National Affairs: KEEP OFF THE GRASS

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Ever since colonial days, when the "common" was the hub of most New England villages, parks have played an important part in U.S. urban life. Fifty years ago (and even today in many localities), the traditional city park consisted of a generous area of well-kept green grass, sprinkled with shade trees and sometimes with flowers, gravel walks for strollers, hard benches for sitters, usually an iron or stone fountain, and often a wooden bandstand. Now the trend is toward parks which are useful as well as ornamental.

"Keep off the Grass" signs have not disappeared entirely, and people can still doze and dream in more than 17,000 U.S. city parks; but they can also play golf and tennis, eat a picnic lunch, ride a horse, paddle a canoe, attend a symphony concert and study the ways of animals and fishes. Tiny in comparison with the vast national parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Great Smoky Mountains, city parks are closer to the daily lives of the people they serve, and the best of them play a giant's role in an increasingly urbanized society.

New Orleans' sprawling City Park was once a sugar plantation. Now it combines the languorous beauty of the Cajun country with a football stadium, two 18-hole golf courses, an amusement area, picnic grounds, a swimming pool, baseball diamonds, dozens of tennis courts and an art museum.

San Antonio's park (see second color page) was a community project, begun in the '30s when the little San Antonio River, choked with rubbish, had become an eyesore. (Indians called the weaving, U-turning river "drunken-old-man-going-home-at-night.") Distressed citizens raised funds for a beautification program, got WPA help, dredged and cleaned the river, built arched bridges, cobblestone terraces and walks, planted trees, grass and flowers along the "big bend" section. Today the river park is the city's pride & joy.