Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/166

 148 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

million, contain 228 acres of park, or 4,720 people to each acre of park space. This second division includes, of course, some sparsely settled districts, where the need for parks is not so great ; if we were to compare, however, the eleven favored wards with eleven wards along the river, we should find the proportion even more startling.

It is in this large, neglected area that the municipal play- grounds have been established,' which it is hoped are but the beginning of an extended movement in favor of small parks and, possibly, a central boulevard system connecting the river dis- tricts with the outer zone of boulevards and parks. By consulting the map it will be seen that the playgrounds established by social settlements (indicated by circles) are, roughly speaking, in the river region, and that this is, if possible, more true of the municipal playgrounds (indicated by crosses). The municipal grant of a thousand dollars provided that these playgrounds should be placed in school yards, and the schools were selected partly by reason of their location in crowded districts, and partly on account of the character of their yards. Some of the neediest districts, such as that immediately north of the river (Hoyne School), the Harrison street region of vice and poverty (Jones School), and the Fifteenth street and Wabash avenue section had to be neglected because the school yards were inade- quate. The six schools chosen had, with one exception, satis- factory yards for playground purposes, although the schools were all located in portions of the city deficient in open spaces.

The least satisfactory school yard, that of the Washburne School, near Halsted and Fourteenth streets, is in the midst of a crowded Russian-Jewish quarter, notable for its rear tenements, ill-paved, unclean, and ill-smelling streets ; and the next near- est school had no yard whatever. This has been the most fre- quented playground and the most difficult to manage, two attendants proving quite inadequate, several hundred children crowding into the small yard daily. Something of the need of this section and the way it has been met by the playground is seen

■ For an account of the origin o£ the playgrounds in Chicago see the succeeding article by Miss American.