The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-13
HOW BOSTON SOLVED PROBLEM OF FAIRGROUNDS

"The boy without q playground is
father to the man without a job
This is the motto of one of the civic
societies of Boston which has been in
strumental in building up the excellent
system of public Fairgrounds of which
the city is justly proud. 1t shows the
point of view which Boston has taken
of this important problem and is
worthy of attention in st. Paul just
now when the public playground is
an untried experiment. Even the Mas
sachusetts legislature was persuaded
that children do not play because
they are young; they are young in or
der that they may play" and author
lied the expenditure of 100000 for
Fairgrounds.
In pre-Revolutionary days, when
Boston was British headquarters, the
boys of the town had their play
ground on the common. Any time
school history will tell how these colo
NAL youngsters sent a delegation to
Gen. Gage to demonstrate against the
soldiers interfering with their games.
The remonstrance was successful and
the boys have played on the common
ever since. In sight of the skyscrapers
little ones compared to those in New
York, but skyscrapers nevertheless
In fremont and Boylston streets, you
can see them any day this summer
busy with their baseball. The police
man who would try to run them out
would probably come as near being
mobbed as any one ever did in Boston.
AS far back as 1881 the vacation
school idea-withoutcII textbooks and
without compulsory attendance-took
root in Boston, and there are now
twenty of them in different parts Of
the city. A second step was in 1887,
when piles of clean yellow sand We're
placed in the crowded districts, and
the children were allowed to play in
them as on the ocean beach. The
idea came from a friend of Mrs Kate
Gannett Wells, of the Massachusetts
Emergency and Hygiene association,
who was in Berlin, and had noticed
the sand piles in the parks there. Now
there are a number of sand gardens,
each provided with shade and kim
dergartner in charge. 1t successfully
solves the playground problem for
young children.
Next in order was the opening of the
CharleSbank playground on beautiful
site overlooking Back Bay and the
Brookline hills. Here the first outdoor
gymnasium in America was establish
ed, after the plan of DR.. Sargent, of
Harvard, and in 1891, two years later,
womans gymnasium was opened,
and has since been directed by Miss
Ellen NJ. Tower and Mrs. Kate Gannett
Wells Winter and summer Charlesbank
draws the crowd and every branch of
sport receives attention. In winter
skating is popular, with an attendance
on single day as high as five thou
sand persons. From this Boston's
gymnasium system has grown. There
is another outdoor gym" at Woods
Island Park, and a half dozen indoor
gymnasiums, with others still in pros
pect.
First Real Playground
The playground itself came in 1894,
when Franklin Field, of seventy acres.
was set aside for open air meetings,
for militia drills and as a public play
ground. The last named filed the
greatest want, and the field has become
the center of play in Boston, where
the district teams play off their match
games of base, foot and basket ball,
and where boys from every part of the
city gather in athletic contests.
Then four years later, came the small