| Bethell’s brief comments extolled the parkway’s beauties and emphasized its importance to the citizens of Westchester County. Bethell also praised the commission’s professional staff and paid tribute to his predecessor, James Cannon. The Bronx River Parkway, he declared, should be considered "a lasting monument to the men in whose minds this great project was conceived, and to the men and women who, with great courage, quiet industry, devotion to the public welfare, and pride in execution, carried on, until the work [was] completed."(263) Downer did not speak at the ceremony, but he authored several accounts of the project. Downer noted that thirty years had passed between the first public demand for the improvement of the polluted Bronx River and the completion of the Bronx River Parkway. He credited the commissioners, whom he characterized as a "few public-spirited men," for sustaining the project during the first eighteen years of legal wrangling, politicking, and land acquisition. The second phase of the project, Downer maintained, consisted of twelve years of painstaking work interrupted by war and litigation. Downer credited the parkway’s success to the dedication of its administrative, engineering, legal, and construction forces.(264) The BPC furnished an imposing array of statistics in its 1925 final report. Some of this information also appeared on the Valhalla Bridge tablet. The original Bronx River Parkway Reservation was 16 miles long, 200' to 1,200' wide, and had required the acquisition of 1,338 separate parcels of land. In the process of improving the riverbed and grading the parkway landscape, the BPC had moved 2 million cubic yards of material, diverted 9,000 linear yards of river, deepened 8 miles of channel, and built nine flow regulation dams and 342 drains and underdrains. The BPC’s forestry and planting forces removed 17,000 dead trees, trimmed 57,000 trees, treated another 21,000 for various aiments, and planted 30,000 trees and 140,000 shrubs. Completing the parkway drive required the construction of thirty-seven bridges and viaducts, seven culverts, 467 rustic lights, and 70,000' of locust guard rail.(265) The last meeting of the Bronx Parkway Commission was held on December 30, 1925. The commissioners’ final duties included authorizing a final report, terminating the commission as provided by law, and deeding the BRPR land and records to New York City and Westchester County. Unexpended funds were returned to the respective governments in the proportions of three-fourths to New York City and one-fourth to Westchester County. Westchester County was made the plaintiff in the remaining four condemnation proceedings. The commission also granted approval for the grade crossing elimination at East 233rd Street in the Bronx and endorsed Stoughton’s designs for a monument at the southern end of the parkway. On January 1, 1926, the portion of the BRPR within Westchester County was transferred to the Westchester County Parks Commission, which had been established in 1922. The Bronx section of parkway was transferred to New York City. "All business having been completed," as the commissioners noted in their final report, the BPC adjourned.(266) |
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| (263)Bronx
Parkway Commission, Final Report, 1925, 99. |
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