38 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
INTERESTING TYPE OF SERVICE PARK IN BUFFALO 
BIG WADING POOL IN HUMBOLDT PABK, BUFFALO; 1,800 FEET IN CIRCUMFERENCE. 
Humboldt Park, Buffalo, has an unusual- 
ly interesting history and some unusual 
features of service that make its growth 
and development one of the most interest- 
ing examples of park work in the country. 
Up to eighteen years ago this piece of 
ground was known as the old Parade 
Grounds, a plain, rough-looking place with 
but few trees and minus anything tending 
to the beautiful. A large parade house 
was the chief feature, with plenty of mu- 
sic and drink. The parade grounds and 
house were instituted by the first park 
board of Buffalo, first for the use of the 
local militia and kindred associations and 
for a beer garden, because of the foreign 
settlement in close proximity to these 
grounds ; but to the dismay of the authori- 
ties it was found that the good German 
citizens stayed away and the place was 
overrun with ruffians. 
The drilling of the soldiers soon was dis- 
continued. In 1895 Olmsted Brothers, of 
Brookline, Mass., were engaged and the 
work of remodeling this park was started. 
A wading pool (a trifle over five acres), 
a lily pond, 100x200 feet, and a fountain 
basin, 100 feet in diameter, were built. A 
great number of radiating gravel footpaths 
were built about the ponds and other di- 
rections. These broad walks are all lined 
with beautiful trees. This space was known 
as the parade grounds’ meadow, which was 
about one-half of the park. The borders 
and east end of the park were improved 
gradually each year. 
There is still a chance for certain im- 
provements, but, as a whole, this once un- 
sightly spot has become one of the finest 
parks of its size in the country. Though 
located in the most densely populated dis- 
tricts of Buffalo, it is one of the most or- 
derly of parks. Mothers and children by 
the thousands find recreation here as in no 
other park in the city. The surrounding 
property is built up of some of Buffalo’s 
finest homes, well repaying the city for the 
investment. 
The show feature of Humboldt Park is 
its immense wading pool, one of the largest 
in the world. One of our illustrations gives 
a fair outline of the wading pool, which is 
1,800 feet in circumference. The depth of 
the pond reaches from 6 inches to 30 
inches in the center. The water is supplied 
from the fountain basin through a 4-inch 
feed pipe 350 feet long, which is the dis- 
tance between the wading pool and foun- 
tain basin. The elevation between the lat- 
ter and the former is about 8 feet. Dur- 
ing the summer months a constant supply 
of fresh water is discharged through the 
4-inch feed pipe. An overflow pipe dis- 
charges the surplus waters into a nearby 
sewer on the outside of the pond and the 
feed and discharge are regulated so as to 
keep up a certain level of water. A drain 
is provided directly in the center of the 
pond, which is necessary for the cleaning 
of the bottom annually. The bottom is a 
puddled clay with a 6-inch layer of red 
sand to the surface, which makes it easy 
for the tiny feet of the little ones. The 
entire pond is surrounded with a 6-inch 
curbstone set in concrete, which gives the 
pond a neat appearance. A 30-foot foot- 
path surrounds the pond, on which are 
placed settees for the convenience of the 
public. Neat grass slopes and a number of 
granite stone steps on the north and west 
sides and grass plots with beautiful flower 
GARDEN AT CONSERVATORY, HUMBOLDT PARK. EDGE OF CONSERVATORY FLOWER GARDEN. 
Hedge of Artemesia and Catalpa in third year of growth. Wading Pool in Background; Picnic Grove at Right. 
