The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1913-05-23
Paper No. 10, Ninth Grade, written
by Miss Mildred Austin.
PALATKA.
Things That Detract From It's Beauty.

Things That Detract From It's Beauty
Palatka, the county seat of Put
nam county, is city Of about tire
thousand inhabitants. 1t is well sit
uated on the st. Johns river, abou
fifty miles below Jacksonville, ant
has, in the last twenty-five years
grown from sort of a shiftless, be
indebtedness sort of place, to {
prosperous and very up-to- date city
There is nothing slow about Palatka
now.
But there are some things that will
have to be changed before the city
will be all that it should be.
There is no use in saying anything
about the High School building, for
that is to be changed soon, new one
built and the old one discarded. One
big step in progress.
But take the streets for instance.
A number have been paved and side
walks laid On the other hand, many
are without sidewalks and ankle deep
in sand. Some of those which do
boast of sidewalks, have those walks
so covered with sticks, leaves ana
moss from the trees, that they are
not much use-they don't seem to be
taken care of or cleaned at ALL
Most Of the streets, | am probably
safe in saying, all of them are lined
with trees. But those, in good
many places, especially the oaks, are
uncared for. They have branches 50
struggling and which hang SO low
that it is almost impossible to stand
erect when passing beneath them.
They are not only extremely insight
ly but also dangerous to the safety
of the eyes of those who pass be-
meath. At a little expense, these
trees could be cleaned, that is, trimm-
ed and cared for, at least twice a year !
with what great improvement in
Another thing that will need to be
improved before we can lay claim to
/ model city is, the land along the
river front and the wharves. Ny |
own first impressions of Palatka's riv-
II front We're very bad indeed. Ny !
neart sank when the boat on which
we came from Jacksonville reached
the wharf Coming from a suburb of
Newark, as | did, where we, with the
aid of a civic league, tried to keep our
town trim and neat as possible) old
in appearance at least, ! can't say
whether it really is. Certainly very
,umbled down and discrepit. The
wharf presented sorry spectacle to
ny eyeS-eager to see what my new
home was going to look like 1t
makes one wonder if the whole city is
n the same condition, and if the sin
labitants thereof are asleep" The =
learing off of rubbish and leveling
If Of the land adjoining would be a t
,reat improvement, even if the wharf I
we're untouched.
In the northern part of the town, I
city, | beg your pardon) there are g
roups Of old, forlorn looking shan @
les, which are disgrace. They are, g
hough, being slowly but surely e
ushed back by new ones. They are, n
Or the most part, occupied by ne q
roes, and the '2n:eS are tumbling o
own, and the v""1g veritable rubbish G.
caps, containing everything from a
'ws and kir ding wood to old wagons
nd bottles. 81
Lastly but not leastly, are the two "
on foundrles. One on Emmett d
rect, the other, on what I believe is tt
Llled Fourth street. These seem to N
the biggest eye-sores in the city.
he first named the worst. The OF
Hiding itself is not any worse than m
~ other of its kind, plain and ugly. tt
ne ground adjoining it, however. TT