The Washington herald., 1909-07-11

49, ASoAAos -ADat uAll 4t.-Au AAlC Cl A4ulAo
area OF over sixty-one square miles there
IS room for extensive travel From day
TO day and year to year many journeys
may be made which reach In idea from
one century TO another and beyond the
limits Of st. Louis into those OF scores of
cities and hundreds Of growing towns.
which viii soon be cities. that ought to
be famed for their beauty and famed at
the same time as typical cities OF the
Southern, Southwestern, and Western
States.
One Of many such Journeys. made by
the writer for similar purposes, from
broadway back to Broadway. St. Louis
carried him across the limits Of one cen
tury into another. with line Of differ
ence between the centuries so plainly
drawn that no one can mistake it or its
meaning in the promise OF great advance.
not only for St Louis. but for other
cities OF which ST Louis viii become
typical more and more as Il becomes more
and more fit 10 be followed in the ad-
vance It IS making into its own future.
Journey Takes Three Hours.
This journey OF three hours was made
NAeAA NAtN -AAlNAAAApll VI tfOSollE the AfeS OF
lS5s-69, first into those OF IS7s-ss and then
into those Of 1SO9-19. The route was first
that Of electric cars. bound north and
northwest from Central Broadway II
was then west. south. and east, back 10
Central Broadway. 1t took in perhaps
twenty square miles One Of its main
points Of view. with the idea OF two dif-
ferent centuries cOrnering on il. was
Grand avenue corner Of the "Old fair
grounds" Between 1859 and 1859 St. Louis
as city might have been seen from this
corneC as a fringe OF buildings, with
their smoke line following the Mississippi
in what would have seemed then the far
distance. with vast stretch OF then un-
occupied territory in what is now one OF
the most thickly built parts OF the city.
The era between 1883 and 1863 would have
been explained from this same standpoint
In 1852 or 1853 by the great military en-
campment then outside the city around
the site Of these same fair grounds.
where. after the close OF the civil war,
St Louis made the first advance to re-
establish its own union with all it's neigh
bors by inviting all the States OF the Mis-
slssippi Valley 20 the reopening Of the
great ST. Louis Fair"
Adds Fair Grounds to Parks.
When this history and all that the great
ST. Louis Fair meant IN connection with
itacloses. in entering a new period. the
history OF the typical city OF the South
west in the twentieth century opens on
this same corner with St. Louis now be-
ginning the work OF adding the old fair
grounds to its park system. under plans
which have only 70 be carried out to
make the whole great area OF the old
fair grounds. part OF one OF the most
beautiful systems of public and private
parks in America or Europe
As It is working out OF the life OF the
city. II becomes more and more a system
OF use and beauty. because its only hard
and fast control is that OF a great Idea
the idea OF making a city At for an in
creAsing number OF workers whose life in
1t will become more and more enjoyable
through the presence Of the things which
are naturally most At TO be enjoyed
AS the public park IS the place in which
the natural sense Of public fitness IS
freest 70 express itself IN beauty. the CITY
which had over 1000 acres in public parks
at the close OF the nineteenth century has
added nearly 500 acres since 1901, and Il Is
still Increasing this acreage by opening
new public home parks" not only in It's
new residence areas, but in the older and
more crowded areas, whose conditions
stand now for 2 past In which this idea
had not yet begun 70 control city life
City Has twenty-five Parks.
With twenty-five parks under city con-
troll or under its Joint control with that
0f commissioners, as in the case Of Tower
Grove and Shaws Garden (the Missouri
Botanic Garden), and with Fairgrounds
and amusement parks running the total
up 10 over fifty, the city OF the present
and future would still have no assurance
Of unlimited development beyond that or
the past If 1t were not for what is certain
10 become continuous development out
OF this higher idea Of city life. Il Is
development 10 which there is no limit OF
evolution. AS already visible in St Louis.
Il is now IN evidence that it's future ex-
tension will make the typical American
home city OF South and West IN the
electric age" far more beautiful and
more enjoyable thap the best cities Of
now
Tne best feature Of the typical modern
city is the private home park the resi-
dence park, for which st. Louis. after
beginning only few decades back, IS al
ready famous, even IN Europe. whose
critics. after seeing what St. Louis has
already done. have not hesitated to saw
that even now it is more beautiful in its
rev home district than any city Of Eu-
hope.
System Is Not Complex.
The central idea which makes these ST.
Louis home parks public system. with
a general order controlling and harmon
Ing alEof them, IS not complex. It can be
grasped at once. When once grasped il
insures orderly development, harmony for
the whole with all its parts and al the
same time entire freedom to follow the
promptings OF private good taste ana the
sense of fitness as they must consult
local needs and local demands.
Following the nineteenth century lines
OF ST. Louis as II fringed the river north
and south from Broadway. the public
park is found from point to point Qf only
at too long intervals) 20 show that the
past had a high sense Of beauty. What
Is shown also is that preparations were
made to indulge il on high days and hoIi-
days as an exception 70 what was looked
Dl as the irOn-clad laws Of everyday life
These show in the houses OF the past
crowded together as closely as possible
The whole effort of the nineteenth CEN
tury city was TO cOndense itself, to get all
It's sleeping places as close as could be TO
is working places. For its workers home
became place TO go 10 sleep in. TO wake
Up IN and TO go 10 work from
St Louis may have shown more excep- /
tiods 20 this old rule Of American city
building in the past than most cities. but
its nineteenth century line is so plain in
St Louis that no one can mistake il