PARK AND CEMETERY. 
159 
THE PUBLIC PARKS OF NEW HAVEN.* 
Until about twenty-five years ago New Haven was 
simply a rural city or large town and possessed, as in 
fact it still retains, much of the rural conservatism which 
contents itself with the good things it has without undue 
greed for others that are costly and not immediately 
needed. Its wide reputation for the sylvan beauty of its 
streets and ancient green fully satisfied the pride of its 
citizens and with the open coi-ntry close at hand on all 
sides, additional parks and pleasure grounds seemed to 
be superfluous. About the year 1883 however a few 
public spirited persons carried through a movement 
been done up to the present time to make them acces- 
sible to the public and available for the immediate 
wants of the present population. They are all however 
only in the preliminary stages of their development and 
it has not been thought important to press their im- 
provement with any greater rapidity or at any greater 
cost than is called for by the public necessities as 
population grows around them. Hence although our 
park system is a liberal one in its anticipations for the 
future, the principal merits of most of our parks consist 
in their undeveloped natural capabilities and they have 
little to show in the way of artistic cultivation. When 
I 
VIEW OE EAST ROCK PARK, NEW HAVEN, CONN. 
Taken from Indian Head, showing the Loop of the Farnam Drive about one fourth of the way up 
for the purchase of East Rock range as a suburban park, 
and the educational effect of this achievement was such 
that six years later a Park Commission was established 
by Act of the Legislature and vote of the Town, with 
two hundred thousand dollars at its disposal to extend 
the municipal park system. This 'ommission soon 
procured nine additional park sites within the city and 
in its near vicinity, ranging in area from fifteen acres to 
two hundred and fifty, and were fortunately in time to 
secure most of the available tracts in and surrounding 
the city, which by their natural advantages of situation 
or capability of development were specially available 
for park purposes. On all these sites enough work has 
‘^Paper read at the New Haven, Conn., Convention of the Associa- 
tion of American Cemetery Superintendents, September, 1899. By Hon . 
Henry T. Blake. 
it is Stated that the entire annual appropriation for the 
maintenance and improvement of the ten parks under 
the charge of the Park Commission is only $16,000.00, 
of which $6,000.00 is devoted to East Rock Park and 
$10,000.00 to the other nine, it will be readily perceived 
that brilliant triumphs of landscape gardening on any 
considerable scale cannot be reasonably expected. 
The park system of New Haven is composed of two 
portions. The first of these comprises the five city 
squares or breathing places which existed prior to 1883 
and which were then and still are under the charge of 
the Board of Public Works. The other portion em- 
braces the ten new parks which have been purchased 
since that date and which are under the control and 
management of the Park Commission. 
Of the city squares the principal one is the ancient 
