directed to Fairmount Park, crossing Fairmount Avenue, and walking along the especially hot and unshaded line of Landing Avenue. Some wealthy citizens took an interest in the extension of the grounds, and subscribed a fund toward the purchase of the Sedgeley estate, immediately north of Lemon Hill on the Schuylkill, bounded on the northeast by the Reading Railroad and extending to Girard Avenue. This property, formerly belonging to the Mifflin and Fisher families, had been bought in 1836 by Isaac S. Lloyd for speculative purposes. He paid seventy thousand dollars, and on being sold by the sheriff it passed into the hands of an individual, who in turn disposed of it to Ferdinand J. Dreer. Mr. Dreer then sold it to Henry Cope, Alfred Cope, Joseph Harrison, Thomas Ridgeway, Nathaniel B. Browne, and George W. Biddle, the trustees for the subscribers to the fund to procure Sedgeley for the enlargement of the park. A deficit occurred in the purchase-money because of all the subscriptions not being paid up, and the city acquired the property by paying the balance of forty-five thousand dollars due on the mortgage and assuming all responsibilities. The transaction was completed in 1857, and thus Sedgeley was added to Fairmount Park. The tract extended from the Lemon Hill Creek or Run up the Schuylkill, crossing Girard Avenue, to the little creek or run which came down on the south side of the Spring Garden Water-Works. The latter being at the time, by reason of the act of consolidation, city property, increased the possession of the park, and ran it up as far as the great rock upon which in after-years the eastern abutment of the connecting bridge was built. For ten years Fairmount Park was the ground north and west of Landing Avenue, separated by the latter from the property and grounds of Fairmount WaterWorks. After the acquisition of Sedgeley, Councils determined to obtain possession of the neck of land between the water-works and Lemon Hill, which included all the property on Fairmount Avenue and Landing Avenue, which was done under a jury award for fifty-five thousand dollars. Memorials to City Councils and the Legislature sought some small purchases of ground on the west side of the Schuylkill, and while these measures were pressed, but not acted upon definitely, four citizens learned that the Lansdowne tract on the west side of the Schuylkill, belonging to the family of Barings in England, was about to be sold, and that the owners were disposed to accept a price much below the actual value of the ground. They understood that if the Lansdowne property was brought into the market it would become an object of speculation, and that the construction of buildings would follow, with necessary risk of drainage into the Schuylkill and pollution of the water. They had the opportunity and they bought the ground, their intention being to offer it to the city of Philadelphia at cost price if used for public purposes. The offer was promptly accepted, and one hundred and forty acres were bought for eighty-four thousand nine hundred and fifty-three dollars. The acquisition of this large tract naturally led to a demand that there should be some better system of management of the park than had yet been provided. Jurisdiction over the works and adjacent ground was shared between the chief engineer of the water-works and the commissioner of city property. The latter had done something toward the decoration of the grounds near Fairmount, but was restricted by small appropriations from devising or executing any enlarged plan. It was necessary that there should be some better jurisdiction, and in accordance with public sentiment an act was passed "appropriating ground for public purposes in the city of Philadelphia" on the 26th of March, 1867. It declared that the title and ownership to certain ground on the west side of the river Schuylkill should be vested in the city of Philadelphia, "to be laid out and maintained forever as an open public place or park, for the health and enjoyment of the people of the said city, and the preservation of the purity of the water supply." To describe the ground thus appropriated by metes and bounds would be tedious. Generally, it may be said that it took in the area on the west side of the Schuylkill, the lines of which can be easily traced in the present park, extending from the west side of the Fairmount or Callowhill Street bridge northwardly by Bridgewater Street, Haverford Street, and the Pennsylvania Railroad, up to the Junction Railroad, and along the latter to Girard Avenue; crossing that highway to the north side of the park, it ran due west to Forty-first Street, and northward along the latter to Lansdowne Avenue, and then westwardly to Belmont Avenue, up Belmont northward to Montgomery Avenue; thence eastward along the same to the river Schuylkill, and down that stream by the banks to the west side of the Fairmount bridge, the place of beginning. In this area were included the West Philadelphia Water-Works, which were opposite Lemon Hill, and the noted country-seats of Solitude, Egglesfield, Sweet Brier, and Lansdowne, with a gore of ground north of the latter, between the regular line of Lansdowne and Montgomery Avenue. The grounds were to be managed by a board of commissioners, composed of the mayor, presidents of Select and Common Councils, the commissioner of city property, the chief engineer and surveyor, and the chief engineer of the water-works of the city, together with five citizens appointed for five years by the District Court, and five citizens appointed for the same period of time by the Court of Common Pleas. They were to receive no compensation for their services. The commissioners were authorized to negotiate and agree with the owners of the ground within the space specified for the purchase thereof, and if no agreement could be made, to introduce proceedings to condemn the ground and award damages, the whole being subject to the approval of the Court of Quarter Ses-ufactories pouring their impurities into the basin, and sions. They were to have the whole management and care of Fairmount Park on both banks of the river Schuylkill. In due time afterward the Fairmount Park Commission was organized. It was composed of Morton McMichael, mayor of the city; Joshua Spering, president of Select Council; Joseph F. Marcer, president of Common Council; Charles Dixey, commissioner of city property; Strickland Kneass, chief engineer and surveyor; Frederick Graff (the second), chief engineer of the water-works; and the following citizens: Eli K. Price, John Welsh, William Sellers, Joseph Harrison, Jr., and John C. Cresson, appointed by the District Court; and Nathaniel B. Browne, Theodore Cuyler, Henry M. Phillips, Gustavus Remak, and Maj.-Gen. George G. Meade, appointed by the Court of Common Pleas. Mr. McMichael was elected president, and at his death in 1879 was succeeded by William S. Stokley, who in 1881 was succeeded by Henry M. Phillips. N. B. Browne was elected treasurer, Joseph F. Marcer secretary, and David F. Foley (not a member of the commission) assistant secretary. Standing committees were appointed on land purchases and damages, on plans and improvements, on superintendence and police, on finance and of audit; also an executive committee, composed of the officers of the board and the chairmen of the five standing committees, and a special committee upon the subject of "the preservation of the purity of the water supply." During the year after the commissioners were appointed they did but little. They came to the opinion at an early period that the ground acquired was not sufficient, as on the east side of the Schuylkill there was no park property north of the Spring Garden WaterWorks. An act of Assembly of 1866 authorized the purchase of the small strip of ground between the Reading Railroad and the river as far north as the Columbia bridge, but beyond this there was no protection, and on the west side of the Schuylkill the extreme western boundary was below the bridge. If the water supply was to be preserved from pollution park extension was unavoidable, and in their report for 1867 the committee on plans and improvements said, "Now, if ever, while it is yet possible to be done at a cost which is moderate when compared with its advantages, we must possess the ground which surrounds our water supply so closely that the impurities which are drained from its surface must necessarily be drawn into the reservoirs, and, by preventing the erection of dwellings and manufactories on the shores of the basin and of the waters closely adjacent, provide against the pollution of the water which is the sole supply for domestic uses of the present and of the future population of this vast and rapidly-growing city. If we fail to do so, and our population continues to increase in the ratio of our past progress, twenty years will not pass before the shores of the Schuylkill will be crowded with dwellings and man compelling the city, at an enormous cost, either to build fresh water-works at some other point, where pure water for domestic uses may be had, or else to acquire the very ground-the purchase of which we now recommend while its cost is moderate-when its price will have been so enhanced as to make its acquisition almost impracticable." The committee proposed that the boundaries of the park should be increased, commencing on the west side of the river Schuylkill, near the city bridge at the Falls; thence southwardly and westward down to the Lansdowne property (already belonging to the park), and out the Ford road to George's Run, not far from the Pennsylvania Railroad. On the east side of the river the ground was to be extended above the Spring Garden Water-Works so as to take in the space between Thirty-third Street and the Schuylkill River as far as Laurel Hill Cemetery, west of which it was to be carried by a driving-road (one hundred feet wide, and above that point one hundred and fifty feet wide) along the Schuylkill up to the intersection of the Ridge turnpike and School Lane; thence between the Ridge turnpike and the Schuylkill up to the southeasterly side of Wissahickon Creek, then crossing the Schuylkill to the Reading Railroad property at the city boundary line and the place of beginning. They also recommended that the control of the Wissahickon and of both the shores of that creek within narrow limits, yet sufficient to protect the water from impurities, should be acquired by the city, to be used in connection with the park. The whole extent of the ground thus recommended to be taken and comprised within the limits of the park, including the water area of the river, was computed to be sixteen hundred and eighteen and one-fifth acres. The extra ground recommended to be taken in addition to that previously embraced in the park was one hundred and fifty-one acres on the eastern side and six hundred acres on the western side of the river. This did not include the property along the Wissahickon, which it was suggested should be put under control of the city, but which was not asked to be included within the park grounds. The draft of the bill to enlarge the boundaries of the park was presented to the attention of Councils, which acted in a very liberal spirit, and with the intention to secure ground that might be needed at some future time for basins and resorvoirs by adding to the proposed territory on the east side of the river and south of South Laurel Hill three hundred and ten acres additional. The Assembly assented to the demands made by the passage of the act of April 14, 1868, which not only made a grant of the ground within the enlarged area, but directed that the park commissioners should appropriate "the shores of the Wissahickon Creek, on both sides of the same from its mouth to the Paul's Mill road, and of such width as may embrace the road now passing along the same, and may also protect the purity of the water of said creek, and by passing along the crest of the heights which are on either side of the said creek may preserve the beauty of its scenery." The act provided for the laying out of a road of easy and practicable grades, "extending from the intersection of the northerly, line of the park by Belmont Avenue, on the westerly side of the Schuylkill, to the head of Roberts Hollow, and thence along said hollow and the river Schuylkill to the foot of City estimated that the amount, excluding the Wissahickon ground and the road through Roberts Hollow, was two thousand two hundred and forty acres. This, it was calculated, left about sixteen hundred acres to be acquired; but the area was reduced somewhat by river surface, so that the actual purchases necessary were a fraction over nine hundred and sixtynine acres. While the commissioners were busily employed in carrying out the work, they experienced an Avenue, laid out, with the ground contiguous thereto for ornamentation, of such width and so constructed as the commissioners . . . may determine. And such road and its contiguous ground are hereby declared to be a part of the aforesaid park." The act also contained a code of rules and regulations for the government of the park, and ordered that the commissioners should employ, equip, and pay a park force adequate to maintain good order therein. When the commissioners got to work in negotiating for the land they unexpected generosity in the presentation to them and to the city by Jesse George and his sister, Rebecca George, of the lofty piece of ground west of the assigned park boundaries, which was known as George's Hill. At that time Jesse George was over eighty-three years of age, and his sister was of advanced years. In his communication to the park commissioners, Mr. George stated that the ground had been the uninterrupted home of his ancestors for many generations, and from the original settlement of the country. He |