The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-15
MOBILE PLANNING
 ID BEAUT|FY C|TY|
Noted Missouri Landscape
 Architect Expected
INLAND WATER. ROUTE
Idea of Mobile Is To Have System of Parks and Connecting Boulevards. Preparing for Another Water
 Route To Mississippi Sound


 Mobile, April 14-(Special) )-With a view to the inauguration of a city beautiful'' system of parks and connecting boule- wards in Mobile, City Commissioner Pat J. Lyons has arranged conference with George w. Kessler, the noted landscape architect of St. Louis and Kansas City.
 Mobile sentiment is strongly in favor of a greater number of parks and public playgrounds, and the last year has seen the establishment of three or four new ones. The city has purchased property right and left and is now in possession of large number of parks and park sites. It is proposed to have each of the new parks laid out in accordance with a uniform system of landscape gardening and to have them connected with boule- wards shaded with rare trees and other wise highly improved. The United States department of agriculture has provided the city with a variety of rare trees and shrubs, grown in all parts of the world, which experiment has demonstrated will thrive in the south Alabama climate. They have been planted in all of the city parks.
 City Commissioner Lyons. formerly mayor of Mobile, has developed the park hobby since he was given supervision over them when commission government was inaugurated. Since he became com missioner of parks, sites have been prr- chased for Ryan park, named in honor of Father Abram Ryan of Mobile, the poet priest of the Confectionery, and John T. Morgan park, which will be established on commanding bay front site just outside the present city limits. Fine monuments will be erected in both fthese parks.
 Public Fairgrounds
 Public playgrounds for children are be- ing established in all parts of the city, each being provided with an elaborate playground equipment consisting of swings, see-saws. merry-g -go-rounds and amusement devices of every variety. Mo bile is probably better provided with such facilities than any city of it's size In the United States
 The old parks are beng radically im- proved, in line with Commissioner Lyons park policy. Bienvile square, located in the heart of tho city, is being provided with an elaborate system of illumination. More than 50 white way" posts, such as those used for street illumination in the business districts of many cities, have replaced the old arc lights formerly in use, and the park will be brilliantly light ed al night. A handsome bandstand has been eeroted fos use when free concerts are given during the summer. sEs Commissioner Esy ons takes pride in the park system which is being evolved under his direction. Already. he claims. Mobile can lay claim to more parks and better parks than any Alabama city.
 Inland Water Route
 For the purpose of providing another inland water route from Mobile bay to Mississippi sound, preparations are being made for the dredging of Pass aux Herons, parallel with Grants pass, a pri- vately owned waterway which formerly was the only connecting lirk between the two bodies of wafer
 The national rivers and harbors bill, re- gently passed by the House of Represen- tatives, carries an appropriation of sjQ,000 for the work, which Is in line with the Maine-to-Texas intercostal canal project favored by the government. The United States dredge Charleston, recently "r dered to this district, will be put at work deepening Pass aux Herons.
 Grants pass has been maintained for years with toll charge for vessels pass ing through it and the provision of a free waterway connecting Mobile bay and Mississippi sound will be the source of much satisfaction in Mobile.
 Dauphin Island. the proposed New Atlantic City, which was purchased some time ago by northern capitalists, will be materially benefited by the d,oI I,,fp of xxfI become a port on the intercostal canal when 1t Is entirely completed, and vessels of light draught will find a safe inland waterway route from the .southernmost point of the Texas coast to the northern extremities of the coast of Maine. In days gone by. the inland waterway route from Mobile to New Orleans via Mobile bay and the Mississippi sound was extensively used, regular steamship service being operated between the two cities. of late years however, Grant pass has been little used.