The Price of a Public Park
Captain Thomas offers twenty acres for a city park, provided the government proves it can maintain it.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Captain Thomas has made a proposition to deed to the city a twenty-acre tract of land, for park purposes, situated along the river bank to the south of his residence. The only condition or consideration he names is that the city will expend not less than $500 a year for a period of five years in improving the land. Captain Thomas values the property at $2,500, and, as the condition on which the land will be ceded is one that a thrifty government would naturally follow, the city should not let this opportunity of acquiring grounds for a park to lapse by inattention and neglect.
“The city should not let this opportunity of acquiring grounds for a park to lapse by inattention and neglect.”
This reflects the 19th-century struggle to establish public commons in rapidly expanding boomtowns, a precursor to modern debates over urban green space and municipal budget priorities.
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