PARK AND CEMETERY 
and Landscape Gardening. 
VOL. XIV CHICAGO, JUNE, 1904 No. 4 
First Convention of the American Civic Association 
St. Louis, June 9-11. 
The merger of the American Park and Outdoor Art 
Association and the American League for Civic Im- 
provement into the American Civic Association, just 
consummated in the joint convention at St. Louis, June 
9-1 1, marks an epoch in the advancement of improve- 
ment work. The union, or the marriage of the two 
organizations, as some of the members liked to phrase 
it, was accomplished with absolute harmony, and all 
from being a model of anything except incomplete- 
ness. As President Woodruff aptly put it, it was a 
model not of what a city should be, but of what most 
American cities really are — unfinished. 
First Day, June 9 „ 
The delegates met in the Minneapolis and St. Paul 
Building, of the Model City, and after a half-hour of 
exchanging greetings and registration, proceeded to 
VIEW OF CASCADE GARDENS, WORLD’S FAIR, SHOWING FESTIVAL HALL AND CENTRAL CASCADE. 
phases of the work of each organization have been 
incorporated into the departments of the new one. The 
scope of the work has been broadened, all the forces of 
the two organizations are in perfect unison, and the 
future promises a magnificent work for the cause of 
a more beautiful America. 
The convention was held in the Town Hall of the 
“Model City,” of the World’s Fair, which did not, 
however, come up to expectations as a model in city 
making. It did not attempt to be a city and was far 
the model Town Hall, and began the business of the 
day at 10 a. m. The meeting was called to order by 
President Clinton Rogers Woodruff, and the reports of 
Treasurer O. C. Simonds and Secretary Charles Mul- 
ford Robinson were combined and presented by the 
secretary. 
In giving the record of the year’s work, Mr. Robin- 
son called attention to the loss sustained by the de- 
struction of the secretary’s office and records in the 
disastrous fire which visited Rochester last February. 
