Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-20
Broad Features for Park Com
mission Plan.
ON AN ELABORATE SCALE
Splendid Possibilities for Notable
Squares.
EARLY ACTION EXPEDlENI
Present Streets as Well as Roads 70
Re Utilized in the Rearrarge-
ment of City.

BY CoMMAHDER EVERETT HAYDEN U. s. ~
copyright. 1907, by Everett Hayden'l
II is the privilege, as it is the pleasure, OF
almost every citizen of the United states "
fool a certain sense of proprietorship IN
our beautiful capital even though, IKE inc
nrasant writer he may not actually own
square foot of land in the District Oh "
,,,nbia or anywhere else, excepting MS
common heritage as citizen. Anu SUI
freedom from individual ownership tenos
=. ,,,al,o ones attitude more impartial In
any comment that he may make regarding
+rsio, of the magnificent plan
..o,,r nm nv, I'Enfant under the supervls-
90 washington and jefferson, plan
ut nv reason of its very grandeur met
u,itb considerable ridicule in the early Gays
Of tho great republic but which Is no" iu.iS
,nnreciated and has been extended alreauy'
ON naner to cover the entire Distrlcl vi
Columbia. ,o,
Such extension. however, although pacheu
nv the ell-deserved prestige Oh tle PC &c
commission and now sancuoheu ny st'" ,.o
already been modified and must VI cou
a. aaarded as subject to such modlncauoh
and improvement, if any, as may 49,
worthy of adoption Ana the soJ litter II
desirable changes are maze lhe ~,
will he for all concerned, inasmucl dc ~. .te
s,reater mart of the region covered oy ins
extended plan is as yet sparseiy se
and still in its primitive state vi -,
haautv The time will soon come nov"
aver when any decided change Will De Wy
diffcult by reason of the expense anu ~
convenience involved, and we owe i. W
future generations to hand down 10 theIii
n completed plan that Will oe e 80 80
worthy of all that we hope and expect Ioi
the future of the greater city OF Nashihs
ton This seems to be sup1ect tnaI Is
worthy of even wider attention than IL mas
force of interested and intelligent puoiic
opinion discussion and criticism
The plans of the park commission; re-
ferred to very briefly above, We're pupllsheu
in 1902 in a handsome volume by tne Sen-
ate committee on the District OF Columbia
of which the late Senator Mcmillan was
chairman. This volume can propapy NC
consulted in any public npraTy anu 10
most fascinating book 10 any one WIN
takes interest and pride In Washington.
Members of Commission Eminent.
The members of the commission, all emf
nent in such specialtes as architecture,
sculpture and landscape gardening, were
Messrs Daniel II. Burnham, Charles F.
McKim. Augustus Saint Gaudens and Fred
erick Law Olmsted, jr., and their approval
of any further slight change of plan would
certainly go very far toward insuring its
adoption. 1t is therefore strongly hoped
that the following suggestions will com
menu themselves " Nl4Sii 6OOA JNNS-ON
The system that will be followed in pre-
sentng the subject is to begin with the
broader and more general features and to
follow with details that are best illustrated
by means of small portions of large-scale
maps. All of the maps, 1t may be noted
here have the north al the top of the page,
and the names of newly suggested streets,
avenues and parks, as well newly sug-
gested names of old ones, are put in quo
tation marks in the text.
The small-scale map of the city shows
10th street extended north in its present
adopted location, from the White House to
the District line this great avenue Is called
on the map United States avenue. An
other similar but proposed avenue, intend
ed to be like 1t in width. appearance and
to some extent in Importance, is added,
called washington avenue" intersecting
the former near Brightwood and stretching
straight across the District from east to
west At the intersection of the two Is
shown a small square, with rounded cor
ners, around which these two great avenues
curve This square, including about TWEEN
ty-four acres Of land on the center lines
Of United States and Washington" ave-
nues ii is proposed shall be acquired and
set aside as a public reservation, 10 De
known as Union Square.
This map shows very graphically the
original plan of Washington, as modified
and extended from time to time and now
established and built up, or rather as II
was ten years ago, as the map is by no
the Capitol, White House, Washington
monument and other public buildings, ave-
nues and parks, easily be identified.
II shows also the character Of country sur
rounding the city itself and will thus
serve to give an idea of the problem before
the park commission when 1t planned the
extension of the original L Enfant map so
as to cover the entire District in way con-
sistent with and comparable to that map
as well az adapted to later changes and
additions and to the future grandeur and
beauty of the capital
Broad Features of Modified Plan.
With this small-scale map in view or in
mind. considered in connection with the
other two. It will be possible easily to grasp
the broad salient features of the modiflca-