PARK AND CEMKTERY 
^ III M I I— ■■■ 
Ipl THE LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFUL. , 
Work Being Done to Improve Public Grounds. 
The widespread desire to have parks, cemeteries 
and public grounds developed on permanent, orderly 
and systematic plans has borne fruit in the emplo}'- 
ment of professional landscape architects of high 
standing to beautify public grounds in many different 
sections of the country. Some of the more prominent 
of these movements are here summarized ; 
In New York City, Mr. H. A. Caparn has com^ 
pleted plans for Baird Court, and the concourse at the 
Zoological garden. He has also been entrusted with 
the development of the Yonkers park system. The 
concourse for the New York park is the only carriage 
entrance to the Zoological park. It is a road 50 feet 
wide, with two footways 20 feet and 12 feet wide 
respectively, entering on either side of it, and giving 
access to all parts of the park. The concourse gives 
immediate access to the north end of Baird Court. 
This latter is a level terraced space about 600x350 
feet, supported by retaining walls with balustrades, 
and has been built to contain the houses for lions, 
monkeys, birds and tropical mammals, also the sea 
lion pool and the music stand. These are arranged in 
an imposing scheme made up, mainly, of an avenue 
of trees, with lawns and architectural adjuncts. The 
entire design has been approved by the city authori- 
ties, and the buildings are now being constructed. 
The Essex County Park Commissioners, Newark, 
N. J., with the aid of their landscape architects, 
Olmsted Brothers, of Boston, have this year taken the 
final steps towards the completion of the extensive 
system of park development inaugurated more than 
five years ago. The work involved the laying out, 
grading and draining of an entire park system of seven 
parks and reservations, at an expense for construction 
of over $500,000. Some of the work done was : The 
erection of seven arbors of rough chestnut and yellow 
pine, the construction of sand courts, outdoor gym- 
nasiums, playgrounds and driveways, and will neces- 
sitate the dredging or raising the level of a lake three- 
quarters of a mile long, and the building of a subway 
entrance to Branch Brook park. 
Among the chief beauties of the Pan-American 
Exposition are the grottoes along the Grand Canal, 
which are the work of Mr. Rudolph Ulrich, the land- 
scape architect of the exposition. The channels of 
the Triumphal Causeway are lighted in pink and 
green by subdued lights from hidden lamps. Extend- 
ing off from these channels are grottoes, filled with 
weird effects created by craggy tree trunks, stumps, 
and crooked limbs, as if disturbed by some powerful 
subterranean upheaval. Stalactites and stalagmites 
complete the effect of an underground passage, and 
create somewhat the same impression as would a trip 
through the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. 
The new Grandview Cemetery, Salem, Ohio, is 
being laid out by Mr. Sid. J. Hare, superintendent and 
landscape engineer of Eorest Hill Cemetery, Kansas 
City, Mo. It embraces 28 acres of rolling ground 
southeast of Salem. The topography shows a differ- 
ence in elevation of 100 feet, eight of which will be 
put into a lake, 125x300 feet. The drives will be 30 
feet wide, with the exception of the main drive, 
which will be 40 feet. A grassy border from six to 
twelve feet wide will be left along the sides of all 
drives for planting purposes. The site is laid out in 
eleven blocks. The centers of the blocks will be re- 
served for permanent planting, the trees and shrubs 
for which have been carefully selected with regard 
to their adaptability to the locality and for their bloom 
and foliage. All receipts, after the purchase price is 
paid, will be devoted to the maintenance and beauti- 
fying of the grounds. Perpetual care and all other 
features of progressive cemetery management will 
prevail. 
The Park Commission of Des Moines, la., has 
employed Mr. Seymour Nelson, of Chicago, to pre- 
pare plans for Union and Greenwood parks and lay 
out extensive improvements. Care will be taken to 
develop the work along lines that nature has laid out, 
apd as few changes as possible will be made. The 
entrance to Greenwood will be moved 150 feet east of 
where it now stands, and a connecting driveway built. 
Citizens of South Bend and Mishawaka, Ind., are 
planning to build a boulevard and system of parks 
between the two towns, which are five miles apart. 
The work is to cost $50,000, $10,000 of which has 
been subscribed. The mayors of the two cities are 
pushing the matter, and there is every prospect that 
it will be a success. Mr. John G. Barker, of South 
Bend, who is at present engaged in improving How- 
ard park, will lay out the new work. 
Port Huron, Mich., has recently placed its park 
system under control of a board of park commission- 
ers. The three principal parks, aggregating sixty 
acres, have a water frontage, two on the St. Clair 
river and one on Lake Huron. These parks and 
numerous small triangles throughout the city are to 
be improved by Mr. O. C. Simonds, of Chicago. An 
addition to Lakeside Cemetery, Port Huron, is also 
being laid out after plans furnished by Mr. Simonds. 
Parsons & Pentecost, of New York, have been en- 
gaged to beautify Hamilton park, Waterbury, Conn. 
An appropriation of $3,800 has been made. 
