Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-11

~ N1h I1bNbbJ u6T6 Is n statement running u M eII6Ct I0dL
the parks of a city are but as blocks of marble awaiting the
chisel of the sculptor to give them form beauty and meaning.
Omaha today has the parks, a bakers dozen of them,
The taxpayers have working for them a group of sculptors
consisting of Superintendent W. R. Adams and the members of the
park board. The sculptors are and have been more or less ham
pered' however from one cause or another. Money has not always
been plentiful. and to carry through condemnation proceedings has
often been a herculean task. Hardly less disappointing than lack of
money and court fights has been the necessity for rejecting many
an appraisement that did not seem to the board just right. Here
is a specimen instance of winning b. the board after waiting a
while: In 1891 the city offered 81, 200 an acre for land north of
Riverview park that was wanted. The offer was refused, and in
1898 the land was secured for $3.50 an acre by condemnation pro-
ceedings.
river flowing by its front which has no river park a a sort of in
vHng dooryard, unless we count Riverview as such. Yet il was
early councils for in a map published by A D. Jones in 1854 Omaha
was shown to have a river front park. The tract so dedicated was
bounded by Davenport on the north, Jackson on the south and by
Eighth and Ninth streets on the east and west Great Wholesale
houses, shabby warehouses, junk yards, railroad yards and railroad
depots now occupy the old park site. Even their real value, to say
nothing of the esthetic feature, would be immensely enhanced today
Ninth street. The water front parks of Chicago and Milwaukee will
serve to illustrate the point.
Jefferson square a shown as a park on the Jones map, and
has been held as such against several attempts to divert it to bust
ness Uses. On the old map Washington park also appears. 1t after
ward became the site of the old court house, on which site the Pax
ton block now stands. Capitol square was also shown Is a park
and will serve to be cassed in the list of beauty spots today, for
on it stands the high school, with its winding walks, stretches of
greensward and many fine trees. These four park sites exhausted
the list made in the days of "a.
1t will be interesting to trace briefly the disposition made by
city councils OF the old-time park sites. In 81 the land between
Jones and Jackson was donated by the council to Thomas Davis, on
which he erected a steam mill. Later the council gave the land at
the northeast corner of Ninth and Farnam to aid in the erection of
the Herndon house, now the Union Pacific headquarters, Later
still what was left was cut up into blocks c, D, E, F, G, H and I
and was sold to private owners. being at once devoted to business
purposes. Hence there is not evel a driveway along the shore of
the river.
good specimen of street parking, even though it does not receive
the care it should have. Several such pieces of street parking are
made already, others are in the making, and some more are planned.
The central forty-four feet of WOODWORK avenue from Hanscom
park to Thirty-sixth street, has been in charge of the park board
since 's7 and is planted to trees and shrubs Avondale park is the