be raised , and a nursery needed to be built to transport the plants during the garden's reconstruction. The rustic wooden bridges were to be replaced with stone bridges, while the wooden stairs were to be superseded by stone stairs. Not only did many plants die during the process, but the actual rebuilding was delayed until 1911. Two years later, the Parks Commissioner for the Bronx refused to allocate reconstruction funds because, he stated, the garden looked just fine. Under threat of tearing the garden down, the city had to find money to fill and drain the ground. The rebuilding contract was awarded in 1909 and completed by 1911. Early years Various adjustments were made over succeeding years. A network of roads through the park was built soon after, allowing the construction of picnic areas and hiking trails as well as making the forests more accessible to visitors. A stone memorial was placed at Indian Field in 1906, with a plaque misspelling the name of the Indian chief, Abraham Ninham, as "Abraham Nimham." One particular concern was the threat of the wetlands serving as breeding grounds for malaria-borne mosquitoes, which had drawn the ire of local residents and property owners as they believed the wetlands to be "unsightly and unsanitary." The marshlands were filled in between 1906 and 1922. The marsh to the southwest of the Van Cortlandt Station was converted to a lake. An "outlet sewer" under Broadway was built in 1907. From 1903 to 1911, NYC Parks cleaned the Van Cortlandt Lake, removed the original earthen dam, and emptied the lake in order to dredge the lake bed to a lower depth. A new dam was installed to reform the lake. The former marshland was filled in. During a 1910s excavation for a sewer pipe, stones were unearthed that were suspected to be from the old van der Donck estate. During World War I, the Parade Ground was used to train soldiers. Eight tennis courts opened in 1914 with admission being $1 per person, and owing to the Van Cortlandt Golf Course's immense popularity, the Mosholu Links also opened that year. By 1917, the Parade Ground contained 10 out of the park's baseball diamonds. The park's recreational facilities were quite popular, with more than 10,000 people using them on a busy day. However, during and following World War I, the Parade Ground was used for war training. Until