PARK AND CEMETERY. 
77 
THE PARKS OF DETROIT, MICH. 
Detroit, the scene of the coming convention of 
the American Park and Out door Art Association 
is justly accorded the distinction of being one of 
the most beautiful cities of the United States. Na- 
ture has been very lavish of diversity in her scenic 
efforts about this city, which revels in a wealth of 
landscape and waterscape, of wonderful attractive- 
ness in them- 
selves, as well as 
i n the setting 
j)rovIded for the 
progressive and 
prosperous city 
planted in their 
midst. Detroit 
also rejoices in 
having been the 
centre of great 
historic events 
in the final es- 
tablishment of 
the rep u b 1 i c , 
which naturally 
largely increases 
the interest at- 
taching to the 
city, while i t 
also imposes an 
added responsi- 
bility upon the 
municipality to 
see that the ad- 
vantages, natur- 
al and historic, 
bequeath e d t o 
it, shall not be 
injured by any 
inadequate ap- 
preciation of the 
res ponsibilities 
placed upon its 
citizens by such 
conditions. In 
the very nature 
of things De- 
troit should be both ambitious and progressive, and 
all its public functions should receive inspiration 
both from its admirable location and its historic be- 
quests and associations. 
The following notes on its park system are in- 
tended to serve only to introduce the accompany- 
ing illustrations. 
Detroit has a park area of 903.337 acres, dis- 
tributed among 24 parks. The largest park is 
Belle Isle, which is an island in the Detroit river 
and comprises 700 acres. This park was illustrated 
in these columns .some time since. The next in 
point of acreage is Palmer Park, which covers some 
133^ acres, and was the gift of Senator Palmer 
to the city. Then there are Clark park with 24.- 
731 acres; Voigt park, unimproved, 9.601 acres; 
Grand Circus, 5.566 acres; Perrien park, 5-i8o 
acres; Cass park, 4.966 acres and the remainder are 
of smaller areas. 
The total re- 
ceipts for the 
year ending 
June 30, 1898, 
including bal- 
ance from previ- 
ous year was 
$ 153 , 530 .03 , 
and the total ex- 
penditures for 
the same period, 
$ 143 , 926 . 41. 
Of this amount 
there was ex- 
pended for the 
maintenance of 
Belle Isle Park, 
$52,025.40 and 
for improve- 
ments$i, 576 . 9 i. 
Palmer Park, ab- 
sorbed $2,746.- 
09 for mainten- 
ance, and $18,- 
415.17 for im- 
provements. The 
amount appro- 
priated for the 
year 1898-9 was 
$l 13,350, aseri- 
ous redu c t i o n 
from the avail- 
able amount of 
the previous 
year. 
The plate of 
views of Palmer 
park gives its characteristic scenery; the centre pic- 
ture shows the casino, and that on top right hand 
corner, an end view of the old family log house of 
Senator Palmer, the preservation of which is part 
of the conditions of the gift of this beautiful tract 
of land. 
The Water Works park, an illustration of some 
of the principal features of which is given, is situ- 
ated on the Detroit river on a main avenue or river 
drive. The Hurlbutt Memorial Gate stands at the 
