Report On West Roxbury Park.

Gentlemen,—I respectfully submit the following propositions in respect to the plan of West Roxbury Park.

1.  The prime object will be to present favorably to public enjoyment a body of rural and sylvan scenery, large in scale, simple and tranquil in character; and, in contrast and as a foil to this, passages of a wild, rugged, picturesque and forest-like aspect.

2.  It is desirable that the larger part of the park should be of such character that it can easily be kept in good order and sustain its design without [233]great expense, and that for this purpose it should have less of a garden-like and more of a distinctively park and forest-like character than is now generally attempted in American parks.

3.  If, apart from the main provisions above suggested, and without seriously interfering with them or excessively restricting their extent, the following proposed arrangements can be included in the general design, it is desirable that they should be:—

A.  A place of general congregation where carriages, horsemen, and foot visitors may be brought together without clashing and under conditions favorable to the enjoyment of a gay throng.

B.  A ground suitable for public festivities, especially for parades of children such as are made on the Brooklyn Park; also for displays of fireworks, balloons, and other exhibitions. This would relieve the management of the park of a responsibility elsewhere found very embarrassing.

C.  Provisions by which families will be encouraged to make basket-meals and picnics on the park, and by which, especially, mothers with young children, unable to go out of town during the summer, may be invited to make lengthened visits to it.

Lastly, if suitable ground can be found that may be reserved without crippling the park for its main object, it is desirable that the plan should admit of the city’s holding in readiness a sufficient area to be leased to a proper organization for establishing, by private means, a public Zoölogical and Exotic Garden, as has been done in connection with the public parks of the cities of London, Paris, Dublin, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Cologne, Philadelphia and others, and as has been repeatedly attempted in New York unsuccessfully because the primary plan of the park did not admit of it.

Respectfully,

Report On Wood Island Park.

Gentlemen,—I have the honor to submit to your consideration a plan for laying out the city property known as Wood Island Park, within which will be the continuation and terminus, toward the harbor, of Neptune Road, now under construction, which is designed to be the pleasure drive of East Boston. The site is a promontory, the stem of which is crossed, in a cutting, by the Revere [234]Beach Railroad, over which the Neptune Road must pass by an archway. On the north-east side is a bay, becoming a broad mud-flat as the tide falls. On the south-west there is marshy ground, with high land beyond. On both sides the bordering land is private property, and is liable to be embanked and built over. On the south-east only can a permanent outlook be depended upon. In this direction there is a fine view down the harbor. The attraction of the locality is found in this view, and in the sea-breezes by which it is swept in summer. The ground is now treeless, and, because of its severe exposure and dryness, only the hardiest class of trees are likely to be long-lived and flourishing in it. For this reason, and also because low masses of foliage would obscure the outlook and obstruct the sea-breezes, ordinary pleasure-ground treatment of this site is unadvisable. The principal planting should be of the different sorts of oak, hickory, maple, birch, elm, lime, and ash, that have been found most enduring in Eastern Massachusetts, and in standard rather than lawn-like form.

As proposed by the drawing herewith submitted, Neptune Road is to be divided on entering the grounds, forming a sweep, from all parts of which the harbor-view and the sea-breeze may be enjoyed. For this purpose the base of the drive must be in part an artificial shelf or terrace of earth for which material is to be obtained by spreading out the central ridge of the promontory. Upon the level to result from this reduction a field of turf is to be formed fitting to games of base-ball, cricket, lacrosse, tennis, and other sports. On its boundary a track is to be laid suitable to walking, running, and bicycle exercises, and between this and the roadway is to be a promenade for spectators. The play-ground is six hundred by three hundred feet, or about four and a half acres, in extent. The running track is a third of a mile in length; the driving course half a mile.

At the north end of the play-ground a structure is placed, the basement of which will contain lavatories, closets, and arrangements for the convenience of players; the upper part, entered from the level of the walk, a shelter for visitors in sudden showers, and a gallery for viewing the games; elsewhere, retired from general view, a police station, superintendency, and work yard, and on the shore at the south point, a boat-landing, with a shelter and arrangements for letting boats and fishing-gear and the safe keeping of boat-equipments.

A key-plan is presented on the same sheet, showing the manner in which the park is connected by Neptune Road with the existing street system of East Boston, and on the main plan a possible extension of the street system upon the ground adjoining the park is forecast. The need for a street railroad, to give access to the park is assumed, and a route laid down by which it will cross a corner of the ground and take up visitors at a siding, from a proper shelter within it. A park station for the Revere Beach Railroad is also shown, with a suitable station-house, and route therefrom to the play-ground.

The drive and adjoining walk of the park are to be considered as a necessary continuation of the Neptune Road as already laid out and begun. The small buildings proposed will be found indispensable to any [235]

[236]considerable public use of the property. In other respects, though intended to provide every condition of a public ground desirable in the peculiar circumstances of this locality, making its distinctive advantages available, and controlling its disadvantages; the plan will, it is thought, be as little costly to carry out as any that could be devised.

Respectfully,