“… Thirteen other gentlemen addressed the meeting, all of them in favor of concerted action. The following vote was unanimously adopted: ‘ That the chairman and secretary with five others whom they may join with them be a committee to prepare a memorial to the legislature calling attention to the needs of the Boston district as respects the provision of public open spaces, and to report the same to a new meeting of this body.’ The chairman announced the committee as follows : The chairman and secretary, and Messrs. Philip A. Chase of Lynn, Robert T. Paine of Waltham, F. P. Bennett of Everett, Desmond Fitzgerald of Brookline, and Horace E. Ware of Milton. Mr. Ware subsequently resigned from the committee, and Mr. A. J. Bailey of Boston was chosen in his place. The committee was a strong one. Before the end of December it had agreed that the object to be aimed at should be a commission to inquire and report. A month later Charles wrote thus of this meeting: ‘A majority of the towns and cities within eleven miles of Boston were represented by their park commissioners or other officers; and so general was the desire for immediate, effective, and comprehensive action towards the reservation of ample public open spaces, that a committee was appointed to draft a memorial to the legislature, asking for prompt action in this direction.’ (From the First Annual Report of the Trustees of Public Reservations.)”

Reference Data:

Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect, by Charles William Eliot, 102, page 352