‘Bi-Emma. mama‘?


REPORT ON Y
Proposed Park System ‘
FOR THE
’ CITY OF DAYTON,
' OHIO '
Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects
BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS
12m APRIL, 1911


REPORT ON
PrOpOsed Park Systctrn
FOR THE
CITY OF DAYTON‘,
OHIO “
Qlmsted Brothers, .Landscape Architects
I“ BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS
12111 APRIL, 1911


12th April, 1911.
Mr. ]. Sprigg McMahon, Secretary,
Board of Park Commissioners, Dayton, Ohio.
Dear Sir:
We take pleasure in submitting through your Board to the
people of Dayton our report upon a scheme for a compre—
hensive system of parks and parkways for the City of Dayton.
We ﬁnd the city one of the most rapidly growing and one
of the most prosperous of many in one of the most populous
and prosperous states of the Union. In population Ohio is
the fourth state and Dayton is the forty-third city in the
Union. It has increased 36.6 per cent in ten years. There
appear to be no unusual natural resources, the exploitation of
which has caused this prosperity of Dayton. We must at-
tribute it, therefore, to the intelligence and industry of its peo-
ple. It is consequently not surprising, though very gratify-
ing, to note the many evidences of a general desire for and
appreciation of the usual physical utilities of a modern civi-
lized municipality—the wide streets, the miles of excellent
paving, the sewerage system and water supply, the street
lighting, the numerous churches, the imposing handsome of-
ﬁce buildings and the public library and other public buildings.
Since the people of the city have thus, and in other ways,
clearly manifested their desire to have the city well equipped
for business and convenient and attractive for residence, and
since they have spent much in desirable improvements, it will
be aidful for them to consider some desiderata that are lacking
and some things which could well be improved and extended.
Among such desiderata it is our special function to advise
upon the subject of parks and parkways.
That cities should have parks is convincingly demon-
strated by the fact that many cities have gone to great expense
to provide themselves with parks. To give some idea of what
cities comparable in population with what Dayton has now
or may reasonably hope to have within a few decades, the
following table is presented:
Comparative Statistics of American Cities

Name of City Population Area of City Area of Parks Population Pct. of
in 1910 Acres Acres per acre of park
parks area to
’ city area
Kansas City. Mo ______ "f. __________________ 348.381 16,745 .2055 120 123
Seattle, \Yash. ___________________________ __237,194 38.249 640.3 371 1.7
Indianapolis, Ind. ________________________ __233,650 20,0671 1317.0 178 6.6
Providence, R. l. _________________________ _224,326 11.6992 644.4 348 5.5
Louisville, Ky. __________________________ __223,928 15,647 1320.1 169 8.4
Rochester, N. Y, __________________________ _218,149 12,252 1456.1 1150 11.9
St. Paul. Minn. __________________________ "214,744 33,483 1401.5 153 4.2
Denver, Colo. ___________________________ “213,381 37,348 1036.9 205 3.8
Portland, Ore. __________________________ "207,214 28,136 276.6 749 0.98
Columbus, Ohio _________________________ "181,548 10,)76 195.8 927 1.9
Toledo, Ohio _____________________________ “168,497 16,450 924 182 1.5 _
Atlanta, Ga. ______________________________ "154,839 7,888 339 456 43
Oakland. Cal. ______________________________ "150,174 8,914 325.2 461 3.6
\Vorcester, Mass, _ - “a----_~__________-_145,986 23.683 1072.1 136 4.5
Syracuse, N. Y. ___________________________ __137,605
New Haven, Ct.‘ _______ ___ ________________ “133,249
Birmingham, Ala. ______________ __‘_' ________ __132,685
Memphis, Tenn. _-.__'_ ____________ __~ ______ __131,105
‘ Scranton, Pa. _____.______ __________________ "129.867
Richmond, Va. ___________________________ __127.628
Paterson, N. J. _________ _'_ _______________ __125,600
Omaha, Neb. ____________________________ _-124,096
Dayton, Ohio ______________ -_‘ _____________ __116.577
Fall River, Mass. ________________________ .._110.295
Cambridge, Mass ____________ __‘ ___________ "104.839
Bridgeport, Ct. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ . . _ _ _ . _ _ 1 _ _ __102.054
Albany, N. Y. _.-- -- -__ _ --_____-_ _____100,253
Hartford, Ct. ___- _------_ _.._..___._____1_ 98,915
Trenton, N, J. _:_ _ a r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ r- ___ _ 96,815
Lynn, Mass. __.___- ___ __1-_.-___-.___-______ 89,330
Springﬁeld, Mass. ____________________ __'__-_ 88,926
Tacoma, Wash. _________________________ __ 82,972
10,843
1 1,460
4.274
10,240
12,362
6,373 '
5.357
15.380
7,213
21,723
40164
8.576
7,197
13,200
4,903
7,252.3
24,662
21,920
291.7
,_ 1023.3
229.6
973.2
97.2
' 377.0 -
91.0
613.2
19.6
99.0
358
250.4
314.6
673.2
150.0
1060.8
512.2
1020.0
471 '
130
579
134
1336
338
1381
202
5948
1114
293
408
319
147
645
84
174
81
2.7
8.9
5.3
9.5
' 0.8
5.9
1.7
4.0
0.27
0.47
8.9
2.9
4.3
5.08
3.0
15.3
2.1
4.6
A brief study of the above table shows how very ill pro-
vided with park area some cities are, but affords no very o'b-
vious criterion as to how much park area, and particularly
what locations and kinds of parks, a city should have. It may
perhaps be a fair deduction from this table that a city having
one acre of park for every 50 of population is extraordinarily
well off as to park area; that a city having 100 per acre is very
well off for parks; that a city having 150 per acre is fairly well
off; and one having 200 per acre is decidedly behind the stan-
dard; while such cities as Dayton would be the objects of pity,
shame or ridicule, according to the attitude of the beholder.
The above table affords no very reliable indication as to
‘the percentage which the park area of the city should bear to
its total area, ‘because some cities include‘ a much larger area
of comparatively vacant land than others. Experts appear to
have concluded that the park area of a city should amount to
about one—tenth of the fairly well built-up area of a city. For
instance, Kansas City (Mo) and Rochester (New York) each
have park areas equal to twelve percent of the total area of
the city.
It appears from the above, that Dayton ought to have
had, at the last census, to equal Kansas City in the matter of
parks in proportion to population, 971 acres of park area, and
in proportion to area 866 acres of park area.
Dayton has already made some progress in the provision
of parks of small size and has laid out some distinctively
pleasure drives serving also as ordinary streets. It has ﬁve
small pu'blic pleasure grounds having a total area of about 19
acres. As these little parks are located in densely built up
portions of the city, it is fair to recognize that they are ex-
ceedingly valuable and useful. Nevertheless, comparison with
some other American cities included in the above table, which
are recognized to have done well in the matter of park area
in proportion to population, shows clearly that Dayton is
very inadequately provided with park area.
In determining upon the area for the larger parks and
parkways at the present time, it should be remembered, how-
ever, that it is neither wise nor practicable for a city to pro—
vide a proportionate additional area of large parks and park-
ways each time only that additional territory is annexed to the
6
city nor to add to the area of parks year by year no more than
in exact proportion as the population increases. It is far more
economical and sensible, at a time when the city is considering
the matter of parks broadly and is preparing to borrow a large
sum of money for the acquisition of land for a sudden large
expansion of its park area, to acquire much more than would
beat the time in strict proportion to either the area, popula—
tion or wealth of the city. It is also more expedient as a mat-
ter of municipal administration.
This course is actually pursued in the case of municipal
water supply works, main sewers, sewage disposal works. and
more or less in other municipal works. It is not necessary to
do this in the case of school houses, ﬁre engine houses, exten-
sion of water distribution pipes‘ or lateral sewers, because
these are-easily accomplished in small units. ‘Similarly in the
case of small parks and playgrounds it is feasible in some
cases, and sometimes ﬁnancially advisable, to delay the ac-
quisition of some of them until the need of them has become
urgent. Such, for instance, might be the case in a suburban
neighborhood where houses are comparatively widely spaced
so that the number of'children is not very great and where
they have room to play in their own yards and in vacant lots
and where, at the same time, land for a playﬁeld park would
be unduly costly. It is always urgent to provide public play—
ﬁeld parks where the population is dense and remote from
such a park. It may not appear necessary to secure playﬁeld
parks in the outskirts of the city amid farm ﬁelds, yet it may
be wise to do so if the price be moderate and the land more or
less covered with trees, or if open and so shaped as to be easily
ﬁtted for ball games. Boys will go unexpectedly long dis-
tances to use such a playﬁeld park, and it is most beneﬁcial to
\ them as a rule to do so, and many people will be pleased to re-
sort to municipal woods on holidays in pleasant weather, even
if somewhat remote.
It will be aidful to a clearer understanding of the park
problem to classify them under different designations accord-
ing to their predominant purpose. '
First,_Public Squares, located in densely built up portions
of a city. These are usually improved with a view to making
them handsome and, as their architectural surroundings make
7
appropriate, they are usually highly artiﬁcial and formal in
design. ‘
Second, Public Playgrounds, (or playﬁeld parks). -These
as their designation implies, are primarily for outdoor play
and only incidentally for ‘ornament or to afford pleasure to
visitors through beautiful landscape. In some densely popu—
la'ted parts of large cities, some such play-groundsare devoid of
trees, grass or foliage of any sort, but, as a rule, it is proper
that some portions of them should afford visitors the refresh-
ment due to trees and grass, if not of shrubbery, vines and
- ﬂowers.
Third, Small Landscape Parks. The parks of this class
have most of their area, or at least their predominating effect.
devoted to some sort of natural or artiﬁcially created natural—
istic landscape features. In such a park there may be pre—
served a bold ledge or cliff, or a ravine or a graceful valley,
or a knoll, or a pond, lake, brook or river bank, or simply a
grove of wild trees, or on the other hand, some of these or
other natural landscape features may be simulated by. the land-
scape gardener. in some such small parks it may be impos-
sible or inadvisable to attempt to exclude from view neigh-
boring houses and other distinctively artiﬁcial surroundings,
and the number of visitors relatively to the area of the park
may be so great that numerous and broad walks, shelters.
playgrounds and other artiﬁcial constructions may be neces-
sary, hence the design may be more or less formal, yet the. aim
should be to secure as much breadth of lawn and massive ar-
rangement of trees and shrubbery as possible, because it has
been found that breadth and simplicity afford more lasting
satisfaction and refreshment to the people than a prevailing
effect of confusion and over-elaboration, just as plain food
must always 'be the rule in diet with rich and elaborately pre—
pared food used only occasionally and sparingly by way of
stimulus and variety and contrast.
Fourth, Large Landscape Parks. ' Parks of this class are
devoted vmuch more completely to natural landscape, because
that is almost always by far the best use large areas of park
land can be put to. Broad meadows. extensive woods and
open. groves witha lake of such extent that people can row up-
on it with a sense of satisfaction, are the most popular and
8
practical features for a large park, because they afford the
greatest amount of refreshment to the majority of visitors and
because they are not unduly costly to maintain, since great
crowds can use and enjoy them on Sundays and other holi-
days without destroying them.
It needs but little study to convince any intelligent and
open-minded visitor that the more completely secluded the
meadow and other landscape scenes in such a park are, the
more natural-looking they will be and the more completely
they will contrast with the Ordinary scenes of a city or subur-
ban neighborhood and hence the more refreshing they will be,
especially to those visitors who are more or less nerve-tired
from the constant and unavoidably artiﬁcial sigpts and sounds
of city life. The farmer and his family coming to town for
pleasure would like the best park with the most artiﬁcial,
elaborate and costly ornamentation, similar for instance, to the
court of honor of a great exposition. But to the tired clerks,
mechanics, factory operatives and all sorts of workers in the
city and their families it is more delightful to stroll across a
broad meadow, or in the woods, or 'tO row on the lake and
enjoy the expansiveness and freedom and quietness of the per-
fected country-like landscape of a large park in which these
simple features are amply developed. 3
As most large parks are well within the city, or at any
rate, in time come to be surrounded by more or less built up
suburbs, it is essential to the only justiﬁcation of their great
size, namely, that of providing a sufﬁcient area for broad,
naturalistic landscape. that surrounding houses and other arti-
ﬁcial features should be excluded from the views in the park.
Almost all large parks must include many more or less arti-
ﬁcial features intended for the comfort and pleasure of all sorts
of visitors, but it would be ruinous to the primary and only
proﬁtable purposes of a large landscape park to locate these
artiﬁcial features conspicuously in the broad landscapes of the
park to make them individually obtrusive and self-assertive.
In other words, all parts and all artiﬁcial features of a large
landscape park should be subordinate to and as nearly pos-
sible in harmony with the naturalistic style of landscape.
‘ If it is desirable to include some natural feature in a small
landscape park it is far more important to do so in selecting
9
a large landscape park, and among such features those which
are most characteristic of the city are the most important to
secure. A fair average size for a large landscape park would
be about 500 to 600 acres. If the area be very much smaller
the interior landscapes, while they may be agreeable, are
usually not so impressive as they should be, and one is neces-
sarily too cognizant of the incongruous surroundings.
Fifth, Parkways and Boulevards. These are simply pleas-
ure drives that are not in parks. They vary from roads that
are not visibly different from ordinary streetsuto roads ac-
companied by strips of landscape so wide and so important as
to be almost small parks. Some include pleasure drives which
are very artiﬁcial and formal or even symmetrical, others in-
clude drives which are informally curvilinear and accompanied
by informal landscape on one or even on both sides. It would
be very convenient, if it were possible, to get the public to
distinguish between formal and informal pleasure roads by
calling the former only boulevards and the latter only park-
ways.
While the primary purpose of both is properly to afford
access to or passage between parks, their special attractiveness
as frontage for residence lots has caused them to be laid out
largely or sometimes almost exclusively for the latter purpose.
At any rate, this secondary purpose is of such importance that
it must be carefully considered in the laying out of parkways
and boulevards. But in any case the aspect of the lands on
each side of a parkway or boulevard is of vital consequence to
the enjoyment of those using it, so much so that it sometimes
becomes desirable to go to the expense of providing on one
or both sides a special roadway for lot frontage in order to en—
courage the building of houses with their fronts toward the
pleasure drive. It is manifest that parks which contain drives
should have pleasure drive approaches and should, as far as
possible, be connected by pleasure drives. Yet such parkways
and boulevards, if wide. enough to be worthy of the name,
are relatively expensive and usually cannot be afforded unless
the owners of land through or near which they are to pass,
contribute very largely toward their cost, either voluntarily or
through assessment for part of the estimated betterment to
their land. '
10
Sixth, Reservations. Many cities, ﬁnding that their large
parks become more and more crowded with the growth of the
city in population and that they become more and more arti-
ﬁcialized, partly to provide suitable accommodations for the
Sunday and holiday crowds and partly through the introduc-
tion of monuments, statues, sculptured fountains and other
architectural works and formal gardening works, have secured
still larger public pleasure grounds, which are often called
reservations to distinguish them from more highly improved
parks. While large landscape parks are usually several hun-
dred acres in area, municipal reservations are apt to be sev-
eral thousand acres in area.
Because the conditions permit of it and because ﬁnancial
considerations usually require it, as well as for the sounder
reason that it affords more satisfaction to visitors, these mu-
nicipal reservations are mainly left in a simple natural condi-
tion. Trees may need to’ be cut to open views or planted to
improve the appearance of the landscape; places in the woods
may have to ‘be cleared of under-brush and grassed over for the
accommodation of visitors, but in general reservations should
be as nearly natural in appearance as it is possible to make
them. To accomplish this requires a rare ability.
To the inhabitants of a city surrounded by unlimited rich
farming country, a forest is more attractive. to visit than an
equal area of grass land, but there is apt to be no attractive
natural forest available.‘ At most there may be isolated small
patches of woods. To develop forest scenery that will look
natural under such circumstances is exceedingly difﬁcult and
takes a long time. In such a forest it is important to secure
variety. Some localities ought to appear very different from
others. Usually high or bold points must have distant views.
Gentle valleys may well ‘be meadows to contrast with Wooded
hillsides and to afford secluded interior views. And soon,
with scores of landscape details.
\lVhile great municipal reservations would undoubtedly
be amply worth what they would cost by affording to city
dwellers the most complete contrast with their ordinary life,
and thereby the greatest refreshment, it is undoubtedly the
fact that the majority of citizens know little about them, have
little realization of their attractiveness and are not therefore
11
conscious that they want them. Hence municipal reservations
are usually provided as the result of inﬂuence in city affairs
of the few citizens who do appreciate their need, and generally
not until after public appreciation of the value of large public
parks has been educated by the creation of one or more such
parks well designed and well improved.
Having thus explained some general aspects of the prob-
lem of a system of parks for Dayton, we may now describe
a fairly deﬁnite scheme toward the accomplishment of which
the Citycan henceforth turn its endeavors.
It may be premised that some of the sites suggested are
so preeminently adapted to their intended purposes that they
should be acquired at once, even if the prices of land should
be in excess of the ordinary market value or even, if necessary.
by condemnation proceedings. Other sites have no very
marked advantages other than convenience of location and
complete or comparative freedom from buildings and other
improvements.
As it is pretty certain that the acquisition of some sites
will have to be postponed owing to insufficiency of funds for
the purpose, it is clear that at least some economy may be
effected through taking advantage of competitive offers. It
may even be possible to secure offers of money or land from
people interested‘ in beneﬁting particular localities. It should
also be clearly understood that in the acquisition ofparks no
one class and no one section of the city should be favored to
the exclusion of others, yet it would be practically impossible '
with the funds that are likely to be available in the near future
to secure an exact equality of beneﬁts to each section of the
city. 1 4 D '
Public Squares. Civic Center. In considering the beau- '
tiﬁcation of a city by means of pirblic squares the most im-
portant point is to have a centrally located public‘ square in or
about which some of the most imposing public buildings shall
be located. Such a group of buildings about an open square
has come to be called “civic center.” It does not need to be
also the business center. In fact it is usually better for the
most important business district not to be interrupted or di-
luted, so to speak, by a large open square.
It is much to be regretted that Dayton is not provided
with a public square particularly adapted to the setting off of '
12
its'principal public buildings. Cooper Park might be taken
advantage of for this purpose were it not for the fact that it
already has the public library on it and is not large enough to
contain additional public buildings.
The problem of a civic center is so complicated with ques-
tions which need not affect the main problem of the park sys—
tem that it should receive seperate treatment.
We do not propose to recommend speciﬁc sites for a lot
of ornamental public squares, partly because the various play-
grounds, small parks, large parks and parkways will afford a
great deal of the beneﬁts sought to be derived from public
squares, partly because it is not so urgent that the City should
provide public squares at this time as that it should concen-
trate its possible expenditure upon the large parks and smaller
parks and parkways, leaving public squares to be attended to
later, and partly because it would“ be poor policy to lead peo-
ple to suppose that any locality which should want one could
get it out of the proposed park loan without any direct expense
to themselves. The fact is that most ornamental squares are
so obviously for the direct beneﬁt of the locality in which they
occur and of such very special and large beneﬁt to the lots
fronting on them that they ought to be supplied and improved
by the owners of each land subdivision just as Gramercy
Square and other squares similar to it were provided in New
York and other cities of this country and of Europe. It costs
less, and is relatively more beneﬁcial in most cases, to lay out
an ornamental square before the lots are sold, or at any rate
before houses are built upon them. But if a group of people
in a given locality think they would like an ornamental square,
let them appoint a committee to study the ﬁnances of the prop-
osition. There are examples in the City worth study. Robert
Boulevard, Great Miami Boulevard, Burns Avenue and Park
Street, each with its central ornamental planting strip, are
really only elongated ornamental squares. If lots are worth
more fronting on them than on corresponding streets of the or-
dinary type, it may fairly be attributed to the advantages of an
ornamental square. If the increased value is estimated to be
enough to pay for a block of land and the houses on them, in a
given case, it will be a good argument for proceeding by con-
demnation and under the assessment for beneﬁts method, or
13
the square can be acquired bypurchase and private subscrip-
tions. After being presented free of cost with such a square,
it is highly improbable that the Park Commission would fail
to improve it.
Public Playgrounds. Until within a comparatively few
years, deﬁnite playgrounds were provided by cities only inci-
dentally as subsidiary features of larger parks: Attempts to
provide them in smaller parks met with strenuous opposition
by the heads of families residing in houses-fronting on the
park. They objected to the noise and rowdiness of the boys
and girls, and to the less pleasing appearance of the play—
grounds than that of the usual park ornamental treatment.
Latterly, however, it has come to be recognized that, as cities
grow in size, it is essential to the proper moral and physical
development of its children that they should have playgrounds,
where, under adequate technical supervision, the children can
develop properly. The idea has been carried out in a rather
haphazard and ineffective way, partly because of insufﬁcient
knowledge and experience, but mainly for lack of sufﬁcient
funds. It must be acknowledged that an adequate number of
playgrounds, of ample size, properly improved and properly
administered, involves a tremendous expense for land and
improvements and more especially for salaries and other costs
of maintenance. Nevertheless, thoughtful people are becom-
ing convinced that a very large expense in this connection is
absolutely essential to the well being of the community; and.
moreover, that it pays amply well in the long run, on the prin-
ciple that prevention is better than cure. This is not the place
for a full elucidation of the advantages of the modern play-
ground. It must be taken for granted that the City must pro-
vide them as fast as its ﬁnances will permitit to do so.
We are convinced that while it may be convenient and
economical for the City to make a good beginning in the acqui-
sition of playgrounds through the Park Commission and even
to utilize its organization for their more or less complete im-
provement, yet the guidance and control of children in the use
of them is essentially much more closely related to the work
and organization of the public school system than it is to
those of the park system, and therefore, that the School Board
should be provided with money for playgrounds. As it will
take time and much effort to get the matter arranged satisfac-
14
torily in that way, and as the whole thing has been more or
less an outgrowth of the playﬁelds often provided in parks, it
will be best to outline a fairly complete system of playground
sites in connection with the proposed park system. As to
number of playgrounds, it is obvious that the same reasons
that-determine the number of schools would apply almost
equally well to the number of playgrounds. As to location, it
is clear-that it would be convenient to have them close to the
schools, or as near them as practicable. It would be an econ-
omy to utilize the school gymnasia and playrooms and toilet
rooms, as well as a room for storage and one for the in-
structor’s ofﬁce for a closely connected playground, and also,
as has been done in Rochester, and probably in other cities,
to use the schools more or less as social centers, of course
without interfering with the proper school work. In most
cases, however, there is no vacant land of adequate size ad-
joining the school. Some of the suggested playgrounds have
‘been located tentatively close to or near schools, others have
been located further away because a much larger area of va-
cant or nearly vacant land could thus be secured. From the
Park Commission point of view it is less important to have a
very small playground near a school than it is to have a much
larger one elsewhere, especially if it could be combined with a
park or subway. wherever it has been possible to select a
large enough piece of level or nearly level ground for baseball,
that has been suggested.
From the Park Commission point of view the aim should
be to have a playground bordered on all sides by streets and
to have at least a fringe of trees and shrubs so as to make it
somewhat agreeable in appearance.
The cast section of the city may be considered to extend
from Mad River to Wayne Avenue, Woodland Cemetery and
St. M-ary’s Institute. This section of the City is so solidly
built up that there are few opportunities left to obtain land
free of buildings for 'ball ﬁeld playgrounds within the two-and-
a-half-mile circle. . Most of the playgrounds in- this section
must necessarily be small and mainly for little children. The
larger of these proposed playgrounds are as follows:
Irwin Street Playground. This would include a tract of
about 28 acres of low. level land below the hydraulic canal and
15
belonging to the same company. This tract presents the best
opportunity for securing a good sized ball ﬁeld within the 2%
mile circle at a low cost that exists in the eastern portion of the
city.‘ It is 2%'miles from the court house, but in a thickly
settled neighborhood. It is less than a quarter of a mile from
the present end of the Third Street car line.
Schiller Playﬁeld. This would be on a tract of 9.5 acres
in one ownership. This tract'is the most available vacant piece
of land of adequate size for a long distance in all directions and
should be secured if the price is not‘ too high. It is on a hill
and considerable grading will be required to ﬁt it for ballﬁelds.
tennis courts and other play. Still. at any reasonable price, it
would cost less, including the grading, than other equally large
sites in the vicinities which are more or less covered with
houses andother improvements. It is unfortunate that rows
of lots and houses back on it on three sides. Possibly the City
can afford to buy out to the street on one or more of these
sides at some time in the future, but. meanwhile, it will serve
a valuable purpose as a playﬁeld even if not handsomely
l)(j)1111(l€(l. It is just outside the 1% mile circle, adjoins a public
school and is near a densely populated section of the City,
which is very much in need of such a playground park.
Haymarket Playground. The arguments in favor of
playgrounds in general apply to the section of the City between
the State Canal and the Lincoln. the Rankin and the Emerson
schools more strongly, probably, than to any other, owing to
the very crowded condition of the population in it and to its
remoteness from country ~woods, country roads, river banks.
other large playgrounds, or even vacant lots, or pastures, the
owners of which temporarily permit children to play upon
them. It is true that the Bomberger Playground, in front of
Lincoln School, does much for children of the locality, but its
grounds are utterly inadequate in extent and are mostly occu-
pied by the ﬁne gymnasium, and the swimming tank, walks
and pergolas. We recommend that a large playground be laid
out where the Haymarket is and on the adjoining blocks, and
that the character of occupancy of the neighborhood be
changed to respectable tenement houses. The private land is
pretty much covered by houses, but on the whole it does not
appear possible to locate a large playground elsewhere in this
16
section of the city where the cost would not be greater. The
boundaries proposed are Plum, .\l-cl..ain, Eagle and Richard
Streets and \Nayne Avenue. Its area would be about 7.3
acres, a large percentage of which could be closed. ‘ The
Wayne Avenue end could be treated ornamentally with walks
lined with seats and with trees and shrubs and enclosed lawn
for babies and very little children. There could he a shelter
house with toilet-rooms and a bandstand. The rest of the
ground would ‘have to be a smooth, hard gravel area for mis-
cellaneous play, and sunken sufﬁciently to permit ﬂooding for
skating. The bordering sidewalks could be separated from the
roadways by a parking strip with trees and shrubs protected
by fencing and rows of seats. A wading pool and amusement
apparatus can be worked in near the shelterhouse. The cost
of this playground would probably be so great that it will
hardly be wise to acquire it out of the ﬁrst bond issue. It is
unlikely that the value of the land will increase rapidly be-
yond the‘ usual speculative increase which the City must ex-
pect in most cases of land taking. It is quite possible that the
value of the adjoining private lands will increase very consid-
erably with the laying out and improvement of this play-
ground, as it will come into demand for tenement houses for
respectable families who will pay a good rent for even the
fourth ﬂoor rather than go further out from the center of the
city. The increased taxes thus received should go far toward
meeting the interest on the cost of the playground.
Franklin Playground. A tract of available land large
enough for ‘baseball is to be found at Fifth and Torrence
Streets. It would be well to secure this tract for a play—
ground park before it is built upon. It has the advantage of
being opposite the Franklin School and will serve a consider-
able area of the city that is already almost fully occupied with
houses. Lincoln Avenue would form a valuable short cut for
any one approaching this playground from May Street 0"’
Third Stfeet west of Linden Avenue. There are several im-
portant factories in this neighborhood, implying an unusual
number of children.
Other small playgrounds proposed for this eastern part of
the city, in addition to such as could be located in the sug—
gested parks, are as follows: One between \‘Valnut Avenue
17
and Bainbridge Street is badly needed, (area 1.4 acres); one
on south side of Second Street between Madison and Sears
Streets is badly needed, (area 0.90 acres) ; one on south side of
Second Street from Be'ckel to Terry Streets and half way to
Third Street, (area about 1.40 acres); one on south side of
May Street and extending to Center Street ‘and from Colum-
bus Street to the grounds of Huffman School, (area 2.50
acres); one south of Ruskin School and extending from Hen-
ry to McClure Streets, (area 0.50 acres); one extending from
Car-lisle to Fairview Avenues and northward from Tacoma
Street, (area about 2.7a); one between Phillips and Floral
Avenues and from Argyle to Delaware Avenues, (area about
3.0 acres); has high ground at south end commanding good
view over city; one between Charles Street and Anderson
Street, north of Jessie Street, (area 3.7 acres). This last is not
selected for its beauty, but because this is the nearest available
land, free of buildings, to a densely populated area along
Wayne Avenue. ‘
In the south section of the city, from Great Miami River
to \Vayne Avenue, \Voodland Cemetery and St. Mary's Insti-
tute, only playgrounds are proposed, in addition to those
which may be amply provided in Down River Park and in
connection with Spurwood Park, namely; one, triangular in
shape, at Brown and Morton Streets, (area 0.60 acres); and
one at Jasper and Brown Streets, (area 0.40 acre).
The north part of this south section of the city is densely
populated, but as it lies between the proposed Haymarket and
a large playground which can be made by ﬁlling at the north
end of Down River Park, it is assumed that the population
will be sufﬁciently well provided with playgrounds until such
time as the city can afford to create additional ones by buying
land covered with buildings and which will not meanwhile rise
very rapidly in value.
In the southwest section of the city, that lying west of
Great Miami River and south of Wolf Creek, a large number of
playgrounds and playground parks are suggested because the
opportunities are numerous and at the same time not likely to
remain available long.
The new Washington Street bridge connects this south-
west section of the city. with the proposed Down River Park
18
and especially with the ﬁne great playﬁeld suggested at its
north end, which will be only a half mile walk for the boys
from the corner of \Vashington Street and Cincinnati Avenue
and only 4% blocks from the Washington Street electric cars
at Longworth or Perry Streets. Down River Park, with its
great meadow, will also be closely tied to this southwest sec—
tion of the city by the Stewart Street bridge, now under con-
struction. The proposed great playﬁeld park, at the junction
of Wolf Creek with Great Miami River, is so very close to this
southwest section of the city, and so intimately connected
with it (by bridges that it is going to be far more used by a
larger number of the inhabitants of this southwest section of
the ‘city than of the northwest section in which it happens to
be geographically located. As soon as a footbridge is thrown
across Wolf Creek at Antioch Street, the proposed playﬁeld
park on the north side of Wolf Creek at that point will be very
accessible from this southwest section of the city. The three
woodland parks suggested for this southwest section of the
city, VVestwood Park, Brookwood Park and Beechwood Park,
are each designed to have ﬁne large ballﬁelds and playgrounds
in them. Thus this southwest section of the city would start
off with an equipment of seven ﬁne large ballﬁeld playgrounds,
in addition to the seven playgrounds suggested below, of
which four are in the heart of the existing densely built up
community and three are in the southern borders.
Of these seven one would be on National Avenue between
Eleanor Avenue and Basset Street, (area 5.0- acres); one on
Fifth Street and extending to Home Avenue and from College
Street to Euclid Avenue, (area 7.30 acres); one just north of
the C., H. 8: D. R. R. and east of Summit Street, (area 2.8
acres); one just north of the Pennsylvania and extending to
N orwood Avenue and ‘between Mound Street and Pease Street,-
(area 6.0 acres); one on Danner Street between Hanna
Street and Richley Avenue, (area 7.0 acres); one on Essex
Avenue and south of Miami Street, (area 2.70 acres) ; and one
between Bolander Avenue and Stewart Street (extended) and
east of Hopeland Avenue, (area 6.3 acres).
In the northwest section of the city, west of Great Miami
River and north of Wolf Creek, six playgrounds are proposed,
in addition to that already owned by the city on Great Miami
19
Boulevard. Of these, one would be in Highwood Park; an-
other in Homewood Park, and another in Upriver Park in the
fork of the rivers. The latter site is conveniently accessible
by Athletic Park Bridge at Ridge Avenue and doubtless there
will be, in the course of time, another bridge at Mumma Av-
enue. Another playground is suggested on the river bend, be-
tween I-Ierman Avenue and Emmet Street; another on Wolf
Creek, southwest of the D. & U. (Pennsylvania R. R., (area
about 8.3 acres) as suggested but should be extended to Deal
Avenue if not too costly) and another in the fork- where Wolf
Creek joins Great Miami River, (area 13.0 acres). This last is
a remarkably good opportunity to get vacant land for a play—
ground park only three-quarters of a mile from the center of
the city and close to a very large population. As before
stated it will in practice be more used 'by the boys of the south-
west section of the city than by those of the northwest section.
It will be one-third of a mile only from Longfellow School
when the proposed Miami Riverway has been cut through the
S'chwind Brewery property, and but a triﬂe longer distance
from Edison School. It is low ground, but will soon be ﬁlled
with ashes and with earth from cellar excavations.
For the northeast portion of the city, east of Great Miami
River and north of Mad River, four playgrounds are proposed,
in addition to the big one proposed in Old Channel Park and
that proposed in \Vhite City Park, as follows:
River Fork Playground. This is low land outside the
dyke at the junction of Mad River with Great Miami River and
extends from the Elm Street Bridge to the \Vebster Street
Bridge. A small portion of it is already owned by the City.
Some of it, along the dyke, has been ﬁlled nearly to the top of
the dyke, but most of it is low and subject to frequent ﬂoods.
' It is covered with quick-growing weeds and some bushes, wil-
lows, etc. Its area, allowing for the ordinary width of channel,
would be 23.9 acres, but some of this would be taken up with
slopes subject to ﬂooding, and some would need to be used for
a street in continuation of North Bend Avenue. It is only
three-quarters of a mile from the court house, and it will be one
of the most necessary of the playgrounds to secure because it is
reasonably near a large district of dense population for which
it would be. exceedingly costly to provide elsewhere a ball ﬁeld
or even playgrounds of modest size.
.20
Michigan Avenue Playground. This tract is on the east
side of that avenue and extends two long blocks southward
from Ray Street and eastward to Daller Street. Its area is 5.8
acres. It is unfortunately narrow (about 250 feet), but if sup-
plemented by larger ﬁelds suitable for baseball this playground
will ‘be very useful, as it is in a manufacturing district where
there will be more and more children requiring a playground.
If the whole would be too costly, at least the portion from Ray
to Hart Street should be acquired for the beneﬁt of little chil-
dren who cannot well go so far as River Fork Playground. or
at least not often. '
Leo Street Playground. This is a tract of 16.1 acres on
the south side of Leo Street from Baltimore Street to near the
State canal, and was chosen because of a rather good block of
trees to which is added enough open, level land for a ballﬁeld.
Mad River Playground. This is a tract of low, level land.
about 43 acres in area, lying east of Findlay Street and be—
tween Murphy Avenue and Mad River. It expected that a
drive and two walks will eventually be built along the river
and that a strip of land will be acquired along the south side
of the river. But meanwhile a dyke will be'needed along the
north side to keep this big playﬁeld from being ﬂooded. It is
just outside the two-mile circle, of which the court house is the
center, and it is only one block from the street car line on
Valley Pike. It is of great importance that the city should
possess a great level ﬁeld such as this, to which boys and men
can go in large numbers, from a large part of the city, for base-
ball and other ﬁeld sports. and this appears to be the best place
to obtain such a ﬁeld.
Small Landscape Parks. It is hardly possible to deﬁne the
distinction between small and large landscape parks very ac-
curately since one class may merge gradually into the other as
to area and style of improvements. Nor on the other hand is
it easy to distinguish some small landscape parks from some
playground parks. In a general way it can be said that small
landscape parks have less secluded and self-contained and less
broad landscapes within their borders than large landscape
parks, while playground parks have a decidedly large propor-
tion of their area artiﬁcialized to ﬁt them for play. putting such
naturalistic landscape as they may contain in a decidedly sub-
21
ordinate degree of importance. The small landscape parks pro-
posed are as follows:
Woodleigh Park. This park would extend along the west
side of Smithville Road southward from Springﬁeld Pike to
Huffman Avenue, omitting perhaps, if too costly, a vstrip of
land north of Huffman Avenue and west of Smithville Road,
one block wide and from three to six blocks long. The west
boundary should in a general way follow the base of the steep
slope so that trees along it will not obstruct the view from
the ridge. Its area would probably be about 131 acres.
Throughout most of its length extensive views in all direc-
tions would be commanded from the ridge in this park. This
tract contains two ﬁne groves besides other groups of trees
and includes some land which could easily be leveled for ‘ball
playing. It is accessible at the south end by the Huffman
Avenue car line, and at the middle is only a little over a third
of a mile from the end of the Third Street car line, which
could easily be extended to the park. Although the total area
of this park may seem great enough to warrant calling it a
large park, yet it is so narrow and its landscape effects are so
little conﬁned within its area that. it may properly be classed
and treated as a small park.
Rockwood Park. Some picturesque little groves on
somewhat rough, rocky land west of Smithville Pike and
about half way between Shakertown Pike and Xenia Pike
could desirably be secured for a small or local park if the cost
be low enough to be tempting. Including border roads its
area would be about 26 acres. It is 2% miles from the court
house and about % of a mile from the Wayne Avenue car line
at Phillips Street and about half that from the Xenia Transit‘,
line.
Poolwood Park. Southeast of the State Insane Asylum
between Shak'ertown Pike and Wilmington Pike there are
some woods and groves and scattering trees and rough land
which would form an attractive basis for a small or local park.
Extensive clay pits, some of which contain water, have left
most of the land in very bad shape for house lots and, if al-
lowed to become such, the city would ﬁnd itself, in time, sad—
dled with a bad sanitary problem. These lands ought to be
worth very little, being three miles from the court house. By
a‘)
.~~
connecting the pools with each other and supplying city water
during the dry weather wholesome and attractive conditions
could easily be maintained. This can easily be made a pictur-
esque and attractive park. Its area would probably be, in-
cluding boundary roads, about 80 acres. One end of it would
be only a ‘block or two from the Xenia Transit line and the
other end only a little over half a mile by \Yilmington Pike
from the Wayne Avenue car line.
'Spurwood Park. In looking for a tract of woods for a
park southeast of the city, the woods southeast of St. Mary’s
Institute naturally ﬁrst attract attention, ‘but these woods
havealready been added to \Noodland Cemetery. Looking
further in that vicinity the woods on the Schantz and Patter-
son properties strike one as having advantages, especially be-
cause they are on abrupt hills and command very interesting
views over the city. However, these properties have been so
expensively improved of late years that the cost of acquiring
a park there would probably be prohibitive. A tract of uncom-
monly large, ﬁne trees on a commanding spur projecting
northward into the valley in which is Schantz Lane, and the
new railroad, ﬁts the requirements admira’bly except in being
a little further from the dense population. Good woods well
located within 2% miles of the court house are‘ so scarce that
it seems urgent to preserve this tract as a park for the use of
the people. It is not proposed at this time to include, as would
be desirable, some of the open farm land south of it for a
ballﬁeld. The area of park as proposed is about 18 acres. It
is 2% miles from the court house and about three-quarters of
a mile from both the Wayne Avenue and the Brown Street
car lines. '
Beechwood Park is a tract of land on the west side of Nor-
wood Avenue, about one-third of a mile south of Germantown
Pike. The woods contain beech trees, making it one of the
most vattractive groves in the neighborhood of the city. It is
proposed to include some open land west of the grove which
can 'be graded, when needed. for a ballﬁeld. It is about 17.5
acres in area and is 3% miles from the court house. It is half
a mile from the Lakeview Avenue car line.
Brookwood Park is a tract of land on the south side of
National Avenue and half a block west of Mulford Avenue.
23
It is a ridge and slope covered with ﬁne large trees. The
brook from Soldiers’ Home Lake passes along its north boun-
dary. It is proposed to add to it, if not too costly, two and a
half blocks of open land south of it, in order to secure space
for ball games. A further addition should, if possible, be made
on the east side in order to secure a proper street boundary.
Its area as suggested is about 12 acres. The three-mile circle
of which the court house is the center, passes through it. The
Fifth Street car line passes along its north side in National
Avenue.
We-stwood Park is a tract of land on the north side of
Hoover Street a little west of Lyman Street. It is a nearly
level tract of about 12 acres, of which half is open and half
has old forest trees. It is the only tract of woodland that ap-
pears to be available in its vicinity. It is 2% miles from the
court house. The street car line on Kammer Avenue ends a
triﬂe over one—third of a mile from it.
Highwood Park. On the west side of Catalpa Drive, near
Salem Avenue, northwest of the city, is an attractive wood lot
which, together with some open ﬁelds west of it, which will
be needed for ball playing, it is proposed should be taken for a
park. The contemplated area, including border streets on the
three sides where no streets appear to have been dedicated, is
about 22 acres. It is 2%, miles from the court house and is on
high ground. The car line on Salem Avenue passes within
a short block of it.
Highland Park. This is a tract of land of about ﬁfteen
acres, part of which is on the north side and part on the south
side of Highland Avenue at a point about one thousand feet
east of Catalpa Drive. Beautiful views over the city and also
over the open country to the northeast can be obtained from
this point, and it would seem desirable to acquire the land for
this purpose, though there is sufficient area of comparatively
ﬂat land on the south side of Highland Avenue to permit of a
ballﬁeld, which further enhances the value of the tract as a
local park. In order to keep the views open it will be neces-
sary to acquire some of the sloping ground to the south,
southeast and northeast. The ﬁfteen acres we suggest takes
this into consideration.
Homewood Park. This is a tract of high, gently sloping
24
‘line, which is about two blocks west of the river.
land between Summers and Homewood Streets and between
Richmond and Grafton Avenues. It is mostly an open ﬁeld
with fringes of trees on the west and south sides just, Where
they are most valuable for shade. It is recommended for a
small park because it is as nearly as practicable in the center
of the residential district northwest of the Great Uiami River
and between \Volf Creek and Stillwater River. If not secured
soon it is likely to be cut up into streets and lots, the land ad-
joining it on three sides having already been subdivided, and
much of the land for over half a mile west of it having also
been subdivided. The area of this tract 1c about 14 acres. It
is only 1% miles from the court house in a bee line, but over
1% miles by the streets. It is about a quarter mile from the
terminus of the car line that runs through Monument Avenue
and River Street and Salem Avenue to North Avenue. It is
less than a quarter mile from the car line on North Avenue.
White City Park. 111 following the policy of securing a
strip for a drive along both banks of Great Miami River the
amusement park known as White City Park is encountered.
It is a tract of about 33 acres, more or less, on the east side of
the river and ‘between it and the new dyke. It is, therefore,
subject to be ﬂooded, but the part where the buildings are is
high enough so it is seldom ﬂooded in summer. The surface
is gently rolling, but the low spots could be ﬁlled gradually
with silt brought down the river and accumulated at and near
the Steele Dam. It is pretty well furnished with willows and
poplars, some of the latter being large and tall. A narrow,
cheap, carriage bridge was built across the river at Helena
Street to afford access to this park from the .\~"lain Street car
It is un—
likely that the land cost much, but considerable expense has
been incurred by its present owners for the bridge, for a
slight river wall for a walled swimming tank, and for the var—
ious buildings, slightly as they are constructed. It does not
appear to be urgent for the city to take over the part of the
tract containing the buildings, as it does not seem likely that
additional buildings of large size or expensive construction
will be erected on it in the near future, but the portion north
of that occupied by buildings ought to be purchased at the
same time Upriver Park is bought, as it is an essential part
of the river landscape of that park.
k.
25
Old Channel Park. The excavation of a new and
straighter channel for the Miami River as a part of the project
for protecting the city from ﬂoods, left an oxbow bend some-
thing like three-quarters of a mile long near North Dayton
disconnected from the river. The valley is, however, under-
laid with gravel to such an extent that this old channel re-
ceives water from the river by seepage when the river is high,
and discharges water into the river by seepage when the river
is low. The deeper portion of this old channel retains water
all summer and is utilized as a swimming pool and boating
pond. Much of this old channel, although ﬂooded when the
river is high, is dry in summer, while parts are swampy during
most of the year. This is not an attractive condition and, if
the land can be obtained at tempting prices, it would be well
for the city to acquire it, together with an adequate area for
ballﬁelds and border streets, and to improve the disagreeable
parts by excavating some parts and ﬁlling others at least high
enough so grass will not be under water for long enough
periods to kill it. There are willows and poplars and bushes
enough already to make many pretty scenes and more could
easily be added where needed. The contemplated area of this
park, including border roads is about 86 acres. It is 1% miles
from the court house, only quarter of a mile from the \Nebster
Street car line, and an interurban linepasses through it.
\. Large Landscape Parks. Only two large parks are pro—
posed at this time for the City of Dayton. as it is believed
more would exceed the ﬁnancial limitations that are likely to
prevail within the next decade or two.
Although, for convenience, the park problem for the City_
of Dayton is being considered under the various heads ﬁrst
above stated, it must be acknowledged that the distinctions‘
between the various classes are not, in practice, so clearly
marked as might be inferred.
In fact the two large parks proposed would in part be
used for playgrounds, in part for local or small parks, in part,
at least for a good many years, as comparatively wild reserva-
tions, and even in part as necessary links in the proposed park-
way system. It is true, therefore, that part of their anticipated
beneﬁts should be considered when playgrounds are under dis-
cussion, part when local parks are under discussion and part
when parkways are ‘being weighed in the balance.
26
If it should come to a question, because of ﬁnancial limita-
tions, of postponing the taking of some items of the whole
system of parks and parkways herein proposed, the large parks
should not ‘be left out, because they will be of far more beneﬁt
to the city as a whole than the small parks, or than many of
the playground parks or playgrounds.
The large parks are resorted to by people from all over
the city. They not only provide for the mass of the people a
very considerable amount of the sort of refreshment which
the well-to-do seek when they go off to the lakes or sea shore
or mountains, or to summer resorts, but they supply various
means of amusement and healthful activities, such as walking
amid pleasant, varied scenes, picnicking, rowing, swimming.
skating, ‘baseball, tennis, croquet and other‘ ball games, grass
for the children to romp upon, shallow pools for them to wade
in and to sail top boats in, swings, slides, donkey and pony
rides and many other delightful and wholesome sports and
occupations, amid ampler and more inspiring surroundings
than are possible in the smaller parks and playgrounds. Cer-
tainly whatever items must be postponed -it should not be the
large parks.
We have stated, near the beginning, that the parks should
be so located and bounded as to take the fullest possible ad-
vantage of the distinctive landscape features which character—
ize the .City. These are, of course, the rivers and the hills,
the woods and the meadows. It will ‘be seen that this purpose
will be accomplished in the following proposed parks
Upriver Park. This park would include at least the un-
built-upon part of White City Park, and the wooded tract
well known as Idylwild Park, containing some summer cot-
tages. together with some of the adjoining hill and low mead—
ows. It would extend, in the landscape sense, from the Steele
Dam at the end of Miami Boulevard. up the Great Miami
River, to the steel trussed bridge at the end of Keowee Street
and up the Stillwater River beyond Highland Avenue, and
from the dyke or levee east of the former river to Stillwater
Avenue west of both rivers. It would be a remarkably good
river park, since it would include two rivers and the land be-
tween. It would include also hill, wooded slopes, grassy
slopes and level meadows suitable for ballﬁelds.
27
The south end of this park would be only a little over a
mile from the court house. It is only a quarter of a mile from
the Main Street car line at Ridge Avenue to Stillwater
Avenue which would form the west boundary of the park, and
when there is a bridge at Mumma Avenue it will be only half
that distance. Much of the east boundary of the park is half
a mile from the street railway on Keowee Street, but the river
bank portion of the park would abut upon the same street
railway at the bridge. A large population in the northwest
section of the city would be within easy walking distance of
this park. The area of this park, including the rivers and
county roads where they pass through it, would be about 510
acres. '
One remarkable advantage of this park would be its en-
tire freedom from the noise and smoke and ugliness of steam
railroads and ' almost equal freed-om from street railways.
Only one public highway, Ridge Road, runs through it, while
of another little used one which branches front this one and
connects it with the north end-of the Keowee Street bridge.
only a part would be in the park; the rest would form a
boundary road. This park also would have the great advan-
tage of not having factories along its boundary and few fac-
tories or commercial establishments of any sort near it. The
region west of it is developing into a very good residence dis-
trict. That east of it is mostly low land, which, if provided
with streets, a street railway, efﬁ-cient drainage and a little
ﬁlling in low spots, could be made suitable for more humble
homes, to the owners of which the proximity of the park would
be a great advantage.
Another great advantage of this park would ‘be that it
could be put in shape to be immediately useful at compara-
tively small expense, leaving a system of pleasure drives, ﬁll—
ing of low spots, dredging of the rivers and other such expen-
sive improvements for the future. It would be distinctly a
people’s park.
Downriver Park. This park would extend from the pres—
ent city sewage pumping plant down the east bank of Great
Miami River to the bridge of the Cincinnati Pike and from the
river to the State Canal, with the addition of the County Fair
Grounds and the Sugar Camp Hill property. In the landscape
28
sense it would also include the river to the Miami Riverway
\\"est, now under construction. If the National Cash Register
Company deems it essential for their purposes to retain a por-
tion of the low land west of the canal, it should be as small an
area as will serve, and it should be between the new railroad
and the State Canal south of. Stewart Street and south of the
new railroad bridge over the canal, and in the latter part in
shape a strip along the canal rather than a broader block ex-
tending toward the river. This would be important in order
to keep open the ﬁne meadow views southward from Stewart
Street and northward from Sugar Camp Hill.
This park would be in effect a great meadow park. al-
though it would have in addition the formalized river as a
great feature and the two very delightful high wooded areas.
one in the County Fair Grounds and the other on Sugar Camp
Hill. YVhen the new river channel has been cut through and
dyked, the work on which is now under way. the old channel
will remain as a very beautiful park lake. well fed by springs.
brooks and seepage from the river. The lower portion of the
park has extensive and remarkably beautiful tree'and shrub
growths and is wild and secluded to an unusual degree, be-
cause heretofore it has been useless as real estate as it is sub-
ject to being ﬂooded. \Vhen the dyke has been completed and
the storm water ﬂow from the two principal brooks conducted
by means of the canal or by conduits to the river, this condi-
tion will be remedied in the main. If necessary, still more
complete drainage can be effected by pumping while the river
is high, but during summer when the park would be most
used the water would almost always be low enough to leave
the meadows dry. Even under present conditions most of the
meadow is dry enough in summer for the existing vegetable
garden and ballﬁelds.
One of the remarkable advantages of this park would be
that it would begin only a block over three quarters of a mile
from the court house. Even the Fair Grounds are less than a
mile from that point. Another great advantage is that it
would be within walking distance fro-m a large part of the '
most densely populated portions of the City, ‘both east and
west of the river. Also all parts of it would be accessible from
the Main Street car line by a short walk. as that car line
borders the County Fair Grounds portion and also the portion
29
where the car line follows the canal. The Stewart Street
bridge over the river (now under construction) will afford
access from the district of the City west of the river and it is
expected that eventually there will be a park bridge across‘
the river in the vicinity of Carrmonte. which will make the
lower part of this park only a triﬂe over a half mile walk from
the street railway on Cincinnati Street Chapel Road. The area
of this park as proposed would be 330 acres, including the old
river channel.
The northern part of this park is burdened by the new
steam railroad (Dayton, Lebanon & Cincinnati R. R.) but
there is no present indication that this railroad will be a very
busy one. Southwest of that railroad, for a distance of a mile
and a quarter, this park would be free of railways, except that
the electric railway follows the southeast side of the canal for
a mile or so. As far as practicable the steep banks above the
State Canal should be included in the park and be kept planted
with wild woods, and where this is not feasible, as for in-
stance where the slope is owned by cemeteries, an effort should
be made to have them kept or made beautiful’ with wild foli-
age.
The proposed drive on the east levee will afford ample
facilities for the enjoyment of the scenery of this park for
some years, but eventually it will be desirable to have another
less formal drive more or less embowered in foliage winding
in the eastern borders of the park to the proposed bridge and
cross drive near Carrmonte and possibly from there on the
island to an entrance on the Cincinnati Pike south of the ex-
isting old wooden bridge. Also, it may ‘be worth while to
have a branch from this east drive rise by a heavy ﬁll to a
bridge over the State Canal and Traction line and thence di-
agonally up the steep slope and through the west part of the
Sugar Camp property to an entrance on the hilly Cincinnati
Pike. This would be particularly valuable as an approach to
the Country Club and would form a suitable connection for all
. visitors between the Sugar Camp Hill and the rest of the park.
The particular and great value of this park, it should be
emphasized, would consist in its great meadows. It would
be difficult to exaggerate the value of such meadows to the
mass of the people. since they would not only be large enough
30
for many to play upon at the same time, but they would be
within walking distance from the homes of a great number
of boys and girls who could otherwise seldom stroll and play
ball upon grass. Any one who has observed the meadow in
Washington Park, Chicago, or has listened to the enthusiastic
comments upon its value by Chicago citizens who care for the
health and pleasure of the people, will have become impressed
with the immense importance of including such great meadows
in the park system of a city.
\
PARKWAY SYSTEM
Theoretically, there should be boulevards and parkways
radiating from the civic center, in or adjoining the central
business district of a city, to its great suburban parks, and cir-
cumferential parkways connecting these great parks. In ad-
dition, there should be an inner circular boulevard, a mile or a
mile and a half from the center of the business district, and,
ﬁnally, there should be broad rural parkways extending more
or less radially outward from the suburban parks to rural res-
ervations and other points of interest and to neighboring
towns. At the intersections of the central radiating ‘boule—
vards and parkways with the inner circular boulevard would
be excellent locations for small parks and secondary civic
centers where would be branch post ofﬁces, branch public
libraries, branch museums, gymnasiums, baths, assembly
halls, clubs, hotels and. churches, effectively grouped. Partly
for topographical, but mainly for ﬁnancial reasons, such a
theoretical arrangement has probably never been carried out,
although in some cities it has been or is being approximated.
The theory may well be kept in mind, however, by those who
may hereafter be entrusted with physical development of Day-
ton.
As we have said already, in determining upon the pro-
posed parks, the most important thing is to take advantage of
whatever characteristic natural topographical features of in-
terest and beauty there may be, and the same motive should
inﬂuence the location _of parkways.
It is obvious that the most characteristic topographical
features of Dayton are the four rivers. The next are the hills,
_and the next the few remaining patches of woods and lastly
31
\
t'he'broad, fertile ﬁelds. It is of the utmost importance, there—
fore, that there should be parkways along the river.
For some years past, the City has been acquiring strips
along the banks of these rivers, within the city limits, pri-
marily for the purpose of erecting dykes to restrain them from
ﬂooding the low lying parts of the city, and in doing so the
city has very wisely paid some attention to the pleasure uses
to which the banks of the river very obviously could be put.
Rather from limited means, probably, than from failure to
appreciate the opportunities thus afforded, there has been as).
yet no provision for continuous pleasure drives along the river
banks. However, considerable progress is being made in this
direction in the project now under way for 'the improvement
of the Great Miami River below Washington Street Bridge.
It should be recognized that these river bank parkways
would serve as radial routes of pleasure travel from the heart
of the city to the large landscape parks in the suburbs and to
other towns. It is, therefore, doubly important that the land
needed for them should be secured before it ‘becomes occupied
by factories and other expensive private improvements.
The plans of the City Engineer for this great improve-
ment call for an extensive taking of land for the purpose of
shortening and simplifying the channel of the river below the
line of Stewart Street (extended). This land taking will have
a uniform width of 8.00 feet and will extend from the old
wooden bridge of the Cincinnati Pike up to within a few
blocks of the \Vashington Street bridge, a distance of about
1% miles. A dyke will be raised on each side and the top of
each will be made 50 feet wide to begin with, so as to afford
space for a drive and walk.
We recommend that surveys be made and that plans be
prepared for a liberal arrangement of pleasure drives on both
sides of the rest of Great Miami River and also along both
sides of the Stillwater River and, to the extent that existing
factories permit, up both Mad River and \Volf Creek.
The expense of putting these river parkways through will
necessarily be large, both for land and construction, and it
would hardly be wise for the City to incur all this expense at
once. The indications are that' the greatest length of most
useful river parkway could be secured. (‘with two exceptions
32
for short distances) by putting through the river parkway
along the west side of Great Miami River ﬁrst. In addition
to providing for the drive on the west side there should be a
considerable sum provided and at the disposal of the Park
Commission to enable them to take advantage of any specially
favorable prices for land required for the drive on the east
side, and also for the ‘other river parkways, as for instance
sales of land for settling up estates or where houses are de-
stroyed by ﬁre or to head off at any necessary cost the erec—
tion of expensive buildings on land that must eventually be
acquired.
Although the west side of the Great Miami River seems
to be the line of least resistance, a handsome parkway on the
east bank of the river would probably increase land values
more and would afford more general satisfaction to most citi-
zens than a parkway on the west bank.
Miami River West. This may begin on the right bank,
below the city, near the C., H. & D. R. R. Passing under the
Big Four Railroad, the ﬁrst section may lbe considered as end-
ing at the Cincinnati Pike.
The next section has already been provided for, according
to plans of the City Engineer. The extension of the drive and
walk up the river will involve, in order to provide the desired
width between the dykes for ﬂoods, the acquisition of various
scraps of land most of the way from Avenue St. Frances to
near Third Street._ Bank Street and Edgewater Avenue will
serve thence to WVolf Creek.
An old steel, trussed girder bridge will be erected across
W'olf Creek. 'A taking of land will be necessary to extend
this parkway to Salem Avenue. A valuable brewery blocks
the extension of‘the parkway fro-m Salem Avenue to Monu—_
ment Avenue Bridge, but, temporarily, River Street will afford
a reasonably satisfactory connection. The lands east and
south of River Street and Lehman Street and the river bed
should be acquired, when convenient, but, temporarily, pleas-
ure driving may follow the two streets mentioned to Main
Street Bridge.
Next above Main Street and close to the bridge there is
a large apartment house. It has been suggested that the
Riverway could be built outside of this on a concrete ﬂoor
33
supported on piers so as not to unduly contract the ﬂow of the
river when in ﬂood. This would interfere with one of the
arches of the bridge, would involve a .similar construction for
some distance below the bridge, would involve removing a
good bit of the parapet of the bridge, thus spoiling its sym-
metry, would force pleasure driving to cross a disagreeable
sideiwise slope and would, from most points of view, look like
a botch in design, besides being costly. We recommend that
the City acquire the now vacant land behind the apartment
house and eventually move it back, at the same time taking
off so much of the porches and other projections on its front
as may be necessary. Between Linwood Street and Stillwater
Avenue, part of a block of land will have to be taken. From
Stillwater Avenue and Emmet Street, the Riverway may fol-
low the present dyke straight to Herman Avenue, or, what
would perhaps be better, if suitable arrangements can be made
with the land owners, the parkway might ‘be run on a curve
to Herman Avenue. The latter arrangement would be the
more graceful one and would be a great improvement by en-
suring good frontage for houses on the high level, but would
cost more for ﬁlling. The land between the curved parkway
and the present straight dyke could be left for private owners
to ﬁll and sell in lots, or it could be acquired by the City and
be used for a playground. If the parkway follows the straight
line, the land outside could 'be moderately ﬁlled on a gentle
slope, over part of which the higher ﬂoods could pass with
little or no damage, and be used for a ballﬁeld. The fact is
that a playground will not be very urgently needed at this
point, if a larger one is provided just across the river. The
que tion may therefore be determined by a comparison of the
‘e imated cost of the alternative projects.
~From Herman Avenue to Steele's Dam some subdivided
land will have to be taken if the normal width of the river and
the roads on each side of it" is to be maintained. It would be
best to take it on the east side of the river. If it is likely to
be troublesome and expensive to take the required land, the "
necessary width for the river could probably be secured by
walls. To get a good line, a small land taking would be neces-
sary at Hays Avenue. For the same reason, land will have to
be taken between Locust and Helena Streets.
34
Stillwater Avenue will serve well enough thence to the
City Boundary, although it may eventually have to be
widened.
Miami Riverway East. As before stated this parkway
has already been provided for from the old wooden bridge of
the Cincinnati Pike up to within four blocks of Washington
Street bridge. In this part, and also northerly to Carrie
Street the narrow road on the dyke previously built should
be widened and straightened and, if practicable, a planting
strip should be secured between the drive and the new rail-
road (Dayton, Lebanon & Cincinnati R. R.).
On each‘side of the railroad bridge land would have to be
taken to continue the river drive to Backus Street and some
narrow takings would be needed to obtain sufficient width
and a good alignment along the east side of that street to ﬁt
the Fifth Street ‘bridge, as well as to keep up the 800-foot
width for the river and the drives on each side of it adopted
for the improvement below.
From Backus and Maple Streets to Monument Avenue,
it will unquestionably be necessary for ﬁnancial reasons to
postpone for some decades the laying out and construction of
the river drive. It is obvious that the pleasure travel can be
sufﬁciently well accommodated by Robert Boulevard.‘ It will
be important, however, to keep close ‘watch on real estate
along the line, to prevent, as before suggested, costly private
improvements from ‘being put in the way and not to lose good
chances to buy land needed.
From Monument Avenue bridge to Main Street bridge‘
somewhat similar conditions prevail. It is important as a
matter of design to have a gently curving drive along the
river, but the land is expensive and many private interests are
involved. Hence pleasure traffic will have to follow Monu-
ment Avenue for some years. This is less attractive than
Robert Boulevard as a pleasure drive ‘because it has a car line
upon it and is straight and city like. Here again needed land
'should be secured as opportunity offers, and expensive private
improvements on needed land should be blocked.
From Main Street bridge to Webster Street bridge Monu—
ment Avenue and Idylwild Avenue may well serve as the
pleasure drive because there is no car track. The City already
35 i
owns most of the strip of land between the street and the
river, but there is a ‘bad obstruction opposite the block between
St. Clair and Hill Streets where the Dayton Gas & Coke Com-
pany has part of its manufacturing plant. The gas works are
already crowded and have no vacant land upon which to
spread. It is quite likely, therefore, that before long they
could ‘be induced to move to a more commodious site where
they could have new up-to-date buildings, machinery and ap—
paratus. Such a move would no doubt be very advantageous
to the Gas Company, and'it certainly would beneﬁt its pres-
ent holding as real estate, as well as much other private prop—
erty, ‘to get the gas works away and to have a nice park like
Van Cleve extended along the river. Considering the in-
creased efficiency and economy of a new up-to-date plant and
the necessity for more room for enlarged production and the
increase in value of their site south'of Monument Avenue the .
Gas Company would very likely afford to give the land which
they own north of Monument Avenue to the City for park
purposes, in return for the lease for a few years of such ad-
joining land now owned 'by the City as they may have imme—
diate need for. At the same time the Gas Company should
agree that their new works should not be so located as to in—
terfere ‘with any proposed park, or where they would depress
the value of real estate which one of the proposed parks
might otherwise enhance in value.
From the \Vebster Street bridge to White City Park the
continuation of this river drive would be an easy matter so
far as land and construction are concerned, but an effort
should be made to rearrange the land subdivision between
\Vebster Street and Elm Street so there will be good, deep
rectangular house lots with suitable restrictions fronting on
the river drive. - I
The City’s ﬁre engine house at the Main Street end of
Van Cleve Park should be removed eventually. The junction
of Idylwild Avenue with Monument Avenue should be eased
off. It would probably pay at some future time to relocate
Idylwild Avenue nearer the river so as to obtain a row of lots,
backing on the State Canal and fronting on the river drive.
A row of houses there would tend to shut off the factory dis-
trict on the other side of the canal. It would also be advisable
in time to replace the present narrow Webster StreetTbridge
36
by a wide concrete bridge on concrete arches. There should
be a double roadway with car tracks for a new line on VVeh-
ster Street, then along the present levee to Hull Avenue,
through that and its extension to Ewing Street and then
through a new diagonal street to a new highway bridge con-
necting the southwest boundary road of the proposed Old
Channel Park with the county road north of the river.
Wolf Creek Parkway. Many of the property owners in
making subdivisions along \Volf Creek provided either nar-
row streets or alleys along the river bank. Of late years the
City has raised levees or dykes along the river, the tops of
which are usually higher than the streets and alleys, often suf-
ﬁciently so to shut off the view from the streets or even from
houses. To remedy this defect and also to provide adequate
drives and walks along both sides of the Creek will be ex-
pensive, but certainly should be done, sooner or later. The
sides of the dykes toward the Creek have generally been
pitched with large stones. Ifuland takings'prove too expensive
it will be possible, eventually, to build retaining walls for the
walks and drives in place of these pitched slopes. But this
would be very expensive and a questionable improvement in
appearance. To put the river in a covered conduit would also
be expensive and might involve taking a large area of land
somewhere up the Creek to properly control the ﬂoods by a
storage basin and to secure a proper head. On the whole, it
seems likely that it would cost less and be much better to con-
demn as much land on each side of the Creek as is needed for
boulevards of proper width on each side and to raise the con-
necting streets and as much as need be of the private land.
Although expensive in ﬁrst outlay for the City, the people of
the City would gain a handsome, double parkway, a large area
i of land would be so directly beneﬁted by the parkway and by
being raised, that it could stand a liberal assessment and the
greater taxes subsequently collected from the lots thus in-
_ creased in value and from the better class of private improve-
ments which would follow would very likely meet the interest
on so much of the cost as had not been recovered by assess-
ments for beneﬁts. It would not be necessary to go into the
matter heavily all at once. Needed land could be purchased
from time to time, especially west of Summit Street, on each
side of Broadway and at the'end of Sweetman Street. Ar-
‘P’
51
rangements should also be made, before further improvements
occur on adjoining land, for moving Western Avenue from
Kammer Avenue west-ward, wherever necessary to leave room
for an entirely separate parkway along the river, because
Western Avenue is an important radial route for business
wagons and cannot be absorbed into the parkway, nor can
the parkway be merged with it, with due regard for pleasure
driving. As a partial alternative it may be possible to move
the creek sufﬁciently tosecure the desired result near Hoover
Street, but near the River Road bridge the Pennsylvania Rail-
road is so close that the creek cannot be moved and therefore
the county road would have to be.
Mad River Parkway. Both for the purpose of enabling
adequate arrangements to be made for the control of the
ﬂoods in Mad River, as well as to make opportunity for an
enjoyable pleasure drive to Woodleigh Park, to the circum-
ferential parkways and to the proposed \Nater Works Reser-
vation u-p Mad River, it is very desirable to take the borders
of Mad River wherever possible, from the Great Miami River
up to the Water Works Reservation, but without interfering
with the essential parts of the Hydraulic Canal and dam.
Owing to the existence of buildings which it would be too
costly to interfere with at present, no taking can be made on
the north side of Mad River from Webster Street to the east
end of Ohio Street. From this point to the State Canal only a ~
narrow taking is feasible. Consequently it is proposed to have
only one pleasure drive along Mad River. This would leave
the Miami Riverway east at Webster Street bridge, would
follow the south bank of the river to Findlay Street, where it
would cross to the north side. It would cross the river again
at the point where the Erie Railroad crosses the river. A
branch drive would connect this river_drive with the north ‘
end of Woodleigh Park. As there are several ~railroads to
cross at this point in addition to the river and the power 'canal
and as the parkway should quickly reach the top of the hill in _
the north end of \Voodleigh Park, it appears to be desirable
to have, eventually, a viaduct crossing above all the railroads.
It would not be possible for a long time to incur the large ex-
pense this would involve, but careful surveys and plans should
be made in order to secure the needed land at present prices.
Meanwhile, it will be a simple matter to cross the railroads
38
on grade. Except from Webster Street to the east end of
Ohio Street it will be possible to take a sufﬁcient strip of land
for a levee and bank to be covered with trees and ‘shrubs, on
the opposite side of the river from the drive. With the slope
between the drive and the river also planted this can be made a
landscape parkway. It is true there are several large factories
along the route and because the land is low and a good deal
of it vacant and because of the railroad facilities there are
likely to be a good many more factories, especially on the
south side. This advantage can be much alleviated by taking
a wider strip along the river east of Thomas and Bimm Streets
than would be needed for- the drive alone, ,so as to provide for
a separate boundary street with a wide planting strip between
it and the pleasure drive. For the same. reason it would be
best to take all the land between the feeder of the State Canal
and the river and also all the land between the Erie Railroad
and the river east of the line of Irwin Street (extended).
Aside from the river parkways there appears to be no
possibility, at the present time, considering ﬁnancial limita—
tions, of laying out any wide radial parkways or boulevards
in the City of Dayton. The following routes through streets
are suggested as the best that could be done at moderate ex-
pense in the way of providing radial lines for pleasure travel
in addition to the proposed river parkways.
Third Street Boulevard. In choosing among existing
streets the one which would best serve as a direct boulevard
from the central residential section of the City eastward to
Woodleigh Park, it appears that Third Street has, on the
whole, the greatest advantages. It runs straight from the
court house to Sperling Avenue, a distance of two and a half
miles. It can easily be extended from there to Woodleigh
Park, a distance of one-third of a mile. It has sufficient width
for practical requirements from the center of the City to
where Springﬁeld Street branches from it, a‘ distance of al-
most one and a half miles. Although fairly wide it is bur-
dencd by double street railway tracks, The expense of widen-
ing the last mile would probably be prohibitive. Recourse
must therefore be had to the physical improvement of its de—
tails, if it is to ‘be made attractive for pleasure driving, and the
traffic upon it should be perfected by making it of asphalt on
89
a solid cement concrete base. Before this improvement is
made. however, the wires should be put under ground, any
new larger water pipes, sewers and drains, including all house
connections that may possibly be needed,_should be installed.
the electric railway should be rebuilt in the most perfect mod-
ern style, including the heavy girder rail with small groove.
and the trolley poles should be of steel and of neat design.
combined with the lighting. New. uniform curbing, not over
6 inches high with well rounded street corners, with steel
protection, should be laid. Ample tree pits, regularly spaced,
should be provided beyond the ‘business district and these
should have neat steel gratings. The sidewalks should be I
paved uniformly. ‘It will probably be impracticable to main—
tain turf tree strips west of Springﬁeld Street, but where it is
attempted, crosswalks should be provided and a low guard
rail set up to protect the turf. The lights should be combined
with the trolley poles. Ornamented street signs, preferably
an illuminated pattern, should be attached to corner trolley
poles. Where buildings can be utilized for the purpose the
trolley wires and street signs and street lights should be at-
tached to them, in the business section, where there are to be
no trees. The proﬁle and cross section should ‘be perfected
and the catch basins made uniform in pattern and adequate in
number and size. Fire hydrants should be in the adjoining
cross streets. Occasional drinking fountains of the self-wash-
ing mouth piece type should be installed. If one or two of the
sharp points at street intersections can be turned into little
parks, with underground toilet rooms. it would be a good
thing. The extension of Third Street to \Voodleigh Park
might well be given special character by being made wide
enough for two driveways with a central grass plot between.
A circle with 'a monument in it at the intersection with Sperl-
ing Avenue would be desirable to mark the turning point. A
few blocks at the center of the City might well have some spe-
cial, decorative electric lighting. Additional alleys should be
laid out where needed, so there would be no necessity to per—
mit business wagons to stand in the street. In regulating
trafﬁc on the boulevard, the main thing would be to keep out
business trafﬁc as much as possible. East of Springﬁeld
Street, there would be no need to allow any, except to cross.
\Nest of that point it might be conﬁned to the north side of the
40
roadway, if the shady side be preferable for pleasure trafﬁc.
If a law can be obtained for the purpose, it would be well to
enforce certain restrictions on adjoining private property, such
as a building limit line or set-‘back, which could vary on dif-
ferent blocks to save disturbing most of the houses, and limit-
ing the height of buildings and preventing houses for more
than one family on portions of the street where the owners of
a majority of the frontage so desire. Of course billboards and
excessively large or ugly signs should be prohibited or heavily
taxed. The street cars might be painted a dark handsome
color, and in monotone.
Xenia Boulevard can be formed mainly of existing streets.
lt would serve in a large measure as a radial boulevard and
to some degree as an inner circuit boulevard. It would be dis-
tinctly radial from \Vayne Avenue outward and distinctly
circumferential from Perry Street to \Vayne Avenue. Its
chief function as a whole, however, would be to connect Down
River Park and Miami Riverway East with the south end
of \Noodleigh Park and the outer circuit parkway. The route
proposed for Xenia Boulevard is as follows:
Leaving Miami Riverway East and passing between the
playground portion of Down River Park and the main body
of the park, it would follow Apple and Adams Streets, would
cross a block to and follow Xenia Avenue, would cut diagon-
ally across a block to Bickham Street, would pass under the
Pennsylvania R. R. by a subway already authorized and. with
a couple of easy bends, would cross Huffman Avenue east of
Garland Avenue, would bend around parallel with Huffman
Avenue and one block from it, and would connect with drives
in the south part of \Voodleigh Park. \Vithout a liberal
widening, the cost of which would obviously be prohibitive
under existing conditions, this route would be a boulevard in
little more than in name. The possible improvements, the
cost of some of which could be assessed on abutting and near-
by property beneﬁted, would be a building limit line, which
would have to vary in distance from the street line and some
parts of which could be made, for economy, to apply to future
buildings or altered buildings; a narrowing of the roadway
for the purpose of providing a parking strip of sufficient width
for trees; a uniform, smooth. hard pavement on its roadway,
41
a uniform sidewalk, cluster of electroliers, improved street
signs, the putting of all electric wires underground, a neat
uniform low curb, a smooth, hard brick gutter, suitable catch
basins and liberally rounded corners.
No doubt a portion of Adams Street would have to be
widened and possibly other ‘parts of the route could be widened
without exorbitant expense.
Special funds would have to ‘be provided for special care
of the turf and trees in the parking spaces and for special
cleaning and repairs of the driveway and sidewalk pavements
and for policing to prevent business wagons from using the
driveway except to get to and from houses not provided with
alleys to the nearest cross street and then only during certain
hours.
It is to be noted that Xenia Avenue although radial is
not necessary for business trafﬁc, as there are other radial
avenues close by which serve that purpose very well.
If it should be feasible to keep street railway tra‘cksoff
of Xenia Avenue, it might be necessary to revert to the L0-
raine Avenue route, which would have advantages, especially
that of utilizing the wide and attractive Park Avenue.
Loraine Avenue has the disadvantages that it is narrow and
might have to be widened to make room for the required park-
ing strips and that it would certainly have to be extended,
immediately, across private property to connect with Apple
Street at one end and Bickham Street at the other. It is pos-
sible that the owners of lots along Loraine Avenue might
make so much better terms for these improvements than the
owners of lots along Xenia Avenue as to make the former the
preferable route for a boulevard.
National Avenue attracts attention as a desirable route
for a radial boulevard in the southwest section of the City in
connection with Home Avenue and Norwood Avenue. Plans
and estimates were prepared, not long ago, for the needed
connection between Home Avenue and Norwood Avenue.
across the three intervening blocks, but were not executed.
As a reasonable part of the park boulevard system, it would
be best to go to still greater expense to make this proposed
connecting street wider, and at the same time to secure a lib-
eral building limit line. a _
National Avenue is not a city street. It was laid out by
42
private parties and opened as atoll road to the National Mili-
tary Home Grounds. Having become unproﬁtable, it was
bought by one of the street railway companies, which will not
permit it to be taken over by the; City as a public street unless
it is granted a perpetual right-of-way on it at its own terms.
The City, on the other hand, is unable legally to grant such a
right. Until the street is so taken, the City cannot regrade,
curb and pave it with public funds nor under the assessment
plan. The street railway company would be glad to have the
street paved as a means of encouraging the growth of popula-
tion along it. Under the circumstances, it would seem pos-
sible to have a law passed authorizing the City'to make a suit—
able contract with the street railway company.
Failing in that, the City through the Park Commission
should condemn the whole thing for a parkway or boulevard
and lease the track and right-of-way for a term of years to the
same or another company for a suitable percentage of the
gross receipts.
The City would doubtless get the worst of it ﬁnancially——
cities usually do in such cases—but after acquiring control the
improvements could be assessed on the land beneﬁted, and
before many years the increased taxes and the railway rental
would probably more than pay the interest on the cost of ac-
'quiring the boulevard.
At the same time, a suitable building line should be se-
cured by condemnation, and alleys should be provided wher—
ever needed, so no business wagons would need to 'be permit-
ted to‘ pass along the boulevard. Building limit lines should
also be secured on Home and Norwood Avenues.
Woodleigh Parkway. The banks of the Hydraulic Canal
from the Springﬁeld Pike down to Sperling Avenue have be-
come emb'o-wered with trees, and the walk along the canal is
so charming that it would be desirable, if it can be arranged
without too much expense, to acquire a strip along each side
of this part of the canal for a rural parkway. On the north
side a border street should be arranged for, to ﬁt the land
below the canal bank and trees. On the south side a pleasure
drive and two walks should be provided for. Sperling Avenue,
widened, if possible, would afford a connection with! Third
Street Boulevard and, if extended, with May Street and Fifth
Street.
43
Hydraulic Canal. The owners of this power canal, it is
understood, do not contemplate with satisfaction the future of
their investment, after they shall have disposed of the re—
mainder of their land not actually required for the canal.
They are under long term or perpetual contracts to supply
water to a comparatively few concerns, and the income from
that source is too small to be worth while. They would, it is
understood, be glad to have the City, through its Park Com-
mission, condemn its land and business at a price to ‘be agreed
upon and settle with the takers of its water, for the purpose
of turning its canal into a parkway. A good deal of the canal
is, however, in a strip of land too narrow for a parkway, and
most of it west of Irwin Street is situated in the midst of
backyards and unattractive buildings. A parkway on its land
would have to be extended to Second Street, at Meigs Street. V
at large expense. To make even a fairly satisfactory parkway
of it, would involve taking at least one tier of lots and houses
along most of the canal for about a mile and a half—a prac-
tically prohibitive expense. Even if this were done there
would be along most of one side of the parkway the rears of
houses ‘backing on the parkway or with their sides to it, with
views of rows of backyards. On the whole, it appears to be
less advantageous than the proposed parkway along Mad
River, although it must be acknowledged that the neighbor;
hood of that parkway may not be all that could be desired in
the way of attractiveness.
Circuit Parkways. The proposed circumferential system
of parkways, as planned, would afford a continuous‘drive
around the city and would connect all the proposed parks in
the suburbs. More speciﬁcally, it would connect Upriver
Park with Old Channel Park, would extend thence to the Leo
Street Playﬁeld, would continue thence to the Mad River Play-
ﬁeld, would coincide for three quarters qf a mile with Mad
River Parkway, and would connect this with Woodleigh Park.
The drive would continue along the ridge in this park to Huff-
man Avenue. The parkway would then extend to and along
the little Rockwood Park and to and along Poolwood Park
and thence to Spurwood Park. From this park it would con-
tinue south of Oakwood, north of Carrmonte, to the State
Canal, connecting with Hills and Dales on the way. At the
State Canal it would pass into the proposed Down River Park
44
and connect with Miami Riverway East. Eventually it would
cross the river between the Stewart Street bridge and the old
wooden bridge of the Cincinnati Pike, but for many years the
pleasure driving would have to cross the river by the latter
bridge. From the Cincinnatil’ike the parkway would extend
westward to ‘Beechwood Park and thence to the southeast
corner of the National Military Home Grounds. Gettysburg
Avenue, and along the east side of those grounds, may be
utilized. There may be. eventually, in addition, a drive
through those grounds. From the northeast corner of those
grounds, the parkways would extend to and along Westwood
Park, thence to l~lighwood Park. thence through Fairview
(subdivision) and thence easterly to Lipriver Park, crossing
Stillwater River by a proposed bridge between Norman
Street and Highland Avenue]
This system of circumferential parkways lies mostly be-
tween the two-mile and the three-mile circles, of which the
Court House is the center. It will not only connect the prin-
cipal parks and the National Military Home Grounds and the
various river parkways and radial boulevards, forming a con-
nected system of‘pleasure drives such as few cities of the
country possess, but it will also afford a great amount of valu-
able residence frontage and enhance the attractiveness and
therefore the value of a number of extensive residence dis—
tricts which would otherwise probably remain without any
feature to lift them above the commonplace.
Reservations. The City should have some reservations,
if it is to have a complete system of parks, but it is not going
to be easy to get money for them. Nevertheless. it will be -~
well to have the possibilities in mind, so as to be able to make
such progress as can be- made, with due regard to a reasonably
well balanced system. . -
Stillwater Reservation. The most advantageous ‘direc-
tion in which to look for a large reservation is up the Stillwater
River.
First, because a reservation there would be mosticon-
venient to the two most important residential sections of the
City; namely, that between the river and the State Canal and
north of Sixth Street, and that between Stillwater River, Great
Miami River and \Volf Creek.
45
Second, because, in driving to it from those important
sections of the City, there would be no steam railroad to cross
and no disagreeable manufacturing or tenement house district
to pass through. .
Third, because it would be approachable by the parkway
which has the greatest landscape advantages and at the same
time can be put through from the southwest and south sections
of the City, in useable shape (except at two points) at a com-
paratively moderate expense. The parkway referred to is
Miami Riverway West. Incidentally, it may be noted that
drivers on this parkway going in either direction would be
able, with one exception, to enjoy the views without the an-
noyance of looking toward the sun in the afternoon, when
most pleasure driving takes place. The exception would be in
driving west from the east end of Emmet Street to Salem
Avenue.
Fourth, because the reservation could begin closer to the.
City than in any other direction; namely, at about 2%, to 2%
miles from the Court House.
Fifth, because it could be a harmonious and intimately
connected extension of one of the two largest proposed parks
——Upriver Park.
Sixth, because it is free from the disagreeable proximity
of a steam railroad.
Seventh, because it would be within a reasonable ﬁve-
cent fare limit, if the Main Street car line is extended ‘about
half a mile to it.
Eighth, because it has greater landscape advantages than
any other. _
If it were possible to make use of it as a source of under—
ground water supply for the City, instead of or in addition
to the intended reservation on Mad River, it would be a very
good thing for the park system, and for that reason a better
'investment. If it should not be used as a source of water
supply for the City, it is possible that there may be enough,
water available during dry weather to keep an ornamental
lake sufﬁciently supplied. Small boats could be passed by
means of a lock or roller runway to and from the slack water
produced by the Steele Dam.
Mad River Reservation. A considerable reservation up
the Mad River has been practically determined upon in order‘
4!")
to protect the underground water supply of the City. In de;
ﬁning the ‘boundaries they should be considered in reference
to the landscape possibilities and with due regard to their
suitability for boundary roads. The proximity, at a com-
paratively low elevation, of the Erie Railroad and of the
Springﬁeld Pike, together with the fact that the valley is un—
iderlaid with a porous gravel and sand stratum, may make it’
impossible to create ,an ornamental lake in this reservation,
and, even if made, it might fall too low in summer to ‘be agree-
able in appearance during that season. The Erie Railroad
would be a disﬁgurement to the landscape of this reservation,
which ought to include the slopes north of this railroad, and
the noise and smell of trains would greatly detract from one’s
enjoyment of the landscape. The proposed parkways will
form excellent approaches to this reservation if they are car-
ried out, ‘but they are so expensive that there is some doubt
as to how long it will be before they are ready, if, indeed, they
are ever accomplished. The proposed Mad River Parkway,
although very desirable, is certainly more open to the objec—
tion that it will be more hemmed in by factories, and cheap
little houses, than Miami Riverway above Mad River.
Hills and Dales. This private pleasure ground has some
advantages as a possible reservation. It includes some of the
highest land near the City with extensive and agreeable views.
It includes pleasing topography and various delightful woods.
It has the great advantage of being largely in one ownership
so that it could probably be obtained on reasonable terms.
It should be extended in places to the Lebanon Pike and pos-
sibly also-to the Cincinnati Pike. In the latter case it would
be directly accessible by the Cincinnati, Dayton & Toledo
Traction line, and it would be a small matter to extend the
Main Street car line to it. It is likely that the Brown Street
line would 'be extended to it on the other side. It is free from
railroads, either steam or electric. It has already been con—
siderably improved, so that it would be immediately available
and would not require costly improvements for some time,
aside from widening some of the drives. It could be con-
nected without difﬁculty with the proposed Downriver Park
and with Miami Riverway East. This should be done by
means of a strip of land of generous width, to include the
brook and a drive and walks on each side. '
47
CONCLUSION
\ In conclusion. some remarks on matters of policy may
not be out of place.
It needs no elaborate estimate of areas and value of land
required, and estimates of cost of construction for the above
park system to enable any one to say at once that the cost
I . ~ .
will be very great. It 15 not necessary, however, to know.
even approximately, what the total cost will be, because such '
knowledge would have little practical ‘bearing upon ‘the sub-
ject, any more than it would have been necessary for the men
who ‘planned the City originally to know how much it was
going to cost to complete the City. No doubt it might seem
to some people very businesslike and economical for the City
to condemn at once all the land needed for the entire park
system as proposed and to pay for it by means of a loan, then
to levy assessments for betterments and thereafter to improve
each part of the park system as required to meet the reason-
able demands of the population. The idea simply is not a
practical one. A reasonable and proper share of the annual
tax levy of the city can be devoted to park purposes, partly
for maintenance, partly for improvements, partly for direct
land acquisition and partly for interest and sinking fund re-
quirements of park loans. A sound judgment as to what per-
centage of the annual tax levy should ‘be devoted to park loan
interest and sinking fund can readily be based upon a compari-
son of what has been usual in that regard in other somewhat
similar cities. As the city grows in population and wealth
the amount of money which can be devoted to park work will
increase both absolutely and relatively. It will be greater
relatively because some of a city's expenditures are based
much more nearly on population than on wealth; also because
even the rate of taxation may properly be raised when more
of what people want and are willing to pay for is supplied by
the municipality. between two cities fairly equal in other
respects. if one has a public library and branch libraries, a
museum of art, a museum of natural history, public baths.
public gymnasiums, trade schools, public playgrounds, parks,
and parkways, a municipal band andeven (as in many German
cities) a municipal orchestra and concert hall and a municipal
theatre, people in it will pay cheerfully a rate of taxation di-
rectly or by paying higher rent, than they would in the other
48
city without those municipal attractions but with a lower tax
rate. It should be borne in mind that public parks and park-
ways are not the least of these and other municipal undertak-
ings in‘attracting ‘people, especially well-to-do people, to the
city,'b_oth for temporary and for permanent residence.
The ﬁnancial aspect of the park problem is very greatly
complicated by the great number of cases in which there is
great danger of losing valuable or even unique opportunities
if certain tracts of land are not promptly acquired. In the
matter of boulevards an absolutely unique opportunity exists
for completing a desirable route in the case of the extension
of Home Avenue to Norwood Avenue at comparatively mod-
erate expense. If a few of the more expensive ‘buildings which
have been recently erected in that vicinity are put in the way
the project maybe practically killed. Among the playﬁelds
suggested it can readily be seen that if certain opportunities
are not promptly seized upon they will soon be lost, so far as
one can now judge, practically forever. So far as parks are
concerned, some of the opportunities which now exist may
vanish without warning, almost literally in a day. Such are
the small tracts of beautiful woods; for instance, Highwood
Park, v\Vestwood l’ark, l-lomewood Park, Beechwood Park.
Spur'wood Park, .l’oolwood Park, Rockwood Park and the
south end of \Voodleigh Park, because their owners may any
day order the woods cut down completely, to realize their cash
value or partially to open streets through them and let the
sun in on the lots. In the larger parks, the opportunities are
various. At Downriver l’ark it seems inevitable that the Fair
Grounds will be secured by the City for a park. There is no
haste about that, but to permit factories or other buildings to
get in between it and the river would be shockingly bad man-
agement, and that land ought, therefore, to be leased or op-
tioned at once if funds are not available to buy it outright.
The portion west of Perry Street presents an extraordinary
opportunity to secure‘ a ballground that would be of inesti-
mable value to the dense population within half a mile north
of it and a full mile northeast and east of it. Of course, both
lfpriver Park and Downriver Park are topographically inevit-
- able. The cutting down of trees, while it would be a great
calamity from the'park standpoint, would not in itself be a
49
sufficient reason for abandoning the idea of taking them, as it
might be in the case of some of the smaller woodland parks.
As between Downriver and Upriver Parks, it does not appear
to be important at the present time to strain for the acquisition
of land for the former further south than Stewart Street ex-
tension, because most of the land south of that is “strongly”
held so that an informal understanding may probably be ar-
rived at as to what portions of it may be built upon (if any
must be) pending the time when the city will be ﬁnancially
able to pay for it. So, too, in a less degree, are certain portions
of Upriver Park “strongly” held and by parties who have such
public spirit that they may ‘be relied upon to hold their land,
as at present, until the city can afford to buy it, of course, with
the expectation that it is rising in value with sufﬁcient rap-
idity to warrant holding it. But a study of the City and its
vicinity shows that the Stillwater Valley and the ridge east of
it is by ~far the best opportunity which the city possesses for a
great public park and a beautiful rural parkway. In the ﬁrst
place, the old wealthy residence portion of the city, second,
the principal hotels, third‘, the oﬂice buildings, fourth, the prin-
ciapl churches, ﬁfth, the principal clubs, sixth, the public build—
ings, and seventh the residential section, containing more
pleasure carriages and automobiles, as well as can be judged
without extended examination than any other and which is
larger than any other, are‘ all more distinctly and agreeably
tributary to Upriver Park; that is to say, without the necessity
of crossing a steam railroad or of following an electric rail-
way, than to any other of the proposed or possible parks.
Therefore it would be prudent to acquire at least those parts
that are most likely soon to be cut up into lots and to be built
upon, if the whole cannot be afforded at the start. A
After that it may be well to act upon the principle that the
relatively large and prompt expenditure for land acquisition
which a bond issue makes possible should be expended mainly
in the acquisition of close in acreage property which is partly
or wholly covered with trees, and preferably that which is on
hills, because the owners of such lands are liable at any time
to cut down the trees, or to sell the land in house lots. When
this last happens, there is almost inevitably a sudden and very
large increase in the market value of'the property and especial-
50
ly in the cost to the city of acquiring it. It is, therefore, of the
utmost importance for the city to obtain control of such con-
templated parks promptly. Aside from the above class of
cases, there are various minor cases of vacant or comparatively
vacant land more or less surrounded ‘by a region of house lots
and houses and which land is therefore indicated as suitable
for playﬁelds, small parks or ornamental squares and which
should, if possible, be acquired before more buildings are
erected on them.
On the other hand, land which is needed for playgrounds,
but which is more or less closely ‘built upon and otherwise im-
proved, is not likely to change so suddenly in value and can
therefore, if necessary, be more safely left to be acquired more
or less piecemeal from year to year.
There is another very important policy which study of
park development in other cities makes clear. It is that the
only way in which a good beginning can be made toward the
accomplishment of a comprehensive park system is by having
a well-balanced and fairly complete scheme studied out and
by then borrowing a very large sum of money for the im-
mediate acquisition of a large part if not the whole of the pro-
posed park system. One reason for this, as we have already
explained, is in order to take advantage of opportunities while
they are still open. But a far more important reason is that
only by so doing can sectional jealousies be prevented from
blocking orderly and economical progress in the acquisition
of parks and parkiways. This is a matter of such general ex-
perience that it hardly needs argument to support it. If the
dread of a big bond issue should lead to the adoption of the
idea of buying one park now and another next year and a
larger one two or three years later and so on—the piecemeal
policy—progress would not only be slow because of the neces-
s'ary log rolling in deciding the order of acquisition, but most
likely there would be no progress at all, as shown by the fact
' that Day‘ton, with a population of_116,577, has an average of
only 8 square feet of park area per inhabitant, while Hartford,
Conn., with only 98,915 population has an average of 286
square feet of park area per inhabitant, or over 35 times as
much, and Hartford is by no means at the head of the list.
Until Hartford issued a large park loan, her progress in park
51
acquisition was mostly conﬁned to Bushnell 'Pa'rk, which-"was
only made possible as a matter of votes by the fact that it was
in the heart of the city and thus obviously not much more. for
the. beneﬁt of one residence district than another.
If the piecemeal policy were to be ‘continued in Dayton
how could the southwest section expect to get National Ave-
nue taken and improved by the City and extended to'the Fifth
Street bridge? Every other part of the city would surely vote
against a loan for that purpose. No doubt many intelligent
citizens might be found who would favor a bond issue for tak-
ing Idylwild for a park, but who would frown upon the idea
of a bond issue say ten times as large ‘for taking several ‘parks
. well distributed over the city. It would be useless to try for a
bond issue for that one park. People in other parts of the City
would vote against it. It has been tried in that very case and
failed. It always will fail. People must make up their minds
to two things: First, that the City must have parks; and.
second, that the only possible way to get them is by a big
bond issue. ,
The following schedule shows ‘the total approximate
acreage of playgrounds, small and large parks- and also the
approximate lengths of parkways and boulevards:
26 playgrounds, approximate acreage __________________ __230
9 small parks, namely:
Rockwood Park ________________________ __ 26.0
Poolwood “ ________________________ __ 80.0
Spurwood f" ________________________ __ 18.0
Beechwood “ ________________________ __ 17.5
Brookwood “ ________________________ -2 12.0
W'estwood “ ___________________ _-'____-_ 12.0 "
Highwood “ ________ __'____'___' ____ ______ 22.0
Highland “ _______ __-_____- __________ __ 15.0 I
Homewood “ ____________ __l __________ __ 1.4.0 ,
" ' ' ' " 216.5
4 large parks, namely :, _ , , ,
vW'oodleigh Park _________________ __-__--..___ 1.3-1.0
Old Channel Park ____________________ __.____ 86.0.
Upriver Park, including Miami River (north '
from Steel Dam) and StillwaterRiver to a'
point about 11/3 miles north of Highland Ave-v
nue __'___2 ________ __- __________ __»___- _____ _.._ 51'00 ' ‘
Downriver Park,v excluding 800’ strip e-m- ' ; ' '
bracing river and ‘bordering drives___~; ____ __ 330.0
1060.0 1060.0 ‘
1' ' 13506.5
Parkways :.
Circumferential parkways _________________ __10.3 miles
Miami River Parkway ____________________ __ 4.6 "
\IVolf Creek ‘ ____________________ __ 1.8
Mad River “ _____________________ _ 2.5
19.2
Boulevards:
Third Street ________ ___ __________________ __ 3.0 miles
Xenia Avenue ___________________________ __ 3.0 “
National Avenue a ________________________ __ 3.0 “
9.0 “
From this schedule it is obvious that were the land recom-
mended for playgrounds and parks (150.65 acres) acquired
Dayton would be placed in a much more creditable position
than it holds at present in its relation to other cities in the "
matter of parks, as it would then have a population of 78 people
per acre of park instead of, as now, 5948 and the percentage of
, park area to that of the city would be 20 per cent instead of
0.27 per cent. In other words Dayton would be near the head
of the list, instead of at the foot.
Respectfully submitted,
OLMS'I‘ED BROTHERS.
The extension along Home Avenue to \Nilliams
Street will be a matterof improvement only as we
fear the expense of widening the avenue would be
prohibitive. 1* rom \\ Ilhams Stieet to Mound Street
the line cuts so diagonally across lots that the cost
of acquiring the necessary land should be taken up
by someone familiar with the values. -
PARKWAYS '
Circumferential Parkway, Upriver Park to Soldiers’
Home, 100.00 A., at say an average of $1,000
per A _____________________________________ "$100,000.00
Old Channel Park to Findlay Avenue, 35.00 A., at
say an average of $1,500 per A ___________ _.a.__ ‘ 52,500.00
\Noodleigh Park to Lebanon Pike, 67.00 A., at say
‘v ' an average, of $2,000 per A _________________ _.. 134,000.00
Cincinnati Pike to Soldiers’ Home, 53.00 A., at say i
an average of $1,000 per A _________________ __ 53,000.00
$339,500.00
Ct
CO
Miami River Parkway, Cincinnati Pike to
Steele Dam. From Cincinnati Pike to Washington
Street this is taken care of by the proposed change
in River.
From Washington Street to Steele Dam is so
complicated by River bed rights, the taking of por-
tions .of lots, etc., that it is impossible for us to esti-
mate the cost, and we recommend that the matter
be put into the hands of the City Engineer to ﬁgure.
WOLF CREEK PARKWAY
From Miami River to Summit Street. This
is merely a matter of improving the existing streets
and possibly acquiring portions of some abutting
lots. West from Summit Street the area including
water, is approximately 69.00 A., at say $1,000
per A. ______________________________________ __ 69,000.00
$408,500.00
11th May, 1911.
Mr. L. Edgar Orendorf, Secretary,
Board of Park Commissioners, Dayton,.Ohio.
Dear Sir:
\Ne enclose an approximate estimate of the cost for ac-
quiring the various tracts of land recommended in our report.
The estimate in general has been based on prices given
us by various people with whom we consulted during the time
we were in Dayton studying the park system, and, as in many
cases the prices given were more or less a matter of guess
work, we fear that the estimate we now submit cannot be re-
garded as accurate.
Moreover, you will readily understand that even though
the values should be correct at the present time, the probable
increase in value which will accrue should the acquirements
be delayed even a year will undoubtedly be considerable.
If we can be of any further assistance to you in the matter
please command our services.
On going over the area of the playgrounds for this esti—
mate we found an error had been made and the total for the
26 playgrounds should have been 230 acres instead of 188
acres, and the grand total should be 1506.5 acres. Will you
kindly make the necessary corrections in our report?
Yours very truly,
OLMSTED BROTHERS.
54
East of Canal and
south of Stewart
Street _________ __ 29.4
Balance ________ _._241.2
330.0
Reference No. Approximate
on Plan Approximate Area Valuation
1 _______________ __ 45.0 acres ______________ __$ 45,000.00
2 _______________ __ 9.5 “ ______________ __ 60,000.00
* 3 _______________ __ 7.3 “ ______________ __ 208,392.00
4 _______________ __ 5.3 “ ______________ __ 27,500.00
* 5 _______________ __ 1.4 “ ______________ __ 63,461.00
* 6 _______________ __ 1.4 “ ______________ __ 32,041.00
* 7 _______________ __ 2.5 “ ______________ _- 39,941.00
* 8 _______________ __ 0.5 “ ______________ __ 30,720.00
9 ________________ __ 2.7 “ ______________ _.. 16,200.00
10 _______________ __ 3.0 “ ______________ __ 9,000.00
11 _______________ __ 3.7 “ ______________ __ 5,000.00
*12 _______________ __ 0.6 “ ______________ __ 21,210.00
1 l3 _______________ __ 0.4 “ ______________ _.. 8,335.00
14 _______________ __ 5.0 “ ______________ __ 7,500.00
)*‘15 _______________ __ 7.3 “ ______________ __ 88,994.00
16 _______________ __ 2.8 “ ______________ __ 7,400.00
17 _______________ __ 6.0 “ ______________ __ 30,000.00
18 _______________ __ 7.0 “ ______________ __ 10,500.00
19 _______________ __ 2.7 “ ______________ __ 4,860.00
20 _______________ __ 6.3 “ ______________ _.. 19,250.00
21 _______________ __ 8.3 “ ______________ __ 10,375.00
"22 _______________ __ 13.0 “ ______________ __ 9,480.00
23 _______________ __ 23.9 “ ______________ __ 25,000.00
24 _______________ __ 5.8 “ ______________ _. 8,700.00
25 _______________ __ 16.1 “ ______________ __ 22,500.00
26 _______________ __ 43.0 “ ______________ _.. 50,000.00
27 _______________ __13l.0 “ ______________ __ 150,000.00
28 _______________ __ 26.0 “ ______________ __ 40,000.00
29 _______________ _.. 80.0 “ ______________ __ 80,000.00
30 _______________ .. 18.0 “ ______________ __ 36,000.00
31 _______________ __ 17.5 ‘ ______________ __ 17,500.00
32 _______________ __ 12.0 ‘ ______________ _. 15,000.00
33 _______________ __ 12.0 ‘ ______________ __ 12,000.00
34 _______________ __ 22.0 “ ______________ __ 33,000.00
35 _______________ __ 15.0 “ ______________ __ 45,000.00
*36 _______________ __ 14.0 “ ______________ _- 34,296.00
37 _______________ __ 86.0 “ ______________ __ 86,000.00
38 _______________ __510.0 “ ______________ __ 250,000.00
39 _______________ __330.0 “ ______________ _-
Fair Grounds“--- 59.4 acres____*294,000.00
acres- __ -* 34,000.00
acres____ 120,000.00
$448,000.00 $448,000.00
*Estimates furnished by Mr. Clarence Hochwalt. $1,968,155.00
55
MAD RIVER PARKWAY
The area of this parkway, including the water.
is approximately 134.0 acres. It should not cost
on an average more than $1,000.00 per acre. but we
understand that some of the owners have very ex-
orbitant ideas as to the value of their land. Assum—
ming. however, a rate of $1,000.00, the cost would
be __________________________________________ __$l34.000.00
BOULEVARDS
Third Street. The only cost to this boulevard
will be such improvements in paving, lighting, etc.,
as may be found desirable.
Xenia Avenue. Some land will be needed be-
tween Wayne Avenue and Quitman Street and this
will probably be quite expensive, judging from the
valuations given us for No. 3 we shall assume $40,-
000.00.
From Britt Street to VV'oodleigh Park about
2.7 acres will have to be acquired at a probable cost
of $6,000.00 per acre, say $16,000.00, a total of____
National Avenue and its extension via Home
Avenue to Miami River. National Avenue will, we
understand, have to be purchased from the City
Railway Co., and we have no information as to
what they expect to receive for it.
56,000.00
.56
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OUTLINE PROJECT FOR SYSTEM OF PARKS AND PARKWAYS
TO ACCOMPANY REPORT DATED APRIL 1911

mat-hum:
OLMSTED BROTHERS. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
anooxumr. MASS.
NOTE—NUMBERS REFER TO THE ORDER IN wmeu THE vAmous PROJICTI~
ARE MENTIONED IN THE REPORT AND ARE NOT INTINDID TO INDICATE
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF‘ THE ACOUIREMENTS.