c The Improvement of Springfield , Mass. 
PRESENT 
( Copyrighted igoj by House and Garden) 
FUTURE 
ROCKRIMMj 
.RE5ERVOIR. 
SMaU paf 
HAkPDEri, PARK 
AN OUTLINE STUDY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OK SPRINGFIELD 
three boating organizations have their houses 
and Hoats. Other sections between the 
tracks and river are occupied by factories and 
tenements. To the north, where the space 
between tracks and river begins to widen, is 
Hampden Park, with its race course and 
ball grounds. The Boston and Maine Rail¬ 
road now owns a controlling interest in this 
tract, which is bordered on the north by a 
piece ot unimproved public land and West 
Street, the way to the north-end bridge. 
At the center of the city, on the west side 
ot Main Street, is Court Square, comprising 
about an acre of lawn with curbed walks and 
some noble 
elms, a statue 
of an early 
settler by 
H artley, a sol¬ 
diers’ monu¬ 
ment, a drink¬ 
ing fountain, 
a bed of flow¬ 
ers. Facing 
the square are 
the City Hall, 
a brick struc¬ 
ture of 1855 
designed by 
Leopold Eid- 
litz; the First 
Church, a 
white wooden 
steepled church of 1819, and a modern build¬ 
ing in which are offices and the principal theater. 
A little back from the square on one side, and 
adjacent to the City Hall, is the police depart¬ 
ment building, on the other the County 
Court House, a granite structure designed 
by Gam brill & Richardson in 1871, and one 
of the city’s grammar schools. 
That there are great possibilities for im¬ 
provement in Springfield must be evident. 
That there are great obstacles to be overcome 
if the possibilities are to be realized in any 
broad and adequate way, must be equally 
evident. The river front presents the greatest 
of possibilities 
for improve¬ 
ment; the rail¬ 
way tracks 
present the 
greatest o b - 
stacle to be 
overcome. 
Many things 
point to the 
present as a 
time for ac¬ 
tion. Public 
interest is 
awakened here 
as it has been 
awakened 
e 1 s ew here. 
In modest 
A SUGGESTION FOR THE RIVER SHORE 
Designed at the instance of the late Tilly Haynes 
278 
