F ^ H ' F 574 ■ B2 \43 Copy 1 IMPROVEMENTS TO WILLARD PARK BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN THROUGH THE WOODS TOWARD THE LAKE BY HOWARD EVARTS WEED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT CHICAGO A REPORT ON IMPROVEMENTS TO WILLARD PARK BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN BY HOWARD EVARTS WEED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT CHICAGO 101 Ci ^ {23 .13 ^W3 A Report on Improvements to Willard Park. To the Common Council of the City of Battle Creek: GENTLEMEN:— In accordance with a resolution of your honorable body and instructions received from Chairman Crandall of your Park Com- mittee, I submit the following report on some needed improvements to Willard Park. , .\ . HISTORY AND CHARACTER. The present Willard Park consists of a 16 acre tract, two and one-half miles from the City, bordering on the south shore of Gou- gac Lake. This land was donated to the City of Battle Creek by the late Chas. L. Willard in 1897. While doubtless the original inten- tion of the donor to include "Breezy Point" in the donation, this prominent and valuable part was reserved for private purposes so it does not constitute a part of the Park. For the most part, the land is thickly covered with native forest trees, mostly oak and hickory. No attempt at beautification has been made other than the clearing away of underbrush. The land is roll- ing in character rising about ten feet above the lake level by an abrupt bluff. Gougac Lake is not a large body of water, but its irregular shape adds much to its seeming extent, giving distant vistas which are a delight to the eye. THE PRESENT BEAUTIFUL (?) ENTRANCE. SHOULD BE MORE ACCESSIBLE. A park is a benefit to a community depending upon its access- ibility for the majority of the working people. Parks are primarily established for and mostly used by the working classes, which in Battle Creek means the wage earners in the manufacturing plants of the City. At present Willard Park is a disappointment in this respect. The Willard Park two mile street car ride is delightful, but the ride ends at an amusement resort owned and operated by private parties and only to be enjoyed by the people by paying the nickels, dimes and quarters freely. A stranger taking the car ride would never know of Willard Park unless told of its location and how to get there. The little six by twelve inch sign nailed to a telegraph pole "This way to Willard Park" is not much of an inducement for one to take the half mile walk up the muddy or dusty road. I ven- ture the broad statement that not one-half of the thirty thousand in- habitants of Battle Creek have ever set foot in Willard Park. I also doubt if one-fourth of the wage workers of the City even know of its location. Obviously, then, the first step in having this park enjoyed by the people is to make it more accessible. The street car line should at least go up to the park entrance and unless the new interurban line running from Battle Creek to Coldwater is to solve this problem, I suggest that the matter be taken up by the proper committee of the Council without delay. If the street Railway Company will run their cars entirely around Gougac Lake, it would afford a most delightful ride which, in Summer time at least, would be a paying investment. GREATER AREA NEEDED. Sixteen acres is a small tract for an outlying park. Battle Creek is a growing City. It passed through its panic four years ago in finding out that there is a limit to the profitable manufacture of breakfast foods. But the City is now enjoying a substantial growth based upon its varied manufacturing industries and the future outlook for a great and prosperous City could not be more promising. Anyone who has given the subject thought must seethe neces- sity of a greater park area for Battle Creek. RIGHT NOW is the time to make provision for the future in this regard. The present entire park area of the City is but twenty-eight acres including the sixteen acres in Willard Park. This means one acre of park land for over a thousand people. It is thus a good thing that some of the people do not take advantage of the parks at all, for otherwise the sign "standing room only" would have to replace that of "keep off the grass." A comparison of other cities of about equal population to Battle Creek is of interest in this connection. This data is based upon the government report of 1903, furnished by Park Statistician G. A. Parker. Brought down to date the Cities would make even a better showing. THE DRIVE THROUGH THE WOODS. CITY POPULATION PARK AREA PARK EXPENDITURE Haverhill, Mass. 38,987 259 $ 8,682 Quincy, 111. 37,680 131 8,121 Salem, Mass. 37,504 110 13.240 Elmira, N. Y. 38,106 100 7,334 Newton, Mass. 36,350 160 6,149 Springfield, 111. 36,211 207 10,107 BATTLE CREEK 30,000 28 2,500 Pueblo, Colo. 29,237 255 15,672 Council Bluffs, la 29,171 647 5,717 Meridan, Conn. 25,088 . 1029 Colorado Springs, Colo. 24,092 1458 Fortunately Willard Park can be enlarged at no great expense. A part of the adjoining land on the south is practically unfit for agri- cultural purposes and the rest is only ordinary farm land and is surely more valuable for park purposes than it ever can be for agricultural purposes. I cannot urge the acquirement of more land too strongly and I believe that this land should be acquired before any money is spent upon a pavilion or other improvements. The new pavilion, boat houses, and the like, are all needed if Willard Park is to be en- joyed by the people as it should be. But once these are in place and the people learn what a delightful place the park is, they will come to the park in such numbers as to make more land an absolute necessity. ABOUNDING IN WATER LILIES. In order to explain as to just what lands should be acquired I refer you to the two maps accompanying this report. In map number one, the present area of Willard Park is shown by the shaded portion. The other portion of the map shows "Breezy Point," 2.1 acres, and a part of the Willard farm containing approximately 50 acres. I would recommend that this fifty acres be purchased and added to the present park area. The western portion of this part of the farm con- taining 26 acres is of no practical value for farm purposes and should be acquired at a minimum of expense. The eastern tract of 24 acres contains a cleared space where a ball ground and tennis courts would be appropriate. The present marsh on the back or western portion of the tract should be made a part of Gougac Lake by the digging of a canal across as shown in map number two. The water level in this marsh, as ascertained by the City Engineer, is two feet lower than the water level of the lake. So that a canal to connect the marsh with the dake would raise the water level of the marsh and allow boating facilities therein, so that what is now simply a marsh would become a small, yet delightful lake. I suggest the name of "Willard Lake" for this portion of the tract. The present driveway through the woods should be widened to thirty-two feet in width, some of the sharper curves eliminated, and made to go around the new Willard Lake, then branching into two drives as shown in map two. The present entrance should be made more to the south and another entrance still further to the south as shown on the accompanying map two. A GOOD SHORE LINE. A POOR SHORE LINE. Breezy Point should of course be a part of the park, but as the present owners would doubtless hold it at a high valuation, it is probable that the money necessary for its purchase could be spent to better advantage otherwise. PAVILION AND BOAT HOUSE. I believe the new Pavilion should be located as shown on map two. This commands a fine view of the lake and is easily accessible from the driveway. The removal of a few trees will make a couple of fine vistas of the lake. Near the old pier should be located a boat house and a new pier should be built at this point. The boats should be let at small expense so that the excellent boating facilities offered by the lake can be taken advantage of by the working people. Here also should be bath houses, so that bathing in the lake may become general. No one feature of more importance than public bathing could be intro- duced which would make Willard Park more popular. The present city water supply at Gougac Lake has the Amusement Park on one side and Willard Park on the other. In the one case the public are invited to bathe — for a price — and in the other bathing is prohibited. The situation would be laughable, were it not so serious. Surely bathing in the lake from Willard Park would not contaminate the water more than bathing in the same lake from the Amusement Park. The solution of the whole matter consists in the proposed re-location of the water works in another part of the city. Then bathing would be .a leading feature of the park. THE PLANTING OF SHRUBS. Willard Park should be largely left in its natural beauty. No artificial features other than the necessary buildings and open spaces should be attempted. The border lines, however, should be thickly planted to the floweririg shrubs, using mostly native varieties. The present entrance is far from beautiful and needs a thick planting of shrubs to hide the unsightly yard of the ice house and back yards of the summer cottages so abundant at this point. I have as yet made no attempt to make a "planting plan" of this park. There are so many other features needed that I cannot recommend the planting of shrubs until the recommendations as already mentioned are carried out. CONCLUSION. I feel sure that there is nothing in this report but that is very practical. There are many other things to which I should like to call attention, but if the publication of this report results in awakening the people of Battle Creek to a realization of the park needs of the City and more especially of the need of more land for the imiprovementof Willard Park, I shall be satisfied. Respectfully submitted. Howard Evarts Weed. 1715 Railway Exchange, Chicago, 111. March 1st, 1907. THE PRESENT MARSH. LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 016 097 900 8 g