PARK AND CEMETERY 
37 
SOME INTERESTING PARK STATISTICS. 
Mr. M. O. Stone, secretary of the Board of Park 
Commissioners, Rochester, N. Y., has compiled the 
following interesting facts concerning the parks of 
various cities : 
“Of the 159 cities in the United States of 25,000 
or more inhabitants, 122 have public parks. Forty- 
three of these cities have an average park area of 
but ten acres and parks of the remaining seventy- 
nine cities vary in area from filty acres to 7,000 acres. 
Public parks in twenty-five of the cities mentioned 
in the following table are under control of non- 
partisan park commissions. Park officials repre- 
senting twenty-two of these cities make report that 
real estate near their parks has increased in valuation 
much beyond the average increase in other sections 
of the cities and that the greater part of their tax- 
payers favor liberal appropriations for the purchase 
of park lands and the improvement and maintenance 
of parks. 
“In San Francisco, the park board receives its 
annual appropriation through a tax of to 7-10 
of a mill on each dollar of the city’s assessed valua- 
tion ; in Hartford the tax is fixed by law at not less 
than of a mill, and in Minneapolis it must not 
exceed i mill. 
“Paterson has a fixed rate of 2-5 of a mill and 
Peoria 6 mills on each dollar of assessed valuation. 
The method by which the parks of the last two cities 
named obtain funds for maintenance is undoubtedly 
the best for nearly all cities, as park boards are thus 
assured of fixed amounts annually, and are in posi- 
tion to act intelligently upon business methods. 
“Public parks in the other cities in this table 
receive appropriations from their common councils 
which vary in amounts from year to year. By act of 
the legislature, the Park commission of the city of 
Rochester cannot be granted an annual appropria- 
tion exceeding $40,000 ; this amount has been appro- 
priated but one year, 1896. 
“About one-half of the park commissions in these 
cities supervise and pay for their park policemen ; 
twenty-seven have band concerts in parks, ten have 
equipped gymnasiums, twelve have golf grounds, 
fourteen provide for skating, seventeen park systems 
have boating privileges, and in eighteen there are 
ball grounds ; seventeen have greenhouses or con- 
servatories, eighteen have collections of native and 
other animals, and fifteen have nurseries in which 
are grown trees and shrubs for park planting. 
“Street trees are under the control of park com- 
missions in six of these cities and in eight there 
are park boulevards, or parkways. In eight cities 
street railways run into the parks. Park laborers 
work eight hours per day in, nineteen cities ; nine 
hours in one city, and ten hours in eleven cities. One 
city pays $i per day for park laborers, twenty-one 
pay $1.50, two pay $1.60, three pay $1.75, and five 
pay $2.” 
Population. 
Census of I'.IOO. 
Averageannual appro- 
priation for Improve- 
ment& maintenance of 
parks for last 5 years. 
Average annual cost 
per capita of maintain- 
ing & improving parks 
during last 5 years. 
Average annual tax 
rate on Sl.OOO for parks 
during last 5 years. 
Annual cost per acre 
for improvement and 
maintenance. 
Park acreage. 
Acres purchased. 
Purchase price. 
Acres donated. 
1 
Acreage of interior 
parks. 
Topeka, Kan 
33,608 
$5,500 
SO 16 
SO 30 
S63 00 
87 
17 
$10,000 
80 
Elmira, N. Y 
35,672 
6,000 
17 
35 
67 00 
90 
87.5 
2.5 
3 
Haverhill, Mass 
7,500 
20 
21 
29 00 
258 
8.1 
Duluth, Minn 
52,964 
12,000 
23 
30 
43 00 
280 
200 
250,000 
80 
25 
Charleston, S. C 
9,000 
16 
25 
15 00 
608 
608 
32.7 
Peoria, 111 
60,000 
1 07 
1 33 
182 00 
330 
189.5 
142,300 
140 
Springfield, Mass 
62,059 
27,000 
44 
29 
55 00 
485 
124.78 
36,921 
361 
27 
Wilmington Del 
20,000 
26 
50 
74 00 
269 
179.69 
243,851 
89.31 
29.69 
Hartford, Conn 
79,850 
28,000 
35 
27 
24 00 
1,175 
345 
118,303 
830 
8 
Grand Rapids, Mich 
87,565 
(a) 22,500 
26 
27 
165 00 
136 
57 
79 
Albany, N. Y 
.... 94,151 
30,295 
32 
40 
121 00 
250 
240 
665,437 
10 
80 
Eos Angeles, Cal 
102,479 
51.500 
50 
78 
14 00 
3,737 
20 
10,000 
3,717 
78.5 
Omaha, Neb 
102,555 
27,661 
27 
26 
47 00 
585 
455 
420,340 
130 
23 
Fall River, Mass 
104,863 
2,500 
024 
034 
28 00 
90 
89.5 
117,000 
.5 
.5 
Paterson, N. J 
25,000 
24 
30 
263 00 
91 
01 
120,000 
Worcester, Mass 
118,421 
22,000 
19 
19 
57 00 
386 
335 
277,000 
151 
108 
Allegheny, Pa 
50,000 
38 
51 
147 00 
341 
28 
40,000 
313 
100 
Rochester, N. Y 
162,435 
32,390 
19 
23 
48 00 
670 
636 
302,978 
34 
22 
St. Paul, Minn 
163,632 
50,000 
31 
32 
86 00 
579 
527 
239,000 
52 
22 
Indianapolis, Ind 
169,164 
(b) 92,500 
54 
50 
77 00 
1,204 
1,194 
410,000 
10 
84 
Providence, R. I 
175,597 
41,369 
24 
22 
•75 00 
547 
426 
919,191 
121 
42.3 
Minneapolis, Minn 
202,718 
86', 578 
42 
48 
56 00 
1,553 
763 
790 
59 
Detroit, Mich 
285,174 
179,259 
62 
57 
193 00 
926 
732 . 
245,000 
194 
78 
Cincinnati, O 
325,902 
45,000 
14 
13 
106 00 
422 
420 
2 
70 
San Francisco, Cal 
342,782 
(c) 245,000 
71 
69 
175 00 
1,400 
1,390 
10 
320 
Buffalo, N. Y 
(c) 319,773 
90 
1 30 
311 00 
1,026 
1,026 
1,156,337 
70.5 
Cleveland, O 
381,768 
(a) 70,000 
18 
24 
52 00 
1,328 
931 
906,656 
395 
23.29 
St. Louis, Mo 
575,236 
112,940 
19 
21 
51 00 
2,183 
1,748 
1,309,944 
435 
60 
Philadelphia, Pa 
1,293,697 
550,000 
42 
49 
162 00 
3,396 
3,316 
6,300,000 
80 
Toronto, Ont 
(c) 65,000 
52 
31 
50 00 
1,300 
1,075 
225 
206 
(a) Maintenance only. (b) Average for 1900 and 1901. (c) Appropriation for 1900. — Rochester Express. 
