PARK AND CEMETERY. 
267 
Chicago. There are about seventy (70) 
seasonal playgrounds in Chicago, furnished 
with apparatus and leadership. This in- 
cludes the playgrounds of all the parks. 
In addition to this list, there are a number 
of school playgrounds functioning some- 
what as do the park playgrounds. 
The outdoor swimming pools of Chicago 
are used during the summer harder than 
any of the other facilities at the recreation 
centers. They are so large that they are 
substitutes for the “old swimming hole” 
and they e.xccl the old institution. The 
largest pool is at McKinley Park and it is 
appro.ximately an acre in size. From two 
to three thousand people bathe in one of 
these pools on a hot day in summer. Over 
a million swims are recorded every season. 
Men and women use the pools on separate 
days. Usually two days each week are 
“girls' days” and four are reserved for 
boys. A thorough cleaning is given the 
pool on the seventh day. 
The care given these public pools has 
prevented diseases from developing among 
the bathers because of using them. Aside 
from the sanitary regulations in the care 
of the pool, each bather must take a warm 
shower and thoroughly cleanse the body 
before entering the pool. 
The use of Lake ]tlichigan for recrea- 
tional purposes has grown rapidly during 
the last few years. Publicly supported and 
operated beaches and many public commer- 
cial beaches line the shore from Evanston 
to Calumet Park. All the public beaches 
are operated by the parking boards and 
there are nine in all. 
The new Clarendon Beach is a beauti- 
fully equipped public beach and with the 
Diversey Beach and the new Jackson Park 
Reach, Chicago has public facilities to give 
daily service to over two hundred thousand 
people. 
A new municipal pier was opened this 
year. It is a four million dollar structure 
and is located near the center of the city’s 
shore line, at the foot of Illinois Street. 
It is provided with promenades, dance hall 
and f)uting areas. 'I'his is primarily a com- 
mercial pier to provide wharfing for the 
vessels, but has been arranged to allow a 
portion to be flevoted to recreation. It 
will be administererl by the Harbor Bureau. 
There arc five public golf courses in Chi- 
cago ; two at Jackson Park, one at Mar- 
quette, Lincoln and Garfield Parks, respec- 
tively. f)ne Jackson Park course and the 
Marquette course are 18-holc courses. The 
Jack'on Park 18-hole course is [)rovided 
with a shelter containing shower baths and 
locker accommodations for .LOOt) golfers. 
At all the i)ublic courses it has been 
necessary to start golfers from the first tec 
by tickets drawn in advance. /Xt Jackson 
Park a full registration system will be put 
into operation during the coming summer. 
Tfuring the past year registration was pos- 
sible on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. 
The courses open as early as the sun gets 
up. Play is continuous, if the grounds will 
allow, and they are seldom closed because 
of weather conditions. 
At the two courses in Jackson Park, over 
three hundred thousand golfers teed off 
during the year 1915. Twice as many peo- 
ple play over the Jackson Park long course 
as play over the famous St. Andrews. 
Aside from these publicly supported 
courses, there are fifty-five private courses 
in Chicago and its environs. 
There are about five hundred pul)lic ten- 
nis courts in Chicago and this supply does 
not begin to meet the demand. Special 
tennis areas are being developed at the 
large parks but the best courts built are 
found at the small parks. Clay, asphalt 
and grass courts are scattered throughout 
the city and adequate backstops are being 
provided at most of the public courses. 
The old speedway on South Park Avenue, 
to the west of Washington Park, has been 
converted into a half mile of tennis courts. 
This year backstops are being erected and 
this will be the largest and best equipped 
tennis ground in the city.. It contains 
twenty-five courts. 
The use of tennis courts is based upon 
the “first come, first served” principle in 
the West and South, but the Lincoln Park 
system reserves tennis courts upon appli- 
cation. 
A number of tennis clubs playing upon 
public courts have been organized. They 
have large memberships and interesting 
programs. The Washington Park, Jackson 
Park, Hamilton Park and Garfield Park 
Tennis Clubs ha\'e a total membership of 
over five hundred and are doing much to 
build up the best ideals of sport in Chi- 
cago. 
Baseball is played by more boys in Chi- 
cago than is any other team game. Thou- 
sands of spectators w^atch these contests as 
they occur during the summer all over the 
city in large and small parks, corner lots 
and prairie diamonds. The number actual- 
ly participating in the game is not so large 
as in tennis, but the .s])ectators outnumber 
those in any other sport. The game of 
baseball is not well organized in Chicago, 
but over LOCO teams played in the various 
amateur and semi-professional leagues dur- 
ing the summer of 1915. 
Plans arc now’ being developed to organize 
school leagues, playground leagues, a city 
amateur league, and tf) offer some co-oper- 
ation in officiating aiul securing diamonds. 
There arc a hundred and eight public 
baseball diamonds in Cliicago. 'I’hcy are 
administered in two ways; resevations and 
the “first come, first served” principle. 
Archery has developed to a considerable 
extent as an outdoor pastime in Cliicago. 
The Washington Park .Xrchcry Club enter- 
tained the National .Association in their 
championship contests during the past sum- 
mer. This club has over fifty members 
and the archery ranges are filled every 
|)leasant afternof)n. The sport is being 
taken up by several organizations and the 
influenee of the use of a public park for 
the ranges is the cause. Two parks organ- 
ized clubs last year and half a dozen coun- 
try clubs have added it to their activities. 
The roque courts at Washington and 
Lincoln Parks are used during all the sum- 
mer season. They are provided with elec- 
tric lights and are used every evening. 
The National Roque Association held its 
tournaments at Washington Park last year 
and some of the contestants pronounced 
these courts the best in the countrs'. 
Fly casting as a sport has a large num- 
ber of followers in Chicago, and clubs for 
developing fly casting have existed for some 
years. A house is provided for the mem- 
bers of the clul) at Washington Park. 
There is a good organization on the West 
Side which practices at Douglas Park. 
The public facilities offered by the park- 
ing bodies of Chicago have been mentioned ; 
perhaps a more accurate conception of 
some phases of' the service may be ob- 
tained by giving a closer view of the ad- 
ministration and activities of one park 
center. These park centers are public com- 
munity clearing houses and are used by the 
various neighborhoods for any collective 
purpose. The assembly halls are reserved 
to groups sixty days or less in advance. 
The dramatic, musical and civic organiza- 
tions of the park, and the neighborhood, 
reserve the assembly halls for their pur- 
poses. No charge is made for the hall and 
no fees are charged by the \ arious groups 
using the halls. 
During the past few’ years neighborhood 
councils have been developed at these parks 
for the purpose of more efficiently articu- 
lating the activities and welfare agencies' 
of the community. These councils have 
supplemented the directed work of the 
parks by enlisting leaders and support for 
many community needs. They ha^•e devel- 
oped citizenship classes for foreigners: vo- 
cational talks ; civic classes for various 
groups and ages ; art classes ; domestic 
science classes : boys’ and girls’ summer 
camps; industrial exhibitions and celebra- 
tions, and have studied the whole field of 
collective i)roblems that confront every 
American neighborhood. 
A very large work in developing a civic 
consciousness is being done at these park 
centers by the council and the agencies it 
enlists. The ward civic leagues have their 
meetings at the parks, and many civic 
problems are worked out in public forums 
and by study groups. 
Social dances are held in the assembly 
halls in all parts of Chicago. The groups 
gi\'ing dances secure the hall free and arc 
asked only to conform to the rules laid 
down b\- the governing bodies. In all the 
public assembly h.ills of Chicago the fol- 
lowing regulations prevail : 
fl) Dancers are courteously reciucsted 
to respect the rights of others by avoiding 
all extreme and unconvention.al forms of 
dancing. 
(2) Couples iimst maintain the open 
