The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-21
THE BEAUTIFYING OF TOWNS.

1t is often said that nature has done
SO much for this or that town or city
that they cannot be fairly compared
with others In the way of soil and To-
cation nature can do much, but the real
beautifying of town or portions of it
rests with those who live along it's
streets or own the property. The most
delightful streets or portions of streets
in this and every Other city are those in
which the residences. whether mansions
or cottages, are kept tidy, the yards
clean, the grass cut, the trees trimmed,
and the fences. if there are fences. as
well painted as the houses. All this is
more the result of personal care and
taste than the expenditure of money.
There are no more dreary sections of
cities than those in which large resi-
dences have been allowed to decay and
their grounds been given up to stray
Cling shrubbery and weeds. There can
be no surer way to insure the deprecia-
ton of property in cities than to per-
nit it to fall into decay by allowing
buildings and grounds to bear the
moun1ful signs of better days. In every
city there are localities in which the
values of rental property, in spite of
street improvements, have not held their
own, while others have advanced, SIM
ply because the most of the buildings
bear the marks of a lack of thrift. Even
a good building in such a locality suf-
fers by association for the reason that
the general dilaDidation makes the To-
cation undesirable. In fact, it will gen.
orally be found that desirable location
is one in which the properties are mod
ern and well kept up
In this city several localities which
were undesirable short time since be-
cause of decayed buildings and patches
of weeds have been made the most de-
sirable rental properties in the city by
proprietors who had the sense to see
that deprecated and depreciating prop
critics could be made profitable by
sweeping away the old and building
modern houses. Before the change only
the most undesirable tenants could be
obtained temporarily; now the houses
are spoken, for in advance and one is
seldom vacant. In some of the slums of
the larger cities efforts are being made
to clear out the tenement houses in or
der to scatter the people, while in 9TH
ers the Improvement of the population is
sought by remodeling the buildings
which have been so wretched in their
appointments that they have tended to
make their inmates more dissolute, If
such a thing were possible The leader
of the Salvation Army discovered some
time ago that wretched lodgings and
crowded tenement houses were the
greatest. obstacle to his success, and he
has made it a part of his work to change
such conditions.
In the East, and in a few towns in
the West, local Improvement societies
have done much to make portions OF
smaller cities and villages attractive.
The reports of some of these societies
which have recently been published
show that the work has not@ only re-
deemed localities from shabbiness and
the evidences of decay, but has caused
an appreciation Of property far in ex-
cess of the expenditure. There is fine
field for such organizations in the cities
of the West, where so many people own
their homes.