Nearly the youngest park of the entire system, an acquisition of a little more than a year’s standing, an acquisition made against the wish of a large number of people who are bound to be benefited through its creation and existence, boasts today of the finest, most useful recreation building in our entire park system, a building equal to the best of its kind in the country, a building built and presented by the noblest spirit known to the human heart, the love of children, their happiness and welfare. The John D. Webber Field House is indeed a noble gift bound to bring wholesome benefit and happiness to thousands upon thousands for years to come.
The main part of Camden Park is bounded on the north by the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway and Forty – fourth avenue, on the south by Washington avenue north , and on the east by Lyndale avenue north. The irregular rolling grounds, the running waters of the winding Shingle Creek, the little groves of oak trees, and the open patches of dry and wet pasture , altogether give this piece of ground the stamp of a natural park; and its value for an ideal recreation ground for young and old is written on its surface. To make use of the stream for bathing in summer and skating in winter was the suggestion of nature itself. Little did anyone dream that the idea of utilizing this stream as suggested in the first preliminary plan, would be adopted so soon improved upon, and carried out in such an elaborate manner. The John D. Webber Field House, however, is now a fact. The building may be divided in three separate parts to be known under the following names:
I . The Camden Park Swimming Pools
II . The John D. Webber Field House (for shelter)
III . The Camden Park Library
There are two swimming pools, one 60×120 feet in size and from three to four feet deep , and one 45×43 feet and nine feet deep. The depth in both pools can be increased one foot . The pools are fed by the stream passing through them, the flowage being under absolute control through properly arranged spillways and gates . The pools can be emptied in two hours and filled in one hour. They are surrounded by a wide platform, and are enclosed by a wall twelve feet nigh with no roof. To the north of the pools are eighty-two double size dressing rooms, the office of the attendants, the toilets, and shower baths. While the rooms are all roofed the alley-ways are open over head.
To the south of the main pool and connected with it through a door and a tile – roofed porch , is the John D. Webber Field House, a very attractive and convenient shelter building. The main floor is 53×27 feet in size, and is used as a warming – room during the skating season, for which purposes a checking booth for clothes and skates is provided. In the summer this room will be utilized as a shelter house . Sanitary and modern toilet rooms are connected with this floor. The basement contains a room of the same size , which is so far unassigned . It may, later on, be equipped and utilized for shower baths for winter use. Under the projecting porch and wings of the main building towards Washington avenue are the boiler room and a store – room . Above the shelter room, being a part of the main building, is the Camden Library , a branch of the public library. This is a very handsome room of the same size as the shelter room, conveniently reached from the porch by an easy stairway in the west wing.
The entire set of buildings is of reinforced concrete construction of rough-cast exterior finish, and a red tile roof. The building is of the Spanish Mission style and presents a very attractive and inviting appearance.
The Board has done the following work in connection with these improvements:
Before building operations were started in the spring an 8-inch artesian well was drilled in the basement , the same being 345 feet deep penetrating to the Jordon sandstone. A 1,500 – gallon compression tank , fed by a vertical triplex power pump, driven by a 2-horse power automatically controlled electric motor , has been installed to supply a constant flow of this artesian well water to drinking fountains in the building and throughout the park. The capacity of the plant is eighteen gallons per minute. The well has been cased to the Jordan sandstone, excluding all water from above the same. The water is of excellent quality and of an even temperature.
In order to control the flow of water in the creek , and relieve the above – described buildings from any pressure of the backwater a strong reinforced concrete dam has been built directly west of the buildings . This dam has an overflow three inches lower than the sill of the spillway emptying into the pools . A fishway has been provided for on the west end of the dam and two 24-inch outlet pipes with gates have been inserted through the walls at the east end of the dam. The little lake formed by this dam is about three acres in ex tent, and is very attractive with its winding, irregular shore-lines. It is possible to empty the entire lake in eight hours , and the ordinary flow of the creek will fill the same in from eight to ten hours .
The level open space between the lake and the railroad has been graded and utilized as a playground , and some apparatus has been installed. The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company very kindly consented to build a suitable fence along the line of their right of way, thus affording the desired protection for children using those playgrounds.
Cesspools and drains have been built to take care of the toilet buildings and shower-baths . The city water has been supplied to the building through a proper system of piping. Board walks have been laid, and a temporary bridge across the creek has been built.
The accompanying plan of Camden Park shows the location of the new buildings and the dam, the shore-lines of the lake , the play , grounds , and the contemplated approaches to the building, the desired paths, proposed plantings , etc . Two small concrete bridges are suggested below the dam for the accommodation of a semi-circular drive way and sidewalk , affording an easy approach to the J.D. Webber Field House from Washington avenue opposite the intersection of the latter with Bryant and Colfax avenues. The creek following a corrected semi-circular course in front of the building finds its old channel after reaching the outlet of the deep swimming pool.
I bespeak for Camden Park a generous appropriation for this year, so that the grounds may be so improved and made useful as to be in harmony with the generous gift of Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Webber, and its noble, far-reaching and well-defined purpose.
-From the 27th Annual Report of the Board of Park Commissioners
City of Minneapolis 1909