West Jersey Pioneer

A reference to Ordinance No. 20., of the Common Council of the city of Bridgeton, passed June 11th, will develop the fact that the city fathers are not idle in their efforts to steadily improve it, both in forms of beauty and utilization. Our readers who remember that the policy steadily advocated in these columns in the past, has been, that it was the truest economy for us as citizens, to steadily work on in the endeavor to make Bridgeton the peer of any other city of the state in all these modern advantages of curbing, side walks, shade trees, fire department, buildings, grading, schools, and indeed in all things, whose tendency is to raise the value of our property and in making our city attractive to the people from other places who might think of locating in our midst. It is true that these things are expensive at the first, but it is a kind of expensiveness which remunerates largely in the end. It is like a man who owns a factory, run by a six horse engine, when his business would justify him in employing one of quadruple the power. It will cost him a large amount to put in the new engine, but nevertheless the new engine will make his fortune. It is so in all these improvements. Bridgeton is already known as one of the most attractive towns in the State and in this sense does a good business in inviting strangers to settle in it, but it has capacities to have that attractiveness indefinitely improved, and in this way immensely enlarge this feature of its character. Our streets are all sloping and their grading and draining is a matter of comparative ease, while the soil of which they are composed enables any character of shade trees to grow without difficulty. The water, except that immediately bordering upon the creek, is of the purest and healthiest character for drinking and culinary purposes, and the grass upon our lawns does not wait to be invited, but springs up indigenously. Look at it as we may, it is our own fault if Bridgeton does not continue what it has been in the past, the most beautiful town of Southern New Jersey.

The Ordinance to which we have alluded is one which will make it necessary for the owners of property to curb and grade their side walks upon the level of grade established by the authorities; whenever a notice to that effect shall be served upon them by the Common Council; which Ordinance also provides that if the owners, when thus notified, shall neglect to do this, the city will proceed to perform the work and assess the expense upon the property. Any person who will take a walk through Bank street and study the effect which that part of it which is curbed and paved, produces upon the eye, and observe the added comfort which is given to the pedestrian when the rains have muddied the soil, will not fail to be convinced of the utility of the proposed measure. If all our streets presented an appearance of beautifully paved brick or stone sidewalks, both the sense of beauty and the sense of comfort would be so largely enhanced that to get along without them in the days that are past. The property, when once put in this condition, would necessitate the erection of buildings in a far more rapid ratio than in the past, as every lot thus paved and curbed would be the subject of too heavy an interest to allow it to remain unimproved. We hope that while our municipality will no doubt proceed prudently and carefully in their requisitions in this matter, that there will be most cheerful co-operation with them in this matter upon the part of our citizens, and then ere long we shall be both astonished and pleased by beholding a solid net work of permanent side walks gracing every street in our city.