The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-01-14
neutrality-suspicious.
VALUE OF CIVIC PRIDE AND LOVE ne
BEAUTY TO BLUFF CITY.

How BeautiAcatiOn Of . Kansas Tow,
Has Paid In MOney-Neatness .na
Cleanliness Are Habits Therein.
Man Responsible For Good Work.
A little town of 200 people upon the
Kansas prairies has the largest park
area per capita of any city in the
world, says the Kansas City Star.
This is the town of Bluff City, in
Harper county. Where this town
stands today was an unbroken, tree
less prairie eighteen years ago. Now
it has beautiful park of ten acres.
where bard gives concerts Sunday
afternoons. 1t has we'll kept streets.
beautiful lawns and wonderful flower
gardens. There is not weed patch or
an unsightly spot in the town. There
is not a shanty or ragged clubhouse
or an implanted building or a rickety
leaning fence or dirty gutter.
There are poor people in Bluff City,
as everywhere, but neatness and
cleanliness are habits In this village,
and every home and lot looks we'll
This Identification Of the town has
paid in dci;ars and cents. It has
brought people to the place to live. 1t
has filled tie school there with high
class Of scholars from other places. 1t
shows in the characters Of the people
who live there. There is not a drunk
ard, q loafer, a shiftless person or a
bad boy In the place. Everything in
Bluff City must look we'll, and the peo-
pie live up to their surroundings. Even
the railroad company has built there
the prettiest depot upon its line, and it
Is painted more often and kept heater
than any other depot, this soulless
corporation recognizing the right of
Bluff City to better things.
One man is responsible for this beau
ty spot upon the bald Kansas prairie,
this model village. He began when the
town was new to teach his fellow
townsmen to love trees and flowers
and to have pride in their surround
ings. At first he was laughed at and
opposed, but he kept on, and 1t was not
long until every one saw that a tree
was q beautiful thing aside from its
utility, and that a flower garden was
blessing, and that there was a comfort
and a monetary value In beauty and
cleanliness alone.
The man who did all Of this was
James Glover. When the town of Bluff
City consisted only of some squares
and, parallel lines upon a sheet Of pa
per he went to the place as land agent
for the railroad company. This was in
1886. He liked the place and made up
his mind to stay there. He induced his
company to set aside ten acres for a
park.
when the lot selling was done l set
more from pure love Of the work
than with the expectation of realizing
anything like what has been accom-
piished," says Mr.. Glover.
AT first it was slow work and utter
ly without appreciation by the citizens,
length it began to assume outline and
growth, interest or, perhaps more cor
rectly, curiosity increased, and the peO-
pie began to talk about it, not as they
do now, but usually to ridicule. How
ever, the idea grew, and SO did the
thusiasm took root and grew too. Then
others took hold, and the park idea
was fixed fact and to work for it the
proper thing to do. From so small a
beginning it has grown to be the won
der of all who see it and has received
unstinted praise from visitors.
"Our people willingly pay the tax
necessary to keep it up, and all sum-
mer man is employed to NOW the
grass and keep the walks and streets
in good condition"
This town has moving machine
is paid to operate them. He keeps all
grass and weeds upon roads and va
cant lots moved smoothly, and the
streets and roads approaching the town
look always as If just made.
"The ground of our ten acre park is
pIctllIy ldlu Oul WIFI WluuluS WdlhS.
says Mr.. Glover. 1.-The trees are plant
ed in clumps, and all through the park
are little openings. so that every turn
there is a change Of view There are
some fifteen or twenty sorts Of de-
ciduous trees and four of evergreens,
with perhaps twenty-five sorts Of
shrubs and ia considerable quantity.
There are about $50 evergreens. many
of them very beautiful specimens.
The effect of such a beauty spot is
far reaching and. we believe, useful
through the summer the
band plays here on Sunday afternoons,
and the people come from considerable
distances to be present. Such sur
and such amusement cannot
hurt the young and are very likely to
stimulate their better tastes.
1.-The work and the result have been
far reaching and an education to the
town and the surrounding country.
Bluff City has more pretty lawns than
any town Of Its size in the state. Tree
planting took an impetus when the
park showed what could be done, and
~