3i6 
PARK AND CEMCTCRY. 
The Milwaukee, Wis., Park System. 
The real work of inaugurating a system of parks 
for the city of Milwaukee is of comparatively recent 
date, originating with a number of citizens in the 
winter of 1889. The result of their efforts was the 
passage of a law to establish a system of public 
parks within the city of Milwaukee, with the neces- 
sary provisions to make it operative. It allowed 
the five commissioners, to be appointed by the 
Mayor and to serve without compensation, one- 
hundred thousand dollars in bonds for the purchase 
of sites. The commissioners began active work at 
once but found the law inadequate in many re- 
spects, chiefly that it confined the choice of sites to 
the city limits which militated against any possible 
comprehensive system. However by the fall of 
1890 five park sites had been secured. New park 
laws were enacted going into effect April ii, 1891, 
followed by other legislation covering the financial 
and tax questions. 
Of the five parks then secured, two were located 
on the east side of the city and three on the south. 
On the east side is the beautiful Lake Park, in area 
124 acres, occupying a promontory on the lake 
shore, some lOO feet above the water, situated in 
the heart of the residence district and commanding 
fine views of the bay. 
About one mile from this is the attractive River 
Park, a tract of about 24 acres on the Milwaukee 
river, most picturesque in its location, resting as it 
does in the valley, with overhanging bluffs on ei- 
ther side. 
On the south side is Mitchell Park, a tract of 
30 acres, overlooking the Menominee Valley, of 
high rolling ground, in which are a small lake, 
fountain and many other park improvements. This 
park was the first completed as to design and con- 
siderable money has been spent on improvements. 
Another south side park is Bay View Park, an 
undulating oblong tract of 45 acres, having a fine 
growth of timber. Here a water garden has been 
prepared and the cultivation of aquatics will be un- 
dertaken under very favorable conditions. 
The third south side park is a square tract of 
rolling land, in which the heavy work of improve- 
ment has been completed and which is much pat- 
ronised for picnics. 
Two parks on the west side of the city were 
secured in the fall of 1891. West Park comprises 
124 acres of very high ground, a map of which is 
given herewith. 
The Perrigo tract is 24 acres in extent, of level 
land half covered with a fine growth of timber. Up- 
on this beyond underbushing and cleaning up, little 
improvement has yet been carried out. 
The original purchase price of these seven parks, 398 
acres in all, amounting to the sum of $l ,039,644. 20. 
The improvements in the principal parks have 
been prosecuted with vigor and already display 
their landscape possibilities of the future. The 
commissioners have exercised a progressive and 
liberal treatment of the park question, always bear- 
ing in mind the object to be attained and the pur- 
pose for which the park system is devised — the 
pleasure and recreation of the people. Progress has 
been rapid and with commendable wisdom the com- 
missioners have placed the designs of the park 
scheme and the special features required, into com- 
petent hands. Messrs F. L. Olmsted & Co., Brook- 
line, Mass., were engaged for the landscape work, 
and their labors so far have been principally de- 
voted to the two larger areas — Lake and West 
Parks. 
Improvements are rapidly being carried out on 
West Park under the design illustrated. The lake 
has an area of seven acres and contains three islands 
of diversified heights admirably adapted for the 
effective planting of low trees and shrubbery, bram- 
bles and ferns, and at the water line of such mois- 
ture loving plants as sedges, rushes, arrowheads, 
etc. Considerable road work has been done and 
paths constructed, as well as a fine start made 
on the tree planting scheme. 
Of the system of road construction in this park, 
of which over a mile is complete, one method is 
as follows: “The base of the road consists of nine 
inches in thickness of quarry chips, bonded with 
WASHINGTON MONUMENT, WASHINGTON PARK, 
MILWAUKEE, WIS. 
