The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-05-06
LOCKWOOD IMPROVED
WORK DONE BY PARK COMMISSION
 IN WESTERN PART OF CITY.

Other Improveme; ts Being Made-Arti-
 ticial Lake Being Made.
 Although it is so easily accessible, | few New Haveners realize the possi- bilities in the Improvement of the Edge wood Park, situated in the western
 part of the city, between Chapel street and Whalley avenue. and extending along West river. This is the only park belonging to the oity except East Rock Park, which Is exclusively in the hands
 of the park commissioners and they are
 now so improving it that it will soon
 be one of the quletest, prettiest spots for plcnlcs or holiday excursions to be found in this vicinity. The title of that part of the park west of the river is vested in the town, as it was purchased by the park commissioners with town money.
 About 300 feet west of Edgewood ave-
 nue are three small hemlock groves,
 which the park commission proposes
 to put in shape for a pleasure resort
 by placing seats there and building
 walks. The groves are situated on a
 slight bluff overlooking the meadows,
 and at the foot of this bluff drive
 way VIII DG Oulll tAbGllhAil6 II plAA tAAN
 west end of the Edgewood avenue
 bridge along the foot of the declivlty to
 Whalley avenue.
 The underbrush and briers have all
 been cleared out of the groves, so that
 even at present they are delightful
 places to spend the sultry afternoons
 The aromatic perfume thrown off by
 the hemlock is also very healthful, and
 makes the resort doubly valuable to
 persons with weak lungs. This spot is
 free from the bugs which are so plen-
 tiful in the meadows south of the Chapel
 street bridge. The paths through the
 grove will lead in from the park road
 way.
 It was the intention of those ad-
 vocating improvements in the western
 part of the city to extend the small
 park between the two sections of Edge
 wood avenue at this point on to Forest
 street, but the street railway has been
 built, so that this is now impossible
 unless the tracks are changed.
 Passing south from Edgewood avenue to the new Meadow Drive, the park, which will soon be fixed over into a
 fine walk leads through a beautiful grove of naples then through a grove of native elms. The hlllsides between Edgewood avenue and Chapel street was last year covered with briers and bushes which made a hiding place for tramps, but has now been all cleaned off and the spaces between the trees cleared
 The driveway, thirty feet in width, now being built, enters the park from Mott street between two banks, which will be graded off and seeded. making l very pretty road between the two green hillsides. It will be crossed with | a rustic bridge by another drive along | the top of the bluff, and will extend | along the foot of the bluff to the Edge l wood avenue bridge. An enormous | amount of filling in has been done al | ready in building this drive, as the | ground of the meadows is much of it | springy muck into which the filling | material sinks in some places to a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet be- fore a solid foundation can be reached,
 These marshes have always been a menace to public health and this is the first effort which has been made to con vert them into a better condition. A petition to the court of common council has been circulated by Joseph R. Man ming, a member of the board of health, praying that the West river meadows be filled up. The petition was referred to the committee on retrenchment and which gave a hearing on the matter last Wednesday evening, and the committee will visit the West river meadows next Wednesday to investi- gate.
 orf ne hn ! near Chapel street, is a curiosity in the shape of an elm tree into which an- other small tree growing beside it has angrafted itself so that it presents the appearance of a banyan tree Oh a small scale. It is also proposed to make a small lake out of the pond near Chapel streeet, which will add another to the many attractive features of this new park.
 The material used for the filling in of Inc sink holes in the meadows Is being .aken out of the bank at the corner )f Mott and Chapel strets so as to make ! place for the drive down the bank. earth will be taken out to give he drive a slope of five feet in one feet
 on top of the bluff near Edgewood LVenue a nursery or about 2OOO N orWay naples has been set out, which in five | ,r ten years will be large enough to wherever they may be eeded in the park, There has also been purchased large number of red and vhitehorse chestnut trees, and orna- mental srubs such as Japanese snow ,alls, Rose of sharon cydonfa Japanese nd lilacs, which are not injured by f aving flowers plucked from them. ( Year the nursery is what is nown as f he "Children's Oak" fine tree of which the branches have a spread of f inety-five feet. f
 There is splendid view from the q op of the bluff overS the meadows, nd it Is safe to say there is no finer f )wland view in this vicinity and no f ortion of the city's possessions prom \ 5es so much of comfort and pleasure \ Q the people as they will obtain in f ldgewood Park after the improvements f re completed. The work is being car . led on by the park commissioners, r Iessrs. Henry Y. Blake Henry F. Eng e sh and Felix Chillingworth, the sub- !, ommittee on Edgewood Park, al- n lough MT. Chillingworth from his near n esidence to the park has the improve e ,pOtS nrapfipallNs ,1t,dar bjs t,areopoI | %'