The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-12-14
PUBLIC GYMNASIUM MEMORIAL
communicable That the A. A. VI.
Committee Presented 10 Park BOARD.

Committee Presented 40 Park Board.
1t a meeting of the Park Commission
ers, held yesterday afternoon, at the
Arsenal in Central Park, the following
memorial was presented by a delegation,
headed by Barlow S. Weeks, ]. F. Har-
der and c. C. Hughes
New York, Nov. 90, 1881.
To the Honorable the Board of Commits
sioners of Public Parks:-
Greeting-The undersigned, representing
q joint committee of Metropolitan Asso-
citation of the Amateur Athletic Union Of
the United States, the New York District
Turner Societies, the Athletic League of
7. NJ. c. A., the Association for the. Ad-
vancement of Physical Education, the In
terscholastic Athletic Association and the
Social Reform Club, beg leave to recon-
mend for your favorable consideration a
proposition for the establishment of an
open-air gymnasium playground. upon a
plot of ground, approximately $50 feet by
20o feet, at the northerly end and com
prising a portion of the East River
Park at Avenue E n Eighty-seyentn
TO Eighty-eighth streets.
Cur committee, at an informal confer
ence with Commissioner Cruger of your
Board. had on October -. 1897. received
the information that a portion of the
above named park had been already set
aside, by resolution, for this purpose and
that an appropriation had also been made
for it's enactment.
Our committee, with the assistance of
experts, has made a most careful inspec-
ton of this park, both at the site and
from diagram received from Superintend-
ent Parsons, and has arrived at the con
clusion:-First, that it would be inadvisa-
bic n indeed unnecessary to disturb or
alter in any way either the present park
pathways or tree growth; secondly, that
the aforementioned plot is the only por-
ton of this park which is suitable for
his purpose; thirdly, that this plot is
suitable for q gymnasium playground,
a rra Dor1d for children nf hpth~SaypS Of the
ages from s to Is years.
Acting upon these conclusions and for
the purpose of closely studying the sub
ject in detail, we have had a diagram
made of this plot at a scale of rs feet
to the inch, which is hereto annexed;
reference thereto will show a possible.
though it is not claimed to be the only
arrangement of grounds and apparatus
which may fairly be assumed as a basis
and key to all questions relating to the
uses, scope, management and expenses of
the plant.
1t is proposed that the grounds shall
be used by the sexes on alternate days.
say for the girls Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays, and for the boys Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays.
The grounds are to be fully lighted and
to be used at nigh also.
The apparatus provided for in the ten
tative arrangement as submitted. permits
of the practice of the following games
High jump, broad jump; hop, skip and
jump; horizontal bars, parallel bars,
vaulting bucks, quoits, perpendicular, in
clined and horizontal ladders, pole and
rope climbing, travelling rings and W
circles, each 2S feet in diameter, for con-
certed games of all kinds.
This apparatus is to be fixed and re-
main in place. The ground is to be pre-
pared as indicated by the diagram, the
runways to be laid with cinders, the
landing places of loose earth, tan-bark or
turf. as best suited to the special pur-
poses of eoch case.
1t is not intended to conduct games or
feats of a character likely to attract
crowds.
No dressing room or locker provisions
will be necessary.
The gymnasium is to be kept open from
April 1 to about the middle of December.
1t is estimated that 500 children can be
engaged upon the ground at one time.
When the apparatus is filled to the limit
of its safe and proper use, the gate en-
trance to the grounds is to be closed and
no more admitted.
To Initiate and guide the children in the
uses OF the gymnasium a superintendent
and an assistant are to be appointed, to
whom are to be committed the charge
and care of the grounds and their equip.
rnent. The authority of the superinten-
dent is to correspond to his responsibility.
he is to operate under a set of simple n
approved rules for conducting and manag-
ing the grounds, to insure the maintain
ance of order and decorum and the safe,
discreet and proper use of the apparatus.
A liberal estimate of the cost of in
stallation of apparatus of the best manu-
facture, including the preparation of the
ground, places the amount at $500, a
competent superintendent should COM
mand a salary of say $1.S00 and an as
sistant at about $1,000 per annum These
constitute the essential items; other ex-
penses may arise, but such must be of
trivial nature and amount and not eS-'
sential to the establishment.
In conclusion it is proper to say that in
considering these recommendations, our
committee has had reference to the re-
ports, and statistics Of similar institu-
lions in the cities of Boston and Chicago;
we can entertain no shadow of doubt as
to the complete success of results, and
while upon the one land, we feel certain
that the results will prove the popular
demand for these institutions, as well as
their wholesome effect upon the rising
generation; Upon the other, it is wholly
inconceivable to our minds from which