IV Economy of Playground Management in Gary School, as Contrasted With Public Playground
Superintendent Wirt, at the meeting of the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association, St. Louis, February, 1912 spoke as follows:—
We have not utilized the school plants completely unless they are used for recreation and social centers by adults. Fortunately, a school plant that provides for the constructive play and recreation activities of children is also most admirably adapted for similar activities with adults. The playground, gymnasiums, swimming-pools, auditorium, club and social rooms, library, shops, laboratories, etc., make a complete social and recreation center for adults. Experience has demonstrated that the facilities for academic instruction add also to the attractiveness of the plant as a social and recreation center.
Compared with the cost of such facilities and their use when separated from the school plant, the economy of the combined playground, workshop, and school plant is indeed surprising. The city of Chicago has a most elaborate system of recreation parks and field-houses. Selecting the eleven most successful parks of the South Park Commission, we may compare the total cost and use of the eleven parks with the cost and use of one Gary school plant. Note that the attendance of the parks is the total, not the average, for the eleven parks. Also note that the cost of the school includes the furnishing of complete school facilities for twenty-seven hundred children, in addition to the social and recreation features.
Chicago parks and Gary school compared as to costs
| Items | Total for eleven parks in Chicago | One school in Gary |
| Population | 800,000 | 20,000 |
| First cost, less land | $2,000,000 | $300,000 |
| Annual maintenance | $440,000 | $100,000 |
| Annual attendance:— | ||
| Indoor gymnasium | 310,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Shower baths | 1,385,000 | 500,000 |
| Outdoor gymnasium | 2,000,000 | 2,000,000 |
| Swimming-pool | 735,000 | 300,000 |
| Assembly halls | 270,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Reading-rooms | 600,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Clubrooms | 70,000 | 50,000 |
| Lunchrooms | 520,000 | 20,000 |