The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-10-26

committees or organizations in the
town. The call was given by the
civic committee of the Womans
Reading club, of which 1 myself was
chairman.
Commission Appointed.
"In response we got representa-
tives from the three women's clubs
having civic committees, the Com,
mercial club and the Fifty Thousand
club which was then in existence
The result of this meeting was a res
olution to the council protesting
against the sale of any of the park
lands, also a petition to the city
council asking for the appointment
of park commission and suggesting
Mr.. John Langdon, as president.
Later on the council took action ia
vorably on this suggestion. and ap-
pointed a park commission. The
president of the commission, Mr..
Langdpn, asked for two members
to be appointed from the Woman's
club, and Mrs. Hockett and myself
were appointed.
'The park board secured a park
begun on the 40 acre tract. OF
course lack of funds confronted the
board from the beginning. A small
amount was set aside each year in
the city tax apportionment for the
park fund, but it was quite made
quate. Then our chairman of the
park commission launched the park
button campaign, the button outlin-
ing the park plan in green. The but
tons sold at 81 each.
with no water in the park. and
no money, no development could be
done until water was available. Then
came the women to the rescue. The
president of the park com mission
said that the women of the city
standing together could accomplish
anything. The city fathers would
not dare turn them down. Out of
this statement grew the Woman's
Park club
Future Plans.
Following the report of Mrs.
Isaacs, Miss Grace Isaacs told of
some of the accomplishments of the
Woman's Park club and told of it's
plans and ideals for the future.
She said that the club advocates
a city plan in the development OF a
park Every town, however SMALL
should have some definite plan to
follow in order to perfectly conform
the park to its surroundings. AS an
illustration Miss Isaacs cited the
case of the town of Prescott which
has definite plans for the FORMATION
of its park. Miss Isaacs emphasized
the value of the public play ground
because it is a means of developing
children into desirable citizens. She
illustrated this point by citing the
Instance of Los Angeles, where in
six months after the providing of
play grounds there was not one ar
rest in the juvenile court.
City Admirable.
1t is the ideal of the club to make
plans that will be effective for 100
years. They are working for the city
admirable rather than for the city
beautiful They believe that more
parks and Fairgrounds mean less po-
licemen Miss Isaacs stated that it
is the plan of the club to eventually
have neighborhood parks in each
district of the city. They plan to
carry out many of the plans suggest
ed by the landscapeartist, Olmsted.
when he visited the city. The con-
stitution Of the Park club allows it
to do any work for the betterment
of civic conditions, the work is not
merely confined to landscape.
Some time ago Miss Isaacs con-
tributed an article on the Walla
Walla park to The American City,
magazine published in New York
and devoted to civic lines. The ar
ticle was read in France by noted
park promoter who wrote Miss
Isaacs asking for pictures of plans
! and scenes of the park to be added
to the collection of park plans of
Paris.