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A HISTORY OF .O~LAHA'S

PARKS AND RECREATION SYSTEM

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February 1982Report No. 214Omaha City Planning Department,

Douglas County Historical Society

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A History of

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THE mSTORY OF THE OMAHA PARKS SYSTEM

Although almost a century old, Omaha's parks and boulevard ~ystem is relative1U1familiar to many contemporary residents. The careful thought and plaI11?-ing undertaken bythe Board of Park Cominissioners in 1889 gave us the large central city parks which continueto serve the public today. While portions of the boulevard system have been destroyed byInterstate highways, many of the roadways still exist and proVide convenient and efficientconnections around the city. In addition, both the central city parks and boulevards have,recently, taken on neW significance with the current nation-wide interest in rebirth of ,innercitieS. ' .As Ainericatisseek the diversity of cultures that exist in central cities, as well asthe character and quality of older housing stock, they are working to resto~e older,established neighborhoods deserted for the suburbs a gene~ation ago. At the same time,inc~easing gasoline and housing ptices have made it prudent to live closer to work andentertaininent. Thus, Omaha's parks and boulevards system is important not only for therole it played in the past, but for the contributions it will make to central city dev,elopkentin thefutute. '

OMAHA'S EARLY PARKS

Alfred D. Jones was inore enlightened than most frontier surveyot<s. When he laid outthe, townsite of ,Omaha in 1854 he proVided for three squares and a park. J~fferson,Washington ,and Capitol Squares were situated in the north, northwest and central sectionsof the new settlement, while a park one block ,wide andseven long left additional open spacein the proposed business dist~ict. Unfortunately, Jones' good intentions went unheeded bycity fathetseager to sell off profitable townsite land. Washington Square soon held theCounty Court House, and the linear park site was diVided into blocks for a steam mill, theHerndon House Hotel (later Union Pacific Rail~oad Headquarters) and ~erous businessplaces. , , ' ,i A ,

Capitol and Je,t'ferson Squares were more fortunate in surViving O}l1aha's early'periodof rapid expansion, although Jefferson Square in particular suffered num'erous assaults uponits borders. Capitol Square became the location of the Nebraska Territorial CapitQ,lunt;l1868 when it was moved to Lincoln and the old building became Omaha High School.Omaha's Centtal High -School is located on the site today. Jefferson Square was alternatelyproposed as a location for a market house, a school, a headquarters for the Department ofthe Platte, a city~count1 government building, a post office and a city hall before i889.Despite these attempts, Jefferson Square remained Omaha's oldest and only park 1U1til thedonation of Hanscom Park in the southwest portion of the city in 1872.

During the ensuing two decades, no official city government agency existed to carefor Hanscom Park and Jefferson Square, let alone plan for acquisitions or beautificationprojects. However, paved streets and sanitary water and sewage facilities were alsounheard of in frontier Omaha; therefore the lack of fotesight in park planning wasunderstandable. With the real estate and commercial boom of ihe 1880's, Omaha'spopulation increased from 30,518 at the beginning of the decade to approximately 102,000by 1890. Recognizing the special needs of Nebraska's largest and only metropolitan classcity, the State Legislature created a new charter ,for metropolitan cities expressly forOmaha, and included within it a proVision for a Board'of Park Commissioners. Section 108of, the 1887 Charter for Metropolitan Cities called.for a Board of Park Commissioners tocontrol the city's public gro1U1ds and parks, establishl~ules for management and care of thesites, suggest a systepl of public p~ks and boulevards, and designate lands to be acquired forpark purposes. The Charter sped-fied the Commission's membership <is the City's StreetCommissioner, the Chairman of the City Council Committee on Public Property, and othermembers appointed by the Mayor with City C01U1cil approval.

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The city failed to take advantage of the charter provision, but in 1889 the Legislatureenacted a law providing for a general system of parks in metropolitan cities in the state. Itwas more specific than the previous law and made a number of additions to it. Under the1889 statute, five commissioners were chos,en for the Board by judges of the JudicialDistrict., The commissioners we,re bestowed with power to issue bonds for acquisition ofpark lands if costs exceeded the city's tax levy. The law also provided salaries for the parkcommissioners: $600 per annum for the Chairman, $200 for, the other four members. Theboard's basic funding was an annual responsibility of the Mayor and Council, who werecharged to levy a tax of not less than one and one-half mills and not greater than threemills, for paying salaries \utd layingo\1.t and improving parks. '

From the start the Board of Commissioners projected a rather elite character. Thefirst c6xI!missioners Jncluded George L. Miller, former editor of the Daily,Herald, who waschosen President ot the Board; farm implement salesman and art collector" George W.Lininger; former school board member, Augustus Pratt; pioneer attorney lq1d Tel.'ritorialSupreme Court Jl;lStice, Geoli'ge B. Lake; and banker Alfred Millard, son of pi~eer settlerand banker Ei2:ra Milhird. These men were leading citizens, the kind of upper dallS, residentsmost Omahans believed should make decisions regarding the city's park ami. \ljoulevardsystem. The Commissioners' names are familiar, even in the twentieth century, sincestreets were named after Lake and Pratt, a town named and founded by AUred Millard'sfather Ezra, and a park named after Board President Miller.

NINETEENTH ClWTURY PARK PLANNING}

In order to better understand Omaha's nineteenth century park activity, as well as thepark and boulevard system as it exists today, it is ,necessary to examine the history of thepark movement in America. The man perhaps most responsible for the dev,elopment of parksand park systems was Frederick Law Olmsted, who, along with Calvert Va'ux, designedNewYork City's Central Park (1857). ,His philosoplrles guided park design for the restof thecentury and directly influenced Omaha's pljl'k<commissioners. Olmsted's Central Park: wasthe fi,rst deliberately planned example of an urban park in America.. He saw t)l.e 'need forplanning to provide open spaces as more and more people crowded into cities with feweropportunities to enjoy nature. Certainly, Olmsted was influenced 9Y the "rural cemetery"movement earlier in tl1e century, begun with a plan for Mount Auburn Cem'eterl inCambridge, Massachusetts in 1831. The Mount Auburn Cemetery was one of the firstplanned with the landscape as the dominant factor. Designed by Alexander Wadsworth,Mount Auburnis win<iing drives preserved the natural envi,t'onment of the cemetery andinspired the back-to-nature theme so prevalent in parks later on.

In an 1870 book, Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns, Olmsted published hispark philosophies. ,He made a plea for p"rks on the basis of health reasons, pointing out thatfoliage wOul<i purify the air and provide m opportunity for urban residents to "escape atfrequent intervals from the confined and vitiated air of the commercial quarter, and to

i supply the, lungs with air screened md purified by trees ••••" In a<idition the park should besurrounded by trees, so that its users would feel completely shut out from the city. Apromenade along the outer boundaries would provide broad openings so residents could peerinto the "gardenesque beauty" of the park. Olmsted's parks were not planned for ballgamesor physical activities but for walking, driving a:J!d oth~r passive recreation.

Gradually Olmsted conceived the idea of a city-wide parks system in which numeroussmall parks were located around the city so that every resident could walk to one. Thisentire system would be tied together by a series of boulevards, or parkways;', "madeinteresting by a process of planting or decoration." No commercial or heavy vehicles werepermitted on these boulevardA. Reserved for pleasure carriages, they were designed withthe primary objective of making the parks more accessible.

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Obviously, Olmsted's plans for parks and parkways called for a type of comprehensiveplanning that was unknown in the nineteenth century. However, park and parkway designsserved as a precedent for the comprehensive city planning movement that began after theturn of the century. Tying in with the developing city-wide park systell) concept was theCity Beautiful Movement•. The 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago revealed the be~utyof a planned landscape to Americans, and convinced them that their cities should bedeveloped in a more attractive manner. By 1900 the original L'Enfant Plan for Washington,D.C. was brought olit of the archives with the idea of creating a national civic center inWashington. Other cities were inspired and began to create their own civic centers andmon~E;ntalbuildings;in the process, parks imd parkways became a part of the beatitifica~

tion proj~cts. ,The creation of tl1!l Park Board in 1889 put Omaha in the forefront among American

cities.. Kansll,s City and MiIltleapolis welie alljO establishing their parks and boulevardssystems, following the l!lad of Eastern cities like :lfew York and Boston. Americans hadbegun to rell.1ize the;valtie of open land and the need to pres!lrve it before it was coveredwith new construction•. Omaha was fortunate in that regard, since development!of.!!- parkand boulevard system began before the City reached that stage of urban development thatcharacterized the Eastet;n cities built up in the previous century. 13ecauseit was only a fewdecad!ls old, Omaha could plan its growth around the fiew parks and boulevards rather thanattempt to fit them into already filled areas.

Included in the first business undertaken by Omaha's Board of ;Park Commissipnerswas the hiring Of landscape architect H. W. S. Cleveland of Minneapolis to design Omaha'scomprehensive park system. Cleveland was a farmer-engineer who turned to the emergingprofession of landscape architecture in the mid-1850's.,., A,.~ecade later, he assisted Olmstedin the design of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, then moved to Chicago, where he wasappointed Landscape Architect of the South Park and Connecting Boulevards. His 1873publication, Landst:ape Architecture Applied to the Wants of theWest, attacked the gridsystem and lack of foresight displayed byrajlroad surveyors in laying out frontier townswithout regard to terrain. Cleveland was a:ble to expresS his ideas more fully in th<;l parkssystem he designed for Minneapolis in 188)! and a regional syStem planned for Minneapolis !and St. Paul in 1887. Like Olmsted, Cleveland saw parkS as "integral portions of the city,instead of being merely appendages." Omaha's annual'reports for 1890 and 1891 failedtpreveal the extent of. Cleveland's role, but he evidently planned beautification projects forHanscom and Elmwood ParkS and made tl(.e initial design of the boulevard system.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE OMAHA PARKS AND BOULEYARD SYSTEM

Once Cleveland had been hired to plan the Omaha park system, the commissionersspent the first years maintaining the possessions they did have and preparing foracquisitions. They hired William R. Adams as superintendent of the system, a pOljition heheld until the 1920's. In 1889 the Board was charged with maintenance of Jefferson Square,Hanscom Park and the central median on Cll,pitol Avenu!l leading west toward Omaha HighSchool on Capitol Hill.

Hanscom was considered the principal park and as a result, much of the Board'sfunding was spent on its improvement. Hanscom Park was donated to the City of Omaha in1872 by pioneer settlers A. J. Hanscom and James q. Megeath. The vicinity was sparselypopulated in the 1870's with the park ground rough and covered by trees and brush. By the1890's the park was in the center of a fine residential·district and connected. by street car todowntown. Proceeding on Cleveland's plans for the park, the Commissionersc?I:Is.t.ructed ~_ only 01«.-

avilion, greenhouse and bandstand.. in the 1890's. Hanscom Park also contained two lak~s,/a i

casca e water a, owerbeds, fouritams an two~and one-half miles of macadamized roads. f«ke €/'J'0J~!lrtainly HaIlscom"'was the - first gen;Of1he parks system, 'and' even'-iii-1898 the \1()tJCommissioners felt it was the "only finished park in the city."

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Among the Board's first acquisitions were Elmwood Park and Bemis Park. Portions ofboth were donated and augmented by purchases of the Board later on. severlil land ownersdonated the fifty-five acres of rough land west of Omaha that became Elmwood Park in1889. Within the next three years, the c:ommissioners decided to purchase additionalproperty. Elmwood Park was subsequently enlarged to 208 acres, m'aking it the largest parkin the system. Bemis Park was a much smaller addition, eventually totalling ten a,nd one­half acres. Also donated in 1889, Bemis Park consisted of a deep ravine and stream notsuitable for the planned housing development that was platted around it.

1'heearly reports' of the park superintendent provide insight into the Board of ParkCommissioners' activities during its first decade of existence. For the most part,expen1litures went 'toward basic improvement of' the parks, such as grading, filling andsodding.' Elmwood Park and its ravines required new bridges and the construction of a damto c.ontrol the stream. Superintendent Adams also carefully recorded some of the problemshe faced in maintaining t~e systei:ll. In the 1892 Municipal Report, haeoncluded thatJefferson Square had been kept in fair condition, but replacement of many trees and shrubs

, 0) was necessary.' He urged that the city replace them. with only those plantlJ "which 'can(\tfV

O~.pr;,< wit d the noxious ases from the smelting works, which to some varieties ,isisingularly

a¢ ",0''''' fatal, denuding t em altogether of a lage when the wind comes from the sO\1theast."':l M''''~ Residents of the City, as opposed to its industries, hampered Adams' progress on the Capitolb~ Avenue median. He pointed out that although the park workers tried to make the median

"as attractive all possible," it "would be much more so if the resideilts along. that street didnot make it a playground for their dogs." . " .

As early as 189~ the Cleveland plans for a boulevard system were set in motion.Grading began in that year along Florence BouleVard, which ran from 19th and Chicagonorth to Miller Park at 24th and Kansas Avenue;,·tr'ees and shrubs were planted alpng thatdriveway while planning and surveYing were started for two more legs~of the system, theSoutheast and Southwest .Boulevards.

As the Omaha parks system develope4 and grew throughout the 1890's it exhibited thedirect applicationpf Olmste<i's principles. Property owners aroun<i Hanscom Parkha<i ,beenpressuring the Board of Park Commissioners to remove the shrubbery and ti-ees whichobstructed their view of the park. The Board however "believed thatth.e purpose of,largeparks was to permit people to escape from the view of houses into the restful q,uiet of thewoods," much like Olmsted's opinion that park users should feel completely cut off fro~ thecity. The Board all1.O reaffirmed Olmsted's conception of "tranquility" by recommending thatall statuary be placed along the Capitol Avenue median. This location would enable morevisitors to see the works of art and keep them out of the parks where the statuary wouldmar the naturalness of the landscape.

Another concern of Olmsted was accessibility to the parks. He believed it was theCommissioners' responsibility to facilitate access to parks through the. development ofboulevards or street car lines. The Omaha Board took this concem serioUllly and berated theOmaha Street Railway COi:llpany for its failure to extend car lines to Riverview (acquire<i1893-99) and Elmwood Parks. In the case of Riverview Park the Board especially felt thecar lin.e's actions were "quite inexcusable," since their failure to cooperate was supposedlybased on the fact that the company contributed to private p;n-ks operated for profit, whichcompeted with the public facilities. The Omaha Street Railway C:ompany was one .of theguiding forces behind the amusement park at La~e'Manawa, located across- the river in lowa.The street car was virtually the only means to reach the amusement park, thereby giving thecOi:llpany great profits on its excursion operation.

The same types of positiye results that Olmsted found after the establishment of NewYork's Central Park were appatent in Omaha as well. The park land, around Central Parkincreased its value .at 200% per annum. In Omiilia, both Hanscom and Bemis Parks hadcontributed to the development of fine new residential districts around them. To the

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Commissioners, the "large number of magnificent residences" being constructed aroundBemis Park illustrated the benefits of creating parks from ravines and rough land in order toincrease the value of nearby property for homes. .

The physical terrain. and size of parks in the Omaha system varied in part fromOlmsted's original perceptions. He initially preferred large garden-like\urban parks thatbrought "tranquility and rest to the mind." Settlers in Omaha, however, seemed to believethat parks should be located where the land was too hilly or rough or deeply forested to beused for housing or sold for other purposes. Such was the case with Hanscom, Bemis andseveralsmallparks. Although the idea of a city-wide park and boulevard system existed, in 'the early 1890's it appeared that parks were located where land was available or unsuitablefor other purposes. The effort,. to locate parks in specific locations in order to serve morepeople would be a' concept that gradually became a part of the system, as bOulevardsconnected the existinl(l parks and helped create new ones.

,EXPANSION UNDER 'mE BOARD OF PARK COMMlSSIONERS

The park and boulevard system continued to grow throughout the depression years ofthe 1890's, largely because of a $400,000 bond issue approved by voters in November, 1891.This money financed the beginning of Omaha's park system, paying for additions to Elmwoodand Bemis Parks and purchasing several tracts of land which became Riyerview, Miller, andFonten!!lle Parks. The donation of Kountze Park in 1897, the acquisition of Deer:Park in1899 and several~mallparks rounded out Omaha's system by 1900.

Riverview Park, which later became the terminus of the Southeastern Boulevard, wasacquired through condemnation proceedings during the 1890's. The area was hilly andcovered with native forest, thus providing a natural setting for Omaha's first zoo. The ParkBoard was especially proud of Riverview's variety of scenery, prOViding "all the charac-:teristic features of a Missouri River landscape," with "natural beauty unlike any other in the IJ lworld." ",. '. /IIi1/,,.. r· ~ .1fI

Miller Park, when purchased in 1'893, was anything but. distinctive. Unlike coifjlyl):J1Riverview's spectacular scenery, Miller Park was a flat cornfield.,I However, in the first twoyears after acquisition the latin was leveled and. seeded, .driveways graded, a lakeconstructed and trees plaiifed. With the construction of Florence 'Boulevard toward it,Miller Park became popUlar with the driving public and bicyclers, who appreciated the levelroads. .

The land that became Fontenelle Park was purchased in 1893 from William L. Distinfor $90,000. The Board of Park Commissioners made attempts to plant trees, but thedrought of the mid-1890's destroyed much of their effort. Since the land was far fromdowntown and no boulevards had yet reached it, the Distin Tract was rented out as pastureland for almost two decades. Development of the park finally began when the boulevardsystem reached it in the Teens.

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Also added to the system .by· 1'900 was Kountze Park, located at Pinkney Street andFlorence Bouleyard. This land, acquired by donation in 1897, "':.!ls part of the grounds for the,Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition held in Omaha in 1898. The Itxposition was aglittering display of a:n the products and features of the Trans-Mississippi West, housed inplaster of paris Classical and Renaissance st Ie buildings arran ed around a la oon sortingVenetian gondola boat rides. The buildings failed ta eVen remotely resemble life in t eWest, but the Expo was a grand success and helped return prosperity to Omaha after 1900.After the fair, the land that had been the Grand CoUrt became Kountze Park. The lagoon_WtS fillep..·in ..but a small pond was left in the' park to remind the city of the site's formergory.;',)

The park lands acquired in the 1890's virtually completed the old Cleveland Plandrawn up in 1889. As a result, most of the funding and energy expended after that time was

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devoted to the surveying and construction of the boulev;uods needed to finish the parkssystem. However, some unplanned park land was acquired, the major area being the landsurrounding Cut-off Lake in Iowa.

The Lake had been formed in the Spring of 1877 when the flooding,MiSllouri cut acrossthe base of an oxbow and left the lake unconnected to the river. 'Since this land wastechnically still a part of Iowa, Omaha claimed no jurisdiction over it ~ven though it waslocated in the middle of East Omaha, northeast of the Central BllSiness District. However,Omaha residents gradually began to use the lake for recreation. At the tw:n of the centuryits shores ,held a structure, that first housed the Lake Rod and Gun Club, and late:r theCourtland Beach Clubhouse'. Courtland Beach, on the Iowa side of the lake, offered a boatdock, amp.llementll and ·concessions. In addition the lake provided a location for ice houses.At that 'dine" meat packers cut ice in winter and used it year round to preser17e theirproducts. Both the Swift and Armour Packil:ig Companies located their ice warehouses onthe shores of Cut-off Lake. "

In '1906 former Park Board Chairman George Miller suggested that the public tind aname for the lake that would "pass in, good society," unlike Cut-Off, which ','las "m-erelysuggestive of No Man's Land, prize fights or an amputated leg." Since Omaha was ·iQcated lna region rich in Indian lore, the name settled on was Lake Nakoma, after an Indian maiden.

In 1908, Mrs. Selena Carter Cornish donated $50,000 to the Park Board for thepurchase of land adjoining Lake Nakoma. She stipulated that the land be known as LeviCartei:' Park in honor of her late husband, owner of the Carter White}Lead Works !n EastOmaha. He passed the lake daily on his way to work and made known his desirli! that itbecome a park. No doubt his widow was also influenced by her second husband, Omahaattorney Edward J. Cornish, who sat on the Park Board from 1896 until 1911. Cornish tookhis Park Board position seriously and was often founa,I"tramping over the hills or along theavenues debating some projected plan" with ,Parks Superintendent W. R. A,dams. TheCornishes continued their work in the development and maintenance of Carter Lake andLevi Carter Park until their deaths in the late 1930's. Although they had moved to NewYork City, they continued to donate land andi purChase nearby tracts to prevent undesirabledevelopment near the park. Cornish played an important role in negotiating ice privileges

, for the packing companies which had large investments in the area, thereby preserving thelake for· park purposes. ",', , .

, Carter Lake, with 303.51 acres, became the biggest park in the Omaha system. By1915, other parks were ,added to the system with the annexation of the neighboring City ofSouth Omaha and the suburb of Dundee. Among the additions were Spring Lake, Hig~land,

Mandan, Morton, and two smaller parks. The annexation of Florence and Benson in 1917brought in two more small acreages.

The acquisition ot Carter Lake was not the only prize to the Parks Commissioners in1908, for they also received $50,OdO for capital improvements from their second bond issue.They used the money for projects which could not be financed out of regul;uo p;uok funds,including the paving of streets around the parks or those intersecting boulevards, and theconstruction of sidewalks and curbing. By 1917, the boulevard systet]J had begun to takeshape, with each link bearing the name by which it is known today.

The system began in the southeast ,section of the city at Riverview Park, with D,eerPark and Riverview Boulevard extending west to Hanscom Boulevard, and then north viaTurner, Lincoln, and Creighton Boulevards. Creighton Boulevard met Paxton at 31st andSabler Streets, and Paxton ran west toward Fontenelle Park where it connected withFontenelle Boulevard and Happy Hollow Boulevard to the southwest. The 9,riginal plancalled for only one more boule17ard to complete the circle, connecting Hanscom andElmwood Parks. The 1917 Annual Report detailed the route for this leg of the system which,

, was, unfortunately,"'Ii'ever constructed. The proposal took the boulevard from 36th' andWoolworth west to 4Znd Street; winding southwest to approximately 45th and Miranda, and

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then south to Grover Street; west on Grover to 60th Street; and north on 60th Street toElmwood Park. At that time, much of this land was open and would have provided space fordecorative landscaping. .

Concern with expan,sion of the boulevard system grew by the Teens because of theincreasing popularity of the automobile. The boulevards had always been planned for the"driving public," but in the beginning that had referred to carriages pulled by horses. After1910 the Parks Department found its boulevards covered with automobiles and even widenedthe drive in Elmwood Park expressly to "accommodate the automobile traffic." However-;the saine annual rep,ort iilso pointed out that the influx of VisItors to Elmwood Park hadincrea!ltlfl because ,!f the extension of the West Leavenworth streetcar line to the" 'park'smain entrance. Evidently both means of transportation still brought visitors to the parks.

RECREATION ENTERS TIm OMAHA SYSTEM

Control of th~ parks and boulevard system gradually gained some legitimacy withincity government. In 191Z the City of Omaha changed from a Mayor-Council form ofgovernment to the City Commission method. This ended the election of Council membersby ward, and sUQstituted a system requiring the selection of seven Commissionel's at-large,each of whom ran one City Department. The parks, rather than being administered by anappointed board, were handled by the Commissioner in charge of Parks land Public Property.Except for six years, Joseph Hummel served as Parks Commissioner between 1912 i!J1d,1939.Hummel was famous for the long hours he put in as Parks Commissioner, often working from6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. He was frequently seen with an unlighted cigar in his mouth,driving over the parks system in his old touring car. "Hum.!pel was the first offic:ialto sensethe growing popularity of recreation, and soon after incorporated it into the Omaha ParksSystem. ~ ,

The intl'oduction of recreation indicated the, change that had occurred in the publicperception of parks since the 1850's. ,Providing ball fields and playground' equipment was afar cry from F. L. Olmsted's desire for tranquility and escape from the dty in his earliestpark designs. To understand this cultural shift, we must examine the changing needs) ofAmericans at the turn of the century. '

When most Americans lived in rural areas and worked as farm'ers or.1n other'trades,their desire for active recreation was minimal. Hunting and fishing, considered leisureactivities today, were a part of daily life. Organized recreation had its beginning in thenineteenth century with the growing interest in sports. Boating regattas and races .werepopular as early as the 1820's, with boxing, skating and rowing becoming acceptable by ll1id­century. After the Civil War, intercollegiate sports competition was organized, leading tothe growth of spectator sports. However, amateur athletic unions were also formed, whichallowed Americans to partidpate in a variety of sports activities. Among favorite pastimesof the general public after 1870 were croquet, archery, lawn tennis, roller skating andbicycling.' ,

During this same period Americans began moving to cities in greater numbers. 'Nhileonly 25.7 percent of the population'lived in urban centers in 1870, the figure had doubled to51.2 percent by 1920. Suddenly the ,old forms of physical activity were no longer available.People accustomed to outdoor work lived in congested areas and labored at increasinglymechanized and repetitive factory tasks. In addition" the cities were receiving the bulk ofimmigrants arriving after 1880. Crowded into tenements with dark hallways and filthycellars, the poorest people in each city had no escape. These conditions gave rise toorganized recreation programs, which had their beginning in Amerita's large northeasternurban centers.

The first members of the population to arouse, concern were children. With no o~enspace for play, they frequently took to the streets. In an effort to provide a play area,

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public-spirited Boston citizens delivered a load of sand to a vacant lot in a working classdistrict. The Boston Sand Garden, established in 1885, became the first playground forchildren. AlthOugh initially volunteers supervised play areas, by 1887 women were hired towatch over children at the ten playgrounds that had .been opened in Boston.

The same type of activity began to occur in other cities, usually' initiated by privategroups and taken over as a public function. Only eleven cities had public playgrounds before1900. This number increased to 180 cities in 1910, 428 ten years later, and 695 by 1930.City govemments found the playground movement popular because it enriched the quality oflife and woulds'\1pposedly prevent social patl1.ology. Playgrounds were believed to be the"greatest ;4eterrent of juvenile delinquency and lawlessness among children,· because they'provided he'j11thfll1and' safe places ,for recreation. ' In addition they provided an alternativeto the "cheap" fornis of amusement, like dance halls, speakeasies, ·and vaudeville andburlesque shows. These concerns were given official support· under the PlaygroundAssociation of America, organized in 1906. Intended to developinformat~o,nal andpromotional services $,tressing the constructive use of leisure time, the association was theforerunner of the National Recreation Association.

As plli.ygrounds grew in popularity, other types of recreational facilities.!werealsobeing developed. Settlement houses such as University Settlement, founded in New YorkCity in 1886, and Hull House, founded in Chicago in 1889, also offered leisure activities.These organizations were located in shun neighborhoods to help poor people, especiallyimmi grants, with, education, family life and community understaniUng.Schools wereincreasingly being'used for recreational programs as well. Before the 1900's manr schoolshad been built without playground areas, and what did exist was fenced and lOcked at theend of the school day. As the recreation movement expanded, states began to set upminimum standards for the size of school yards'in order to facilitate . their use asrecreational centers.

In Omaha, the Organization of the Amateur Athletic Association in 1900 signaled thebeginning of interest in recreation an<). sports:Cricketeers, who tegularlrplayed in KountzePark along Florence Bo1J1evlU'd, originally 'founded the club. They sqld stock in theirorganization and leased land northwest of 36th and Center, wl1.ere tl1ey constructed a'c:ric:ketfield with grandstand, tennis courts, a club house with bowling alrey,anda nine-hole golfcourse. Their purpose was clearly stated in their articles of incorporation: "to equip andfurnish the grounds for the proper promotion an<). enjoyment of outdoor and indoor sports .lndpastimes." In 1901 the ()rganization was named the Omaha F,eld Club, and its facilityremains as a sports center today. Within a few years of its founding, cricket lostfav()r withparticipants and golf became the main attraction for Field Club members.

Thus recreational activities had been available for Omahans only through pr,vateorganizations such as the Field Club. No public fac:ility existed for the leisure of r~sidents,

and no provisions had been made for supervision or promotion of children's play. In 1915 theCity Counc;illiecognized the need and created a Board of Public Recreation within the ParksDepartment. In addition, the City hired a trained direct()r to supervise and expand theBoard's activities. By 1916, eleven playgrounds serving Z6Z,878 children were in operation.Playground equipment was bnpOrtant, but other activities such as pet and doll shows, kite­flying contests and ball games became a regular part of the recreation program.

Under Parks Commissioner Hummel, the city's first municipal ball fields had beenlaid out in 1913 and 1914. Baseball diamonds were lard out in Dewev. Fontenelle, Riverview,

" Miller, Carter, and Elmw60d ParkS and at 25tL@d "w" in ~<wtlL.Q,m~, with seatin~, fadli ties at the first four parks. These diamonds provided the basis for organIzation of tlieOmaha Amateur BasebaIl Association, which claimed 1,000 players in 1916. Football andsoccer fields were also laid out in 1914. Tennis courts were added to a number of parks, andpublic golf courses were developed at Miller and Elmwood Parks. ",The Recreation Divisionwas especially proud of the new Elmwood course because of its "natural hazards" due to theterrain and because play over the entire eighteen holes could be followed by automobile.

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Three swimming pools offered Omahans a new form of public recreation. The firstmunicipal bathing beach was opened in 1914 on the north shol'e of Carter Lake. Thefollowing, year, !!pols were built in Riverview and Sprillg Lake Par~, serving over 100,000persons in that summer. The city next constructed a pool in Morton Park at 41st &; "W", for"the use of packinghouse employees and others" living in South Omaha, f1l1d then built theElmwood and Egntenelle pools by 1918.

An important aspect of the ReCl'eation Board's work after 1915 was the developmentof community centers. These facilities offered activities for children and adults alike,including athletic groups, 'debating clubs, dramatic socIeties, concerts, movies, dances andother prograrris. An annual athletic carnival included competition between athletic teams ofthe varldtls ceJ;1ters. The nine community centers had an attendance of over 34,000 duringthe 1916-17 season. "

, Community centers, took on an increasingly important role with the outbl'eakof WorldWa!' I., Nationally" the War Department requested the Playground and RecreationAssociation of America to organize recreational resources in areas near military cal;ilps" Nodoubt Omaha's centers were utilized by the soldiers at Fort Omaha. The parksaIso/played arole in the war. Hummel Park, which became apart of the system in 19Z8, was u.;;ed as alaunching site fol' balloon training exercises. Unfortunately, one area of the park was alsoutilized as' an army machine gun range, where bullets fired into the 1:rlliside effectivelystopped all growth of vegetation, even sixty years later.

Omaha's parks were the beneficiary of several memorials given 1n honor of ,~oldierskilled in the COt~flict. Contributions began in In3 for the memorial erected by theAmerican War Motherlil in Turner Park. Turner Park, at 30th and Farnam, had been donatedto the City in 1900 by the family of Curtilils Turner, a soldier killed in the Spanililh-AmericanWar. The War Mothers Memorial consisted of an <i'fched'semi-circular brick wall with adrinkmg fountain and three stars set in It. The stars represented living veterans, disabledsoldiers and those killed in the conflict. Numerous trees were also planted along the'boulevard sYliltem in honor of the war dead.

THE CITY fLANNING ERA OF THE 19Z0'S !

The end of World War I, however, brought Omaha into a new era. The old Clev.elanc:l,plan for both the parks ,and boulevard system was virtually complete. Boulevards hadb,ecome more a concern of the Street Commissioner, although the Parks Department wasstill interested in their, extension. The boulevards especiaUyreceived attention in the early1nO's due to the 1919 report, City Pl~ing Needs of Omaha. The City Pl~ing

Commission called for a number of stre,et widening projects, an inner belt traffic way, and ascenic river drive. Clearly the automobile was becoming an important factor in cityplanning, and played a role in the direction of City growth.

The proposed River Drive had been on the drawing board as early as 1915, whenmembers of the newly-formed Fontenelle Forest Association proposed a "Cliff Drive" southfrom Riverview Park. The Cliff Drive in Kansas City was their inspiration, as they pointedout tha·t Omaha's river view was unsurpassed while Kansas City's river bank was clutteredwith shacks, factories and swampy land. The proposed drive ran from Riverview Park along \13th to Spring Lake and Mandan Parks, then toward Fontenelle Forest along BellevueBoulevard. Vista and Coffin Springs, both along the r0'lte, were expected to attract peoplein search of their clear, cold water, which would be distributed by park attendants. TheAssociation also' urged that the seven-mile. ,driveway remain natural and wild, rather thanartificially developed. .

The 1919 plan called for cOlltinuing the River Drive nqrth of Riverview Park alongthe Burlington Railroad and desceztding the Bluffs to the river near Martha Street. Itsuggested a "spacious riverfront park" just south of the Union Pacific Railroad bridge, and

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then a "wide roadway with sidewalk or esplanade" leading to the Iowa-Nebraska line nearCarter Lake. The drive would curve around the eastern and northern banks of Carter Lakeand connect with Florence Boulevard, continuing north until Read Street. There a new roadwould, be built past the City Waterworks property and farther north where it would join analready establiShed River Drive. '

The plans suggested the River Drive as a war memorial, "a proper expression of thespirit in which we entered the war, a spirit of unselfish public service." Building such a roadseemed "not merely an opportunity but an obligation," since the land was readily availableover much of the proposed route, and therefore inexpensive to acquire. By 1921, bonds hadbeen approved for building the RivEn' Drive in order to • bring this glorious sweep of theriver"into the lives of all of us." UnfortU11ately the entire River Drive, as contemplated inthe 1919 plan, was never completed~ The drive along the portion north of Read StrElet was,o:t;iginally known as North Memorial Drive, with a southern: portion winding from RiverviewPark to 13th Street called. South'Memorial Drive. Eventually the names were changed toPershing and. Giffol'd Drives, respectively. The land running along the Central BuSinessDistrict betweEln the two sections was not acquired. , '

Eventually one mQre section, Northridge Drive, was added to the boUlevard system.It extended Fontenelle Boulevard north of 36th Street and Curtis Aven1.le; winding tQ 36thand Forest Lawn, and continuing north until it connected with the RivElr Drive near 30th andFillmore. This later addition, opened in 1929, connected Fontenelle Boulevard' with theNorth MElmorial Drive which extended to Hummel Park north of the City.

While,the 1920's signaled the end ofpark..style boulevard development, they in­augerated the beginning of park expansion on the fringes of the city. Suburban parkdevelopment was made possible by increases in automobile ownership, allowing for rapidtravel to outlying'parks. In that decade new parks riot anticipated under the old ClevelandPlan enterea the system. The southeast corner of the City received tyro new parks in 1924,Brown Park and Mount Vernon GardElns. The 11.6 acre Brown Park was obtained throughcondemnation at a cost of $3Z,125. Loc~ted in a Czech neighborhood at 15th and "U''''~

park had a avilion with a dance hall anil stage and an athletic field which received fr~use by various ball teams. Unlike Brown Park, MOunt ernon ardens at 13th ana "y" was aformal landscaped, park: with no provisions for recreation. On a bare clay bluff in 1924, 'theCity began the landscaping for a replica of George W~!!i~!5to~~gar:~~TnY!!!ilirli:,i,!!itWg~eds and hed~ were lai<!..2..ut hY...l.~e ",!!!~hitec!,_Geor~etr~.~. In addition, ~e~~mned: portico, !ntende~ to.represer:~Washington mansion,_,!.asp~ced.2~~,tfgenarea:-AIthouglitlie park itsetf is orily SlX acres, the scenlC dl:'tve trivolVes 5G:""4 acres. ,ountVernon Gardens is also the site of_two memorials. A sun dial erected by the Omalla Chapterof the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1910 commemorated the entrance of theOregon Trail into Nebraska. Although originally placed in Riverview Park, it was moved toMount Vernon Gardens by Park CommissionElr Hummel in 1930. In 1934 Omalla's German­American citizens erected a second memorial, a boulder with a bronze plaque honoringMaximilian, the German Prince' whb explored the Miss01,ll'i in 1833-'34.' . I

Not only the GElrman-Americans sought recognition for their countrymen through theOmalla parks system. In 1923 the City purchased two acres at 40th and "G" Streets andnamed it Pulaski Park at the urging of Polish residents in that neighborhood. Count CasimirPulaski was a Polish hero in the American Revolution who was killed at the battle ofSavannall. Another neighborhood playground was Columbus Park at 24th and Woolworth. Itoffered open space in a 90ngested Italian neighborhood when brought into the system in1931. A bust of Columbus was placed in the Park in 1935. ,

'This decade also saw the addition of two major natural parks in the bluffs north ofthe City, Hummel and Dodge Parks. Named in honor of long-time Parks CommissipnerJoseph :Hummel, Hummel Park retained its natural trees and shrubs and became a park forobserving nature. The Hummel Park area is rich in early Omalla history. Nearby was the

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trading post of Manuel Lisa, which operated from 1812 into the 1820's. In 1819, members ofthe Yellowstone Expedition camped in the vicinity and eventually built Fort Atkinson nearmodern-day Fort Calhoun, Nebraska. Cabanne, another trader, built a post in the area andin 1833 entertained Prince Maldmilian there. In addition, systematic ii:lVestigations of thearea by archeologists have revealed bones, pottery, arrow points an(i other artifactsbelonging to the earliest Nebraska natives. When the owner of the property died in 1923,some of the land was sold to the City along with land donated by other residents, andHummel Park entered the City system in 1928. The other northern park, N.P. Dodge Park,was donated to the City in 1930 by the Dodge family, well known for' their real estatebusines~., The 146 acres originally donated eventually became over 450 due to riveraccretic,n';lIld the purchase of adjoining property. Because of a lack of funding, DOdge Parkremained a largely unused wilderness until the late 1960's.

, Benson, a suburb of Omaha, had been annexed in 1917, but brought no parks with it.As population in the northwest portion of the City increased, the need for' a large parkbecame apparent. By 1931, the City Commissioners began to acquire 115 acres on MilitaryAvenue. north of 70th Street, which they named Benson Park. It offered a S1l!'alllake,ballfield, play areas and a municipal nine-hole golf course. The golf course lasted only until1947, when it was closed down. Plans were drawn for an eighteen~hole course in thefollowing years, but golf was,not returned to Benson Park until the 1960's. By that time, thepark had also become the site of an extensive softball complex.

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FEDERAL INVOLVEMENT IN PARKS AND RECREATION

Once again, just as the parks system was rapi91Y e~anding and improving, nationalconditions stepped in to alter the progress. The onset' of the Depression by 1930 effectivelycut funding for such "frills" as parks and recreatio!1. As Americans lost th'eir jobs due todepressed economic conditions, more of them experienced forced leisure at a time when'recreatio!1al services were decreasing. In .!~eneral, people had less X!1oney to spe!1d,weakening the tourist industry and overcrowding convenient public facilities such as parks,bathi!1g beaches and municipal go~f courses., Leisure was no longer a prerogative qf thewealthy, although the difficult economic situation threatened to once again r.einforce thatdistinction. ' ,

The federal and state governments stepped in to fill the void left by decliningmunicipal budgets. Among the federal relief programs to employ persons were recreationprojects, with Americans buildirtg camps, roads and trails in national parks, as well ascommunity centers and athletic stadiums in cities across the country. Thus, federal projectssuch as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) , allowed municipal and state recreationdepartments to expand and provide new facilities. WPA projects nationwide included theconstruction or improvement of 12,700 playgrounds, 8,500 gymnasiums or recreationbuildings, 750 swimming pools and 1,000 ice skating rinks. In addition, the WPA hiredrecreation leaders to work in cbmmunity centers, supervise playgrounds, parks, beaches, andathletic fields and participate in various recreational activities.

Both public works and recreation management programs were part of WPA involve­ment in Omaha. Among the public works projects were the construction or redevelopmentof roads in Mandan, Spring Lake and Hummel parks, and the erection of pavilions and servic~

buildings, the develo ment of la fields, and numero improvements in man arks. TwoA structures at Elmwood Park cause great consternation for Parks Commissioner Joe

Hummel. Betw,een 1933-36 when he failed to win election to offi,ce, Parks CommissionerFrank Frost began construction of both a service building and caretaker's home at Elmwood.Upon Hummel's return to office h~,criticized the "grand" and expensive structures, s~ating

that whoever occupied the caretaker's home "will undoubtedly get a swelled head just 'livingthere." The conflict over the Elmwood Park buildings illustrated how politics were allowed

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to interfere with administration of the parks system, particularly when commissioners couldbe replaced every three years. .

The recreation activities in Omaha between 1933 and 1936 were virtually a productof federal support through the WPA. Indeed, the Parks Department bp.dgeted no money forrecreation other than to support golf and tennis. Although the Parks Department sponsoredWPA recreation and furnished some facilities, the Federal gov~ment supplied allpersonnel, who supervised eleven recreation centers, 117 sUb-cente:rs and ,fifteen play­grounds. The recreation program, divided into handcraft, music, dramatics, social recrea­tion anliphysical activities, served over Z18,000 people during the summer of 1935. Thetotal cost of approximately one hundred salaries for the 1935-36 season was $160,805.

,1.qlearly the ,Depression made it difficult to locate enough funding for recreationalservices. But Oml/,hans were still concerned about recreational needs, and in 1936, called inan expert to examine the City's system. Omaha's Civic Improvement Council, with theapproval of the Parks Com,missioner, invited the National Recreation Association to studythe City's existing (resources and plan for the future ilnprovement and eXllansion. of thesystem. Unlier the direction of Maurice Willows, Parks and Recreation in OD'!aha, Nebraska,was pUblished, detailing the offerings of public,' semi-public and private,agettcies,descriptions of each park and playground, and recommendations for the future of Omaha'sparks and recreation system.

As the discussion over the structures in Elmwood Park indicated, the ParksCommissioner was subject to the political system. Hummel was ap astute politician andblamed the previous Commissioner for the expensive structures at Elmwood. Park. The NRAStudy called foii an end to the "present short-term, one man control" and recommended theestablishment of a modern Park and Recreation Board to take its place. Among theadvantages of this method were citizen participation' and interest in the park systetn, andthe end of political patronage as the criterion for hiring park employees. In addition, theNRA Study called for functional divisions to account for all aspects of Park Departmentwork including administration, landscape planning, engineering and des:i.gn, maintenance andgeneral recreational services. A superintendent would run the entire department, witl1 otherdirectors serving as .divisionheads.

The report identified several significant deficiencies of Omaha's park system. It wasparticularly critical of the department's recreational funding. .No tax funds',had peenprovided specifically for recreation, with the exception of monies authorized for tennis; golfand swim1Iling. The report declared that Omaha was twenty years behind in establisllinga'recreation program, and needed funds specifically earmarif.ed for it. Omaha' also lackedsufficient play area in school yards, a space often utilized for recreation in other cities.Lastly, the findings rl'lvealed that the City had neglected the recreational welfare of theBlack community. Only semi-public agencies had made a concentrated effort to providefacilities in Black neighborhoods on the Near North Side and in the Packinghouse District.

Among the positive findings of the NRA Report were thl'l number and acreage extentof parkll in Omaha, enough to give it a high rank on the llist of cities between. 100,000 and500,000 in population. These parks were well distributed around the city, and had adequatefacilities for picnicking, hiking, nature study and golfing•. aowever, the report found thatthe system had not "kept pace with modern progress" in installing children's playgrounds,athletic fields, wading and swimming pools and water fountains. The results showed animbalance between facilities adaptable for scenic_ purposes and those needed for activerecreation.

The most significant result of the NRA Report was the establishment, in 1938, of a.separate Recreation Department under the Commissioner of Public Affairs. A 194Z City.',Council report stated that the Recreation Department had1Ilade "steady progress" in thepreceding four years, operating twenty-seven recreation centers and playgrounds with thehelp of the WPA. The Department offered fifty-one different activities, including sports

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leagues, concerts and dramatic productions. Along with other sports activities andhandcrafts, the Recreation Department began commWlity sings held at Elmwood Park onSWlday ev~ings. This activity was Wldertaken with the WPA, as was the operation of amachine ,.hop offering complete mechanical training.

Recreation Departments across the cOWltry faced new challenge,., with Americanentry into World War II. Although WPA fWlding was curtailed, many departments institutednew activities to assist the war effort. CommWlities near military bases and war industriesWElre especially pressed to: Provide clubs and recreational centers for the enjoyment ofmilitary personnel. Nationally, the fOWlding of the United Service Organizations roSa)helped comlIllurlties meet these needs. Such programs provided experience for recreationalprofessi6u'll:1s ~ho we~e then ready to serve the increased demand after the war.

In Oma1).a, thEl opening of a bomber plant at Fort Crook near Bellevue lead to anincrease in recreatiollal facilities in the southern portion of the city•. aIle of the IlIajorimprovements in 1941 was construction of a lighted playgroWld, horseshoe and tennis courtsand a softball field at 'Athletic Park, 23rd and "L" S,treets. In 1942, the eleven.;.acre,~

Park at 30th and Jefferson was donated to the patks system. Plans were also madEl toiIevelop Packer's Playfield, between 27th and 28th south of "Q" Street, to serve thecongested Packinghouse District as well as the workers at the nearby bomber plant.:

Among the new war effort assistance programs instituted by parks and recreationdElpartments across the United States were ~ctory gardens,j!,I1d salvage e-ives. In Omaha,victory gardens were planted in Fontenelle Park and at 14th and Deer 'park BoulElyard toaemonstr~tEl how, proper gardenf~p'save food. during ,. the war. A morecontroversial activity 1lI the city was the effort to'donate statues in th'e'parkS-io'''i'he World­·Herald scrap drive. Some Omahans suggested that ,~Sl?~ish-American '!ar cannon inHans.com Park and. Bosco, or Mr. Strikeout, at Elmwood Patk be donated to the colIechon of'W1l:r materiaIs. No one seemEld concerned about the cannon, but the destruc.tion of Boscocaused a real controversy. The bronze statue was the figure of a baseball player, awkwardlypoised ili the action of either a hit or a strikeo\1t. The $3,500 figure was, erected py theOmaha Municipal Baseball Association in 1921 with money left in their, treasury at the endof thesEla$on.:r;'rOIlI the beginning, the statue became ...a laughing-stock for ba,.eball' fanswho jeered at Bosco's Wlgainly stance and the fact that he was placed with his back to theentrance of the park. Although a July 1942 article reported that Parks Commissioner, Roy,Towl would not scrap the statues, his decision was apparently not final. Both the cannon andMr. Strikeout were later added to the scrap metal drive. However, the somewhat forlorngranite base which held Mr. Strikeout remains in Elmwood Park, with ,an inscription reading"Erected Py the Omaha Amateur Baseball Association in Appreciation of the GElnerousSupport of the Omaha Public - 1927'"

Even before the war ended, Omahans again made plans to honor the war dead withparks. Graham Memorial Park, a triangle-shaped section of land of less than an acre,

, honored Captain William H. Graham, a World-Herald staff member who was killed in aplane crash in the South Pacific. Graham had lived'. in the vicinity of the park, which waslocated at the confluence of Martin Avenue and 30th and Read Streets. But Omaha's morespectacular recognition of American servicemen was Memorial Park at 60th and DodgEl. Thepark originated in a 1944 letter to the World-Herald from Mrs. J. W. Broad, 315 North 38thAvenue, who wanted some type of memorial to honor servicemen and women from the area.Soon after, a World War II Memorial Park Association l,as formed, with a goal of $260,450set for donations. The site chosen for the park was the 65 acres overlooking Dodge Streetthat had been the DWldee Golf Course. Plans drawn for the new park by Leo A. PalyCompany included a memorial colonnade, an amphitheater, an open grassy area, and severalgarde,ns. In May of 1946, the Park ."Association gave thEl land to the City and constructionbegan on the semi-circular memorial colonnade. BrOJ:lze plaques on the column pillarscontained the names of persons who' died in the conflict. In JWle of 1948, President Harry S.

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Truman made the dedicatory speech at Memorial Park. The Daly Plan for the park wasnever fully carried out, with only the memorial colonnade, one formal garden and grassyarea completed.

POST WQRLD WAR II PLANNING AND EXPANSION

As World War II drew to a close, Omaha's City Government began to plan for thefuture. Under the guidance of Planning Engineer Rodney Gibson, the City Planning Boardproduced a City plan in 1.945. 011e excellent chapter of it, dealing with parks, recreationand schools, served as Omaha's blueprint for almost twenty years. The plan recalled thefindings of the 1936 NRA Study, which recommended that the City organize. a "singl,e publicbody, vtith delegated responsibilities and the a1,!thority to administer the recreatio.n ;lJ1d parkprogram." It also asked for a compr.ehensive recreation system which would Qperate year­round, and provide activities fqr all age groups. The plan urged the City to take advantageof schools for recreation, using existing facilities whe11.ever possible and consolidation ofschools if needed in order to avoid duplication of Services. p., list of recommendations forelementary schools and plaY$1'0unds around the City included enlargement and 4evelopmentof play areas, addition of facilities such as gymnasiums, and i11 some cases, replacement ofseveral old schools by a single inodern facility. The same types of develQpmerit suggestionswere made for the neighborhood parks, large City parks, forest preserves and natural andlandsc.aped areas, and sports. and community centers under parks s-rtem control. Thesethorough descriptions and plans were supplemented by schematic drawings of proPQsedchanges for a number of parks and playfields,

Like the 1936 study, the 1945 plan found the funding of the program sadly lacking.The Planning Board pointed out that NRA standardsJlad,recommended .that cities spend aminiinumof $3.00 per capita to fund a modern recreation program. Under Omaha's 1944Park Department Budget of $135,000, the City was spending only one-fifth of the nationalrecommendation, about sixty cents per capita. The plan urged the CityWattempt to reacha spending level like that recommended by ~he NRA within Z5 years, while keeping in mindthatrjsing Costs might increase the actual dollar amount of spending per capita in the City.

The excellent parks and recre,ation plan put forth by the Planning Board was not theonly post-war planning occurring in Omaha. The City Government felt the need to invQlvecitizens in the planning process as well and in July of 1945, Mayor Charles W. 'Leetbanformulated the groundwork for a Mayor's City-Wide Planning Committee. Composed of

. appointed unpaid citizens, the Committee was divided into subcommittees to dE\al withfuture plans for such local concerns as housing and slum elimination, civic center and CityHall construction, sanitation, parking, street lighting, and streets, boulevard and .trafficcontrol signals. Of course, a Parks, Playgrounds and Recreation Committee was alsoappointed, and it followed the lead of the previous two studies of 1936 and 1945.

Not surprjsingly, the Parks, Playgrounds and Recreation Committee demanded aseparate board of citizens to control the parks and playgrounds, ·and incl1,!ded the necessaryamendments to the City Chart~r to provide for the board. Based 011 the am'endmentsproposed in the 1936 study, .the changes to the Charter called for an appointed, unsalariedseven-member commission, with a hired superintendent to operate the department. TheDepartment of Parks and Public Property would become the Department of Public Property,and the Commissioner would sit on the Board as one of. the seven members.

The Citizens Planning Committee also came out strongly in favor of increasedrecreational activity, calling for the hiring of a recreational director who could meet NRAstandards, and recommending that the recreational board furnish eI1-ough funding to utilizeschools after hours as recreational facilities. The committee took the plans for individualparks from the City Planning Board's'1945 study and classified them into groups of "urgent,""necessary," and "desirable." Although almost all the drawings in the 1945 plan became

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urgent in the citizens' opinion, the committee identified four projects that deserved priorityover the others. These high priority projects included development of Bedford Park at 30thand Bedford (later named Adams Park), Brown Park at 15th and ",U~ Street, and theplayground at 35th and Lea,;enworth. The fourth recommendation called for removing theMiller Park Golf Course to' another location and using the land to' provide aaaltional"facilities for active play. ~" . ,<,

---ASa final comment, the Parks, Playgrounds and Recreation Committee informed theresidents that because of their complacency in allowing the parks and recreation program todeteriorate, there would be "no way to measure the cost of mental and moral disintegrationin our qi.t,y." They pointed out that after the tremendous sums spent in the previous yearson the war, AmeriC:ans should be ready to invest moderate amounts to maintain the "goodbodies and minds" of their families•

. The Parks, Re<;reation and Playground Committee needed funding to accomplish itsgoal, as did a number of the other committees under the Mayor's planning effort. In all, theCity-Wide Planning C6mmittee Galled for twenty million dollars in general obligll-tion bonds.Also, other committee:; within the citizen plan called for commission:; like the P'~ks andRecreation Board to deal with public improvements, sanitation, the airport and theauditorium. Since the City Charter required approval of bond issues by a vote of the people,the commissions and costs were placed on the ballot in .the November 5, 1946 election. Tenof the sixteen bond issues, including the park bonds, were approved, as 'fere all five of thecommissions. Initial returns indicated the parks bonds had been defeated, but the finalcount showed that they squeaked through by a vote of 31,016,to 30,739, a margin of only 277votes.

The success of the bond issue enabled the JleW ;parks and Recreation Board toundertake some of the projects called for in the 1945 and Citizens Committee Plans. It alsoended the dearth of funding under which the Parks Department had operated for the.previous fifteen years. From its first bond issue in 1892 until 1931, the parks hadaccumulated a bonded debt of $1,812,000. , ~ -1932, a Charter Amendment was passedrequiring a. vote of the people to issue Donds, so none were floated throughout theDepression. 'the 1946 funds provided the first significant money for exPansion andacquisition of park lands since the 1920's. '

The new Commission, appointed in 1947, promptly hired Ralph B. McClintock asdepartment superintendent. Throughout his ten years as superintendent under the Parks andRecreation Commission, McClintock worked only with the 1946 bond funding. Three moreattempts for funding in 1948, 1950, and 1953 were defeated. McClintock hadp'lanned to usethe proposed 1948 one-mill increase in the Parks and Recreation tax to add ten playgrounds,six swimming pools, five more recreation centers in public schools, and other sportsfacilities, including ball diamonds and tennis courts. Voters defeated the 1948 propositionby some 2,000 votes, and the one million dollar bond issue in 1950 by over 6,000 votes. In1953 a one and three-quarters mill levy that would have provided $300,000 a year for capitalimprovements to parks Idst by under 1,000 votes. I

Although voters failed to approve any additional funding until 1962, the new Parksand Recreation Commission began to utilize the $1.6 million voted in 1946. Their firstpurchase was thirty-eight acres of land at 42nd and "Q". Over the next ten years, theCommission sent I 000 of bond money to develop the park, providing softball andbaseball diamonds and a lagoon ors a mg. 195 t,e,an was nameif'Hi't'chGock Par'nOr'form-er Senator and founder of tiieWOfia:'Herald,(mbElrfM-IDtChcock. O~ moneywent tow·ard the 1948 purchase of sixty acres of lana at 30th, and Bedford for a new park onthe city's North Side. The area, first called Bedford Park, Was one of the priorities underthe Mayor's City-Wide PI~ing Committee. In 1954 it was named Adams Park, in honor ofOmaha businessman and parks enthusiast Frederick J. Adams. - -

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Omaha citizens displayed their desire for park land in the northwest portion of thecity in 1945, by donating $30,000 to purchase almost twenty acres of land at 52nd andMilitary. The land had been the site of Krug Amusement Park until 1940, then wasneglected for several years while authorities debated over wheth,er to use the land forhousing or recreation. In 1945 Mayor Leeman supported a fund-raising drive to purchase thesite and was challenged in court over whether he could accept such donations. The StateSupreme Court heard various phases of the case on four separate occasions before ruling in1950 that the city must retain the land for park purposes only. Redevelopment of theground finally began in 1954 and the following year was named Rachel K. Gallagher ,Park; inhonor of the Parks and Recreation Commission IlIember who had been actively involved inOmaha's park devel9pment. . ,

, Although many parks 1'Vere acquired through purchase, bond issues, and fund-raising,other parks, particUlarly smaller ones, were donated. In 1949 Gordon Roberts, President ofRoberts Dairy, offered the Parks and Recreation Commission a twenty-acre tract lyingnorth of Cass Stree~ and east of the Papio Creek and Peony Park. The ComIllissiongladlyacceptedth¢gift, but promised no iIllmediate development,of it. The land was stili outsidethe city limits in 1949 and lack of funding prohibited development of it until ten'years laterwhen the ground was leveled and seeded. - ,

By the 1950's, Parks and Recreation Departments across the United States fac;ed adifferent country than they had served in the last peacetime decade of the 1920's; Si:m:ethat time, America had undergone two difficult decades, first facing} the severe ,!=utbacks ofthe Depression ,and then meeting the needs of a wartime society. Althou!!h'the 1950'sbrought the Korean conflict, in general the decade found Americans largely removed frommajor world problems. ,

The transformation that had occurred in Am'eifc;an society over thirty years wasparalleled by changes in ,recreational aetivities and use of leisure time. There was anincreased emphasis on physical fitness with the establishment of the President's Councii onPhysical Fitness and Sports in 1956. Comp~ative studies revealed that American youthwere less fit than their counterparts in other countries, so the Council was charged ,withencouraging physical activities and physical education prograIlls in schools. Amel'ieans', '. ' )

lifestyles changed as union victol'ies brought shorter working hours, longer weekend!! andretirement at age 65. Suburban living allowed more space for outdoor family activities.The post-war baby boom increased the dE!.p;land for recreational faci.lities and services.Com!l1ercial recreation continued to expand, especi.ally with the availability of television,which offered each home its own entertainment ~it. Like the automobile, radio andmovies, television played an important role in influencing the ways in which Americansspent their leisure tim e.

The increasing availability of leisure time caused a greater awareness of it by thegeneral public. Retirement at age 65 meant an entirely new group of people - seniorci.tizens - were seeking leisure activities. As a result more private groups such as labororganizations, business and civic groups and churches" began to provide recreationafopportunities. Other, groups such as disabled persons, low income Americans and membersof ethnic minorities were particularly considered in recreational planning in the post-WorldWar II era.

Omaha's Parks and Recreation Commission reflected these national trends. Through­out the early 1950's, much of the 1946 bond money was spent for recreational purposes.Among the projects funded were bleachers, lights and backdrops for ballfields, tennis coUrts,concessions and service buildings, a 'new recreation building at Kountze Park and landsurveying for the planned Benson Park golf course. The City's recreational program incliidedapproximately twenty supervised' summer playgrounds" free movies at playgrounds andcommunity centers, a jimior forestry program, the Hummel Park Day Camp, six commimitycenters and band concerts and community sings. A new addition in 1952 was the Show

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Wagon - a portable stage moved from park to park in order to allow children to presenttalent shows. The World-Herald gave the Show Wagon publicity and helped build thepopularity of what became a fixture in the Omaha recreation program., The professionalnature of the Parks Department's playground supervisors was recognized in 1953 when theyreceived uniforms. That year also marked the beginning of the senior !litizens program,offering information and consultation to private groups on available activities for retiredOmahans.

In 195Z the Omaha ~oological Society was formed to Promote and build a better zooin the city. The Society worked to acquire new animals as well.as raise money for necessaryfacilities and improvements at the Riverview Park attraction. A small zoo .had been .in. I., . ., ' .Riverview'!Park,since the 1890's, filled mostly with American wild animals. Over the YElarsdonations from Oml\ha civic leader Gould Dietz and newspaperman William RandolphHearst"who don!l,ted a pair of lions in 1930, kept the enterprise alive. The Depression andwar years drastically depleted the zoo, so by the 1950's Omahans we're anxious to build it upas a tourist attraction. Throughout tile dec!l,de numerous plans were drawn up for tlle

, development,which was later named The Henry Doorly Zoo in honor of the publisher of 'theWorld-gerald. '

PARKS AND RECREATION UND~ THE NEW CHARTER

While the Parks and Recreation Commission expended its bond mbney in acquisitionand development" its future was being discussed by Omahans concerned with local

.government. Many felt the Parks and Recreation Commission, along with the other fivecommissions created in 1946, led to unnecessary confusion in the administration of localgovernment. City councilmen felt the commissionvwere'an intrusion on their authority,besides creating overlapping Controls and diffusing responsibilities. But the citizencommissions were only part of the problem. Omahans were also. critical of the city board ofcommissioners, which had replaced the city council in 191Z. This method of citygovernment called for seven members electediat:'large, each of whom would.run a particulardepartment upon election. Since no one ran for a Particular job, there was little assuranceof an experienced or qualified administrator in charge of each department. As a result, acharter convention was called in order to restructure' city government, and rewrit"l the,charter. "

By the end of summer, 1956, the convention had created a new city council of sevenmembers elected at-large to serve as the city'slegislative body. Executive power andadministration of various departments, previously a function of the seven elected persons,were vested in a group of department heads known as the Mayor's cabinet. Heads of PublicWorks,Finance, Public Safety, .Parks, Recreation and PUblic Property, Law, Personnel andPlanning were appointed by the'Mayor and served as professional administrators. Four oftile citizen ce>mmissions were ended under the new city charter. However, due to theef.forts of charter cOnvention melnber Rachel Gallagher, the Parks and RecreationCommission was retained in an advisory capacity. Thus, the new city structure had againchanged the method of operating Parks and Recreation. After 1956 it became a departmentwithin city government with a professional director and a citizen's .advisory board.

Since all the 1946 bond issue funds had been depleted, the new Parks and RecreationDepartment needed additional funding for parks acquisition and development. A 1958 bondissue of $3.6 million was defeated by over 36,000 vote's. The department did not receiveadditional bond monies until 1962 when a one million, dollar bond issue was appro;<1ed andagain in 1967, with $2.65 million'voted in. By the 1960's, however, Parks and RecreationDepartments across the United St;;tes received a shot in the arm with the infusion ofFederal monies. Before that time municipal and state parks were dependent only on theirown funding for expansion and improvement. Federal assistance offered an entirely newdimensiori to parks and recreation and facilitated the growth decade of the 1960's.

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The ground work for federal involvement in parks and recreation had been laid in theadministration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1958 he established the OutdoorRecreation Resources Review Commission, to determine outdoor recreation needs ofAmericans and pr0!ill'ams to meet them, and to inventory outdoor recr~ation resources. Thefinal ORRRC Report, presented to President John F Kennedy in 196Z, called foracomprehensive national outdoor recreation policy, guidelines for reS"lurce management,expansion of programs, and organization of a Federal Bureau of Outdoor Recreation andfederal grants-in-aid program. These plans were effectively carried out in the creation ofthe Bureau of Outdoor Recreation (BOR) in 196Z and the Land and Water Conservation FundPro!ill'am in 1965. Th'il BOR was responsible for coo1dinating outdoorrecreationprQ!ill'am'samong~,federalagencies and assisting state and local governments and private organiza­tions in recreation planning. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, administered by BOR,was the funding ag~cy for land acquisition by federal, state and local, agencies, staterecreation planning, and park land development. Roughly 40% of the Land and WaterConservation Fund w\as devoted to federal park projects, while 60% provided matchinggrants to states and their political subdivisions for acquisition and developmentop;lcllities.To qualify f,or fund assistance, each state was required to develop a Statewide' Compre­hensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). As a guide to federal financialaj,d, the planidentified priorities for acquiring, developing and protecting the state's recreationalresources, and coordinated all state outdoor recreation programs. 'Projects of localjurisdictions within the state were required to be in accordance with the state p~an and to'channel their applications through the appropriate state agency or individual. '

In compliance with the BOR requirements, the City of Omaha produced a parks, 'recreational areas and open spaces sketch plan in 1965, The plan listed parks proPerties,standards for various types of park areas and goals foi:"the"park system in 1990. By 1966 thecity had received over $360,000 in BOR money which, was used to acquire lana, fO,rTranquility, Seymour Smith and Towl Parks. BOR funding was used throughout the 1970's tofinance swimmingpools,ballfields, bikeways and,other types of park development. !It 1978,BORfunctions were taken over by the E:ieJiltage Conservation and Recreation ,Service(E:CRS). !It addition. E:CRS incorporated the responsibilities of two'other, Department ofInterior Bureaus, the National'Landmarks Program, and the Office of Arch;lE!ology andE:istoric Preservation of the National Parks Service. ' , f

By 1967 the Omaha Parks System had grown to seventy-two parks comprising overZ,800 ;lcres. E:owever, those parks were found to be deficient in the city's Near North Sidewhere most of Omaha's Bladk citizens resided. Just like the 1936 NRA study, a 1966Inventory and Evaluation Subcommittee Report found a need for improvement' of recre­ational facilities on the Near North Side. The series of recommendations in the reportincluded: acq1iisition and aevelopment of more "neighborhood lot" rec'reation areas,expansion and improvem,ent of e>tisting facilities and more new ones, such as swimmingpools, basketball courts and ball diamonds, improved leadership and supervision of recre­ational centers andplaYlill'Ound programs, increased use' of e>tisting" facilities such aschurches, schools' and vacant buildirigs, expanded programs for, girls and young women, and 'better coordination o,f private and public agency programs in oraer to avoid,unnece~sary

duplication. The Omaha study only reaffirmed the importance of increased emphasis on therecre;ltional needs of minority and low income Americans. By 1967 the City ParksDepartment had taken steps to begin meeting those needs, leasing or purchasing eighteen"postage stamp" parks in low income areas of the city, through a combination of local andfederal money, ' , ,

By the late 1960's and 1970's the park system continued"to grow through ;lcquisitionof new park lands and annexation Of Sanitary and Improvement District (SID) p;l1'ks on th,eedges of the city. Many SID parks have not yet been'annexed andllrovide an indication ofthe future growth of Omah;l. !It the same period, new recreational facilities were added and

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existing ones upgraded. In 1967, the Parks and Recreatioll Departmellt had the distinctiollof opening the first municipally owned and operated indoor tennis facility in the UnitedStates. A Chamber of Commerce Committee raised $35,000 in cash and a like amount inpledges, to' finance construction of the center located in Hanscom Park.' That period alsowitnessed: tlie extenslve development of Dodge Park, which had been' largely unusedwilderness since its donation in 1930. A master plan was completed in 1966 and boatingfacilities were constructed with the assistance of the Army Corps of Engineers in tho owmg years.' , an a 1 lon 0 plClllC tablesan~t er eqmpment woul make Dodge Park Omaha's most heavily used in the 0 s.

~ '.THE FUroiu; FOR PARKS AND RECREATION IN OMAHA

In 19&0 the Omaha Parks and Recreation Department administers lZZ'parks com~,

prising over 6,000 acres. Clearly, Omaha's system has come a long way from AI.fred D.'JOnes' tbree squares and linear park. In one sense, however, we are still attemp~ingto

achieve What Jones proposed lZ6 years ago - develop a park overlooking the1;iver' inDowntown Omaha. Certainly the region's greatest natural resource, the Missouri River, hasbeen almost completely shut off from the City of Omaha as a recreational facility. In JoeHummel's era of the InO's, an attempt was made to develop a River Drive along theMissouri. Portiolls of that road were completed, but onlyon the northern aIld southern edgesof Omaha, totally exCluding the Downtown area where an attractive visth and green spacewere sorely needed. In the 1970's .Omahans again launched a massive plall to return'to theriver'. One major com})Onentof the Riverfront Development PlaIl was the DowntownCentral Park MaU, a one-block open space which connects the heart of Omaha with theMissouri River six blocks away. This mall is particularly needed in the Central. BusinessDistrict to provide green space aIld a focal point, since JefferSOn Square, which survived sOmallY nineteenth century attempts to' destroy. it, finally fell victim to. the InterstateHighway System in the early 1960's. Alfred D. JOl).es would probably be plea-sed to discoverthat his twentieth century counterparts see; tlie need to again connect· Omaha to theMissouri River. '!. . I

Just as the City of Omaha has come full cirCle in its attempt to retUrn to the river,parks alld recreation philosophy in America has undergone a series of changes, only to returnto some of its original ideals. This cyCle is no more readily apparent than in attitudes'toward parks in the I,+st century. Initially, the urban park was a quiet retreat, a restfulplace to escape the noise and confusion of the city. Boulevards were an integral part of thesystem, connecting the parks alld providing a means for walking alld driving. to view thebeauty of the lalldscape. Gradually, recreation began to playa role in American society,first as a prerogative of the wealthy, then increasingly as a part of life for all classes .aswork became more mechallized and less the drudgery it had been during the first half of thenineteenth century. Playgrounds for children started the recreation movement, which endedwith athletic fields, '. community centers and hiking trails located in pll.l'ks.' Rather than aretreat for quiet introspection, parks have become a place for active recreation 'and physicalexertion. In the post-World War n era, most parks have become sites for. recreationalactivities, with the formal landscaped park becoming the exception rather than the rule. Inrecent years, hoWever, the need has. again become apparent for passive recreational areas inthe most densely populated sections of cities. Rising gasoline prices and construction costshave caused Americans to look to central cities for hottsing. As these areas become morepopular, the quiet urban retreat will be necessary to .provide relief from city congestion;This need was recognized by the Federal government through its switch in emphasis fromsuburban and rural parks,under the BpR to urban parks under the HCRS.

Conceptions regarding park locations have evolved in a similar maimer. The earlyparks, sited on hilly or heavily forested ground, gave way to those located where the need

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was greatest, or where they fit in an emerging boulevard system. The popularity of theautomobile by the 19200's facilitated the development of parks in more remote areas and onthe edges of cities. Today the trend is toward conservation of .existing urban resourceswhere needs are identified, often returning users to the old origil?-al parks located on"unuseable" land. Other efforts are being made to insure that parks are placed whereneeded by including theIl1 in suburban Sanitary and Improvement Distr~Ct developments, orby setting aside. a fixed percentage of land in new subdivisions for park use. In addition,many areas are again being reserved for parks because of particular natural features such 'asrivers, lakes or scenic vist;as.

Sources of funding have played an important role in the development of parks. andrecrea~i~n in the last century as well. Beginning with municipal funding, as under Omaha'sPark Board and theriunder a City Commissioner, parks and recreation were given a big boostwith the assistance of WPA '1unding in the 1930's. The increased need for· recreationalfacilities during.World WarUcontinued the federal governIl1ent aid and helped establish theneed for recreation' professionals after the conflict. The 1950's brought a return toIl1unicipal funding,ohly to be replaced by federal money under the BOR a de,cacl.e later. In1980 the emphasis has been altered again, with the federal government pul1ingbackfromoutright funding. In an age of inflation and cutbacks, the foCUS for parks has been onplanning for the future and conservation of existing resources. By concentrating oneffective planning rather than implementation, the new policy aims. at utilizing fewerdollars in anticipation of increased results. }

Omaha's parks and boulevard system is one of its most valuable asllets. TheCleveland design'of the 1890's was well planned and undertaken at a .timewhen the City wasexpanding andcoulcl. carefully follow the plans. Unfortunately, parts of it have beendestroyed because of Interstate Highways or oth,er'" road. construction. As a result, theboulevard.s are not generally identified by Omahans. as originally conceived, as a part of theparks system. What is left clearly possesses historic and aesthetic significance and shouldbe preserved in an effort .to return both parks and boulevards to tl~l!ir original beauty.Perhaps as 9mahans 1"et\U'l1 to the river thl!y'Will also rediscover the cl.'eativeplansof ourfirst park commissioners and begin a preservation effort of the existing portions of the parksand bOtU,evard system.

Such an effort would be important not only in saving a significant portion of, ,our.past,but in creative planning for the future. Not only gasoline and construction costs have drivenAmericans to central cities. Others have chosen to return to cities because of the quality .imd character of older housing or to experience the lifestyle and community offered byestablished neighborhoods. In Omaha, an important part of the Riverf1"ont DevelopmentPlan is the inclusion of housing in the Downtown area. These residents will require. therecreational areas provided by the inner city parks, as well as the efficient and attractivetransportation cotridors the boulevard system can furnish. The portion of Omaha east: of7ZndStreet is the most densely settled' section of the City. With additional residents

I moving in the need for well maintained recreat~onal areas and open green spacecanorilyincrease. Most of the City's minority residents also live east of 7Znd St1".eet. In thetwentieth century Omaha has been C1"iticized. for failing to provide. adequate parks andrecreational facilities in Black neighbo1"ho.ods. Preservation and development of the existingparks and boulevard system is a first step toward relieving some of that need. In fact, thepreservation of central city parks coUld be an important component in redevelopment ofolde1" neighborhoods. Just as fine 1"esidential areas g1"eW around. parks one hundred years ago,today's park consenation and preservation can become the catalyst for U1"ban neig)lbo1"hood1"ebi1"th.' ..

, The older portion of Omaha also offe1"s the possibility of new recreational resourcesthrough ad.aptiVe re-use of older buildings and sites; For example, the McF;:esson-RobbinsBuilding, a warehouse located at 9th and FarnaIl1 on the downtown Central Park Mall, has

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been proposed for adaption to a sun-lit indoor park. As a recreational and cultural center,the renovated warehouse would house a conservatory, ice skating rink, performance andoffice space for local arts groups and a home for the Children's Museum. Ferhaps we shouldalso examine our historical antecedents in regard to the open spacEl presented bycemeteries. F. L. Olmsted derived some of his inspiration for park plaIlUing from ruralcemeteries. Congested cities could also look to older cemeteries for jogging and bikingpaths or for use as picnic grounds. Certainly Omaha's Prospect Hill Cemetery, located onlya few blocks from John Creighton Boulevard, could be incorporated into exercise paths, orsimply utilized for its magnificent view of the Iowa bluffs across the river. In Omaha, there-use oL,historically and architecturally significant sites and structures has been ,ac­complishe,!:', by the Western Heritage Museum in the old Union Station; the Great PlainsBlack Museum, located in the ',old Webster Telephone Exchange; and the Gerald FordBirthsite gardens. Obviously, not all significant bUildings can become museums; however,adaptivere-use of historic struCtures and sites can provide an alternative function whilepreserving important 'aspects of Omaha's heritage. Along with historic preservation

. benefits, adaptive re-use affords added depth to the park system by offering re<ireationservices in facilities not often perceived in that light. Parks and recreation dep;u-tmentswill only benefit through use of available land and buildings in lieu of acquisition of newproperties for these purposes.

The evolution of attitudes toward parks and recreation during the last centurytherefore provides us with a foundation for anticipating future needs and diret;tions.Changes in funding. sources, demographics, and economic conditions will all have a bearingon American recreational requirements in the coming decades. The Omaha Parks andRecreation Department will face these problems, along,~it~ others particular to this city.Preservation and conservation of our existing resource's, as well as careful planning, will beincreasingly important in the climate of fiscal scarcity anticipated for the future. In aneffort to best deal with these issues and problems (which are fundamelltal to the UPARRprogram) the following conservation related po!icies should be incorporated into Omaha'spark planning and programming efforts: '

!(1) Support the stabilization and strengthening of identified preservation target

areas through the improvement of existing parks and open spaces, thereby,providing a catalyst to the redevelopment of surrounding neighborhoods;

(2) Improve City Government recognition of historic park facilities and themaintenance requirem ents of these resources;

(3) Follow a policy of adaptive re-use of identified historic structures and sites incases of both new and existing park, recreational and cultural facilities;

(4) Coordinate existing RiverfroJtt Development plans with the UPARR focus oninner city conservation and preservation;

(5) Recognize the assets provided through the boulevard system, and againestablish it as an important component of the central city parks and openspaces system; ,

(6) Insure adequatl;! emphasis on passive as well as active recreation'll;l establishedurban areas to' accommodate increasing population densities associated with"return to the city" tre;:tds;

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(7)

553:1

Design programs which respect austerity in government funding, and aresupportable locally, independent of continuous massive feder~ outlays;

(8) Coordinate historic preservation plans with park conservatipn plans in order toinsure that park program goals are consistent with the concepts, policies andstrategies developed in the City's Historic Preservation M;1Ster Plan,. and bythe Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission. . , .

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