USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1877 > Part 30
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The City Council having determined that a new Water Main should be laid down along Park Avenue, and in Elm and Agri- cultural Streets, advantage was taken of the opportunity to establish a connection with the Water-System of ELM PARK. A suitable pipe was therefore deposited in a trench leading directly to the centre of the Diamond Pool, where the founda-
* Genesis : Chap. 31, v. 37-41.
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tion for a Fountain had been bedded firmly, during the Autumn previous. The engineering was of the eye, as usual: but meas- urement could not have yielded more precise results. For the wash of the waves just covered the stone base; leaving only the casting for the fountain conspicuous, as was all along intended. The play of that Fountain is by no means as pretty as its picture-which sold it. It has, however, been essentially improved ; and, with the wits intent upon its perfection, there need not be despair of its future. At any rate, a powerful head of water is available for that suitable Fountain which awaits its design and model at the hands of Worcester mechanism.
It was not known with certainty, until a few days since, that the ice could be so flushed with water as to keep it in good order for skating. Use of the Pools for that exhilarating and healthy exercise was a chief object of the COMMISSION in their construction. With the first severe frost of the Winter, hun- dreds of children flocked thither for cheerful sport. Interruption by sleet or snow storms was a disappointment to which the COMMISSION, reverting to their own youth, could not bear to see them subjected. Actual experiment has proved that water can be thrown over the whole surface of the Diamond Pool, in a brief space of time, and with a consumption of material infinitely less than is applied daily, throughout the Summer, by gentlemen destitute of meters, to sprinkle their sidewalks and Norway spruces. Whether it will be worth the while to main- tain a smooth surface of ice upon these Pools is more uncertain; most likely not, until the rude and rough boy learns that the young ice must be suffered to form, and that, if he will persist in breaking it, he does so to his own loss.
In this matter of the introduction of water, from the public mains, and controlling its use, the COMMISSION have had the hearty co-operation and zealous interest of Commissioner Hall and his assistants in the Water Department; to whom they desire thus publicly to acknowledge the weight of obligation under which they have been placed.
The construction of an Islet, named Shrub Islet, had been partially accomplished, in the Northerly or Oval Pool, when work was suspended by the early frosts of 1876. The comple-
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tion of this portion of their plan for the improvement of the PARK was one of the first things to engage attention after the vernal thaw. A broad channel was excavated, separating the proposed Islet from the main shore, easterly ; and the banks as high up as the contemplated water-line, were faced with a neat and durable pavement. The season continued so dry, through- out these operations, that it was resolved to take advantage of it to finish the design of the COMMISSION in its original and entire symmetry. Accordingly the excavation was prosecuted, by a reverse curve as it were, to the Bridge. Another Islet, named Pine Islet, was thereby obtained, lending a needed com- pleteness and charm to both land and water scape and materially enlarging the area of the Pool. The dirt to be gained, in this way, doubtless accelerated the conclusions of the COMMISSION who, having acres to raise to a suitable grade, could perceive more clearly the cubic yards in a mass of deposit. Besides which, alike from compulsion and choice, it has been the effort of the COMMISSION to execute their plans with the closest pos- sible economy. Excavation for ponds was of obvious benefit, when the earth to be displaced was required elsewhere to fill a hollow or elevate a depression. It was all done with the aid of the same manual labor that was indispensable for ordinary tasks; the employment of a team having only been required for the casual necessities of ploughing or of drawing stones where- with to face the banks. The COMMISSION have continued fortunate in their old and tried servants ; industry and fidelity uniting to commend them, and to assure the City that it is getting full return for its wages.
The COMMISSION have always desired, in the interest of the People, to enlarge the area of the Public Grounds by every legitimate means. Latterly, it seemed to them that if Agricul- tural Street had sufficed for public travel and the accommoda- tion of the Annual Cattle Show, throughout a natural age, there might well be reclamation, to a slight extent, in behalf of pop- ular enjoyment as well as to vindicate those major rights that are too often supposed to be surrendered with the original con- cession of a privilege. For Sever Street bordered the Agricul- tural Grounds, during their entire length, to a width of Fifty
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(50) feet. And our noble Park Avenue ; against which fewer of a short-sighted generation rail and gnash their teeth than were wont for a while, supplied another thoroughfare; in regard to the absurd and superfluous amplitude and capacity whereof Agricultural dignitaries and martial magnates, at a recent term of Court, could not adequately express their disgust. The need of Two Hundred and Ten (210) feet in width, of streets, was not so obviously imperative as to defy a moderate reduction. This COMMISSION had entertained the opinion that Agricultural Street was never laid out in greater breadth than Forty (40) feet. They were encouraged in this belief by a late official, whose memory retained no trace of a decree which was adopted long prior to the commencement of his useful career. Finding that they were in error; and that they had no right to comply with the numerous petitions wherein they were asked to pre- vent the passage of teams over the western sidewalk of that street, thereby destroying the sod and annoying pedestrians, it was thought best to lay the matter before the City Council, which was accordingly done in manner and form, to wit :-
SEPTEMBER, 17, A. D. 1877.
To the Honorable City Council :-
The COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS would respectfully represent to your Honor- able Bodies that ELM PARK, as originally acquired and possessed by the City, was bounded upon its East side by a Street (called "Agricultural ") Forty (40) feet wide: that thereafter, to wit, upon the 29th day of May, A. D. 1854, the City Council did, upon the Petition of the Trustees of the Worcester Agricultural Society, (there being no objection), adjudge and determine that it would be expedient to widen said Agri- cultural Street to a breadth of Eighty (80) feet: since which it has so remained :--
And the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS would further represent to the Honora- ble Council that the fence, upon the east side of said ELM PARK, has decayed and be- come exceedingly dilapidated: that materials for the construction of a new one liave been gradually accumulated : that, in the opinion of the COMMISSION, it is for the ben- efit of all concerned that any new Fence should be set more to the Eastward, thereby restoring to the PARK the Mall, and the row of Elm trees, which are now subject to constant injury :-
Wherefore the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS would respectfully petition the Honorable Council (or more especially the Mayor and Aldermen), to set off Twenty (20) feet from the Westerly side of said Agricultural Street, for its entire length, assigning and restoring the same to ELM PARK.
And the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS would further represent and set forth that, within a very few years, to wit, upon the 27th day of Decen.ber, A. D. 1870, Sever Street was established, by the City Council, of a uniform width of Fifty (50) feet; and that thus, should the Petition of the Commission be granted, there would still remain for the convenience of the Agricultural Society a width, in Streets, of
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One Hundred and Ten (110) feet against the Forty (40) which sufficed for said Society when its original purchase of land was concluded :--
And the Commission of Public Grounds would further and finally represent that, by the action herein asked of the Honorable Council, a positive benefit and improvement will inure to the City, without expense or injury to any one.
All which is respectfully submitted by
EDWARD W. LINCOLN,
Chairman.
This Petition was referred in concurrence to the Committee on Highways. The Chairman of the COMMISSION, as opportu- nity served, endeavored to impress his own views upon the Members of that Committee, as well as upon those Aldermen and Councilmen whom he chanced to meet. All with whom he conversed appeared to concede the reasonableness of the request, admitting that there could be no possible objection to it, in the interest of the City, which retained its entire proprietary rights in any event. Still, nothing was heard officially from the High- way Committee, indicating a wish to meet the Commission upon the ground or elsewhere; while the season for out-door work was rapidly wearing away. At last, a fortnight having expired fruitlessly, the Chairman was casually informed, by the Chair- man of the Committee on the part of the Council, that the COM- MISSION would have "leave to withdraw." The Alderman at the head of the Joint Committee was at once sought; and that gentleman confirmed the statement of the Councilman from Ward Eight, adding that the Committee would Report to that effect, the same evening. Possessed of this fact, there was left but one course for the Chairman to pursue. He accordingly transmitted the subjoined note to Alderman Dickinson, and in- serts it here for a clearer intelligence of the whole affair :-
COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS, Worcester, Massachusetts, October 1, A. D. 1877.5
To the Honorable City Council :--
The undersigned, Chairman of the Commission of Public Grounds, is informed by the Chairman of the Highway Committee that "Leave to Withdraw " is to be reported upon his Petition that Twenty (20) feet of Agricultural Street may be set off from said Street and restored to Elm Park.
The Petition of the undersigned simply asked that Twenty (20) feet of land might hereafter be upon the West, instead of upon the East, side of a fence.
He does not believe that there can be found any opponents of his Petition, unless it
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may be in the ranks of those chronic grumblers, the measure of whose discontent is usually meted by the sum of benefit that the march of improvement has heaped upou them.
He has no desire to fail in respect for the Houorable Council or any of its Com- mittees. But believing that such a peremptory decision, reached without a hearing or an official view, carries with it an intimation not to be overlooked that he no longer possesses the confidence of the City Government, he respectfully tenders his resigna- tion as a Commissioner of Public Grounds.
(Signed), EDWARD W. LINCOLN.
That note is recited here, because its substance has been made public, although its presentation to the Honorable Council was plainly conditioned upon the expected reception and ratification of a certain Report from the Highway Committee. It was laid upon the table, accompanied by expressions of opinion that are gratefully appreciated. Nothing was heard, however, from the Highway Committee, until the 15th of October, when the Council adopted a recommendation from it that the COMMISSION be granted a "Hearing." At a day shortly subsequent, the Chairman of the COMMISSION was notified that His Honor the Mayor would be pleased to converse with him upon the subject matter of his petition. That interview, agreeable as one held with His Honor must necessarily be, resulted in the following communication addressed to the Mayor and through him to the Committee on Highways :-
COMMISSION PUBLIC GROUNDS, - Worcester, Massachusetts, October 20th, A. D. 1877. 5
To HIS HONOR MAYOR PRATT.
Dear Sir .-- Since our conversation of this M, I have reflected upon the matter spoken of and beg leave to state to you and (through you) to the Highway Committee, 1st. That I see no reasonable objection to my original request for the re-annexation of Twenty (20) feet of land, taken from Agricultural Street, to Elm Park.
2d. That if, from some inscrutable cause, foreign or of kin to me, the Highway Committee should feel precluded from reporting in favor of granting that request; and only on that account; then
3d. That the City consent to the actual control of said Twenty (20) feet of land, by the Commission of Public Grounds, without interference; to the end that said Commission may take steps for its protection from intrusion by animals, and its safer enjoyment as a walk by women and children.
4th. That the Highway Department, either by plowing out the western gutter or the deposit of street scrapings, cover the roots of the elms which are seriously exposed; and the Commission of Public Grounds advise that a drain be constructed, to conduct the surface water from Agricultural Street, said drain following the ancient water course northward of the Oak copse and entering the North (Oval) pool in Elm Park. That Agricultural Street needs surface drainage, perhaps more than any other
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in the city, must be well known to the Highway Committee. And the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS, seeking only to promote the public interest, will cheerfully consent to let such surface drain enter the North (Oval) Pool.
5th. It being understood that winter threatens, and that, in this climate, whatever is to be done out-doors should not be procrastinated.
Repeating however his fixed opinion that the simplest solution of the matter would be a concession of the original Petition for Twenty (20) feet of land, the Chairman of the COMMISSION respectfully verifies this summary of alternative conclusions by his signature.
EDWARD W. LINCOLN,
Chairman of the Commission of Public Grounds.
Upon the 29th of October following, the whole matter was settled (for the present) by the action of the City Council, as follows :-
CITY OF WORCESTER.
In City Council, Oct. 29, 1877.
Ordered, That the COMMISSION OF (Shade Trees and) PUBLIC GROUNDS be, and they hereby are authorized to set such posts as are necessary to keep the sidewalks on the Westerly side of Agricultural Street exclusively for the use of pedestrians.
Approved October 30, 1877.
CHARLES B. PRATT, Mayor.
Which was perhaps better than nothing, being the utmost that could then be obtained. People who are curious to learn, in the classic phrase of John Van Buren, whose "dad was under that load of hay," must search for themselves. The COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS carry only that lantern whereof Diogenes filed the caveat, whose light is no aid to detection in such cases.
Something may be interpolated for the comfort of those who care not for ornamental water, and to whom the ice that delighted their juniors represents but a snare for the unwary. In some future conflagration, threatening to consume the dense settlement that will then environ Elm Park, safety may be found in the Pools which are completed, or just commenced at this time of writing. What appears a mere extravagance to some, who would have the land level because the head is flat, may be regarded as the ready safeguard-tutamen ac decus-of an entire neighborhood. A very creditable attempt at the extinguishment of fire may be made with some three million
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gallons of water which the COMMISSION anticipate for their store during an average season. They feel very confident that their hopes are not too sanguine, and that their fullest expecta- tions will be realized; in which event they can experience the singular satisfaction of tickling the optic while soothing the pocket nerve.
The COMMISSION have claimed and exercised a right of planting out in the Park such shrubs and plants as they could or were inclined to spare, and which would at the same time be of lasting ornament. Their associate, Mr. Hadwen, has con- tinued a generous benefactor, as sight and scent will both con- fess when his Syringas get settled in their new home. The Phloxes of Mr. Salisbury were pleasantly conspicuous as well from their persistent as profuse flowering. The Chairman will not enlarge upon the Geraniums wherewith he crowned the summit of an artificial mound, as has been his annual custom. But he would beg, as a favor to himself and the COMMISSION, that those who wait each Spring, for his vernal bedding-out of Geraniums wherefrom to stock their private door-yards, would apply to him in advance and accept a free-will dole as a substi- tute for a forced levy. They would be recipients of two benefits in this way: getting their plants in pots at first hands, and, although feeling mean enough, escaping their customary sensa- tion of a sneak-thief. In May, A. D., 1877, plants were set out in the Park at sundown, which the next morning were missing.
The COMMISSION believe that many shrubs and plants would be given to the City, by gentlemen who alter their grounds, were it known that such gifts would be acceptable. They gladly acknowledge a present of roots of the Bocconia Japonica from Hon. George W. Richardson, and shall recognize with equal pleasure, similar appreciation of their necessities by any other of their fellow-citizens. People are very apt to overstock their premises; and when the time arrives for the inevitable thinning-out, being at a loss for any other disposition of the surplus, it is consigned to the brush-heap. Many ornamental shrubs are destroyed yearly, for no other reason than that they have outgrown the space which can be spared for them. Some such might be too large to warrant their transfer to Elm Park
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with a reasonable hope of their survival. But many would doubtless succeed ; and for the gift of them the COMMISSION will be grateful.
Professor C. S. Sargent, Director of the Botanic Garden and of the Arnold Arboretum, connected with the university at Cambridge, has again placed the COMMISSION under a pleasant sense of obligation. For even an obligation can be pleasant, instead of onerous, when it is conferred with a manifest and thorough cordiality. In order to their permanent record, the names and number of the shrubs for which we are indebted to Professor Sargent, are recited in full :
4 Alnus glutinosa.
2 Rhamnus frangula.
1 Spiræa salicifolia.
2 Staphylia trifoliata.
2 Corylus Americana.
1 Sambucus pubens.
2 Alnus Oxycanthafolia.
1 Ulmus (cork-barked.)
1 Crataegus coccinea.
1 Berberis.
2 Berberis petolaris.
1 Philadelphus coronarius.
4 Alnus nigra.
3 Ptelea trifoliata.
2 Sabina.
3 Alnus Oregonia.
Besides several, the inscription upon whose tags was so thoroughly effaced as to be illegible. Nearly all of these shrubs are now planted in the positions where they are intended to remain.
In their last Report, the COMMISSION referred to the gift, by Prof. Sargent, of a specimen of Menzies' Spruce (Abies Men- ziesii) and to the bleak exposure to which it had been deliber- ately subjected. They are glad to state that it endured the test, unharmed. It has, however, made so little growth, that a more genial and conspicuous location will be provided for it, where it may develope into its true proportions.
As the trees and shrubs, heretofore planted in Elm Park, by the COMMISSION, gaining root-hold, begin to grow strong and tall, it is interesting to notice the adaptation of differing forms of vegetation to the conditions in which they find themselves. While some plants suffer from excess of moisture, (in frequent instances those suffering most to which water is assumed to be
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an absolute necessity of existence), others pine and wither in a gravelly upland that is as thirsty as the proverbial fish. But man must be master: and not the plants which he has subjected to his training, and wherewith he would consummate his plans for the artificial adornment of the grounds committed to his charge. Properly fed or stimulated, the Arbor Vitæ, which had drooped beneath the keen blasts and exposure of Winter and Spring, felt new life in its veins and manifested a palpable resuscitation. The Hemlock Spruce (Abies Canadensis), per- haps as difficult a tree to transplant successfully as any that can be named, has been rescued from the very jaws of death. In- deed, so many varieties of vegetable growth have evinced, an almost imperishable vitality, that the COMMISSION feel increas- ing reluctance to relinquish hope of a specimen, however for- lorn its present appearance. Would the City Council but give practical effect to the kind wishes whereof it is so lavish, (and of their sincerity the COMMISSION would not be understood to imply the faintest doubt,) much could be accomplished that is but fondly dreamed of at present. Merely by the liberal appli- cation of the scrapings from the Highways, barrenness might be converted into fertility, and the waste places caused to attract by their blended beauty and fragrance. By using that material, all the filling absolutely required for Elm Park could be ob- tained in one or two seasons at most. The portions of that PUBLIC GROUND that are in chiefest need of grading up to level or slope, whether for appearance or surface drainage, are blessed with a soil the poverty of which cannot be exaggerated. All that has ever been effected towards its reclamation has been simply to convert it from a swamp into hard land. A few inches of poor loam cover it, but the shallowest plowing turns up coarse gravel, beneath which in many spots are found almost impenetrable deposits of bog iron-ore. What the COMMISSION require is quantity rather than quality : and this, if nothing else, the Highways might supply. Some may think, undoubt- edly, that the vast heaps of peat, thrown out in the process of excavating the Pools, should suffice for every want of the kind. But experience has shown that such material lacks substance; and that the mass which averages a foot in depth will crumble
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to less than the thickness of an inch, disintegrating under the influence of frost and thaw to an almost impalpable powder. Other matter would help in fixing it, as it were; and the com- bination, operated upon by the chemistry of Nature, might be trusted to consolidate into a homogeneous and fertile soil. Nothing can be found so cheap and handy for this purpose as the scrapings from the streets. For it resolves itself, after all, into a question merely of carting that dirt for a greater or less distance. It is already loaded: shall it be hauled to the Park, which is suffering for very lack of it, and whither this COMMIS- SION only ask that it may be drawn for one or two seasons? Or dumped into some of the vacant lots upon Piedmont Street, be- cause access thereto is easier and shorter. It was delivered in the Park, at whatever point the Chairman indicated, for years in succession; although in frequent instances to the manifest peril of the teams. Now that the ground is made secure for the passage of loaded carts, the loads are withheld. The land be- longs to the whole community, for nothing less than which would the COMMISSION so concern themselves in and out of season, rain or shine. Its enjoyment, under restrictions few in number, and those only tending to promote the general welfare, is free as air and would be practically illimitable, were scope given to the acquisitiveness of the COMMISSION. For such ampler "room and marge," however, patience will have finished its perfect work, when the results of the last civic survey for new resources of water shall coincide with all the later and bet- ter conclusions from actual exploration. The rills that trickle clear and ice-cold, from the slopes of Asnebumskit, blending with the current rivulets from Holden, do not more certainly indicate a perennial supply for the future multitudes of Worces- ter than does that eminence, confronting Elm Park, to whose symmetry and curious similarity of altitude to that of other promi- nent summits, attention has been directed so frequently in these Reports, designate the site of a Reservoir and complete the landscape. That we can deprive ourselves of much of this; be content with far less; or abstain from the whole; proves naught in this connection. What does concern is that this COMMISSION prefer to utilize their talent, in their own day and generation,
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instead of burying it in the ground where it can neither profit nor accumulate. They would make the most of the trust con- fided to them, because they have faith that somewhat may be accomplished for the enjoyment of all classes of the community. They desire to extend the free use and luxury of air and earth and water to every one : if to any more than others,-to those whose lines were never cast in pleasant places, and to whom grime and ceaseless toil have heretofore appeared a dreary epi- tome of life. For such more especially would they sow and reap. To them, on sparse holidays and Christian (not Puritan) Sundays, the green bank and rippling water; the unwonted lawn and fragrant copse. All this can be realized at slight cost, visionary as it may seem to Gradgrind.
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