USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1887 > Part 17
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The COMMISSION have employed the limited force at their com- mand, as occasion served, in continuing the work of opening up Lake Park. The season for a rule was a wet one ; young growth keeping swift and almost even pace with the task of clearing. Early in Summer a fine clump of young Chestnut trees was almost ruined by the carelessness of men then in the employ of the COMMISSION. The folly that neglects to keep close watch and ward of a forest-fire is only equalled by the stupidity that first
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kindled it during a drought and high wind. Towards the close of Autumn, man gained upon nature ; and well nigh the whole tract of land around by the South-Eastern curve of the B. & A. Railway, was cut over and cleared from underbrush. A pro- tracted spell of dry weather, at that period, brought with it a new, but not unexpected, danger. A fire on Sunday, caused by parties out in a search for chestnuts, got beyond their control ; if, indeed, any effort was made to check the flames by those whose negligence was at fault. Injury, irreparable for long years was seriously threatened. Fortunately Commissioner Draper, on his return from church, at noon, observed the dense volume of smoke curling above the forest and went at once to the spot. It required but a single glance for him to apprehend the full extent of the impending danger. Aid was scarce; but it occurred to him, happily, that the congregation might not yet be dismissed from the Oratory, at the Quinsigamond Navy Yard. To go there would be to enlist help, such as it was! The caulkers and gravers usually engaged for the aquatic season being, of course, better versed in work in and around the dry-dock than in the parching drudgery of fighting fire. However, our colleague awards due credit to the labor which he contrived to impress ;- praising it as far better than nothing. It was the good fortune of the COMMISSION that there should have been one of their num- ber thoroughly acquainted with the neighborhood, who realized that no seclusion could be sacred from abrupt disturbance when need arose ; and that no calm beatitude of devout meditation can claim exemption from active work, when the very face of the earth is swept as with a besom of desolation.
A good deal of work has been bestowed upon the Park-Ways, whose construction was stated as begun in the Report for last year, in order to render them fit for easy travel by pleasure car- riages. Blasting of rocks and grubbing of inveterate stumps was carried forward assiduously ; and the COMMISSION congratu- late themselves that so much of their task is accomplished. The Drive around by the South-East avoids that perilous proximity to the B. & A. Railway, which caused timid people to shun the Circuit; and, with the thinning out of the underbrush, it has
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been rendered sunny enough to be cheerful without spoiling the seclusion. The little vale, between that Park-Way and the Ford, even now assumes a deeper verdure beneath the strange influence of air and light, giving assurance of an emerald sward so soon as it can receive proper attention.
The COMMISSION are more than ever of opinion that Nature demands to be let entirely alone, unless it is desired to spoil a landscape-now unique. The grand forest growth, if it can be kept secure from fire, or abuse by the nut-hunter; the huge rocks, in all their primeval nakedness or clothed with giant creepers ; the broad sweep of upland, or the far-reaching view of mountain and lake; these combine to give a distinctive charm to this Park that cannot be rivalled by any of the tracts of land recommended by the COMMISSION. Bush and briar supply their own wild charm. And even grown people prove themselves to be but children of a larger growth by straying to gather huckle- berries in their season. Beyond rendering it thoroughly acces- sible, it is the policy and purpose of the COMMISSION to go very slow in their work at Lake Park to the end that they may be very sure.
The work carried on in ELM PARK, during the past year, calls for no especial comment. With the growth of trees and shrubs, as the seasons recur, the landscape is assuming the appearance which the COMMISSION pictured to themselves throughout those forlorn years of excavation, construction and planting. Had the assembled Mayors of the cities in Massachusetts selected June, or even August, for their visit, and been favored with more cheerful skies, they might have beheld a scene not wholly unworthy of Worcester.
The COMMISSION have been at considerable trouble to maintain a portion of the available space of ELM PARK, in the uses of a plantation and nursery. Public grounds have an appetite that is almost insatiate, and the inexperienced would be astonished to learn what an amount of work has been done, and quantity of material employed in setting out and propagation, for the show it makes. If the far-sighted and comprehensive plan of the
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COMMISSION, for an adequate provision of Parks and Play- Grounds, shall not be blocked by official cowardice or private greed, and shall be fully accomplished as the people wish, there will be land and use 'enough for all the ornamental trees and shrubbery that can be supplied from any resources likely to be at disposal.
The COMMISSION have been much perplexed, for a long while, by a mysterious fatality that attended their attempt to grow the various species of Nelumbium, Nymphæa, &c., that were pre- sumably hardy enough to withstand the severity of our local winters. Their leaves would be found, daily, floating all over the surface of the circular or Lily Pool, by the Step Bridge; and the edges of the leaves were nicked and torn as though they had been run through a slitting-machine. More recently, in 1887, the very roots have been picked along the shore, whither they had drifted after being pulled to the surface. The trouble was laid in turn to muskrat, mud-turtle, and even to the water-fowl, which were subjected to ignominious exclusion from that sheet of water. But after all it is found that the entire mischief is perpetrated by ravening boys and men. Inappeasable craving for horn-pout is the motive, and the fish-hook the destructive agency. Not one of those superb aquatic plants but is worth all the fish that could be drawn from the pools of ELM PARK, were they packed therein solidly. That those plants can survive the winter is demonstrated ; for the Devoniensis, perhaps the tender- est, sent up one of its magnificent blooms last Autumn, before it was pulled up by the roots. The COMMISSION may have been slow to suspect the cause of offence. But hereafter, " Woe unto him through whom the offence cometh ! "
The enjoyment of skating has been very general during the winter just past. It was quite practicable to keep the surface of the ice clear from snow, as a rule; although latterly the effort was necessarily confined to the longest and largest Pool, where a convenient dumping-place was supplied by the numerous islets. When the whole area was open it was frequently crowded. The space available for this, the most exhilarating and healthy of all exercises, is found quite restricted when there is vacation of the
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schools. If they can ever find leisure for the task, the COMMIS- SION propose to complete their original design, by extending the Diamond Pool so as to include a stretch of low land that for a dozen years has betrayed neither will nor ability to repay culture with even sparse vegetation.
It is hoped that some method of flushing the surface of the ice, when it has been covered by snow or impaired by long use, which shall be both effectual and economical, may shortly be devised. The co-operation of the Water Department is assured, in advance, for any plan that gives reasonable promise of suc- cess. And the COMMISSION are confident that they can do noth- ing that will so please the parents of Worcester as by providing for their boys and girls a place where they can skate in winter, to their hearts' content :- a place that shall be ample, convenient, cosy, and above all, perfectly safe.
The sixth (6) proposition, in the original plan of the PARKS- COMMISSION, was formally stated as follows :-
Voted :- That in the judgment of this COMMISSION, it is for the interest of the City of Worcester to take, for the purpose of a Public Park, the tract of land bounded by Grove Street, Park Avenue, Salisbury Street, and Salisbury Pond, owned by Stephen Salisbury; and comprising about Thirty-one (31) acres, at an estimated cost of $20,274.
And this COMMISSION hereby request the Honorable City Council to appro- priate the above sum for that purpose.
The judgment of the COMMISSION was vindicated, and final action by the City Council anticipated, in the happiest manner, when Stephen Salisbury, Esq., made a free gift of the most val- uable portion of that land to the City. The act speaks for itself, in its munificence. But its full value can be thoroughly estimated only by those who look forward to the very brief period within which the entire territory to the south of Salisbury Street, so long vacant, shall be occupied by populous homes. One of the most gratifying circumstances connected with this gift, as it affects this COMMISSION, is the remembrance of their long asso- ciation with Mr. Salisbury in a congenial public service; his experience and observation in which, presumably made manifest to him a most effectual way of remedying, in part, an obvious deficiency of Worcester.
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The note from Mr. Salisbury to His Honor Mayor Winslow, wherein he declares his generous purpose, is appended, that it may become a portion of the published records of the PARKS- COMMISSION, and also be convenient for reference :-
WORCESTER, June 20, 1887.
HON. SAMUEL WINSLOW,
Mayor of the City of Worcester :-
My Dear Sir :- During the past ten years Worcester has changed materially in appearance, and has lost much of the rural aspect which long after it be- came a city gave a charm to the streets, and continued to offer refreshment and cheer to its inhabitants. The gardens and grounds formerly surrounding many of our homes have been divided into house lots, and are now occupied by structures which have little more land about them than is required for their actual uses.
Such changes are now taking place with increasing rapidity, and the time is near at hand when most of our citizens can have the enjoyment of little of verdure and shrubbery around their dwellings. The report made a year ago by the Commission of Public Parks, suggesting a systematic plan for provid- ing public grounds, was well-timed, and the approval with which the general scheme was received, and the recent purchase of land for such purpose by the city shows that the importance of early action is fully understood.
Through the wise forethought and liberality of two of our citizens, we now possess, at Lake Quinsigamond, a Park of 100 acres, which is destined to be more used and more fully appreciated as the years roll by, when the popula- tion of our city increases and advances to meet this outlying district. While large parks, accessible by conveyance, are important, smaller parks easily reached on foot, in different parts of the city, are equally desirable, and these smaller parks, if not promptly secured, can never be obtained within easy distances from the business portion of our growing city.
With a view of promoting, to some extent, the accomplishment of what is desired by very many of our citizens, I offer to give to the city a tract of land situated on the northerly side of Salisbury Street, bounded as follows : Beginning at a point marked by a wooden post painted white, and set in the ground about 470 feet eastwardly from the intersection of Boynton Street with Salisbury Street; thence running northwesterly about 1,900 feet to Park Avenue; thence running northerly about 565 feet on Park Avenue to a point marked by a wooden post painted white, and set in the ground; thence run- ning eastwardly at nearly a right angle with Park Avenue to a point on the shore of Salisbury Pond at high water, and marked by a wooden post painted white, and set in the ground; thence running southwesterly and following the shore of Salisbury Pond at high water mark, excepting that a fill of flowage
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shall be permitted on the Salisbury Street side of the pond, and near the intersection of Park Avenue, so that the water at that point shall be at least 160 feet distant from the line of Salisbury Street; otherwise following the curvatures of the shore at high water mark to a point on the shore of said pond, at high water mark, designated by a wooden post painted white and set in the ground, which shall be the northerly extremity of a straight line projected at a right angle from the point first mentioned upon Salisbury Street, thence running southerly upon this line about 670 feet, to the place of beginning. This tract of land is supposed to contain 18 acres.
The gift is made subject to a grant to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute of a portion of the foregoing declared tract, which is hereafter disclosed, and is also subject to the following provisions :-
The conditions of this gift are that this area shall be called Institute Park, in recognition of the usefulness of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute to the material interests of the city and county; that the Worcester Polytechnic Institute shall, from and after twenty years from the date of this gift, have the right to erect a building or buildings of attractive exterior, and to occupy the same for educational purposes, upon a portion of said tract 200 feet by 150 feet, lying at least 60 feet from Salisbury Street, upon the highest portion of the area now offered, opposite land now belonging to the Institute, and extending east and west in its longest dimension. The area thus set apart is bounded and described as follows : Beginning at a point within said tract, 50 feet westerly from the west line of the estate of J. Henry Hill, upon Salis- bury Street, and 60 feet northerly from the north line of said street; thence running westerly in a straight line 200 feet to a point 60 feet distant from the north line of Salisbury Street; thence running northerly at a right angle to the line last described, 150 feet to a point ; thence running easterly at a right angle to the line last described, 200 feet to a point; thence running southerly at a right angle to the line last described, 150 feet to the place of beginning, which will form a parallelogram of 30,000 square feet, granted to said Insti- tute, together with a right of free access from the public way, and such facil- ities of ingress and egress for carriages and foot passengers, as may be necessary for the full use and enjoyment of this land thus granted to the Institute for all purposes for which such grant is made, and in such manner as may be mutually agreed upon by the Park Commissioners and the Trustees of the Institute; that such location and the dimensions thereof may be changed for another site and area within said tract upon consultation and agreement between the City and said Institution, at a time when such a prop- osition can be legally entertained; that until the lapse of 20 years, and until the Worcester Polytechnic Institute elects to erect buildings within this
20
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 42.
Park, the portion of land granted to the Institute shall be improved in com- mon with other portions of said tract, and that the officers and students of the Institution shall always have the same rights and no more to the use of the Park as other inhabitants of the city, except as regards a future use and occupation for educational purposes of the portion of land granted or agreed upon according to the terms of the grant.
These privileges and rights I will confirm to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute by deed of even date with that which passes the title of this tract of land to the city, and the deed to the city shall provide that any temporary privilege connected with the use of Salisbury Pond permitted or allowed to the city or to the public by the Lessee of the Pond and the owner thereof in fee shall in no case work any detriment to their several rights of possession or ownership nor create any title in the city as against the lessee or owner by any length of enjoyment of such use and privilege by the public; that this tract of land shall forever be maintained as a Public Park, subject to the same care and regulations as the other public parks of the City of Worcester, that it shall be carefully surveyed by the city and a plan thereof made from which a conveyance of the same may be properly drawn; that stone monuments shall be placed at suitable distances and marked upon the plan fixing the limits of the park upon the borders of the pond; that the city shall within one year from the date of the grant construct passage ways 60 feet in width upon and within the limits of this park upon the easterly and northerly limits thereof to the shore of the pond at high water mark, which passage ways shall be open and free to the owner or owners of the adjacent land, and that withiu one year from the date of the grant of this tract the city shall re-locate and grade Salisbury Street from its intersection with Grove Street to Park Ave- nue and that the city shall throw out enough land from the area comprised in this gift upon the line of Salisbury Street to Park Avenue to make that street 60 feet in width to agree with a like concession of land which I wish to make from land which I own on the northerly line of Salisbury Street from the intersection of Grove Street and extending to the easterly limits of the park.
If accepted, this gift shall be subject to the tax which is assessed upon it for the year 1887.
This tract of land requires very little labor to adapt it to public uses. Walks, shrubbery and trees can be provided at a small expense. A plan of the land now offered to the city accompanies this communication.
If this gift and the conditions attached to it are accepted I will convey the above described tract of land to the city by warranty deed.
Very respectfully yours,
STEPHEN SALISBURY.
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PARKS-COMMISSION.
The following plan indicates in a general way, the outline of the Park.
PARK
AVENUE
PASº
SA
GE
SALISBURY
INSTITUTE
SALISBURY
WEST
ST
GROUNDS INSTITUTE
STREET
A
PARK
POND
ESTATE HILL
BOYNTON STREET -
STREET
PASSAGE WAY
INSTITUTE PARK.
"A" marks the plot which goes at the end of twenty years to the Polytechnic.
The roadway marked " STREET," without a name, has been laid out, although uot completed.
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 42.
Considerable work has been done in conformity to the stipula- tions prescribed in the aforegoing note. Stone bounds were set at fixed distances from high-water mark, around the Pond, so far as the Park continues; and, in addition thereto, the COMMISSION have caused to be established at the salient corners, or bends, massive granite monuments bearing the legend-Insti- tute Park-to prove their desire to meet to the fullest extent the wishes of Mr. Salisbury. Stone walls have been demolished, the materials being carried shore-ward, that the line of the Pond may have a revetment, the cheaper and quicker from stone saved on the spot. Work upon the Passage-Way, required by Mr. Salis- bury along the Eastern side of the Park has been pushed so decidedly that comparatively little labor will suffice to fit it for use. No good reason is now apparent why discreet progress, without absurd and lavish haste, should not essentially improve the appearance of that fortunate acquisition by the city.
The assumption by the Municipal Board of Health in its latest Report, that the PARKS-COMMISSION will favor the establishment of Bath-Houses along the shores of Institute Park is unauthor- ized. The deed from Mr. Salisbury conveys only to high-water mark. A bath-house would be of little value without water. And that element, so far as it is contained in Salisbury Pond, remains under the exclusive control of Mr. Salisbury and his lessees.
Appended to the Original Report of the COMMISSION, wherein was set forth at length a proper system of Parks for the present and prospective needs of Worcester, will be found the following formal vote :
Voted,-that in the judgment of this COMMISSION, it is for the interest of the City of Worcester to acquire the tract of land belonging to the Common- wealth and now held by the Trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital, to the ex- tent of Fifty-Four (54) acres, more or less, for the purposes of a Park; and to request the Honorable City Council to petition the General Court to determine the conditions and rates by which said tract may pass into posses- sion of the City for the purposes above described.
Upon the Petition of the City therein suggested, a Hearing was had, and an official view of the tract of land in question taken upon the spot by a large Committee of the General Court accom- panied by the Treasurer of the Commonwealth. The subjoined
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Act embodies what is understood to be the deliberate and final conclusion of the State authorities,-indicating the extent to which the expressed wishes of the city will be met, without a direct exaction of money :
(Chapter 429.)
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. In The Year One Thousand Eight Hundred And Eighty-Seven.
AN ACT to authorize the City of Worcester to use and occupy certain Land belonging to the Commonwealth for a Public Park.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by authority of the same as follows :-
Section 1. The City of Worcester is hereby granted the right to hold, oc- cupy and control free of rent or charge by the Commonwealth all the land belonging to the Commonwealth in said City which lies between Shrewsbury street, a public highway, and East Shelby street, so called, a street laid out by said Commonwealth over its land, containing twelve acres, more or less, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining- a public park.
Section 2. The said City of Worcester by its board of park commissioners shall within five years from the passage of this act lay out and establish a public park over all said land by suitable filling, grading and draining, and by suitable cultivation and ornamentation for the uses of said park; and shall thereafter keep and maintain said grounds in a neat and ornamental con- dition.
Section 3. While this act is in force the trustees of the state lunatic hos- pital at Worcester shall not sell any portion of the land above described under the provisions of section four of chapter two hundred and thirty- eight of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and seventy.
Section 4. The board of park commissioners of the City of Worcester shall have the same powers and authority with reference to said land as it now has with reference to other parks laid out in said city, except the power to assess betterments accruing to real estate by locating and laying out said land as a public park.
Section 5. After said land is so laid out as a public park the said city is hereby authorized to raise, appropriate and expend such sums as it may deem best for the improvement of said park subject to the laws of this Common- wealth limiting municipal indebtedness.
Section 6. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
House of Representatives, June 16, 1887.
Passed to be enacted.
CHAS. J. NOYES, Speaker.
In Senate, June 16, 1887.
Passed to be enacted.
HALSEY J. BOARDMAN, President.
June 16, 1887.
Approved. OLIVER AMES.
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FRANK P. GOULDING, ESQ.
20: January, A. D., 1888.
City Solicitor,
My Dear Sir :
By virtue of Chap. 429, of the Statutes A. D. 1887, the City of Wor- cester is granted the right to construct and maintain a Public Park in and upon certain lands belonging to the Commonwealth.
Will you please give me your opinion if any formal action or expression of intention is necessary, under the Act; and if yes,-whether the initiative should be taken by the City Council or by this PARKS-COMMISSION?
Section 2 of said Act declares that the City, " by its Board of Park Com- missioners" shall do certain specified things. And yet if the PARKS-COM- MISSION, of itself and ex mero motu,-may enter upon that land, lay out a Park at the expense of the City, filling, grading, and draining, etc., it may do by force of construction what it is explicitly prohibited from doing, under the General Park Law of 1882; until after precedent determination and action by the City Council.
I remain Very Respectfully and Truly, EDWARD WINSLOW LINCOLN,
Chairman.
CITY OF WORCESTER, Massachusetts. City Solicitor's Office, January 23, 1888.
EDWARD W. LINCOLN, ESQ.
Chairman, etc.
My Dear Sir :
Your communication of 20th instant, has drawn my attention for the first time, to the act of 1887, chap. 429. The act as completed is wholly different from what was proposed. Its construction is not entirely clear, and apart from the object of the statute as indicated by the title, it might be urged from the text that the park in question was imposed on the City willy-nilly, and that the parks commission was peremptorily required to lay it out as a park. Taking the whole object, purpose and design of the statute, however, I am of opinion that it is merely permissive to the City, and that the park commis- sioners are not warranted in laying it out as a park, until appropriation has been made by the city council for the expense.
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