PARK AND CE.ME.TE.R.Y 
17 
ParK Notes 
The valuation of the park lands of Greater New York is 
now put at $300,000,000, of Chicago, at $65,000,000; Boston, 
$53,000,000; Philadelphia, $32,000,000; San Francisco, $12,000,- 
000, and St. Louis, $8,000,000, says the New York Sun. 
* * * 
A bill has been introduced in the Minnesota legislature 
ceding to the state of Wisconsin, Barron Island, situated in the 
Mississippi river, between La Crescent, Minn., and La Crosse, 
Wis. The La Crosse Park Board proposes to make a park of 
the island, to be developed as a gift of W. F. Pettibone, a 
wealthy citizen of that town. It is to be called Pettibone Park. 
* * * 
The Park Commission of Minneapolis estimates that $80,- 
837.98 will be needed for the parks of that city during the 
coming year, as against $74,612.50 for the past year. Some of 
the chief items in the estimate are : Minnehaha Park, $4,- 
849.50; Lake Harriet, $5,260.65; Lyndale Avenue Boulevard, 
$4,436.50; Loring Park, $4,556.44; Lake of the Isles, $3,867.42. 
The board has accepted plans by Harry W. Jones for a new 
pavilion for Minnehaha Park, to cost about $6,000. The struc- 
ture will be of wood, 40 by 90 feet, with stone terraces and 
A bill has been introduced into the lower house of the Min- 
nesota Legislature by Representative Sinclair, of Winona, 
allowing cities of from 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants to acquire 
land for park purposes by condemnation or otherwise, and to 
appropriate not more than $5,000 per year for the maintenance 
of parks and parkways. While made general, applying to all 
cities in the limits named, the bill is drawn with special ref- 
erence to overcoming the objections interposed to the appraise- 
ment under which the proposed taking of land around Lake 
Winona for park purposes was set aside in the district court. 
* * * 
The annual report of the special commission in charge of 
Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, for the year ending December 
31, 1902, shows that the receipts of the park amounted to $29,- 
048.75, of which amount the city furnished $25,000. The total 
disbursements amounted to $25,183.74, the principal items of 
expense being for labor, salaries and concert music. 
>[< J{< 
The report on a proposed park system for the Borough of 
Richmond, New York City, prepared by the Committee on 
Parks of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, recom- 
mends obtaining sites suitable for public playgrounds in close 
proximity to schools and park sites that will serve the pur- 
pose of beach resorts, give protection to the watersheds, and 
provide grand ocean and inland views. It is proposed to con- 
nect the different parks by parkways and driveways and to 
create a harmonious general plan or system. The system em- 
braces large sections of land extending at intervals from 
South Beach to Prince’s Bay on the South Shore, and a series 
of ocean-view parks, commencing with Pavilion Hill at Tomp- 
kinsville, near the north end of the island, and terminating at 
a point on the south coast overlooking Staten Island Sound. 
The committee would set aside approximately 3,500 acres to 
be devoted to parks, parkways, and public playgrounds. 
* * * 
The annual report of the Park Commissioners of Taunton, 
Mass., contains an interesting record of that city’s first experi- 
ence with the elm-leaf beetle. The beetles appeared in largest 
numbers near the railway tracks and adjoining streets, show- 
ing how they were imported into the city from other places. 
The usual spraying mixtures were employed and the work was 
fairly successful, the trees being saved from defoliation. An- 
other crop is expected this year, and the commission is pre- 
pared to keep up the fight against the insect. The special ap- 
propriation for the care and preservation of shade trees was 
$2,000, which with individual contributions for trimming and 
spraying trees, brought the total fund for this work up to 
$2,109.59. The appropriation for public parks was $1,100, and 
the expenditures $1,099.71. The total valuation of park prop- 
erty in Taunton is placed at $71,750. 
* * * 
The annual report of the park department of Cambridge, 
Mass., is an illustrated book of 43 pages containing much valu- 
able park matter. The appropriation for 1902 was only $50,- 
000. the first year since 1893 that less than $100,000 has been 
allowed. Nearly one-half of this amount, $20,352.34, was used 
in the settlement of damages for land, thus leaving $35,970.55 
for maintenance and improvement. Of this, $16,676.16 was 
used in the extension of the river driveway east of Boylston 
street and the rest for general purposes. The superintendent’s 
report shows among the items of expenditure, $6,250 for 
shade trees and $4,800 for brown-tail moth extermination, and 
includes two diagrams showing, respectively, a standard sec- 
tion and grading plan for macadam on a park roadway, and 
a plan for standard catch basins used by the department. The 
report of the board’s landscape architects, Olmsted Brothers, 
shows that plans have been prepared for a revision of the pier 
and bulkhead line on the Cambridge side of the Charles River; 
detailed planting plan for part of the Charles River Parkway ; 
and plans for a children's wading pool and sand courts. 
Jje j|c 
PARK IMPROVEMENTS. 
The park board of Oshkosh, Wis., has recommended to the 
city council the issuance of $10,000 in bonds for park improve- 
ment. * * * Extensive improvement work is in progress in 
Riverside Park, Wichita, Kas. It includes the widening 
of the Little Arkansas river and removing of islands from 
it. * * * Interstate Park Commissioner Hazzard has asked 
the Minnesota Legislature for $19,000 for improvements in 
the interstate park during the next two years. * * * A new 
pavilion to cost $3,000 will be erected in Collet Park, Terre 
Haute, Ind. * * * A number of improvements in planting 
and general plan are to be made in the city park, Denver, Col., 
under the supervision of Reinhard Schuetze, the city land- 
scape gardener. * * * The park board of Milwaukee, Wis., 
has let contracts for a pavilion and bandstand to be erected 
in Lake Park at a cost of $14,000. * * * The Park Board of 
Marshalltown, la., has purchased 43 acres of land for $24,000 
to be added to South Park. Park Superintendent Rau, of St. 
Joseph, Mo., has prepared plans for improving the grounds 
around the Carnegie Library in that city. The Park Board 
has recommended the erection of a pavilion in Seneca Park 
and a greenhouse in Highland Park. 
* * * 
NEW PARKS, 
The City Council of Terre Haute, Ind., has voted to issue 
$25,000 in 4 per cent., 20 year bonds for the purchase of a pub- 
lic park. * * * A bill has been introduced into the Legislature 
of New York providing for a state park of not less than 5,000 
acres at Southampton, Suffolk County. * * * Two new parks 
are to be improved at Muncie, Ind. * * * The county super- 
visors of Ottawa, 111 ., have purchased a site for a public park 
on the historic site where the Hall Indian massacre took 
place.* * * The United Oil Co., of Florence, Col., will pre- 
sent to that city a triangular tract of land for a public park. 
