LEIPZIG.
301
Public gardens and open spaces are one of the most prominent features of the
town, and have been brought within easy reach of all classes of the population
by a service of cheap and quick electric tramways run by private companies.
What is now the central and business part of the town is separated from the
more modern and mainly residential part by a wide zone of promenades
expanding at intervals into squares and public gardens, and occupying the site
of former fortifications. For eight weeks in the year, that is to say during the
fairs, the widest parts of this zone are occupied by great numbers of booths
engaged in the retail sale of glass, crockery and wooden utensils and ornaments,
tobacco-pipes, toys, ready-made clothing and underwear, boots and shoes, and
cheap confectionery and other comestibles. In 1904 (the latest year for which
figures are available) these booths numbered 614 at the New Year, 1,321 at the
Easter, and 1,178 at the Michaelmas fair. The resulting obstruction of traffic
has now induced the municipality to purchase a plot of 25 acres in the extreme
western suburbs, whither it is proposed that the retail traffic of the fairs shall
be gradually transferred, and a sum of £20,000 has been voted by the Town
Council to defray the cost of rendering the newly-purchased ground suitable
for the accommodation of the booths. The open spaces secured through
the razing of the fortifications represent, however, only a small fraction
of the total extent of the open recreation grounds within easy reach of
dwellers in all parts of Leipzig. The exceptional advantages which the people
enjoy in this respect are due not only to the great area of the land owned
by the municipality, and the endowments which it administers, but also to the
even distribution of that land over all parts of the urban area. Partly by its
extension outwards, and partly by the progressive incorporation within the city
boundary of populous outlying parishes, the Leipzig of former days, which
consisted of about 160 acres of narrow streets closely encircled by the fortifications,
which have since given way to promenades, has gradually assumed a
shape somewhat resembling that of a Maltese cross with the arms pointingnorth,
south, east, and west, and the spaces between the arms occupied by land
owned by the municipality or administered by that body on behalf of city
endowments. Some 2,700 acres of this property are woodland, of which the
greater part is open to the public for purposes of recreation.
The population of Leipzig has increased more rapidly since 1871 than that
of any of the other great cities of Saxony. The number of inhabitants at each
census from 1871 to 1905, and the intercensal increases during this period, were
as follows :—
Year.
Population.
1871.. .
1875.. .
1880.. .
1885.. .
1890.. .
1895.. .
1900.. .
1905.. .
106,925
127,387
149,081
170,340
295,025
399,969
455,089
502,570
Increase.
Increase per cent.
20,462
21,694
21,259
124,685
104,944
55,120
47,481
19-1
17-0
14-3
73-2
35 6
13-8
10-4
At the end of 1905 therefore Leipzig had a population nearly five times
as great as at the end of 1871. A considerable part of the increase has,
however, been due to successive incorporations of outlying parishes, more
especially since the year 1889. In that year the two parishes of Anger-Crottendorf
and Reudnitz with some 23,000 inhabitants were absorbed, and on
January 1st of each of the years 1890, 1891 and 1892 additions of 57,000,
60,000 and 2,000 respectively were made to the population of Leipzig through
the incorporation of 15 further parishes within the municipal area.
