USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Fitchburg > Address of the mayor, together with the annual reports for the city of Fitchburg, Massachusetts for the year .. > Part 18
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330
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
During the past year, we employed two supervisors and fourteen assistants, seven males, and seven females. Mr. E. S. Maxwell was with us during the opening of the season and remained during the month of July, when heresigned and went west. Mr. Ralph E. Fish was appointed supervisor to succeed him and he performed his duties in an excellent manner and to the satisfaction of the playground committee and the Park Com- mission .; The assistants were all thoroughly in sympathy with the work and were alive and spmpathetic and did much to promote the success of the movement.
It has been clearly demonstrated that those cities that have maintained properly located, well equipped, and well supervised playgrounds furnish a very small percentage, in fact the smallest percentage, of work for the juvenile courts. This has been so plainly apparent that no city that has ever inaugurated and developed the system, no matter in how slight a degree, has ever abandoned it. On the contrary they have done all that they could to increase and develop the grounds and the work connected with it.
For the honor, credit and good name of our city, we ought to forge ahead and not let the work lag or fall behind.
With the development of the playground idea and the provision that we are making for recreation and exercise by the children, there should be some provision made for shower baths and swimming pools.
Where the grounds are situated near a school house, by the cooperation of the Park Commission and the School Com- mittee the schools can be made available for toilet purposes, and we trust that at an early date arrangements can be made for putting in shower baths in connection with the work of the playground. In most cities, pavilions are erected and waiting rooms and shower baths are built in the pavilions. This, of course, takes money and the Commission, while we would like to have the children have the benefit of the shower baths and swimming pools, are not in a position to furnish them, nor urging the matter at this time, although they hope to see the time when they will have shower baths and swimming pools in connection with every playground in the city.
In this connection, here is a splendid opportunity for some of our influential and generous citizens to help a worthy and
SCENES AT DANIELS PLAYGROUND
331
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
commendable object by either erecting, or donating sufficient funds, as has been done in some other cities-to erect, a bath pavilion in connection with one or more of our playgrounds. Such a gift will certainly be appreciated and the donor will not only be a benefactor to the city, but the children will always hold him or her in grateful remembrance.
As an indication of the interest and large attendance and the number who have been benefited-for we feel that all who -
have taken part or participated in the playground movement have been benefited thereby-it is interesting to read the figures of the total and average attendance upon the playgrounds and the large numbers that have been in attendance upon special days.
Total number for year, 83,497
Average for each playground, 11,928
Average daily attendance at all playgrounds, 2,084
Largest number for one day on any one playground,
943
Largest number at a playground,
21,482
Number of children between ages of five and fifteen in the city, 6,208
Number of children between ages of five and twenty in schools, 6,745
Therefore, we have reached approximately 33 3-5 per cent of the children between ages of five and fifteen in our city.
30 4-5 per cent of children in schools from five to twenty years.
GAMES TAUGHT.
Folk Dancing.
Gym. Drill.
Races.
Jumping.
Soccer Football.
Soccer Golf.
Sewing.
Base ball.
Apparatus.
Lodge Ball.
Swimming.
Touch Ball.
Steal Bag.
Guard Bean Bag.
Jump the Leader.
Snatch Bean Bag.
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REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
The season wound up with what was to be an open air fes- tival on Circle street, but owing to the rain we were obliged to hold the exercises in City Hall, which were largely attended by parents and others interested and was participated in by chil- dren from the several playgrounds. A number of games were illustrated, and the folk dancing under the direction of Miss Magoun was an attractive and pleasing feature and was greatly admired by those who were fortunate enough to witness the ex- hibition. The dances were quaint and graceful and evidently heartily enjoyed by the participants as well as the spectators. The city festival was attended by hundreds, but had the weather been fair instead of a stormy and rainy day it would have been attended by thousands of admiring and pleased spectators.
The playground is the children's forum. Here the children are taught correct ideas as to honor, loyalty, fair play and con- sideration to others. Then again, it is the prime source of recreation and play for nine-tenths of our children, for while a few can be cared for and sent away for change and recreation the great majority of our children must be dependent upon the city and facilities it affords for enjoyment and for healthy centers of recreation.
We feel that the good results accomplished by the play- grounds have more than compensated for the outlay that has been made. The children have been surrounded by good, wholesome influences, kept from secret and undesirable places, and have been developed along good lines morally, physically and mentally. The whole movement tends to make them better children, more healthy, more wholesome, more loyal, more generous boys and girls, and will tend to make them good citi- zens. The work ought to, as it has in the past, receive the warmest and heartiest support of our city and city government.
Respectfully submitted,
H. F. COGGSHALL, Chairman, D. SIDNEY WOODWORTH, Secretary, J. H. DANIELS, H. G. TOWNEND, JOHN SHIRREFFS,
Park Commission.
PLAYGROUND
GROUPS AND GAMES
1 :
-
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS AND CITY FORESTER
To the Honorable Board of Park Commissioners :
GENTLEMEN : - I have the honor to herewith submit my first annual report as Superintendent of Parks and Playgrounds and City Forester.
The above mentioned offices having been but just created this past summer I have had but a few months in which to familiarize myself with the local conditions. It will be impossi- ble, therefore, for me to go into the work done in the past year in much detail.
It is a very essential item in all business enterprises that a strict account be kept of all moneys received and expended that it may be known how much is being expended on each separate department and subdivision. By this means it is easy to tell at any time if too much is being spent on any particular work to the neglect of any other or vice versa. For this purpose it is necessary to have an office with a properly equipped accounting system. As the detail necessary to run our parks and play- grounds was becoming too much of a burden for your secretary to care for it was thought best to establish an office at City Hall in conjunction with the Moth Superintendent and Forest War- den. These offices being already held by your Superintendent therefore condensed and brought under one head, so to speak, all departments pertaining to forestry and park work.
It has been our aim since opening the office at City Hall to make it a general information bureau for the benefit of the pub- lic as well as caring for the necessary work of the department. To accomplish this end and to keep a record of everything, we have had printed various blank forms to be filled out by appli- cants for labor, information, requests for work, complaints, etc. The regular clerk has been kept busy working on the necessary routine office work, and it has been necessary on several oc-
334
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
casions to have extra help for a few days. Your Superintendent has made a study of the accounting system used in various cities and we have worked out a plan by which it will be possi- ble for us to be much more accurate in our accounting the present year.
PARKS.
In going over the figures available for our park areas, I have compiled the following table, showing the relative area, valuation, cost of maintenance, of our park areas. In obtaining the figures on maintenance, I have used a multiple obtained by taking the average of the percentage of valuation and area of each park as compared with the whole system. Coggshall park has been treated separately for reasons explained later.
PARKS
Areas Acres
Valuation
Multiple
Cost of Maintenance Per Park
Cost of Maintenance Per Sq. Yd.
Momument
.642
$56,000 00
37
$924 40
$ .297
Upper Common
.545
25,000 00
24
571 42
.217
Stanley.
.484
2,700 00
13
256 40
.109
Lower Common
.231
38,000 00
9
209 63
.187
Cleghorn,
.136
500 00
6
141 87
.231
Grant
.241
350 00
5
85 55
.073
Oak Hill.
.162
2,500 00
3
59 25
.075
Wallace Way.
.050
25,000 00
3
79 58
.329
*Armory ..
*Falulah
2.691
$150,050 00
100
$2,328 17
* No work done or charged to these parks.
Figures explain themselves and call for no more comment on my part.
Of the ten park areas named in the above list, only three can really be classified as true parks, and of these three one has not been worked at all and is, I should say, scarcely known of by the majority of the people.
A park in its true sense of the word is an open space in or near the congested part of the city large enough to give to the people of that city, or section of the city, a place where they can find pure, fresh air and a cool, shady place on hot summer days ; a place open to the public, children as well as grown-ups,
335
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
that they can use as well as look at. Every city, especially a manufacturing city, needs a number of these places where cooped-up workers may go to be entertained in a healthful and useful manner. The modern idea of a park is not where thou- sands of dollars have been spent on beautiful fountains, lawns, shrubbery and gorgeous display of flowers, etc. These are all right in their place but they give to the ordinary person a feeling of must-not-touch or keep-off-the-grass-tiveness all the while. What the tired worker wants in his or her hours of leisure is a place that is beautiful, but also draws them to it by its show of peace and restfulness. In short, we need only to follow nature as far as we can and assist her in making a rest and healthful resort for our people.
As I have before mentioned, our parks are, on the whole, more ornamental than otherwise. Do not understand that I say they are not useful. The maintaining of beauty spots or "City Greens," (for that is really what our park areas amount to), is important also to the welfare of any city. The proper care of these greens in our city is what makes it attractive to the stranger passing through in his automobile. He may be so impressed by the cleanliness and beauty of our streets, trees, and greens, that he will want to come here to live. Even if he does not, he is liable to speak to his friends about it and thus we have spread a good word broadcast in favor of our city as a good place to live in.
Not all our parks are purely ornamental, however: We have Coggshall and Falulah Parks, which can be made into ideal parks in the true sense of the word.
Falulah Park is a beautful little piece of woodland situated on the Rindge road and adjoining the grounds of the Burbank hospital. All this needs is development to make it one of the prettiest spots in the state. Right here, I wish to make the suggestion that the movement be pushed to join this piece to that of the hospital tract and take over the whole or portion of the same to be developed under the Park Commission. We have here a tract of nearly 400 acres of land already owned by the city and which in turn joins more city land covering a por- tion of our water shed. The conditions here are ideal to make a beautiful tract that would give to the people of this section of the city what Coggshall Park is giving to the south side.
336
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
Coggshall Park is at the present time our only real park. A small amount of money has been expended up to the present time on its development, but a great deal of progress has been made in its improvement along different lines. Roads have been laid out, playgrounds established in the grove, swings and picnic tables installed in different sections of the park, and a base ball field laid out. The sum of $2,415.85 has been ex- pended here during the past year. This is an average of $11.61 per acre, or $ .0024 per square yard. It will be readily seen by referring to the preceding table that the amount expended here on our only large park per square yard is very small compared to that spent in maintaining city greens.
One of the principle movements made during the year has been the pond, or Mirror Lake as it has been christened. This was developed at a small cost to the city by putting in a tem- porary dam at the outlet of the natural basin which contained a number of springs. It has succeeded in giving you a beautiful little lake of some six acres, which the children have certainly made use of the present winter. It will be necessary this year to allow the water to stand as it is in order to ascertain whether the supply from under ground will be enough to offset the evaporation from the surface. In case this does not result, it will be necessary to add in some way to the water supply. There are several available means of doing this if the necessary money is forthcoming.
The park now comprises 208 acres of rough and beautiful woodland. With a lake well established in its center, we have a foundation for its development. The land has great possibili- ties in this respect, but what we need now is a definite map and plan for its future development. Other cities have made the mistake in years past of developing their parks without a cen- tral working plan and are now spending millions to undo what they have already spent great sums in doing, but with the result that they have a heterogeneous mass of material instead of a concrete whole. We are now at a stage where we can profit by their mistakes and begin right.
The forestry problem here is also a complicated one. There is need of considerable thinning in the woodland in order to. improve the present stand, and to eliminate as much as possible the fire danger. On account of several disastrous fires during
MIRROR LAKE, COGGSHALL PARK
337
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
the past year we have had about thirty acres burned over and the growth entirely destroyed. It has been thought best to re- move the dead wood from this area this year, and I would strongly advise replanting it to white pine this spring. A large part of the hardwood is composed of chestnut, which it would seem is doomed for extinction within the next dozen years unless we find some remedy to stop the disastrous fungus disease known as the chestnut blight which is wiping out all the chestnut in this section of this country.
The present pine grove is nearly matured, and as using a forest floor for purposes of recreation, etc., shortens the life of the forest, we will have to look forward to the time when we will need a new pine grove for our pavilions and picnics. For this reason I think it is advisable to get more pine started here as soon as possible.
PLAYGROUNDS.
In speaking of city playgrounds there is very little to be said as the work has been conducted principally by your play- ground committee, and they have most of the facts in regard to it. I have, however, prepared a table similar to the one on parks showing the relative area, valuation of each ground, and the cost of maintenance of grounds, and the cost of supervision and apparatus. The last columns show the relative cost per square yard for maintenance of each ground, the cost of super- vision and apparatus for each child in attendance during the season, and lastly the detailed cost, including maintenance of ground, supervision and apparatus for each child. I used the figures of the total attendance for the year in each play- ground.
22
338
PLAYGROUND
Areas
Valuation
Per Child in attendance
Per cent
Grounds
Supervision and Apparatus
Total
Per Square Yard
Sup. & Ap.
Total
South Fitchburg.
11.27
$9,000
29
$275 13
$1,578 33
$1,853 46
$.005
$.158
$.186
Salem.
1.881
8,200
26
898 62
1,415 05
2,313 67
.0099
.344
.563
Walton ..
2.48
6,500
19
541 19
1,034 08
1,575 27
.0450
.105
.173
Daniels
4.372
6,900
11
87 96
598 68
686 64
.0004
.028
.032
Lowe ..
3.24
17,000
8
59 24
435 40
494 64
.0037
.023
.026
Goodrich
1.862
5,000
5
28 67
272 13
300 80
.0004
.033
.036
Middle
.422
6,900
2
38 00
108 85
146 85
.0019
.010
.014
25.527
$59,500
100
$1,928 81
$5,442 52
$7,371 33
$ .0663
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
COST OF MAINTENANCE
- UNIT COST
Multiple
339
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
As our playgrounds are still in the embryo stage it will be necessary to do considerable work on their improvement this year. There is some grading to be done at South Fitchburg in order to make a good base ball field. Other grounds need additional work on the ball fields also.
All the grounds, with the exception of Salem and Middle street, need attention to the trees. The pine grove at Daniels Playground is in very bad shape. More than a dozen of these trees are dead and others are dying. The grove is so exposed to the wind that the tops are bent and broken and the roots in many cases laid bare by the winds carrying away the fine soil. More trees should be planted here and new soil added to the present grove to rejuvenate it. The trees at Walton street grounds are also in bad shape and need somewhat similar attention, but here the trees are hardwoods, mostly chestnut. At Lowe Playground the hardwood grove near the retaining wall on High street should be thinned of all the dead and sup- pressed trees. The gypsy moth is intrenched here and a good thinning will aid the Moth Department in caring for the grove. Goodrich and South Fitchburg grounds are not in need of any particular attention this year. Salem street should have a number of trees set out on it as at present there is only one tree there.
All the grounds will need some additional apparatus and equipment this year. The experiment of leaving some of the apparatus on the grounds after the instructors have left has proven a failure in most cases as nearly all our chair swings are so badly broken as to need almost entirely new chairs. Many of the teeter boards are broken and several seats entirely demol- ished. All there was left of the equipment was moved to our new storehouse at 22 Franklin street. All apparatus is being renovated, repaired and painted during the winter and will be in excellent shape for another season.
The storehouse has proven a great saving to us thus far. It has been equipped with a work bench and a partial supply of tools for general repair work. As it has to be used for the general storeroom and workshop for the park, playground, tree and moth departments it has already proven much too small for our needs. There is not room enough left now to set up one of our chair swings to repair or paint it. We should have another
340
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
larger and better equipped storehouse more centrally located. The city will soon have to own a spraying outfit and there will be no room to store it. The present location would be a good place to store a sprayer, but another place would have to be provided for the park and playground apparatus. It would seem as if it were better for the department to own their own storehouse instead of paying rent for one.
FORESTRY DEPARTMENT.
The care of our shade trees is a department of the city work that has been very much neglected until recent years. The shade tree is the feature of the city that makes it attractive and worth living in during the hot summer months. What our shade trees mean to us can only be appreciated by one who has lived or traveled where there are none. In such places, the people fairly worship the cool and shade-giving tree that may be made to grow in that locality.
Fitchburg has been plentifully supplied with vigorous trees of all kinds, but like many other things, when we have plenty of them we do not appreciate them, so Fitchburg has not ap- preciated her blessings and has allowed them to go without caring for until now she is beginning to grow bald, so to speak.
My first duty upon taking up the work as City Forester was to ascertain how many shade trees you have and then of the condition they were in that I might know how much, or what kind of work, I would have to do. In order to obtain the information, I started a tree census by which means I will be able to not only know how many and what kinds of trees we have but where they are located, on what streets, whether near the abutter's line, near the line of curbing, or setting in the main street. This work has not as yet been entirely completed and checked on account of lack of time and funds. We have, however, arrived at some interesting deductions, some of which may be of interest to you. There are at the present time 1927 shade trees on the streets inside of the fire district. Of this number there were 41 different species represented, ranging from one to 43 inches in diameter. The following table shows the different species represented with the number of trees of each kind, also the number of trees from one to five inches in diameter and up :
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REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
684 Sugar Maple.
6 Sycamore Maple.
528 American Elm.
5 Sweet Chestnut.
156 Red Maple. 4 Lombardy Poplar.
92 White Pine.
4 European Linden.
62 White Oak.
4 Aspen.
47 Black Oak.
45 Red Oak.
35 Horse Chestnut.
26
Black Cherry.
1 Catalpa.
23 Norway Maple.
1 Red Spruce.
18 Cut Leaf Maple.
1 Scarlet Oak.
15 Cotton Wood.
1 Pitch Pine.
14 Balm of Gilead.
1 Sassafras.
15 Cult. Apple.
1 Cut Leaf Birch.
8 Butternut.
1 Mountain Ash.
8 Hickory
1
Slippery Elm.
8 Red Cherry.
1 Green Ash.
7 Gray Birch.
1
Pear.
6 Box Elder.
Total,
1927
Trees
Inches Diam.
Trees
Inches Diam.
228
1-5
69
25-30
341
5-10
26
30-35
517
10-15
2
36
458
15-20
.
2
38
248
20-25
1
41
1
43
These trees have been classified according to health under the following heads :
Tops
Trunks
254
Perfect.
420
Perfect.
577
Good.
597
Good.
744 Fair.
502
Fair.
239 Doubtful.
249
Doubtful.
62 Poor.
105
Poor.
22
Bad.
25
Bad.
19
Very. Bad.
15
Very Bad.
59 White Ash.
4 Locust.
3 American Linden.
3 Pignut Hickory.
2 White Birch.
24 Silver Maple.
1 English Ash.
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REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
A record of all these facts has been kept at the office. I have established a card system by which every tree is given a card. These are indexed' under streets. By means of this system, we will be able to know how much money is expended on any certain tree, or on any one street, or any one ward. We also know how many trees there are on each street, and how many streets, have no trees.
In the three months the forestry work has been conducted $725.18 has been expended. Of this amount $243.20 has been returned to us for work done on private estates and for damages to city shade trees. Up to the present time our work has con- sisted mostly in removing dead trees and pruning the dead wood from a few of the most dangerous specimens. Much more work is necessary to put our remaining trees in a safe con- dition and to insure to them a long and healthful life. Of our 1,927 trees 166 have cavities of more or less size which all need tinning or cementing to keep the gypsy moth out and to prevent fungus diseases from entering ; 26 have crotches or bad forks that need bracing by means of bolts or chains to insure them from spliting ; 180 have injuries of a more or less serious nature that need attention ; 42 have boiler plate guards that are now injuring the trees and should be removed; 115 have wire guards that have been imbedded in the growing tree until they are girdling and killing it. Of the entire number of street trees only 289 have guards of any kind, and 173 of these need remov- ing so that practically all of our shade trees that stand near the curbing need new wire guards. Besides this work many of the trees listed as dying or in poor or bad condition are in need of rejuvination. In order to accomplish this result a system of under drainage should be installed which would bring the necessary amount of water and food material to the starved roots that are struggling against the adverse conditions of our city paving and sidewalks to obtain the necessary food for keep- ing their branches green. More work is also necessary in the pruning of trees and more trees are badly needed.
No definite list of the parasites attacking our shade trees has been attempted, but in making out our tree census a few of the principle kinds have been noted. Among these are the gypsy and brown tail moth, several forms of the tussock moth, tent caterpillar, web worm, the green striped maple worm,
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REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
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