Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-05-17
Streets for Posterity.

Two or three communications have recently
appeared in the Boston Advertiser in regard to
certain public Improvements which seem very
desirable to be made in the newer portions of
that city. The state of things existing here is
50 similar to that under consideration by the
writer's Of these communications, that we are
tempted to transfer some Of their ideas and sug-
gcstons to our columns.
One of the correspondents, lamenting that
the leading men of former times had no fore.
sight of what have become absolute necessities
to the present generation, proposes to profit by
the lesson Of experience in this way:
The city needs board of commissioners for
the express purpose of providing for its future
CROWN and Improvement, who shall examine
the whole territory comprised within the city
limits with view to some system of avenues
and streets which shall make it something bet
ter than concentration of lanes and alleys
which II VIII become unless steps are taken at
once to remedy the evil They should he men
of forecast, who can see beyond the present and
can anticipate the future growth OF the city and
the wants of coming generations. Such men
are undoubtedly to be found among our enter
prising zenS,-men, too, of public spirit and
liberal views, who would be willing to serve the
city in such capacity without a large salary or
the inducements of jobbery.
Their duty should be, not TO lay out streets
and assess damages or betterments, but to pre-
pare some comprehensive plan for future i'm
proYements, 10 be put in execution as necessity
required, and to which the Improvements by in
dlviduals should be made TO conform. If this
cannot be done under existing laws. an act
should be obtained which would enable the city
70 secure advantages of such vital Importance
10 Its future beauty and welfare
Inc immense benefits that would arise from
some such system judiciously enforced, can be
10 some extent estimated by any one who will
ieno'l lor moment how much more beautiful
inns Heart of the Commonwealth would no IN
day, how much more commodious and conyo,,.
lent would be its dwellings and places of hrsi-
ness, had some such plan of laying out stree,s
and avenues been adopted even no longer than
quarter Of century ago.
The present map Of Worcester represents a
labyrinth of crooked, narrow, ill-arranged
streets that would seem ridiculous, il we could
convince ourselves that, in certain sense, they
are not among the obstacles that will retard the
growth Of the city. But the discomfort and in.
convenience arising from this source will steadi.
" increase with the continued growth of popu-
latlon, and the further development of various
INDUSTRIES we swell up with indignant con-
celt, when we complain that orr old training
nslu' or common, reserved by the arst set
uefs, mas been gradually reduced to one
.alto o. Its original dimensions, occupied on one
graveyard, dishgured by unsightly
puhuinss' cut III two by railway tracks. &c !.
pat ~hat WIZ be said Of our own seuers,;on b.,
the hundred thousand inhabtan,s 49,. ~.
years hence viii be jostling one another ana
Iosing their way in the eramped and circutous