Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-10

NEW YORK CITY, Aug. 1O:-
Imagine a suburb without a single
bungalow, a community of 5000
suburbanites housed entirely in
apartments. In other words, picture
a little city Of apartment houses,
with a row of shops, a church and
schoolhouse, and you have Jackson
Park, a suburb within New York
City, and one of the most unusual
garden cities in the country.
This community, which has been
in existence eight years, is to be
placed on the map officially August
IL when it will become a post office.
The citizens have arranged a pageant
of postal history in order to sur
Iround the important event with be-
fitting ceremony.
Creation of the new post office
is big news to Jackson Park, but a
stranger finds the place itself more
interesting than the prospect of an
other Greek temple mail dispensary's
being added to the nations collec-
! tion of architecture.
For jackson Park Is interesting.
1t is in class by itself in more ways
than ,one. 1t represents a cross be-
the practical phenomenon of mod
ern life, the apartment house.
People want to make living in
the city. but they want to go home
at night. That theory was RESPONSE
BILE for the garden city plan. A
suburban location was selected, and
homes were built in landscape set
tings. Every effort was made to
congested conditions of the city. Not
only were the homes to be attrac-
tive in themselves, but were to be
considered part of an artistic whole.
No jarring types of architecture or
crude decorations were to upset the
general effect. This we'll known
plan has been carried out, with var
iations, in a number of communities.
The corporation that planned
Jackson Park, however, wanted to
try something different. They be-
lieved that the apartment house is
a satisfactory dwelling place for the
average New Yorker. They also be-
lieved that many people who want
to live in rural surroundings prefer
not to be typical suburbanites, put
tering about the house of evenings,
studying the temperament of the
furnace, and shooing the neighbors'
chickens off the lawn. A group of
up-to-date apartment houses in a
quiet suburb of the city would be
practical possibility, they decided,
So the apartment city was planned
and began to grow.
Own Your Own Apartment
Here is how this community meets
the housing problem. Every resi-
dent owns his own apartment, buy
ing it as he would buy a house. This
makes him a stockholder in the cor
grafton which owns the homes. Also,
the place, in a way belongs to him.
He pays a couple of dollars year and
the country club facilities are at
his disposal. He can have a patch
of land in a corner of town on which
to raise his own vegetables and
| flowers. He has right to use one
of the garages, which by the way,
resemble large colonial cottages.
There are tennis courts, a golf course
and a playground for the children.
A miniature country club is now
| being planned for the use of the
younger residents. This is really
only an elaboration of the existing
playground, but it has some new
features. A refreshment pavilion Is
to be a part of the new club. A
cement race track for kiddie cars
and velocipedes is to be laid around
the playground, and a garage for
these vehicles is to be built. Jackson
Park believes in children. The boys
and girls have their rights in using
the golf course and other sporting
equipment no less than the adult
population.
The whole community has been
compared to a little democracy, the
nearest practical approach to a
Greek state in America. There Is
even an attempt to get back-or go
forward-to a simple religious out
look. There is only one Protestant
church. This church, a quaint
Gothic structure, is remarkable for
the fact that 81 denominations wor-
ship in it together. The minister,
who Is described by one of his pa
Lrishioners as having infinite tact and
modern theological training, breaches
the teachings of Christ and practical
lChristianity. His congregation is
ksaid to be the only one Of its kind
in existence.