35 b 
PARK AND CEME-TERY 
Park Notes jZ^ 
The Northwestern Elevated Railway, of Chicago, has pre- 
sented to that city a site for a small park, or playground, and 
is to improve it at its own expense. The tract is in a 
densely populated district through which the road runs. It 
is 300 by 80 feet, and is to be fitted up with swings and other 
apparatus for the amusement of the children of the neigh- 
borhood. 
^ ^ 5}; 
The resolution passed by the New York City Council provid- 
ing $i.os2.ooo for the Grand Boulevard and Concourse in the 
Bronx, has been approved and signed by Mayor Low. It is to 
be four miles long and 133 feet wide, and will unite the park 
system of the Bronx with Central Park. The total cost of the 
boulevard when completed four years from now is expected 
to amount to $12,000,000. 
* * * 
The Park Commissioners of Toledo, Ohio, have asked the 
city council to pass an ordinance for the issue of bonds to the 
sum of $50,000 for the completion of the boulevard connecting 
the parks of that city. The city has secured right of way over 
lands valued at $330,000, secured on condition that the boule- 
vard be completed within a specified time, now nearing a close. 
The Commissioners of Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, have 
presented to the City Controller an estimate for $808,340.50 for 
maintenance and necessary improvements during the next year, 
an increase of $206,900 over the appropriation of last year. 
The more important items in the estimate are as follows : 
General maintenance, $150,000; pay and expenses of guard, 
$118,492.50; completion of speedw'ay, $110,000; permanent im- 
provements, $100,000; lighting, $40,448; new bridge over 
Wissahickon Creek, $35,000; horticultural hall, care, repairs, 
etc., $27,000; sprinkling drives and purchase of new wagons, 
$20,000. 
* * * 
The Park Board of St. Paul, Minn., recently passed a reso- 
lution authorizing President Wheelock to go before the next 
charter commission and advocate an amendment to the city 
charter allowing a levy on a one-mill tax for park purposes in 
addition to the receipts from privileges and other sources. 
The present charter provides that the taxes collected for park 
purposes shall not exceed $75,000 a year, and the collections 
have been not more than $65,000. The board estimates that 
a one-mill tax will yield about $80,000, which is less than 
enough for current expenses and improvements. The Board 
also voted to begin condemnation proceedings for acquiring 
additional land for Como Park. 
* * 
Officials of the state treasury department of Massachusetts 
have completed the task of apportioning the expenses of con- 
structing and maintaining the Metropolitan Park System, and 
the various cities and towns in the district have been notified 
of the amounts they must pay as their proportions for 1900,, 
1901, and 1902. It was provided by law that the payments 
should begin in 1900, but litigation as to the apportionment 
has delayed the matter, and necessitated a three-years’ appor- 
tionment. In order that the burden may not fall too heavily 
the Legislature has passed a law permitting the issue of bonds 
outside the debt limit to cover the first two years. The sums 
apportioned for the City of Boston for 1902 are as follows : 
Parks, sinking fund, $52,648.51; interest, $111,875; mainten- 
ance. $66,171.50; boulevards, sinking fund, $11,477.34; interest, 
$25,473.50; maintenance, $20,078.25; Nantasket sinking fund, 
$4,821.40; interest, $9,700; maintenance, $7,500. 
.“k tract of 640 acres near Sulphur, 1 . T., is being surveyed 
with a view to reserving it as a government park, as pro- 
vided in an agreement which is to be ratified by the Indian 
tribes. There are eleven springs of water having medicinal 
properties in the tract, and experts of the Bureau of Forestry" 
are examining the trees indigenous to the locality in order 
to recommend the planting of others to beautify the proposed 
reservation. An effort is also to be made at the next ses- 
sion of Congress to provide for the purchase by the govern- 
ment of sufficient additional area to preserve the fine forests 
near the town. 
* * 5 |< 
PARK IMPROVEMENTS. 
The following park improvements are reported this month ; 
Improvements to cost $25,000 are now being made at Paul 
Revere Park, New Bedford, Mass, and the work of grading 
and beautifying the grounds is well under way. * * * The 
west river bank parkway to be built from Riverside to Lake 
street, Minneapolis, Minn., is to cost about $43,000, and the 
damages have been assessed by the appraisers. * * * It is 
reported that the Hygeia Hotel at Old Point Comfort, Va., is 
to be razed to make way for a battery park to be made by 
the government. * * The finance and park committees 
of the Birmingham, Ala., City Council, have recommended 
the purchase of additional park property at an expenditure of 
$10,000. * * * The park board of Holland, Mich., is to 
build an artificial lake, 32x50 feet, and erect a new fountain. 
The fountain will be ten feet in diameter at the base, and 14 
feet high. * * * Improvements at Ross Park, Binghamp- 
ton, N. Y., are nearly completed, including the building of a 
new stone animal house, and the constructing of roads. * 
* Three small parks in Philadelphia are to be improved as 
follows: In Westmoreland Park an appropriation of $7,000 
is available, and will be used in laying out walks and ter- 
racing the park; in Vernon Park, $10,000 is to be expended in 
improvements in walks and drainage; in Athletic Park, $15,- 
000 is to be e.xpended in laying out the grounds in an arrange- 
ment of circular and radiating paths, after the manner of 
Rittenhouse Square. 
* * * 
NEW PARKS. 
Lafayette Park, presented to the city of Rockville, Conn., by 
the Sabra Trumbull Chapter, D. A. R., was recently dedi- 
cated. The society paid the expenses of grading and plant- 
ing, and erected in the center of the park a boulder bearing 
a bronze tablet to Lafayette. * * An ordinance has 
been passed by the Baltimore City Council appropriating 
$1,000 for the purchase of a triangular plot of ground, bound- 
ed by Riggs, Fremont, and Arlington avenues, to be used as 
a public park. * * The House Committee on Public Lands 
of the last Congress favorably reported a bill establishing the 
Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. The tract is said 
to include extinct geysers, a subterranean cavern, and other 
natural wonders. * * The village council of Johnston City, 
111., has voted to buy a ten-acre tract north of the town for 
a public park. * * Steps are being taken at Huron, S. D., 
to purchase the old Capitol Hill site for a public park. * * 
Cheppaqua, N. Y., recently dedicated a new five-acre park, the 
gift of the Rev. Dr. Clendenin and wife, who contributed 
$15,000 to its improvement. * * Sixty acres of waste 
land at Coney Island, New York City, have been converted 
into a public park. The tract was formerly covered with 
refuse, and the work of improvement included turfing, laying 
of 12,000 cubic yards of soil, the building of an irrigation 
plant, and the planting of 12,000 trees and shrubs. * * The 
recent Congress passed a bill granting Fort Griswold, on 
Groton Heights, Groton, Conn., to the state of Connecticut as 
a public park. The property consists of an abandoned fort 
and earthworks. 
