretary of war having given his consent to certain pro- 
positions connected with the harbor. Work will commence at 
once and the magnificent water front of Chicago, will in a few 
years be one of the grandest parks in the world. 
* * * 
Among the results of the great gathering of the Westernmen 
at Vicksburg, Miss., incidental to the Waterways Convention, 
was the organization of the Vicksburg National Militaiy Park 
Association. The object of the organization is to foster the foun- 
dation of a national military park at Vicksburg, similar to those at 
Gettysburg and Chickamauga, which will belt the city on three 
sides, and be, as one of the promoters expressed it, a -‘monument 
to American manhood.” The project is a new one, but has won 
sudden favor. 
Pittsburg, Pa , has been advised that a gift of $100,000 to 
beautify its parks is available. One of the stipulations is that 
part of it must be used for statuary. This is a suggestion in the 
right line provided competent judges of the nature of the statuary, 
its suitability for the purpose and its ultimate location, have 
charge. It is to be hoped that the donor will demand this, for 
it would be setting a valuable lesson and tend to reduce the ri- 
diculous judgments of the politician who generally gets there. 
* * ^ 
It is reported that the war department has plans arranged 
for the establishment of a military post, for both cavalry and 
infantry, a three mile artillery range and other features at the 
Chickamauga Military Park. The entire area of 7,000 acres em- 
braced in the park will be enclosed by a stone wall. The lay of 
the land will make it a famous training ground for troops and 
one of the best rifle ranges on the continent. Of late years the 
policy of the department has been concentration of troops within 
easy call of railroad centers and a reduction of the number of 
posts on the frontiers. Congress will be called upon for a liberal 
appropriation for this work. 
* * * 
Beautifying public places is quite in line with park work, and 
it is gratifying to record to how great an extent this display of 
public spirit is showing itself at Great Barrington, Mass. 
Col. Wm. L. Brown, of New York, who has a country residence 
there has presented the town with a beautiful drinking fountain. 
It is about fifteen feet high. The main shaft is of polished 
Quincy granite and the remainder of dolomite. It is sur- 
mounted by a full size bronze figure of a newsboy crying his 
papers. The fountain is situated in a small park, given in 
perpetuity to the town by Col. Brown. The statue was de- 
signed and executed by David Richards of New York, and 
the casting was done at the bronze works of Maurice J. 
Power of New York. 
^ * 
Joseph Meehan, of Philadelphia, says: “Wherever I go in 
England, I always meet with public parks. Out door life is so 
popular that parks or gardens are deemed essential, and they 
are always well patronized.” The Philadelphia Examiner, com. 
menting on this, says: We have had so much out-door in 
this country to which everyone was given free access that the 
necessity of parks has not been forced upon our attention, exceiH 
in the great cities. But now that one is so frequently confronted 
with the notice, ‘‘No trespassing,” even in strictly rural commu- 
nities, the need of public places of resort is coming to be more 
fully appreciated. The smaller cities and villages would do well 
to “take time by the forelock” and provide ample space for re- 
creation before the cost of land increases beyond the point at 
which it can be profitably acquired. 
* * * 
Philadelphia has been active in the small park idea. One 
proposition has seemed to be greatly in favor, that of including 
Bartram’s garden in the list. This is so well known to the older 
residents and it was the first botanical garden ever planted in the 
L^nited States. In it are to be found trees brought to the spot 
by John Bartram, who is no less a man than the great Linnaeus 
pronounced to be the greatest living botanist over a hundred 
years ago. In this garden are trees from the far south, includ- 
ing a marvelous specimen of cypress which has grown to gigan- 
tic dimensions, and its preservation is a matter of interest to 
every Philadelphian. The rapid development of the twenty - 
seventh ward, in which Bartram’s garden lies, it being rapidly 
covered with dwellings of a good class, will also be a further rea- 
son for giving this locality the benefit of a liberal appropriation. 
