The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-10-20
BOULEVARD

mere mas UcSH COuSlucl dUlC Idlh
recently regarding park along the
west bank of the river between Main
street and Richmond avenue. Along
this line it might be well to consider
boulevard to extend south along the
river bank. Various cities over the
country are spending large sums Of
money in extending and improving
parkways and boulevards. Inasmuch
as Richmond is one of the most beau
tiful cities in the middle west, It
should keep up With this onward
march OF progress. The following is
an excerpt from the Washington Star:
Boulevard" is word that is COM
ing, perhaps has come. into popularity
and wide use in the United States.
Even where the word is not employed
the idea is being developed. In a
number of American cities, streets and
ways to which the word boulevard
might be attached are called speed
ways, parkways and the like.
1t is one of the manifest symptoms
OF the desire of people dwelling in
urban areas to improve their sur
roundings-one phase of the almost
universal call for municipal beauty.
Boulevard has come to mean a beau
tiful pleasure way in city. Original
ly it meant the rampant of fortress
or a tower. then it came to mean a
street or walk laid out on the site of
such ramparts after their destruction
and now according to popular die
tionary, 1t signifies "A broad city av-
enue, specially designed for pleasure,
walking or driving, generally planted
with trees. often in the center"
The Municipal Journal and Engineer
of recent issue notes number Of cit
les in the middle west which have
made progress in "boulevarding'
streets and in building roadways park
ing. Davenport, Iowa, has constructed
a boulevard, one has been built con-
Meeting Moline and Rock Island, and
Dubuque is at work on a boulevard
along the bluffs which parallel the
Mississippi river. The width of this
street is one hundred feet, divided
into a fifteen-foot grass plot in the
center, a twenty-five-foot drive on eth
err side, a seven-foot six-inch grass
plot outside of that and then a ten
foot sidewalk.
One of the big parkway projects is
that at Philadelphia. The board OF
surveys of Philadelphia has approved
the plan for parkway from the city
center at the city hall in Paramount
Park, a distance in excess Of one mile.
Roughly, 100000 has been appro-
priated for condemnation of property
during the first year. and the cost of
thing like $15,000,000. This project,
which now seems on the way to con-
summation, has been under discussion
since 1891, and has been kept before
the public mainly through the efforts
of the City Parks association, the
various art societies and the newspap-
ers of Philadelphia.
News comes from Indianapolis that
that city has nearly completed details
which will give it one of the most
beautiful boulevard and park systems
Of the world.
Denver is working to make itself
handsome. The charter Of that city
created four park Observation-Disclosures
South Denver. Montclair and East
Denver-and directed each district to
issue bonds for the purchase of prop.
erty for it's own park system. The
first three districts have completed
vast work, and now the fourth dis.
trict is debating a plan which calls for
the creation of a civic center. an eigh-
ty-acre addition to City Park. six play.
grounds. five small parks and six
miles of boulevard necessary to con-
meet the boulevards constructed by
the other mark districts,