Churches.— There are some 489 church buildings in the city, many of great beattty both externally and internally; notably the First Presbytenan Church on Madison street, with its wonderful Gothic spire 300 feet high; the Mount Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church within the shadow of the Washington monu ment, and the Roman Catholic Cathedral com-' menced in 1800. The style and decorations of the last named are of the Grecian-lonic order. The great dome is 207 feet in circumference internally, and 231 feet externally. The side aisles in the church are terminated by two pictures. That on the right is the °Descent from the Cross,0 painted by Pauline Guerin — a present from Louis XVI to the archbishop —and that on the left, °Saint Louis Burying His Officers and Soldiers Slain Before Acre,2 the work of Steuben and presented by King Charles X of France. There are also the state ly Methodist church described with the Goucher C411ege; the beautiful white marble synagogue, Oheb Shalom, on Eutaw Place, oriental in style, and a short distance away the great Har Sinai temple on Bolton street, and the Byzantine temple on Madison avenue. The Episcopalians have many fine churches, among them Saint Paul's on Charles street and Grace Church on Monument street. The initial work on the Episcopal Cathedral, Saint Paul and University Parlcway, has been completed and the Pro-Cathedral is in use. The following is a list of the churches of the various denomina tions: Baptist, 59i Christian Science, 2; Con gregational, 4; Disciples of Christ, 7; Evan gelical Association, 4; Evangelical Lutheran, 57; Friends, 2; Orthodox, 2; Independent Roman Catholics, 1; Independent German, 1 ; Jewish synagogues, 22; Methodists of vanous kinds and color, 119; New Jerusalem, 1; Ark of the Covenant, 1; Presbyterian, 33; Protes tant Episcopal, 45; Reformed Church, 14; Re formed Episcopal, 3; Roman Catholic, 55; Seventh Day Adventists, 2; Swedenborgian, 3; Union Evangelical, 3; Unitarian, 1; United Brethren in Christ, 7; Universalist, 1.
Monuments and The first monu ment erected in Baltimore was in memory of Christopher Columbus and was dedicated 12 Oct. 1792, the 300th anniversary of his landing. It stands in the grounds of the Ready Asylum on North avenue. One of the grandest monu ments in the world stands at the intersection of Mount Vernon and Monument squares — the Washington monument, the erection oi which was conceived in the year 1809, the de sign furnished by Robert Mills, and the corner stone laid on 4 July 1815. It rises above these squares about 200 feet and is of the Greek Doric inspiration. The erection of this monu ment, the first to be erected by any city in memory of Washington, is what gave Balti more her designation as 'The Monumental City." The figure of Washington is by Causici. The next in importance is the more Monument,' known as the "Battle Monument.' It was erected to the memory of those who fell at the battle of North Point in 1814 and is the work of Maximilian Godefroy. It is 52% feet high. The principal column represents a fasces upon the bands of which are placed in bronze letters the names of those who fell, the whole being crowned by a female representing the city, holding in her hand a wreath of laurels, capellano. The Thomas Wildey monument on North Broadway is ded icated to him as the founder of the Order of Odd Fellows and may be described as a Gre cian Doric column 52 feet high, on which stands a figure of Charity. Other monuments are the Wells and McComas monument at Ashland square; that on Federal Hill erected to the gallant soldier Armistead, who defended Fort McHenry at the same time, 1814; the new Armistead monument at Fort McHenry; and the Francis Scott Key monument at Eutaw Place and Louvale street; the monument to the Marylanders who fell in Mexico, located in Mount Royal avenue; the monument at the intersection of Mount Royal avenue and Cathedral street, recording the deeds of the Maryland Line, the only troops who fought from Bunker Hill to Savannah during the Revolution• and the monument, by, Ruck stuhl, erected by the Daughters of the Con federacy, to the Confederate soldiers of the State. Mr. William T. Walters has given the
city the famous bronzes of Barye, including the great lion and the masterful bronze by Dubois, "Military Courage"; the sitting statue of Chief Justice of the United States, Roger Brooke Taney .(q.v.) in his official robes; and the equestrian statue of John Eager Howard (q.v.).
Parks and The beautiful Druid Hill Park consists of 674.16 acres. Other parks are Clifton Park 267.26 acres; Clifton Lake, 44 acres; Patterson Park, 128.44 acres ; Carroll Park, 176.44 acres; Riverside Park, 17.02 acres; Federal Hill Park, 8.02 acres; Wyman Park, 198.39 acres; Swann Park, 11.31 acres; Latrobe Park, 13.80 acres; Gwynn's Falls, 374.19 acres; 'Tenable Park, 60.81 acres; New Reservoir Park, 92.65 acres; Herring Run Park, 164.61 acres, besides 32 small squires dispersed all over the city, making a grand to tal of about 2,277.34 acres. In natural beauty Druid Hill Park is unsurpassed by any in the world. It is filled with springs of pure water, some of which are medicinal. A great arti ficial lake, a part of the city's waterworks, with a depth of more than 80 feet, occupies many acres and around it has been constructed a fine drive. Near the head of this lake on the driveway stands the colossal statue of the Scottish hero, Sir William• Wallace. In the rear of this is the full-length marble statue of Washington, executed by Bartholomew. A short distance from the latter is a costly and graceful pedestal surmounted by a life-size figure of Christopher Columbus by Achille Canessa. Patterson Park, on the eastern rim of the city, contains 128.44 acres, overlooks the harbor and still retains some of the earthworks thrown up by the American army in the de fense of the city 1812-14, some of the guns being still in position. Necessarily a city is judged by what it does to advance its own facilities. According to this standard, Balti more stands out conspicuously. Within the past few years engineers and municipal experts from every point of the world have been visit ing the city to inspect its new sewerage. This system is the finest ever attempted and cost in the neighborhood of $25,000,000. Many Bal timoreans think their largest gain from the fire was the new dock system. Previous to the fire the city owned very little wharf prop erty. Since the fire the municipality has ac nuked all of the harbor front burned in the fire and it has been erecting the best system of docks that can be found along the Atlantic coast. The development of its suburbs in cludes Roland Park and Builford, pronounced by experts to be the finest examples of suburb an development in the world. Baltimore's as sessable basis for taxation grew from $402, 816,097 in 1901 to $915,433,444 in 1914, an in crease of $512,617,247. The total mileage of streets and alleys in the city is 581.93, of which 324 miles are paved with the most modern int proved paving, and all cobblestone paving is being replaced by the same.