Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1908-03-28
Cambridge
Fairgrounds
sSss'sss.s.FFs-
BY Mrs. John Graham Brooks
sec'y Fairgrounds Committee
see'y Fairgrounds Committee

cities. Many OIL the mayors and men
prominent IN city affairs are giving
hearty response Too many OF our
larger towns and cities are lacking In
Fairgrounds and among them Mar
tinsburg- A perusal Of the following
article, referring to Cambridge Mass.
will be Of special interest.
In 1900 the city OF Cambridge adop
ted into it's school system the vaca-
ton schools, which had carried on for
four years by the vacation school COM
mittee Cambridge now maintains
five Of these schools. The older pu-
pills are given choice of sloyd and
drawing or Of basketry. cooking or
sewing The younger pupils are given
instructions in drawing. water-colors.
reading. writing and in other subjects
of an interesting and profitable char
acter.
In 1902, the same committee took up
the playground work. beginning with
one playground in private grounds, for
which it had to pay taxes to the city.
The work grew each year and the pay
grounds are now all on city property
The city furnishes sandboxes in school
yards and public parks. and allows
the use Of one room in the scheel
building AS yet IT takes no further
responsibility for these Fairgrounds.
but ii is hoped that at no distant day
Cambridge win have municipal play
grounds under proper supervision for
boys and girls of all ages.
There are in Cambridge six large
open spaces owned by the city-Cam-
bridge Common, Cambridge Field.
Rindge Field Riverside Field Broad
way Park and Captains Island.
In these spaces where there is no
shrubbery, the children are allowed
to play. Cambridge Field covers an
area of eleven acres In it there is
shelter with baths. In summer.
baseball is played: in winter, there is
skating. There are also sand-boxes.
On Cambridge Common, portion has
been set apart for skating. football and
baseball Rindge Field has been ssed
almost exclusively for baseball
shelter with baths has been placed
there, also some apparatus. Captains
Island. in the Charles river, Is bath
ing beach with lighthouses. There
are now in connection with the bath
houses two life guards. Broadway
Park was never used as playground
until last summer, when the play
grounds committee asked to have a
sand-box there, and put a teacher in
charge. Last year the city appropria-i
ted thousand dollars TO make a
tract of land (Which had been used as
Dump fit for playground for boys.
There already existed in that neigh
borhool under the auspices of the
Shepard Memorial church, the River
side Alliance, which had number Of
boys clubs we'll organized They had
their house, with baths and a gymna-
stun, close to the field which they
called Riverside Field. The last sum
mer the boys had a good ball-fleld,
and although not under supervision
their club training enabled them to-
conduct their play in an orderly man
ner Next year it is proposed thai
the boys themselves make running
track. the city loaning wheelbarrows,
tools, etc.
Besides the matrons in the shelters
and the men at the bathing beach, the
city furnishes no supervision. The
only real playground work in these
parks is done by private initiative.
During the summer of 1907, the
play committee carried on
nine Fairgrounds in Cambridge for
eight weeks, seven in schoolyards and
two in public parks. One yard, the
Sargent schoolyard was used for
boys only. This is the second year of
Fairgrounds in schoolyards, and the
first which this committee has under
taken in Rindge Field, was put under
the same management as the school
yards of the sumner 1907 It IS puf>
posed next year, to add three more
Fairgrounds for older boys in three
of the parks by placing in them Young
men to organize the sports.
The Fairgrounds were opened last
summer on July Sth There was a
superintendent, and in every play
ground competent teacher. Also there
was travelling assistant. who went
from yard to yard and helped as
needed
The attendance was steady and
large. The age varied from babies in
carriages to boys and girls of twelve
and thirteen or even older, At first
boys of that age were not taken, as II