New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-06-13
The New Park.

of the Common Council to whom It was
referred. meets with so hearty an approval
from al classes of the community. Such
IN IMPROVEMENT, while it is commensurate
with the prospective extent and oPulence
of the CITY. Will soon be demanded as a
nbvsical necessity. We look therefore,
upon the expense, which is the only reason
able objection we have heard urged against
the measure, as of comparatively small i'm
portance, when weighed with its great and
lasting advantages.
Taking into consideration the position
Newly ork occupies at this moment as the
Commercial Metropolis of the New World,
destined to an expansion to which there
really seems no limit, she is more scantlly
furnished with breathing places-wlth parks
or grounds for public recreatioa-than any
city in the world. What are the ten acres
of the Battery or the Park-the only spaces
below Fourth-st. constantly open to the
public-to the needs of at least three hun
bred and fifty thousand persons, who dwell
within those limits? The Battery, on the
very point of the Islahd, though glorious
lookout over the Bay and its shores, and
yentilator which catches the sea-breeze and
turns its refreshing current into Broadway,
is surrounded by the business portion Of the
CITY, and out of convenient reach to the
great proportion of families. Nevertheless,
on bright mornings it has its share of visit
ors to strangers it is one of the chief at
fractions of the City, and we rejoice that
it may be very greatly enlarged, but never
built upon.
The Park, though of moderate dimensions,
prevents the lower part of the city from
being entirely choked by the dust Of its
thoroughfares. Itisa god-send to the crowds
Of children, who come out of the region be-
tween Broadway and the Bowery. But
from this point to Washington-square on the
West and Tompkins-square on the East,
there is not single rood Of green earth free
to the public at large. South of Sixty
Fourth-st., the proposed boundary of the
New Park, there are, all told, in the region
now built up, ffty-seren acres of public
grounds. This includes all the squares above
named, with Union, Stuyvesant and Madi-
son Squares in addition. Hudson Square
and Gramercy Park are private property and
are never open to the public they are there
fore not taken into account. There are, it
is true, five squares laid out at different
points in the upper part of the islaud-Prln-
cipally between Fifth and Ninth Avenues
and distributed at intervals from SD to
l24th-st These squares contain, IN all, one
hundred and seven acres, the largest Of
them having twenty-five acres. In the
course of half a century they will become
pleasant grounds. They are necessary to
break the solid monotony of the blocks of
buildings which are gradually extending up
the centre and western side of the island !;
but they can never supply the indispensable
need of the Cigy-a great pleasure-grOund,
where its inhabitants Will be always free to
come, not by hundreds, but by hundreds of
thousands.
1t has been said, in objection to this plan,
that the rivers which wash the island on its
Eastern and Western sides, bring us con-
slant and ample supplies of pure air The
fact of our being surrounded with tde-water
no doubt contributes greatly TO the health of
the city, and tie streets near the wharves
receive tolerable ventilation from the sea-
breezes. The great, crowded heart of the
City, however, shares but very imperfectly
in this good the airs which visit it are pol
luted on their passage, and in some quarters
almost entirely shut out. Besides, it is not
air alone that IS wanted, but motion, exer-
else, and the cheering sight of green fields
and groves, so necessary TO the sense of re-
freshment and recreation We repeat it,
the establishment Of Park like that which
has been proposed, is physical necessity,
and cannot be longer postponed without de-
triment to the true interests of the City.
The ground selected by the Committee of
the Common Council is better adapted for
the purpose than any other they could have
chosen 1t extends from Sixty-fourth to
Seventy Fiith-st., and from Third-av. TO
the East River, being somewhat more than
half mile square and containing one hun
dred and sixty acres. There are at present
very few buildings on it, and at least half
the ground is covered with fine growth Of
forest trees. The East River side is bold
and steep, with charming views up and