Evening Star Newspaper, June 7, 1923, Page 41

Network of Park System in Washington Makes It Distinctive Capital of World THE WASHINGTON MON ENT AND MUNITIONS BUILDINGS, BUILT DU £ ING THE » BUREAU OF ENGRAVING e Washington city has many attrac- tions, natural and otherw none of greater heauty than lie parks which termed its “breathing places.” parks, large Iy distributed in all Temains of the ten-m original District of of them are more Wwith tress, plants, flower beds, lawns, hedges. statues, fountains, etc., and made vasily accessible by good ro asphalt walks. bridle paths and rustic foot paths. The larger parks are Rock Creek f the Capitol-and Meridian 16th street north of F o its pub- | aptly These are generous- parts of what le square of the Columbia. Most or less improved have been entension of Rock Creek park, which it joins on the south. Its coilection of “animals though not arge that of the Brunx Zoo, in New York and smal Athleties for Al | the larger parks contain | creational areas. which are well patronized by the men, women and children of the District. There are An re- YTATUE OF JOAN OF ARC, IN MERIDAN HILL PAUY, DUBOIS WORK OUTSIDE THE RH FRIEACH WOMEN OF NEW YORK CITY. PARK, | Rolf courses and swimming pools in | Rock Creek Park and Potomac Park, a polo field in Potomac Park, a cricket field in Rock Creek Park, ten- nis courts in Potomac Park, the Mall, Anacostia Park, Garfield Park, Mont- | rose Park and the Washington Monu- | nt grounds; base ball diamonds in | the White House ellipse, the Monu~ ment grounds and McMillan Park, with sand boxes and other pleasure | tacilities for children, and pien places with rustic tables and chai in the larger parks. Promenade con- certs are given every afternoon dur- ing the summer months In various Purk, the Zoological Park, Potomac Fark, Ancostia Water Park, the Sol- [éAers’ Home and the Mall extending from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Each has a special beauty of its own. Among the emaller parks special attention has been paid to the improvement of Lafayete lark, op- posite the White House; Franklin Park, between I and K and 13th and 14th streets; Lincoln Park on East Capitel street at 11th street, Montrose Park on the banks of Rock Creek in Georgetown, the Botanic Garden at the west front of the Capitol, Garfleld ON 16TH STREET. IMS CATHEDRAL, PRESENTED TO THE WOMEN OF B o o B B e gt UMENT AND THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL FROM THE AIR. TO THE RIGHT ARE T WAR, WHEN 5000 TRE! "8 AND SHRUBS WE! DIATELY Park along New Jersey avenue, south | parks by the Army. Navy and Marine stationed at nearby posts Altogether the park system District covers a total of including 393 park of a total area of the direct charge gineers of the Army. The are principal parks follows Rock Creek Park, 1 mac Park, 72 c: grounds, acres 170 acres. Monument acres; McMillan I'ark Agricultural Department B den, 11 acres; C itol grounds, acres; Library Congress grounds, 11 acres; naval ob- bands, Poto Home 05 acres; Soldiers 115 res; grounds, THIS IS A COPY OF THE AMERICA BY servatory grounds. 90 acres; Naval Hospital grounds, 17 acres; Washing- ton barracks reservation. acres; grounds south of the White House, 70 acres; the Mall, 955 acres, includ- ing the Smithsonian grounds of 58 acres; Judiciary P’ark. 19 acres; Me- ridian Hill Park, 11 acres; Montrose Park. 15 acres; Lafayette Park. 6 acres; Franklin Park, 4 acres; Lin- coln Park, 7 acres; Garfield Park, 9 acres; Henry Park 18 acres; Seaton Parks, 19 acres. There are in all 365 small reservations containing an ag- gregate of 90 acres. Nearby Reservatlons. The above park acreage, however, does not include the Arlington reser- vation, in Virginia; the Government Hospital for the Insane. in Anacos- tia, and a number of other public or semi-public reservations, open to the general public, but not primarily in- tended as parks. The Arlington res- ervation covers an area of 1,364 acres, of which the national cemetery braces 409 acres, Fort Myer 317 acres and the agricultural experimental farm 638 acr Washington has alwayvs held a unique place among the capitals of the world. Conceived with pride in the minds of our early statesmen, de- signed with rare skill by Maj. I'En- fant, one of the foremost engineers of his period; constructed from time to time In accordance with its destiny as foreseen by its founders, it holds today among American cities a high place for its beauty, its statcliness and the development of its institu- tions. The plan of the city was origi- nal. The system of centers with radiating streets was developed, pro- viding the numerous diagonal ave- nues which make the city so unusual in its artistic development. At the intersections of the streets and ave- nues were placed the smaller parks and circles, which is a distinctive fea- ture of the city. L'Enfant desired in addition larger areas for more spa- cious parks elsewhere and laid out on his plan what undoubtedly was the most pretentious scheme of park development of his day. Of that scheme, the Mall was the most im- portant feature. It provided a wide parkway extending dlrectly west- ward from the Capitol to the Potomac river, the purpose being to provide for diplomatic representatives of for- eign nations suitable residences lin- ing both sides of a beautiful park. The city as laid out by I'Enfant was to provide ultimately for a popula- tion of about $00,000, the nucleus of which lay between the Potomac river and Florida avenue and Rock .creek and the Anacostia river, with ample room for expansion northward beyond Florida avenue, the northern boundary of the original city. Harmonious Development. Notwithstanding the excellence of this general plan many things have em- WHITE BLOSSOMS OF THE ORIENTAL MAGNOLIA TREES”ARE FULL|since occurred in the emplacement of, ] BUDS AF IN FRANKLIN SQUARE. publio buildings and the opening HE, TEMPORARY NAVY DEPART. E SACRIFICED FOR THEIR ERECTION BEYOND IS THE NORTH END OF outlying linterfer, velopmen sections with of the District the harmonious wisely planned. For many years in the early days of the capMal the elaborate plans of I'Enfant recetved scant recognition by the of- fcials in charge. According to one authority that condition of apathy or indifference continued to a greater or i until the powers that he | awakened to the ad- tages gher degree of civic the highly artistic design arrangement of the buildings and | Rrounds at the world's Columbian ex- positic in Chicago in 189 b Washington was one Ame an cities to feel of that awakening. Senator MeMilla was primarily influential L~ hay called lwl{vlhe; in 1901 a 1 eminent architects a artists D. H. Burnham, Charles Y;’_d l.\! Kim. Augustus Saint Gaudens and lorick Law Olmsted comprised comm on, They visited varl- ties urope and later pre- ult of their studles the r the expansion and Washington, now e of the most for civie beauty Dlan recognizes I'Enfant’s Mall rates and expands later conditions. It an extension of the the newer part was not included design, so that wh growth ‘takes place th will be as well pro- recreation parks as the to of the first impulse James that meet the ncludes n e areas vided with old Future Public Bulldingw. feature of the new outlined generally as broad mall, extend- Capitol ard. Washington Monument, memorial to President k of the Potomac river. Crossing that line, which forms its major axis. is a shorter axis extendinz at right angles north and south through the Washington Monument g with the White House the northern end and a of buildings at the to the memory of The Mall thus diamond-shaped »ugh the heart of e Capitol to the river, in gr number for arge public buildings and giving opportunity for an artistic arrange- ment of roads and trees and a park development of great dignity and beauty The scheme will ultimately embrace within its limits nearly all of the great departmental adminis trative buildings. the Capitol and the | White House and provide sites for many semi-public bulldings for art and sclence, for armories and con- vention halis The second essential feature of the art commission’s plan is a chain of parks connected by boulevards ex- tending from the river through Rock Creek valley to Rock Creek Park, thence east to the Soldiers’ Home, through the grounds of the Boys' In- dustri School. thence to the Ana- costia river, where a large aquatic park is being created by filling in the swampy flats, formerly insanitary and useless, with material dredged from the river channels. Outside of that chain of parks is to be another similar boulevard connecting the nu- merous civil war forts, which it is expected, will thus become a part of the park system of the District. Memorinl Buildings Grouped. Great progress already has been made under the approved project. In the Mall are the office buildings of the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives, the new National Mu- seum, the buildings of the Agricul- ture Department, the Smithsonian Institution, the Freer Art Gallery, the Washington Monument, the Grant Memorial, the building of the bureau of printing and engraving, the Pan-American Union building, the Continental Memorial Hall of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion and the bullding in menory of the heroic women of the civil war, occupied by the American Red Cross. All" these bulldings were located with a view to their adding to the ultimate scheme. The Lin- coln Memorial is one of the most im- portant of these and marks the western end of the longer axis of the Mall. Rock Creek Park was acquired in 1892. That is w park of natural de- sign, comprising over 1,600 acres. Zoological Park, adjoining it on the south, embracing 170 acres, was ac- quired in 1890. Montrose and Merid- jan Hill parks were bought in 1911 and the clearing and opening of the area lying between the Capitol and the Union station is in progress. The waterfront of Washington, formerly marshes and mud flats, was filled in with material dredged from the river and the park area com- pleted and partly developed. The construction of East Potomac Park by reclaimjng from the river an area of 327 acfes is now ready for de- velopment as a large athletic recrea- tion fleld. Plans are now being pre- pared for the enlargement of Rock Creek Valley with a view to its transformation into a highly devel- oped parkway connecting Potomac Park on the riverfront and Rock Creek Park in the interior. On the lower Anacostia river large areas have been reclaimed already by the filling and ‘wark l.lfil‘.‘nll sull‘ in \progress, with a magnificent river g‘s“l’-l: in vigw o that sWda of she PR St I The plan may providing ing from g the cantral b for the the great on the westy in- bar sunds, proposed ot dedicated the nation's founders becomes a large park extending t the city from t providing group Probably no city in the world con- tains more public statues and memorials to national heroes and benefactors than dot the parks and | sallent points of the National Cap- | ital. They number about fifty, ex- clusive of purely architectural and monumental memorials, such as the Washington Monument, the Lincoin Memorial, the Memorial to the Wo- men of the Civil War and the Francls Scott Key bridge. Statues of men who have figured high in the affairs of the nation are striking features of most of the larger parks and of the principal thoroughfares of travel. Many of section of the broad avenues and principal streets show an equestrian or standing statue, or a fountain or other form of memorial to some man who has benefited humanity at large or who rendered special service to his country. The first two statues erected in this city are the equestrian statues of Gen. Washington and of Gen. Jackson. designed and made by Cark Mills of this city, without previous experience as a sculptor. Both were authorized by Congress. The statue of Jackson was unvelled in Lafayette Park, di- rectly opposite the White Houxe. January 8, 1853, and that of Wash- ington was unveiled in Washington Circle, on Pennsylvania avenue at the section of 230 and K streets, in Recent suggestion was made that exchange places-on the generul ground that the statue of the Father of His Country was entitled the more prominent position occupied by Gen. Jackson. and. moreover, was & more artistic production. The mere suggestlon aroused 8o _much opposi- tion from citizens of Tennessee and the south generally. that President Harding made 2 public declaration that no such change would be made unless specifically directed by Con- gress. they Statue Being Repaired. What partly inspired the declara- tion was the fact Chat the statue of Washington was found to be cor- roded and damaged by time and the elements and had to be removed from its granite pedestal and foundry in Brooklyn, N. Y.. for gen- eral repairs. It Ix there at present. but will be restored to its original position 1n & few weeks. These two were the only public the statue of Gen. Rawlins of civil war fame, made by J. Bailey, was erected in the park on New York avenue between 17th and 15th streets, just south of the Interior Department That section was not very thickly settled at that time and in May. 1586, | the statue was removed to what then was thought to be a more prominent ite in a small trlangle on the wouth e of Pennsylvania avenue between Sth and th streets, where it stands | teday. In the years following Congre. rovided for the erection. in the pul c. grounds of the District of me morials of other military and naval I heroes of the civil war and of other distinguished men. Similar action alto was taken by patriotie, sectarian and sclentific organizations for per- petuating the memory of leaders in thelr orders or professions | "One of the latest additions to the large collcction is the Grant me- morial group in the Botanic Garden, MOUS SAINT GAUDE! OF MRS. HENRY which was formally dedicated with impressive ceremonies April 27, 1923, the 100th anniversarv of the birth of Gen. Grant. Development of the surroundings of that memorial awalits the removal of the existing conserva- tory and other buildings to the new site of the Botanic Garden, along Canal street south of the Capitol to the Potomac river. Following is a complete list of statues In the public parks of the District and of the principal statues STAAVENUE AND 23D STREST, the circles and triangles at the inter- | to| statues in this city until 1874, when | * STATUE OF “GRIEF” OVER THE GRAVE ADAMS, IN ROCK CREEK CEMETERY. | | | | | | | | |THE CAVALRY MONUMENT TO GRANT, LOCATED OF THE WM o AR THE CAPITOL. IT 1S THE MOST IM- PORTANT SCULPTURE EVE DONE FOR THE GOVERNMENT BEING THE WORK OF HENRY SHRADY, WHO SPENT FIFTEE: (EARS ON IT, DYING JUST PRIOR | TO ITS UNVEILING IN 1922, AT THE HEAD sent to a | and memorials on private or semi- | Pprivate grounds, with their locations: { Locations of Statues. | Gen. Andrew Jackson, | center of Lafavette Park, {gylvania avenue opposite ouse President equestrian, avenue at streets | Gen. John A. Rawlins, standing. south side of Pennsylvania avenue between Sth and Sth streets Gen. Winfield Scott, equestrian, cir- |cle’on 16th street at intersection of Massachusetts and Rhode Island ave- nues Gen. Winfield Scott, standing. in grounds of Soldiers’ Home, north of Michigan avenue and east of Rock Creek Church road. !~ President Lincoln. standing. in| front of United States courthouse, at head of John Marshall place. President Lincoin. sitting. in Lin- | coln Park on East Capitol street he- tween 11th and 13th streets. Erected by emancipated citizens of the United | States. Gen equestrian, | on Penn the White ! George Washington, | circle on Pennsylvania intersection of 23d and K James B. McPherson, trian, in _park on Vermont avenue between I and K streets. Gen. Nathanlel Green, equestrian, in Stanton Park, intersection of Maryland and Massachusetts avenues and C and 5th streets northeast. Gen. George H. Thomas, equestrian, in circle_on 1ith street at intersec- tion of Massachusetts and Vermont | avenues Admiral Farragut. standing, in park on Connecticut avenue, between 1 and K streets. AUE OF GEN. SHERIDAN, IN SHERIDA® CIRCLE, MASSACHUSETTS BX GUXZON-BOBGLUM, STATUE ERECTED TO COU ORNER OF LAFAYETTE PARK, Prof. Josoph Smithsonian grounds, sylvania avenue, between 12th streets. President Garfleld, standing, circle at jintersection of Maryland avenue and 1st street west. Lafayeite Group Impressive. Gen. Lafayette and compatriots standing, at southeast corner of La- fayette Park. Gen. Winfield Hancock, eques- trian, on north side of Pennsylvania avenue at Tth street. L. J. M. Daguerre, standing, Smith- sonian grounds. Dr. Samuel D. Gross, Smithsonian grounds. Danfel Webster, standing, at inter- section of Massachusetts and Rhode Island avenues, west of Scott Circle. Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, sitting, at intersection of Massachusetts _and Rhode Island avenues, east of Scott Circle Gen. Henry, standing, south of Penn- 7th and standing, Alhert Pike, standing, on Ind- iana avenue at 3d street west. Gen. John A. Logan, equestrian, circle at intesection of Rhode Island and Vermont avenues and 13th and P streets. Count Rochambeau, standing, at southwest corner of Lafayette Park. Gen. William T. Sherman, eques- trian, just south of United States Treasury. Peace or Naval Pennsylvania avenue at west_of Capitol Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, equestrian, in clrele at intersection of Massach- setts avenue and 23d street. Gen. George B. McClellan, eques- trian, at intersection of Connecticut avenue and California street. Henry W. Longfellow, sitting, on Connecticut avenue at intersection of M street John Witherspoon, Connecticut avenue, of N street. F. B. Stephenson, Grand Army of the Republic, monument. on 7th street at intersection of Louislana avenue and C street. Gen. Count Pulaski, equestrian, on Pennsylvania_avenue at 13th street. Gen. Thaddeus Koscluszko, stand- ing, northeast corner of Lafayette Park. Gen. Baron von Steuben, standing. northwest corner of Lafayette Park. Christopher Columbus, standing, Union station plaza. John Paul Jones, standing, in Po- tomac Park, at foot of 17th street. Commodore John Barry, standing, on 14th street side of Franklin Park, between 1 and K streets. Fountain Replaces Statue. Admiral Dupont memorial fountain, in circle at intersection of Connecti- cut and Massachusetts avenues. Benjamin Franklin, standing, on Pennsylvania avenue at _10th street. Bartholdi fountain, in Botanic Gar- den, on_line of 2d street, west. Butt-Millett memorial fountain, in park southwest of the White House. Dante, standing, east side, lower garden, Meridian Hill Park, between I5th and 16th and W and Euclid streets. Jeanne d'Arc, equestrian, on brow of hill In center of Meridian Hill Park. Chief Justice John Marshall, sit- ting. on lower terrace of west front of_Capitol. - Magtip Luther, standing, in front Monument, on 1st street, standing, on at intersection T ROCHAMBEATU, THE EVENING STAR, WASHI GgO i D 0! THURSDAY! lJUNE 75 1923 Washington Leads All Cities of the World In Number and Beauty of Public Statues HET e R il WY s, AT THE SOUTHWEST OPPOSITE THE WHITE HOUSE. of Lutheran Memorial Thomas circle, 14th street sachusetts avenue Dr. Edward M. Gallaudet, in grounds_of the Columbia Institute for the Deaf, on Florida avenue near Sth street northeast. Dr. Benjamin Rush, in grounds in front of the Naval Hospital at foot of 24th street. Bishop Carroll, standing. of Georgetown University Gov. Shepherd, standing, in park in front of Municipal building. on Penn- sylvania uvenue near lith street. McMillan Memorial fountain, in McMillan Park, near the intersection of Ist and Bryant streets northwest. A. J. Downing, large urn, in Smith- sonian grounds, near line of Yth street Gen. U. S. Grant, equestrian, on 1st street side of Botanic Garden, at foot of the Capitol Alexander Hamilton, south plaza of Treasury. Gen. Meade, standing, in Botanic Garden, near corner of Pennsylvania avenue and 3d street west. Under construction. John Ericsson, inventor of the Monitor, in West Potomac Park. Un- der construction. First Division, monument. south of State Department. Under construc- tion. Greenough's _sitting statue _of George Washington, gttired in a Ro- man_toga, which formerly stood on the plaza at the east or main front of the Capitol, is now sheltered in a large hall of the Smithsonian Insti- tution. NOBLES OF ABU-BEKR RIDE ARABIAN STEEDS From the progressive city of Sloux City, Jowa, came the Nobles of Abu- Bekr. They came in true Arab style, each mounted on his own flery steed of Arablan extraction. Each noble sat his horse as if man and beast had been cast in one mold. They came fourteen hundred miles. They brought a band of fifty, a patrol of thirty, chanters to the number of twenty, and a mounted patrol of thirty. This patrol is composed of business men from the stock yards of Sioux City. They came from the land where the loam is dark and deep. They came from that section of the Church, and Ma at in front standing, on country where pioneers turned an un- tilled soll into productive fields. The thousands that have viewed thefr horses are unanimous in saying that no finer collection of steads has ever been seen in this city. PALESTINE TEMPLE HAS LEGION OF HONOR Palestine Temple of Providence has a Leglon of Honor, including all no- bles who served the colors in any war or campaign in any branch of service. All civil war veterans have been made honorary commanders of the legion. Thomas J. H. Peirce is commander 6f the Legion of Honor, which acts as a reception committee for Shrine meetings, takes part in all eeremonials and has charge of the colors,