Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-12
PARKS OF THE WORLD
Systems Adopted by the Lead
ing American Cities.
FREEDOM BESIDES BEAUTY
Keep-Of-the-Grass Signs Defeat the
Very Objects Sought.
IEEDOM BESIDES BEAUTY
THE BREATHING SPOTS OF EUROPE

have gotten the craze on. Almost every other
person seems to have their own choice of
spot whers a park should be. Firstly and
foremostly we have the splendid Schenley
contribution with the purchased annex,
which, with careful management, good
taste, good engineering, and scientific land
scape gardening Will in ten or15 years on an
outlay of 500, 600 or $500, 600 per year make
q very fine park for its size The ''lay of the
ground" is all that could be desired for nat
ursl scenery, without the aid of the trans
forming hand of man, assisted bv the natural
growth oftrees and shrubbery skillfully plant
ed. 1t now contains beautiful vistas, lovely
valleys, mountain heights from which grand
views can be had. The situation and mate
rial are there. Next for the man and the
money.
The vast space occupied by the Twenty
second and Twenty-third wards is a magnih-
cent field for a park, as that region is the
Switzerland Of Pittsburg, and to make
grand park some enthusiasts on parks want
both wards condemned and included. This
is, of course, absurd. The property now in
hand is ample for all park purpOses-ior the
present, anyhow. In the far-of years to
come, after the city has grown in population
and wealth, il will be time enough to talk
about larger park. The adjacent farms
can wait. If there are any private specula-
tons in view. they can wait also. We have
now parks all around the reservoirs on
which much money has already been spent,
and more is to be spent; parks about school
houses parks are talked of at Point Breeze
and at Shadyside, the latter a contribution
from the Government; parks along the river
fronts; parks in the Eleventh and Thir-
teenth wards-parks everywhere and on
everybo6y's pRoperty. They will soon be as
common as Virginia mineral springs if pres
ent desires are carried out.
There is a great difference between q
pleasure garden and park. The pleasure
garden is devoted to the symmetrical arrange
ment of shrubbery, of flowers of special
kinds, of rare plants, of trees, and even of
particular kinds of grasses, with The espe-
cial object of delighting those people who
take pleasure in flower gardens. But the
majority of mankind don't care particularly
for such things. They want the general effect;
and the constant irritation to the eye of
Keep OFF the Grass" or "Don't Touch the
Flowers" in a botanical or pleasure garden
takes away one-haf the pleasure one would
otherwise enjoy.
The park is a far different place, and is
coming in this country to be real pleasure
to the people, containing grassy meadows,
shaded by groves of grand old forest trees,
intersected by running brooks, having here
and there lovely hooks and corners, dark
and silent glens filled with the music of
birds and ripping water, with lovely vistas
showing distant dissolving views of forest
animals reveling in nature; moses and
lichens, wild Violets and daisies, and other
flowers scattered all around in unexpected
places to please the senses and delight the
eyes, free to all who come, the best to the
first
FREEDOM WITH BEAUTY.
When the pleasure garden, with its stiff
primness, is combined with the glorious
freedom Of the great public park, where in
wandering along q quiet path one comes
suddenly upon beautiful bank of flowers
no matter whether they are rare plants or
not-arranged with taste and carefully
tended; or upon emerging from some mar
row, lonesome gorge one comes suddenly
upon a beautiful lawn, closely clipped and
having beds of flowers, and shrubbery with
lovely walks through it, the senses are raw
ished and the whole being is set tingling
with pleasure. 1t is a great mistake
to shut up a public park virtually
with keep Of the Grass" signs stuck all
over it. The park should, in the first place,
be large enough to allow a large body of
people to walk over the grass daily if thev
wish to, for therein lies their pleasure. Most
OF the large parks in Europe are so shut up.
Grass is considered sacred and the pleasure
to the eye of those in carriages is o. more
importance than the pleasure to the minds
of those who have desire to walk and roll
over it. The Garden of the Tuileries is very
small compared to the number of people in
Paris, and it being the favorite promenade.
so many feet 90 over it daily that not a
blade of grass can ever be seen on it or in it.
But it serves its purposes large number of
people pass over it with pleasure daily
without any restraint. The Spaniards in
many OF their towns have long shaded
walks overarched with splendid old trees in
their suburbs which they call Alameda.
Who that has been in our New England
cities has not noticed their grand avenues
of monarch elms, reaching far skyward and
spreading their gigaptic arms across the
streets until they interlace and form per-
feet shade. Who has been for four
blessed years at dear old Yale that
does not cherish deep down in his
boyhood's heart fond recollection of those
grand old elms and naples around the
college campus under which they sat upon
the lamented fence and sang and talked
and passed many idle hours away. There
are other parks around beautiful New
Haven, but none so sacred to many
thousands of graduates as the old campus.
Z hair ok al
instances of beautiful old elm and maple
avenues, or Alamedas in this country, but
principally in the older parts of it. New
England and New York possess the most of
them.
Public parks in old American cities were
adopted, and came to be known as public
property by common usage by the original
inhabitants themselves Although they had
plenty of fresh air and places of recreation
near their sparse settlements, they still
found it convenient to have place of pub
lie assembly and enjoyment and so they
came to be In many cases the little parks of
to-day throughout many cities. The Bat
te-v, IN New York; the Bayside. in Char
lesion, and the Boston Common are exam
pies. The City Hall Park in New York was
originally the common playground ior the
bows and young men, and was never beau
Iineu u1lll OAbf ALdA4 was DullE, when q
great hubbub was raised because it was
fenced in, and for the future ball playing
was fenced out
NEW YoRK's FIRST PARK
Large parks in America were first COM
meneed by both Philadelphia and New
York in 1857. New York had to buy
strip of rocky, ledgy ground with much low
marshy land two and half miles long and
half mile wide, and in 1858 put 4, 900 men
at work upon it to carry out the admirable
plans of Frederick Law Olmstead and
Calvert Vaux. The large city reservoir
within the park occupies 142 acres
while there are six beautiful artificial
lakes occupying about z3 acres. The whole
park contains about $40 acres. There are
many lovely glades and much copse and
shrubbery with fine young forest trees in
abundance. There is large amount Of the
park in lawn or in condition for it. There
are 81 miles Of carriage roads, 90 feet wide,
6X miles Of saddle horse roads and about 80
miles Of paths. There are 46 bridges of
single arch Tor roads and walks. The Grant