PARK AND CEMIi^TE-RY 
190 
The city of Erie, Pa., is considering the purchase of 112 
acres of territory for a park at a cost of $16,000. The land 
lies outside the city limits, and the city solicitor is investigat- 
ing the authority of the municipality to acquire land outside 
its corporate limits. 
!K * * 
The city council of Cleveland, Ohio, has appropriated $7,000 
for the improvement of Brookside Park, $4,000 of which will 
be used for the construction of a lake 1,000 feet long and 
400 feet wide. Work has already begun on the proposed im- 
provements. A recent storm has wrought damage to Wade 
Park and the boulevards, which will necessitate an expenditure 
of $100,000 for repairs. 
* * * 
The Iowa Park and Forestry Association is to ask the leg- 
islature of that state to purchase the land along the shores of 
Lake Okoboji, Spirit Lake, and Clear Lake, and make state 
parks of the three tracts. The association is also working to 
secure the passage of an act exempting from taxation gro - 
that is kept for forestry alone. 
* * ^ 
Citizens of the town of Fort Atkinson, Iowa, have organ- 
ized a park association for the purpose of purchasing and deed- 
ing to the state for a state park, the buildings and grounds 
of old Fort Atkinson. The fort was erected in 1832 and is 
closely identified with the early history of Iowa. Its build- 
ings are in a dilapidated condition, and stand on an eminence 
overlooking an elevated plateau of 160 acres which is the land 
to be reserved for the proposed park. 
* * 
The park board of St. Paul, Minn., has spent over $31,000 
for land to enlarge Indian Mounds Park, and will obtain by 
condemnation proceedings the rest of the land needed. The 
remainder will cost $12,000, and this sum the board has de- 
cided to raise by assessment. Only $20,000 is available for the 
maintenance of the parks for the rest of the year, and the 
commissioners will be obliged to exercise the strictest econ- 
omy to prevent a deficit at the end of the year. 
^ ^ ^ 
Bequests and donations to cities for park purposes include 
the following gifts: The will of Mrs. Harriet H. Wilcox 
bequeaths to the city of Westerly, R. I., for the Wes- 
terly Memorial and Library Association $150,000 for the 
care and maintenance of the library and park adjoining. 
* * * The Board of City Trusts, created by an act of the 
Pennsylvania legislature, has assumed control of $250,000 left 
to the city of Lancaster Pa., by the late Miss Catherine Long 
for the establishment of a public park. 
* * * 
The finance committee of the park board. Minneapolis, 
Minn., in estimating the financial resources of the board for 
the rest of the year, report that there will probably be a defi- 
cit of over $13,000 at the beginning of the new year. The 
indebtedness for the last six months of 1901 amounts to $105,- 
890.70, made up as follows : Certificates cancelled Sept, i, 
$61,455.64; interest payable January i, 1902, $16,276.50; cost 
of maintenance, $28,167.56. The estimated receipts for the 
last half of the year amount to ^$53,492.81, which, with cash 
on hand amounting to $39,195.61, make the assets $92,688.42, 
leaving a deficit of $13,202.28. The Commissioners expect to 
reduce this estimated shortage by rigid economy. 
The park commissioners of Chattanooga, Tenn., have pre- 
sented their estimate for the budget for the fiscal year be- 
ginning October i, 1901. The total amount necessary is 
placed at $8,700, of which $2,200 is to be derived from Zoo 
and other receipts, and from donations from the street car 
company, leaving $6,500 for the city to provide. The commis- 
sion also recommends that the legislature be asked to allow 
an election for the purpose of voting on the raising of $50,- 
000 in bonds for the purchase and improvement of additional 
park territory. Some of the items in the budget are as fol- 
lows: Salaries, $2,250; new shade trees and boxes, $1,600; 
food for animals and birds, $1,000; new building and cages 
for Zoo, $900; citizens’ cemetery, $600; new animals for 
Zoo, $600; filling, sodding, and drainging in East Lake Park, 
$600. 
^ ^ ^ 
The work of the Park Commission engaged in preparing 
plans for the beautifying of the public grounds at Washing- 
ton, models and plans of whicli are to be exhibited at the 
STATUE OP WASHINGTON, SCHENLEY PARK, 
PITTSBURG, PA. 
Corcoran Art Gallery in that city during January and Feb- 
ruary, comprised a detailed study of the District of Columbia 
to determine what areas should be acquired to complete the 
system, and to devise plans for connecting the present parks 
so as to make one unified system. The work has been thor- 
ough and comprehensive, necessitating new surveys of much 
territory. The plans for the improvement of The Mall are 
now being prepared. The general scheme is the same as that 
advanced by L’Enfant in his plan of the city, and was de- 
signed with the view of bringing the monumental structures, 
such as the Capitol, White House, and Washington Monu- 
ment, into closer relation with one another, and with the 
further purpose of providing for new memorials which are 
soon to be erected. Two plaster models of the entire system 
are being prepared for presentation to Congress. One is being 
modeled by George Carroll Curtiss, in Boston, and the other 
in New York under the direction of Mr. McKim. The plans 
have been so arranged that the work can be developed grad- 
ually as appropriations permit, and so that a number of feat- 
ures can progress simultaneously. The commission has re- 
cently purchased 500 acres fronting the Potomac for the use 
of the almshouse, which will be included in the general 
scheme. 
