Lands" in 1887, and the remaining subdivisions were offered for sale as the "Old Racecourse Estate" in 1888–89. The Colonial Sugar Refinery was built on part of this land in 1893. Horse-drawn trams had extended their run along Brunswick Street to Langshaw Street by December 1885, the electrification of trams occurred after 1895, and the trams reached New Farm Park in 1926. Portions of New Farm's swamps were drained between 1884 and 1887, and open stone drains were built on the eastern side of the peninsula, being diverted along Merthyr Road to the river. The City of Brisbane absorbed the Booroodabin Shire in 1903, and finished the job of draining the area between 1903 and 1909. In 1884 Nehemiah Bartley wrote a letter to the Brisbane Courier on the need for a recreation reserve for New Farm's growing population, but negotiations for a park at New Farm did not begin until 1911. By 1912, about of the Old Racecourse Estate remained unsold, the land lying to the south west of the small creek that entered the river at Norris Point. In June 1913 the Australian Bank of Commerce accepted the City's offer of £25,800 for the land. The Brisbane City Council had been seeking control of the parks within its area to replace the previous system where a board of trustees was established to administer each park; these boards were reported to the Queensland Governor and not within the Council's control). Between 1887 and 1913 the Council gained full control of Wickham Park, Observatory Park, Hardgrave Park (Petrie Terrace), Babbage Park (Musgrave Road, Red Hill), Albert Park, Alexandra Park (now part of the Brisbane Showgrounds between Alexandria Street and Exhibition Street) and Victoria Park. The International Town Planning movement that existed at the time also helped to put city planning and beautification programmes on the city's agenda. Between 1913 and 1925, Bowen Park, New Farm Park, Raymond Park, Newstead Park, Perry Park, Centenary Park and Teneriffe Park were created. In his Annual Report for 1914, City Parks Superintendent Henry Moore noted that work had begun at New Farm Park on the 18 May 1914. According to Moore, a main drive, over in length and varying from wide, had been formed and prepared for gravelling, as had of pedestrian walks, at wide. The drive and walks were later laid with white Nundah gravel. Two lagoons, one with 2 islands and one