USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lincoln > Town Report on Lincoln 1930-1934 > Part 15
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The schools have been entirely free from communicable diseases with the exception of one case of Mumps last March.
On May 29, 1931, Dr. Wood gave the Schick Test to 64 children, and on November 10, 17 and 24, 1931, Diphtheria Toxin-antitoxin was given to 35 children (23 school and 12 pre-school).
A very successful Dental Clinic was conducted by the Lincoln Dental Committee, of which Mrs. Robert G. Loring is Chairman. The dentist was Dr. William L. Cosgrove, of Lexington.
Total number of clinic days 23
Total number of pupils treated
92
Total number of cleanings 84
Total number of fillings
181
Total number of extractions
62
Percentage treated by clinic dentist
40
Percentage treated by family dentists 22
Percentage of dental defects corrected in 1929
50
Percentage of dental defects corrected in 1930 65
Percentage of dental defects corrected in 1931 61
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The results of the physical examinations made by Dr. Wood in September, of 240 pupils, showed: 37 with carious teeth; 60 with tonsils and adenoids; 8 with hypertrophied glands; 2 with slight heart defects; 1 with a Hernia; 1 with pediculosis; and 43 were 10% or more underweight. Respectfully submitted,
DOROTHY R. SNELLING, R. N.
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REPORT OF THE JOHN H. PIERCE PARK COMMITTEE
The Committee was organized by the choice of Albert S. Graves, Chairman, and Frank E. White, Secretary.
Your Committee felt that the proper treatment of the Park would depend almost entirely on the Landscape Architect employed for the necessary technical advice and work. With this in view, consultations were held with a number of men whom your Committee believed would know of the qualifications of such experts. Among those so consulted, were park commissions of other towns, playground direc- tors, and architects. From information so gathered, four landscape architects were requested to meet with your Com- mittee. With each one the whole problem was discussed in a general way, and his previous work of a similar nature examined. The final choice was made of Mr. Robert W. Beal. His experience in playground work was much greater than the others', and his attitude that the park should be treated as a natural feature of New England landscape coincided with the views of your Committee.
The plan, as finally submitted, is drawn with the view of containing all features which may be desirable during a long period of years. Your Committee wishes to stress the fact that whereas certain features may seem unnecessary for Lincoln at the present time, they are planned for so that they can be constructed when and if needed and still bear a harmonious relation to the whole; a result which would not be accomplished if the plan were added to piece- meal, as the needs of the Town increased in years to come.
The construction of the Park and playground units are so planned that they extend over a period of years. The fund
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left by Mr. Pierce should be sufficient to take care of the cost of this construction.
It should be borne in mind that Mr. Robert M. Pierce has a life interest in the present house and land to a point fifty feet north of and following the line of the present driveway. The plan for the baseball and track unit requires grading of land within this fifty feet. Any such grading can be done only with the permission of Mr. Pierce.
Your Committee recommends that the first work to be undertaken should be the baseball and football field, the planting along Station Road and Weston Road, and the track, if sufficient funds are available for this latter feature ; work to be started in the Spring of 1932.
Your Committee was instructed to undertake a survey and plan of traffic control at the Centre, so that any needed major change in the future would not conflict with the plan for the development of the Park. Mr. Beal was directed to make this study, and his final plan for the routing of traffic did not contemplate any taking of land from the Park.
The sudden death of Mr. Albert S. Graves in October was a distinct loss to the Town and to the Committee. His interest in the Park and his love of Lincoln were at all times an inspiration to the members of the Committee who worked with him. Mr. Harry M. Condit, Jr., was chosen Chairman to succeed Mr. Graves.
The report of Mr. Beal covering the details of the plan follows.
Respectfully submitted,
HARRY M. CONDIT, JR., Chairman. MARIAN ADAMS GEORGE G. TARBELL FRANK E. WHITE
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Outline
This report proposes to show in a logical manner the rea- sons behind the plan which accompanies it called the "Gen- eral Plan" for the John H. Pierce Park. The first phases of the study will include a consideration of the property itself, its topography, natural and artificial features, etc. The second, will be a study of the outside factors affecting the development, and the third phase will be the determination of the type of layout with the features it should contain. Then it will be time for a statement of the principles guid- ing the development of the plan, after which will come the survey of the plan itself. The study will then conclude with a consideration of the cost of carrying out the construction, with a program for dividing it over a period of years.
The Property-Its Topography
First then is the consideration of the property available. The tract contains a little over thirty acres of greatly varying topography. There is a difference of over sixty feet in elevation from the side of the property at the north, along Station Road to the southeast corner of the property at Weston Road. There is also a part of the south border that rises to an elevation that is practically equivalent to that of Station Road, and there is very little of the area which is even approximately level. It is all a part of a large drain- age area which comes down from higher slopes on the north and west as may be readily appreciated from a glance at the contours on the portion of the geological survey map oppo- site. Though the property is plainly marked by the drain- age flows that have taken place through it, only one stream appears on the surface and that is in the southern portion of the property. Many parts of the area are quite wet at times and there are indications that the sub-surface must be well permeated with water. There are outcroppings of
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ledge, especially in the southwest section, and boulders are present over the parts that have not been cultivated.
The Property-Natural Growth
The natural growth has been greatly influenced and regu- lated by man and beast. Except for a pine grove in the middle section of the area and the junipers, pines, oaks, and maples scattered in the south and west sections, there is little that can be called natural planting. Rows of maples and elms have been planted along the north, east and south boundaries. Lombardy poplars have been placed in a double row along the brook, there is an apple orchard in the west section, some shrubbery around the house, and a number of blue spruce near the pine grove. All these are distinctly artificial notes in the landscape.
The Property-Artificial Features
Other artificial features are two structures, the Pierce residence and the barn or garage. These are found in the approximate middle of the area. The house is a large Colonial structure, wood frame, and appears to be in excel- lent condition. Its disposition is important to our project and, therefore, must be considered. There are three things that can be done to a building of this kind. The first is to adapt it for use where it is ; the second is to make use of it at some other point on the property; the third is to dispose of it, either by having it moved away intact or by having it torn down. Because it divides the property into two parts, neither of which seems to be adequate in itself, its position is exceedingly unfortunate for the proper develop- ment of the area for park purposes. It is not the type of building that one would construct for a field house to pro- vide for the equipment and needs of the caretaker of the area, neither is it suitable for a caretaker's home, being far
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too elaborate for such use. It could probably be altered for the use of clubs, such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc., but investigation seems to show that these requirements are well taken care of in Lincoln and that there is no need for additional housing. It appears that there is no demand for this building either in the present location or in any other location on the property. This leaves only the third alter- native, that of disposing of it in some way just as soon as it becomes possible. For the purpose of the present study it is assumed that the house is to be removed.
The barn or garage is a more modest structure similar in architectural treatment to the house. It is a story and a half building with a basement. Inconspicuously placed at the rear of the property, it is of such size and character that it might readily be adapted for use as a field house where caretaker's supplies, rooms and possibly accommodations for visiting teams could be housed. For this study, it is assumed that the barn will become available for use.
Outside Influences-Location
The second major consideration in the outline is that of the outside factors which influence the development. From reference to the copy of the Zone Map of Lincoln opposite it is apparent that the property lies in the appropriate geo- graphical center. On this map there is spotted an approxi- mation of the location of the dwellings in Lincoln. Doubt- less many houses are missing because this was done hastily from an automobile while riding over the streets, but it is sufficient for the purpose in that it may be assumed from it that the center of population is also close by the Pierce land. This map shows also that all the local Lincoln roads lead radially to the northeast corner of the property, where they form an intersection known as Lincoln Center. For descriptive purposes the location of the tract of land and the Center are identical.
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Outside Influences-The Neighbors
The east and north property lines abut on Weston and Station Road respectively. The south line separates land privately owned, as does the south part of the west line. Along the northern part of the west boundary the land abuts Town property where Center School, the main elementary. school of Lincoln is located. This is important as it brings the program of physical education in the school into the consideration of the layout. Directly across the Center from the Pierce land the Town Library is located, and only a few hundred feet up Bedford Road there are two churches and the Town Hall. Therefore, it may be observed that the location is not only physically ideal, but it is ideal from every aspect of the Town's life i. e. social, religious, political, and educational. It can well be called a perfect location.
Outside Influences-The School Problem
Of the various aspects of Town life the educational has the greatest influence upon our problem, therefore, a brief summary of the school situation in its relation to the area is necessary. The first and second grades are housed at the South School located some mile and a half south and they will not need to be considered. In the present Center School are the grades from three to nine inclusive. A Committee studying the problem of increased accommodations reported to the Town at the March meeting of 1930, but although all agreed that additional housing would be necessary in the near future, only three of the seven members were in favor of immediate construction. As a result, no new building was voted. From the report, however, it seems fairly clear that when the building is built it will be a combined Junior-Senior High School with the possibility of the Junior High section coming first and the Senior part being added later. While
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the location of this new building has not been definitely settled, it is fairly obvious that it will be somewhere at the Center, and for the purpose of this report it is being assumed that it may be on or directly adjacent to the Pierce land.
Summary-The Type of Development
It may be seen then that the area has intrinsic assets which seem to permit a successful development into a park, and it has strong outside influences which seem to demand that in part, at least, it be developed as play fields for physical development of the children of the schools. What then is the type of layout to be sought? Because of the almost uni- versal demand for a more intensive recreational use of existing as well as new park areas it is not hard to find. The type has been called by Hubbard and Hubbard in "Our Cities Today and Tomorrow," "a playfield park" and the description of it is quoted here: "We find a growing tend- ency to combine in an area from fifteen to twenty-five acres opportunity for active and passive recreation for all mem- bers of the family, except for those who are willing to go further afield for golf or bathing. According to landscape opportunity offered, some part of the area is developed for quiet strolling or sitting in the shade, but the greater part is planned for active exercise, with two standard-size athletic fields, men's and women's outdoor gymnasiums, a little chil- dren's corner and wading pool, tennis courts and field house.
"When co-operation between municipal recreation and school authorities makes possible the use of high and junior high schools as community centers, the neighborhood play- field-park may be combined with school grounds. In any case, substantial bounding plantations are recommended which afford space for walks and seats for those who do not wish to participate in games or join the spectators."
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Units to be Included
In considering the units which should be contained within Lincoln's playfield park, the space available at the Center School is of great value. When one is planning for the play of children of the third grade, as well as the young men of the Town teams, it is quite obvious that separate areas should be provided. Luckily there is space about the Center School large enough for a diamond which, though not well graded, is adequate for the use of the lower grades. There is also room for a small children's playground which already has some equipment, and there is an additional area where general games can be played and a small football gridiron may be marked out. These are mentioned especially because they make the duplication of the areas, which might be assumed as inevitable, unnecessary in the Pierce land layout. What then should be included in the play units? There should certainly be one good baseball diamond, and one football field. To care for the needs of the future school there should be a running track. Without question there should be a separate playfield for girls large enough for field hockey. The physical development of our school girls is gradually becoming recognized as every bit as important as that of our school boys. It was absurd to ever think that the ancient saying, "A healthy body makes a healthy mind," could be applied to boys alone. There should also be space provided for small court games such as outdoor basketball, volley ball, etc., and there should be as many tennis courts as the demand warrants and the limitations of the area allow. Tennis is an excellent game which is constantly increasing in importance and will be played long after the school age. It is extremely valuable because it does not require a large per person area, and particularly because it is not necessary to get together a large group in order to play. There should, if possible, be some large and level area that is not definitely
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assigned to any one game but where the popular game of the moment, such as touch football, lacrosse, soccer, or hand- ball (among present-day games) may be played, or where large groups can drill, do gymnastics, or play prisoner's base, etc., even while the organized games are taking place on the main playfield. This sort of an area is extremely important because of its elasticity in use.
In addition to these intensive game units there should be within the property small areas where play facilities are made attractive to the very young children. There should be quiet retreats provided for those more advanced in years who seek their recreation primarily from being outdoors with a chance to enjoy the trees, the birds and the flowers. Water is an extremely important element in adding life, beauty and reflection to any natural landscape and should be secured. Winter sports including skating, skiing, snow- shoeing, and sliding are becoming increasingly popular and certainly have an important place on the list.
Guiding Principles for Study
The guiding principles for the development of the plan are the next items for consideration. It should be stated, especially for the benefit of the readers of this report who are not members of the Committee (and it is hoped there may be many) that before employing its professional ad- viser, the Committee took infinite pains to make sure that he was in complete accord with it on the following points :
1. That the plan of development should look well into the future.
2. That the athletic or playfields necessary should be sub- ordinated as much as possible.
3. That after the modifications for use had been made the resultant treatment should become as completely a natu- ral area of typical Lincoln scenery as possible.
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Future Growth of Town
With these principles in mind the proper approach to the problem naturally leads first, to a consideration of what the future growth of Lincoln may be. Statistics, which it is believed unnecessary to include in this report, have been gathered and comparisons of population and growth have been made with the surrounding towns such as Wellesley, Lexington, Arlington, Belmont, etc. From the figures ob- tained and, because of the very beautiful natural features in Lincoln, the many opportunities for development, and the new high speed connection with Boston that is soon to be made available, it is perfectly safe to predict an increase of approximately 100% in growth by 1950. This means that where the population of Lincoln is 1497, or say 1500 now, it should be 3000 in 1950, and the school population, if it in- creases in the same ratio, would be about 330 pupils for the first six grades, 136 for Junior high grades and 80 pupils for the high school grades or a total of 546. This growth in the Town and school populations bears directly on our problem because 1950 is only a short eighteen years away, and the fundamental features of the plan should be estab- lished to last for several generations.
It should be constantly borne in mind that a comprehen- sive development for a project of this type must recognize this future growth. Any plan which does this may natu- rally have some particular unit or thing which does not seem necessary under present use or conditions. Provision for them does not imply that such would be carried out at once. They would be done when the time was right or it may be that even if the item is done in the regular course of construction it will scarcely be properly matured for use by the time the need exists.
THE JOHN .H.PIERCE PARK LINCOLN . MASSACHUSETTS
GENERAL PLAN
100
150
000
FORTY FLET EQUALS OHNE DICH
ROBERT WASHIBLUEN BEAL . LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS . DECEMBER 2-1931.
. COMMITTEL . MAI . JOHN ADAMS CLONAL. C. TADALLA FRANS . Z . WHITL
Y ARZA
4
STATION
KEY MAP.
FOOTBALL
DIAMOND
-----
. DNE PISTO LILE RUNNING TRACK,
A
--
3
ROAD
WESTOR
WESTON
Q.OAD
...
NORTH FIELD.
POND . -- 4
WEST PASTURE .
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Other Principles
The other guiding principles, namely, the subordination of the play areas, and the desire to create a typical piece of Lincoln scenery can best be considered after inspection of the plan. It is sufficient to state at this point that a care- ful study of Lincoln landscape was made in order that the adviser might be thoroughly imbued with its characteris- tics. Therefore, with a rather clear understanding of the factors influencing the design it is now possible to examine the proposed "General Plan" to see if it fulfills the require- ments of the problem.
The Plan-The Athletic Unit
Because of the very decided influence of the topography upon the scheme and the fact that the athletic unit as such is the most important in its bearing upon the topography, that feature of the plan is taken up first. In an area of limited size and in a town with the population of Lincoln it is the practical and most economical development to place the football gridiron and baseball diamond within the run- ning track. The standard running track is one laid out to allow four laps to a mile or what is commonly called "a quarter mile track." The outstanding feature of such a track is that the straightaway usually provides opportunity for a 220-yard run. A track of this size and with this straightaway is not only extremely difficult and tremen- dously expensive to construct on this area because of the variance in topography, but it is also of such size that it would dominate the entire northeastern part where it is possible to put it. At an early date the Committee agreed with the landscape architect that a running track, which provided the features of a quarter mile track was not a necessity, and that, if it proved advisable a one-fifth of a mile running track with the one hundred-yard straighta-
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way could be used. This size track is used on a great many high school athletic fields in New England and has proved perfectly satisfactory from their standpoint of use. The handicaps are not great and the saving in cost of con- struction and in space is large. Its use makes it possible to include many other features, therefore, the one-fifth mile track has been adopted.
The development of this athletic unit, that is, the football field and the baseball diamond superimposed on the run- ning track, means that for an economical layout a very large, practically level area must be obtained. Such an area does not occur within the bounds of our property and some grading is necessary in any location. Next to grading cost, the most important factor in determining just how the athletic unit shall lie is the orientation of the baseball dia- mond. The relation of the sun to the football gridiron and track is important but it is not generally considered of so vital consequence as its relation to the diamond. Many studies of this subject have been made from which come the consensus of opinion that the best location is, generally speaking, with home plate and second base on a north and south line. The positions may be reversed, having home plate at either north or south, but the home plate at the south throws the right fielder into the sun in preference to the left fielder and this has become generally preferred where no other factors determine the final location.
Taking these points into consideration it is found that there is only that part of the area laying between the ap- proximate north side of the residence and Station Road which is readily available for this athletic unit. In any other part of the area, the orientation is much less desirable and the variance in topography involves more expensive grading.
Looking at the contour of this section of the property it is found that the more the unit is moved to the north
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towards Station Road the greater the variance in topog- raphy becomes and the final position, with reference to the grading problem, seems to be one which is about as indi- cated on the general plan. Even this location will involve a fill of three to four feet over the southern part and a cut of five to six feet in the extreme north part. It brings the south turn of the track approximately on the old entrance drive and the north turn of the track well into the middle of the field before the slope begins to get steep. Its posi- tion east and west is determined by balancing the desire to keep it well back from Weston Road in order that it may be screened from the street, with the desire to keep it away from the pine grove on the west side in order that that natu- ral feature will not be spoiled. The slope in that portion and the desire to preserve the grove also determine very definitely that home plate should be at the south end of the layout.
The Plan-West of Athletic Unit
On the west side of this unit where it snuggles into the grove and becomes least conspicuous, a small grandstand with about two hundred person capacity is shown. It is proposed to build this of substantial wood construction on concrete piers. Additional spectator capacity is assured on the banking itself. The present barn appears on the plan slightly to the south in its original location to be remodelled as a Field House. The shell will serve admirably for this purpose insuring space for lockers and showers for visiting teams (possibly also for Town teams), caretaker's room and office, a space for storage of athletic equipment, and a fine space in the basement for tools and supplies needed for the upkeep of the park. It is assumed that lockers and showers for the school pupils and teams would be provided in any new school building. In the area at the west of the Field House and in the Pine Grove some see-saws and swings
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