The Springfield Survey, where this photo originated, was a massive study of local schools, prisons, and other institutions undertaken in 1914 by the Russell Sage Foundation with the help of hundreds of local volunteers. Topics covered included schools, care of “mental defectives, the insane and alcoholics,” recreation, housing, charities, industrial conditions, public health, the correctional system, and city and county administration. Parks were one of the relatively few areas the survey found praiseworthy.
For more information, see entry on the Springfield Survey.