The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-17
The Park Commissioners.

AT the last session of the Legislature an act
was passed which provided for the extension
of Fairmount Park, by the addition to it of
the neighboring lands lying within certain
limits. But a still more important feature of
this law was that which created a Board of
Commissioners, to whom the general regula-
tion and improvement of the Park should be
entrusted. The portions of the act relating to
the Commission read as follows:-
"Section q The Mayor, the Presidents of the
Select and Common Councils Commissioner of
City Property the Chief Engineer and Surveyor,
and the Chief Engineer OF the Water Works of
said city, together with ten citizens OF said city,
who shall be appointed for five years, five of
whom by the District Court, and five of whom
by the Court of Common Pleas of said city, be
and the same are hereby constituted Comlnts-
sioners of said Park they shall organize an
nually, on the first Monday of June by the
election of President and Secretary, but they
shall receive no compensation for their services
as Commissioners: Provided. that whenever a
vacancy shall occur in that part OF the said COM
missioners appointed by the Courts, the Court
from which the appointment was made shall
"section A. The Commissioners of said park,
after they shall have secured possession
of the ground, shall adopt plan Tor the inn
'provement and maintenance thereof, and shall
have powers to proceed with the same. and all
moneys expended shall be under their sHper-
vision, but no contracts shall be made for said
improvement unless an appropriation therefor
shall have been first made by the Councils Of
''SectIon 5. AS soon as the said Commits
sioners shall have fully organized, they shall
have the care and management OF Fairmount
Park on both sides OF the river Schuylkill, and
all plans and expenditures for the i'm Drovement
and maintenance of the same shall be under
their control subject to such appropriations
as Councils may from time to time make as
aforesaid"
Under the operation of the second section,
as given above, the following gentlemen were
appointed upon the Commission
Eli X. Price, John Welsh, William Sellers,
General George G. Meade, N. B. Browne,
Henry M. Phillips, Theodore Cuyler, Gustavus
Remak.
One or two preliminary meetings of the Com
mission were held during May, and on the Sd
of June permanent organization was duly
effected by the election of his Honor Mayor
McMichael as President, General George G..
Meade as Vice-President, Joseph F. Marcer as
Secretary, and N B. Browne as Treasurer.
Having thus organized, the Commission at
once took possession of Fairmount Park and
assumed its management. On this event we
must certainly congratulate such of the people
of Philadelphia as desire to see Fairmount
Park what it ought TO be, in order that it NAV
not be disgrace to the city. A responsible
body of men, restricted in its numbers, car
manage such an institution much better thar
a single official, or such unwieldy concerns as
the two branches of the City Councils. Bu
we greatly fear the Commission made I
mistake at the very beginning of theii
operations, by excluding from thei
meetings all the outside world, in
Guiding the representatives of the press
The proper management of Fairmount Park il
essential to the health and attractiveness o
the city, and in the improvements which viii
from time to time be made, as well as in II