18 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
improvements made. The commissioners are purchasing land 
near Rockliffe Park and will make it part of their system of 
improvements. 
* * * 
The Park Board, the University Club, the Unitarian club, 
and prominent citizens and officials of Providence, R. I., are 
organizing a movement for a Metropolitan Park system for 
Providence, to be modeled after that of Boston. W. B. de 
las Casas, of the Boston Park Board, recently delivered an 
address in that city outlining the history and development of 
the Metropolitan Park System of Boston. He spoke in part 
as follows : “It was not until the early part of this century 
that a beginning was made in providing great public parks, 
when Philadelphia began Fairmount Park. In 1850 New 
York began Central Park. In 1872 Boston began to reclaim 
the waste lands which have been made into its present 
park system. Philadelphia has continued its acquirements and 
now has upward of 7,000 acres. Most of these latter ac- 
quirements have been made within the city limits and the cost 
has been enormous. The local parks of Boston, comprising 
2,500 acres, have cost, with improvements, over $17,000,000. 
“The adoption of a plan for a metropolitan park system 
in 1893 was accomplished by uniting Boston and 38 neigh- 
boring cities and towns into a metropolitan park district, 
the appointment of a Park Commission to act within this 
district, the appropriation of money by the Commonwealth, 
with a provision that these should be repaid by annual pay- 
ments from the cities and towns of the district for a period 
of 40 years. The carrying out of the plan then begun has 
been provided for by appropriations and legislation from year 
to year, with the result that there have already been acquired 
over 9,800 acres of land within 12 miles of Boston, which 
include over 8, coo acres of woodland, 30 miles of river bank, 
8 miles of seashore front, land for 24 miles of parkway, at 
a cost for the land of $7,000,000 and for the development and 
improvements thus far made $4,000,000, or a total of $11,- 
000,000. The completion of the entire system will cost less 
than the local parks of Boston alone have cost. These loans 
are being repaid to the Commonwealth, together with the 
cost of maintenance, by annual payments apportioned upon 
the various cities and towns for a period of 40 years. In 
addition to the local parks of the city of Boston and the met- 
ropolitan park system the cities and towns included within 
the metropolitan park district have also provided consider- 
able local parks, so that the aggregate of the parks provided 
by the entire metropolitan park district and the expense has 
been over $17,000,000 for land and over $15,000,000 for im- 
provements, or a total of upward of $33,000,000.” 
The executive and advisory committees of the Ohio Asso- 
ciation of Cemetery Superintendents and Officials, composed 
of Messrs'. Frederick Green, George Gossard, Edward Baech- 
ler, James F. Dick, and the president, John J. Stephens, met 
at Springfield, Ohio, February 24, to formulate the program 
for the second annual meeting to be held in that city the 
second week in June. The committee after finishing the 
business in hand visited Ferncliff Cemetery, banqueted at the 
hotel and returned to their homes. Secretary G. C. Ander- 
son was unable to attend. 
William Stone, superintendent of Pine Grove Cemetery, 
Lynn, Mass., recently read a paper before the Lynn Histori- 
cal Society on “Cemeteries, Past and Present,” which was 
published in full in the Lynn Evening Item. He gave a de- 
tailed history of the establishment and growth of the ceme- 
teries in that vicinity, noted interesting facts in connection 
with each of them, told of the organization of the Associa- 
tion of American Cemetery Superintendents and of its work 
in promoting perpetual care. Pine Grove now contains about 
260 acres, 120 of which are graded, the rest being in a nat- 
ural state. It was organized in 1850 by an association, and 
in 1853 the city voted $1,500 for its purchase. When the 
cemetery was first opened' there were 1,300 inhabitants in 
Lynn; there are now 70,000, and the total number of inter- 
ments in Pine Grove is 20,258. Mr. Stone was recently 
elected president of the Houghton Horticultural Society. 
* * * 
The annual meeting of the New England Cemetery Asso- 
ciation was held at the Quincy House, Boston, on Monday, 
February 8th. After dinner the business meeting resulted in 
the election of the following officers: President, Timothy 
McCarthy, superintendent “Swan Point,” Providence, R. I.; 
vice-president, Geo. W. Creesy, Superintendent “Harmony 
Grove," Salem, Mass. ; secretary-treasurer, Wm. Allen, 
"Mount Auburn,” Cambridge. A vote was passed express- 
ing sympathy for Mr. J. W. Keller, of “Mount Hope,” 
Rochester, N. Y., in the loss of his daughter. Four new 
members' were admitted and R. J. Haight of Park and Cem- 
etery was elected an honorary member. 
* * * 
Greenlawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio (population 125,- 
560), whose officials have long been considering the question 
of restricting Sunday funerals, have taken a definite step 
toward this end, as shown in the following notice which has 
been sent to the funeral directors of Columbus: “You are 
hereby notified that on and after March 1, 1904, an additional 
charge of two dollars will be made on each and every Sun- 
day interment in Green Lawn. Also effective on and after 
said date, no interments' from the public vault will be permit- 
ted on Sunday.” The Buckeye Funeral Director in comment- 
ing on this rule says: “We trust that the Funeral Directors’ 
and Embalmers’ Association at its next convention will take 
some official action against the Sunday funeral.” 
* * * 
A petition is to be presented to the legislature by the 
board of trustees of the Union Cemetery Corporation, Brock- 
ton, Mass, (population 40,063), asking for revision and change 
in its charter. This action is in line with the reorganiza- 
tion of the corporation during the past few weeks and the 
interest aroused to improve its condition. The change is 
for the purpose of incorporating in the charter those things 
of value which are to be found in other charters of modern 
construction. One change of value will relate to the duties 
of the trustees in control and handling of the perpetual care 
fund, which is to be in their charge when the funds agreed 
upon are raised. 
FROM THE ANNUAL REPORTS. 
At the recent annual meeting of the Westfield Cemetery 
Association, Westfield, Mass, (population 12,310), the treas- 
urer reported as follows : The funds for perpetual care 
amount to $5,110, a gain in the past year of $1,340; $500 
was received for yearly care of lots. The receipts were 
$1,610.58, and the expenses $1,395.94. The association has' 
in savings banks $2,647.62, and about $400 due for inter- 
ments and care of lots. The number of interments was 61. 
