52 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
^ ParK Notes ^ 
The Sioux City Improvement Association, Sioux City, la., 
has started a movement to have the state law with relation 
to the creation and maintenance of park commissions amended 
by the general assembly, with a view to taking the appointment 
of park boards out of politics and making the office of park 
commissioner a non-salaried one. Its committees on municipal 
and state legislation have been instructed to take steps toward 
securing the co-operation of other cities. Efforts will also be 
made to solicit grounds and money for public park purposes 
in Sioux City. 
* * * 
The requisition of the park commissioners of Erie, Pa., 
carries, besides the maintenance of Lakeside and Central parks 
and the salaries of the park superintendents, a request for 
$5,000 for relaying the walks in the East and West Central 
parks, $1,000 for the improvement of Cascade park and $1,200 
for the purchase of land adjoining Glenwood Park. An ap- 
propriation of $1,000 has also been asked from the City Coun- 
cil for the improvement of Glenwood Park, wihch will be 
enlarged and made into a perfect square. 
* * * 
The commission in charge of the Interstate Park, established 
by the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin in the Dalles of the 
St. Croix river, has asked for an appropriation of $15,000 
for extraordinary expenses during the next two years and 
for a permanent appropriation for maintenance of $2,000 a 
year. The appropriation is not so large as the commission 
could use to advantage, but is the minimum required for 
the improvements deemed necessary. The park has many 
curious and beautiful features in its fantastic rock formations, 
glacial “potholes,” deep gorges, rushing river and its varied 
color effects. Col. Geo. H. Hazzard, of St. Paul, is state 
commissioner for Minnesota. 
* * * 
The Society for Beautifying Buffalo, N. Y., has recom- 
mended the establishment of four new playgrounds, and a 
resolution providing an appropriation of $17,000 for this pur- 
pose has been introduced in the City Council. Four play- 
grounds were in operation during the past year, with an aver- 
age daily attendance of 4,950. The society recently invited 
competitive plans for beautifying Shelton Square, but has 
returned all of the plans and will in the near future conduct 
another competition. The plans are to include a shelter 
house to cost not more than $6,000. Architects and landscape 
architects are to compete. 
* * * 
Superintendent Nussbaumer of the park system of St. Paul, 
Minn., is making preparations for an extensive system of park 
improvements as a result of a bill recently passed by the Legis- 
lature. After an unsuccessful attempt to amend the charter 
to permit park boards to retain their receipts as a portion of 
the fund to be expended for park improvement and exten- 
sion, a bill was passed by both branches of the Legislature so 
modifying the enabling act as to permit this to be done. The 
bill has been signed by the Governor, so that it is effective, and 
the board of park commissioners will this year be able to ex- 
pend the money it takes in from these sources. The city char- 
ter limits the appropriation for park purposes to $75,000, and 
provides that the money received by any branch of the city 
government shall be classed as a portion of the miscellaneous 
receipts of the city and as such be credited to the general fund, 
instead of to the funds of the department from which it was 
derived. The new pavilion at Phalen Park is nearly com- 
pleted and other improvements are to be made. Dredging 
will be done preparatory to constructing a boulevard around 
Lake Phalen, and a number of new boats added. This park 
now comprises 242 acres including a recent addition of 22 
acres, which is to be improved. Little work is to be done at 
Como Park outside of the annual propagation of plants and 
the reconstruction of the flower beds. 
* * * 
PARK IMPROVEMENTS, 
Improvements and additions to parks are reported as fol- 
lows this month : Assemblyman Bostwick has introduced a 
bill into the New York Legislature appropriating $800,000 for 
the extension of the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. The As- 
sociation for the Protection of the Adirondacks is pushing 
the bill. * * A new pavilion, to cost $2,500, is to be erected 
in Seneca Park, Rochester, N. Y., and other improvements 
made. * * The work of converting the Centennial Expo- 
sition grounds, Nashville, Tenn., into a park, is progressing 
rapidly, and the new park will be opened to the public on 
May 1. * * A resolution has been introduced in the Illi- 
nois Legislature conveying to the South Park Commissioners 
of Chicago land extending from Jackson Park to 79th street as 
an addition to that park. * * The city of Pawtucket, R. I., 
will spend $5,000 on the improvement of Slater Memorial Park 
during the coming year. * * The will of the late James G. 
Forsyth, of Buffalo, N. Y., bequeathed one-half of his estate 
to the Buffalo Park Board for supplying works of art to the 
parks of that city. Plans have also been prepared for a 
new shelter house in Humboldt Park in that city. The struc- 
ture will cost about $6,000. * * A bill has been introduced 
into the Illinois Legislature to enable the commissioners of 
Lincoln Park, Chicago, to issue bonds for $1,000,000 to make 
an addition of 215 acres to that park. The addition will be 
reclaimed land, now submerged by the lake. * * The Union 
Pacific Railroad has sent out a large number of ornamental 
trees and shrubs for planting its station parks on the Kansas 
City-Denver line. * * The Bucks County Historical So- 
ciety will spend $20,000 improving a park at Ashland, Green 
and Pine streets, Doylestown, Pa., as a site for a $10,000 
building which William L. Elkins will give the society. * * 
Improvements to be made in the parks of Cleveland, O., in- 
clude the planting of 1,500 trees this spring. Elms and maples 
will predominate, but a large number of magnolias, catalpas 
and other flowering trees will also be used. In the public 
square a number of sycamores will be planted, as Director of 
Public Works Salen believes that they are best adapted to 
withstand the smoke and grime of a public square in the heart 
of the city. 
* * * 
NEW PARKS, 
A bill providing for a town park at Rye Beach, N. Y., has 
been introduced into the Legislature of that state. * * The 
City Council of Decatur, 111 ., has passed a resolution providing 
for the purchase of Fairview Park for $8,000. * * The city 
of Davenport, la., has recently bought nine acres of addi- 
tional park land. * * An ordinance has been introduced 
into the City Council of Philadelphia providing for the con- 
version of the lower valley of Pennypack Creek into a public 
park. The tract includes about 1,000 acres, and the estimated 
cost of acquiring it is placed at about $500,000. * * A bill 
is to be introduced into the Legislature of New York pro- 
viding for the purchase of the Riley Triangle by the city of 
Rochester for a public park. The act gives the park authori- 
ties power to purchase or condemn and provides for an appro- 
priation of $30,000. * * Mayor Low has approved on be- 
half of the city a bill passed by the legislature giving to the 
