USA > New Jersey > Essex County > The first county park system : a complete history of the inception and development of the Essex County parks of New Jersey > Part 3
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"Philadelphia, with her city squares and beautiful Fair- mount Park, is just undertaking at an estimated cost of $6,000,000, the construction of a boulevard from the new city hall direct to Fairmount Park, much of the way through a densely built up part of the city. These are only instances of the movement going on everywhere. Smaller communities like Paterson and Trenton have already parks and parkway approaches of commanding importance.
"Not one of these communities, and but few in this coun- try or in Europe, have the natural advantages of topog- raphy, scenery, etc., that nature has already provided here in Essex County.
"Hardly another community so important has so long neglected to utilize these advantages, or so persistently failed to realize the importance of this subject.
"There are more than 300,000 people in this county, in the midst of these unusually favorable conditions, yet there are only a few acres of public park lands in the whole district.
"The whole population appears to have developed with but little regard to matters of this nature that have long ago been deemed vital in isolated cities and towns of less population and fewer resources. We believe you will concur in the conviction that existing conditions call for immediate action.
"With this view, we invite your co-operation, and would
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be happy to receive from you at an early date any sugges- tions that occur to your honorable body as to particular localities in your section you think could be practically ac- quired by gift or otherwise for park purposes, either sepa- rately or as part of a county system. We further invite any other recommendations or objections that you may deem of importance bearing on this question.
"Presuming you have in your vicinity lands considered specially suited for a local park or parks, we should esteem any suggestions as to these; also as to what proportion of the cost of such lands and improvements you would think equitable to be borne by your own city, or adjacent property, or both, and what proportion, if any, by the county at large.
"Hoping we may be favored with your early reply,
"Yours very respectfully,
"ESSEX COUNTY PARK COMMISSION."
Replies were very generally received. Many were sent promptly. All were in hearty accord with the aims and objects of the commission. Some of the suggestions were practical and of value; others were visionary or too elabo- rate. Each bore the imprint of good wishes and good will. Mayor Lebkeucher, of Newark, was one of the first officials to respond. He expressed the intention of co-operating with the commission in its work and stated that he would take up the subject with the Common Council and the Board of Street and Water Commissioners. Mayor Gill, of Orange, sent a similar reply.
The majority of suggestions favored the location of the large park sites on the Orange Mountain. Montclair, East Orange, Millburn, Bloomfield, Belleville, South Orange, and other places were soon heard from. A number of civic as- sociations, improvement societies, and citizens in various localities throughout the county also responded and ex- pressed a desire to co-operate in some way in the work of the commission.
Indeed, the recommendations became so varied and ex- tended as to the matter of park sites that the commissioners
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THE FIRST COMMISSION
began to ask themselves if the entire county was not "parkable."
While the friends of the parks were providing sugges- tions and recommendations, the board was looking also to broader fields of information and to the guidance of expe- rience. At the meeting July 19, 1894, the secretary was requested to obtain the best available maps of the county ; with the reports, together with such other data as might be of value to the commission, from the leading park depart- ments of the country and from the larger cities abroad. The information thus obtained was later of great value for comparison, and in the preparation of the charter for the permanent commission.
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS OF PARK BOARD.
A resolution was also adopted at the July 19 meeting which has since remained a factor in the proceedings of the Park Board, although it long ago outlived its usefulness and therefore by sufferance remains as a relic of the past. I believe it would have been better had it never been adopted than to have encroached, as it has thus far, into a field where its purpose and workings were never intended. I may, perhaps, be pardoned for the reference to this subject here, for I drew the resolution in question and on my mo- tion it was adopted. It provided that "the meetings of the commission be in executive session, and that the secretary furnish a report of the proceedings to the press after each meeting."
When this motion was agreed upon, every member of the commission realized that the moment our decision to locate park lands anywhere in the county was made public, there would naturally be a speculative movement attempted to forestall the future Park Board in securing the required lands at the then current prices. The matter was carefully considered, and the resolution promptly adopted for the sole and only purpose of giving any future commission the op- portunity of acquiring such locations as might be needed for the parks without starting the real estate adventurers
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and speculators on the chase toward securing the needed ac- quirements first. There never was a suggestion, or a thought, which I have ever heard expressed, that favorable action on that resolution should or would have the effect of practically and permanently creating, in method of proce- dure, a close corporation in the transaction of public busi- ness-a method of conducting, under ordinary conditions, meetings of public officials, which I disfavored in July, 1894, as I have since the location of the parks was made public in 1896.
During the summer of 1894, the park project, so far as the commission was concerned, kept as warm as the weather. Two meetings a week were not exceptional. If not a meet- ing, a conference, or some other call to duty kept up an active, continuous interest. The latter part of July the commission rented the rooms at 800 Broad street, formerly occupied by Hon. Theodore Runyon-a portion of the suite since occupied by the present commission.
During August the letters of suggestion and replies to re- quests for reports-some from foreign countries-continued to come in. The secretary prepared, and under direction of Commissioner Bramhall, chairman of the printing com- mittee, the board published a pamphlet on "Park Benefits" that had a friendly reception and extended distribution.
PARK SITES CAREFULLY EXAMINED.
By early September the commissioners had personally examined many of the possible park sites; had, in fact, looked over the county east of the Second Mountain quite generally. Some of the more desirable locations had been studied with care. The general plan for the park system was gradually taking shape. Expert advice was needed. Arrangements were accordingly made with five experienced landscape architects, who were to prepare plans and act in the capacity of "park making advisers" to the commission. In the engagement of Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, it was "with the wish and expectation that the commission obtain the personal services and report of Frederick Law Olmsted."
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The request was complied with, and this was the last pub- lic work that received the attention of that great specialist in park designing. The other architects were Nathan F. Barrett, Ehrenberg & Webster, John Bogart and Gray & Blaisdell. The agreement with each was specific and well understood in advance. They were, as park experts, "turned loose in the county," figuratively speaking. Each was en- gaged to act entirely and wholly independent of the other. Each received a county map, upon which, after studying the topography of the whole county below the Second Mountain -the relative populations, etc., etc .- was to be marked in a way indicating the locations of such parks and connecting parkways as, in his (or their) judgment, would provide the best park system, as viewed from the standpoint of the whole county. In this view the needs and conveniences of the denser populations were to be considered. The maps, when completed and marked as indicated, were to become the property of the commission. The necessary expenses in making the investigations were to be met by the board, but the compensation was for a fixed fee, which was in each case very reasonable; for it was understood that the plans to be submitted were on the principle of competitive designs, and the architect (or firm) making the most acceptable de- sign and report would very naturally have an advanced posi- tion for future engagement should their plans be carried out.
THE EXPERTS' PLAN.
Under this arrangement the commission received the five plans and full reports for what, in view of all the circum- stances, was an exceedingly reasonable price, viz. : a total cost of but $2,372.13.
In a number of important features, their recommenda- tions, such as the location of Branch Brook Park, Newark, the acquirement and retention of Central avenue and Park avenue as parkways, and the location of large areas for mountain parks and reservations, all agreed, and were, after careful study, found to be in full accord with the convic-
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tions of all the commissioners ; and these outlines were defi- nitely agreed upon before the close of the year. By Decem- ber the plans of the board had sufficiently matured so that, on December 6, a committee of two was appointed "to wait upon John R. Emery, Esq., and consult with him about pro- curing his legal services for the commission," for the pur- pose of preparing a charter for a succeeding commission. $
Thus at the close of 1894, all was yet smooth sailing. We were nearing the port of destination, and the harbor of safe condition for an attractive and most creditable county park system did not seem far beyond.
CHAPTER III.
PRELIMINARY WORK COMPLETED.
THE inspection and selection of park sites within a terri- tory possessing the varied topography and variety of nat- ural scenery found in Essex County was a most agreeable and interesting experience.
Three of the commissioners at this time, 1894, belonged to that numerous contingent in Northern New Jersey, who, in common parlance, "live in New York and sleep in New Jersey." They knew, from everyday experience, something of the practical workings of "the strenuous life," having passed the years of business activity under the exacting con- ditions imposed by close application to commercial affairs in the metropolis, yet, in common with many well-inten- tioned citizens of this class, they had felt some degree of interest and pride in their locality and in the county at large. It was, therefore, a pleasure for them to become better acquainted with the beauties of their own county by the personal contact and observation required in looking over possible park sites.
It is one of the unfortunate elements in all the matters pertaining to good citizenship that Essex County, and, in a greater or less degree, the entire State of New Jersey, should be deprived of the local interest of so many of her most active residents and voters, as results from so large an egress from their homes of busi- ness men and workers every day, excepting Sundays and holidays, throughout the year.
In roaming over "green fields and pastures new," all the commissioners were deeply interested in what they saw. One day they were looking at the then very unattractive
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Newark reservoir (now Branch Brook Park) site; another day found them at Millburn. Perhaps the day following they were in the Oranges, or Montclair, or at Belleville. Next they visited Weequahic and passed from consideration of this mosquito-breeding and buzzing locality with un- favorable comment.
ON THE ORANGE MOUNTAIN.
But of all the experiences during the summer and autumn of that year (1894) the days devoted to the Orange Mountain were at once the most impressive and delightful. As we walked on the crest of the first mountain from the point where the mountain abruptly ends near Millburn to the limits of the county at Northern Montclair Heights, the beautiful and varied views were inspiring. Every new prospect along the entire distance was a revelation.
The beauties of these diversified scenes on ideal autumnal days can be only inadequately described. The views from the southern points of the crest overlook plains, farms, and occasionally a small village; or South Orange, Hilton, Irv- ington and the fringe of southern Newark, and an attrac- tive section of Union County. From the central portion, as from the cable road track above Orange Valley looking toward Eagle Rock, Orange and East Orange, portions of Montclair, Bloomfield and the full lines of Newark beyond, Bergen Hill, the Brooklyn Bridge and the tall buildings of Greater New York, all appear in view. The whole area, save for the intercepting trees and foliage, of this vast, ex- tended area of buildings, looks as though, of this immediate prospect, it might be truthfully written: "All the world's a roof." The points from the northern sections of the crest are again more open and picturesque. Standing there, one looks down upon the rolling country in the direction of Brookside, and the attractive section of Franklin Township and Nutley, and the still more picturesque central eastern portion of Passaic County.
Over all this wonderful panorama is cast the varying shades of sunshine, cloud, and shadow. The gray dawn of
HEMLOCK FALLS, SOUTH MOUNTAIN RESERVATION.
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PRELIMINARY WORK COMPLETED
a misty morning casts a somber aspect, which, in turn, is transformed into brightness as the sun dispels the shadow, and the scene changes, refulgent with the warmth and glow- ing tinge of light. The alternating lines of sunshine and shadow, as the fleeting clouds pass over the landscape below, call to mind the words of the poet, when he describes the grandeur of nature's greater mountains, in the lines :
"The snow-capped peaks of the azure range, . Forever changing, yet never change."
From these experiences the reader may readily infer why the first park commission favored the acquirement of liberal areas on the Orange Mountain for parks, and may recog- nize the conditions that controlled such locations as were afterward made there, and which are now a part of the county park system.
COMMISSIONERS AS HOSTS.
In October, while the commissioners were devoting con- siderable time to the Orange Mountain, it occurred to me that it might widen the scope of the enterprise to bring to- gether a number of men, active friends of the parks, and enlarge the acquaintance and congenial interest of some of the earnest supporters of the movement. Accordingly I arranged a dinner and invited a number of those interested in the enterprise. After the commission and its guests had spent the day of October 20 on the mountain, the evening at the Country Club, with the entire party there, was de- voted to discussing with much interest and earnestness the pending park question.
Mayor Lebkuecher, of Newark, thought "the work of the commission had thus far commended its recommendations to public favor" and hoped "there would be no difficulty in carrying out the work so auspiciously begun." Senator Ketcham, after referring favorably to the action of the court in the appointment of the commission, said :
"You have in this undertaking the good will of all classes of our people. Often there are hindrances to public im-
1
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provements, jealousies arise between communities which hamper or prevent all progress, but, in the present instance, our larger and smaller municipalities vie with each other in the desire to secure the best results from this commis- sion." He thought "our county as a whole rivals the subur- ban districts of those of any in the world;" referred to the press as being "a unit for the establishment of parks and parkways ;" and added that, "to set apart for public uses even a portion of these" attractive places "and bind them by a cordon of parkways, will tax the skill of the commis- sion, but their reward will surely come."
John F. Dryden expressed regret "that Essex County, with all her resources, enterprise and wealth, should be so far behind other places in establishing suitable breathing places for public enjoyment," and, after calling attention to the needs of Newark in the matter of parks, advocated that "suitable lands for parks should be acquired now and the embellishment left mainly to the future."
Franklin Murphy was of the opinion "that what the public required and what he hoped would be accomplished was a system of parks and parkways which he, his family, and friends could enjoy now." He thought "it well to bear in mind the future, but what was wanted, were suitable parks now, and appropriate boulevards and parkways for reaching them."
Wayne Parker suggested "the immediate acquirement of waste spaces, leaving the improvements mainly to the future." Mayor Gill, of Orange, believed "that it was the consensus of opinion of all classes that the great park for the county should be located on the Orange Mountain. Frank H. Scott stated that there was "three purposes for which parks were created-health, recreation and enjoy- ment, and, for their attainment, three things were neces- sary-space, pure air and natural beauty, enhanced or sup- plemented by art." Wendell P. Garrison called attention to the desirability of co-operating with the State Geological Survey in considering the question of forest reservation, and to the advantages and comparatively small cost of
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PRELIMINARY WORK COMPLETED
natural reservations for park purposes. Others contended that delay would largely increase the cost of the requisite park lands. Many suggestions were made apropos of the discussion. The occasion was but another indication of the sentiment of good will and best wishes which generally pre- vailed at that time.
Before passing from the work of the first Park Commis- sion, there are two or three matters that were considered and acted upon in the preparation of the charter creating the permanent commission, which it may be of interest to refer to here. There were two vital principles involved. First, as to whether the commission for establishing and maintaining the park system should be elective or appoint- ive, and, if appointive, in what official or court or courts the appointing power should be vested. And second, should provision be made for directly assessing the cost of the lands for the parks and the improvements, or both; or should a portion of the cost, or all of the cost, be provided for by a general tax according to the ratables upon the county as a whole. It was deemed imperative to have these conditions clearly defined, and, before John R. Emery submitted the first draft of the proposed charter, on January 25, 1895, the points pro and con, as to an appointive board, had been seriously considered by the commissioners. They were unanimous in the conclusion, in consideration of the methods by which candidates for important county offices secured, or were accorded, nominations through the cus- tomary channels of party selection, that, for such a position as that of park commissioner, charged with the responsi- bility of locating, acquiring and developing an extended park system and the consequent expenditure of large sums of public funds, the chances might be more favorable for sat- isfactory results under the appointive plan than under the elective system.
THE APPOINTIVE SYSTEM.
It was recognized that the work of locating and devolop- ing a series of parks for so large an area of such diversified
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interests as in Essex County, would, if undertaken to the best advantage, require men especially qualified, from tastes, training and experience; and that, as the plan of having men selected because of fitness had been so well re- ceived, the continuation of a similar provision in the new charter might be equally favored by the public. It had been shown that, in many instances where the elective plan of selecting commissioners had been in vogue, the practical results had not been acceptable to the municipalities or to the other local officials, and that "practical politics" was not a desirable factor in park making, whatever might be claimed for its contributory influences in other public activities.
It was solely and only for these reasons that the commis- sion decided for the appointive system, and not with any desire to extend the scope of a method of creating a public board, which, at least theoretically, may be criticized as con- trary to the principles and prerogatives of our whole system of government. Not only were results found to have been unsatisfactory in numerous instances of elective park com- missioners, but conversely in other instances-notably such examples as that of the South Park system of Chicago, where the entire control of all park matters from the incep- tion has been vested in a commission appointed by the courts-the practical workings were found to have been satisfactory.
HOW SHOULD PARK COMMISSIONERS BE SELECTED.
To those who believe that any other than the elective plan of creating public boards for the expenditure of public funds is objectionable and un-American, it is due to say that such a plan would have been adopted in drawing up the Essex County Park act of 1895, had not the investiga- tions then made compelled the conviction concurred in by Messrs. Emery and Coult, the able counsel of the first com- mission, that the appointive system was preferable here. Having determined that point, the question arose as to where the authority for making the appointments should
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PRELIMINARY WORK COMPLETED
rest. Should the Governor be charged with that office ? This would mean, or might mean, possible interference in what was strictly a county affair ; it would open up the field of possibilities for the exercise of political or party "influ- ence ;" and it would be open to the still further objection of a board for the county being named by the authority of an official outside the county, chosen by and representing the · State at large.
Would the freeholders be likely to agree upon the right sort of a commission ? Here were more serious objections still, with all the possibilities of unrestricted controversy and acute jealousy. Should one judge, or a plurality of judges, make the selection ? The single court appointment was finally agreed upon, following the precedent in creat- ing the first commission. It was this plan which was finally included in the charter and is still operative. Whether the adoption and inauguration of that plan was wise, it may be the rightful province of the public to determine. I shall refer to this subject in a later chapter. Here I will only add in passing that, before the commission of 1905 had been long in existence, circumstances developed which made it manifest that it would have been better had the plan been modified and restricted.
FINANCING PARK EXPENDITURES.
The matter as to financing the park project was at once an interesting and troublesome proposition to determine. The precedents and experiences of very many park under- · takings, both in this country and in Europe, were carefully looked into. Almost every scheme of providing for the cost of park lands and the improvements was considered. They included direct assessments on contiguous property in full or in part ; partial assessment on adjacent lands ; and for the entire cost being provided in the general tax levy upon the whole district or municipality. Each appeared to have ad- vantages against other more or less potent disadvantages. Direct assessments were found to have been cum- bersome, costly and unsatisfactory, and in many
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places difficult, and not infrequently impossible, to collect. This was due to the fact that every pub- lic park, as to location, size, property environment, and other conditions determining assessable benefits on ad- jacent property, is a law unto itself. No two, in these re- spects, are alike; hence no uniform system of awarding damages and assessing benefits as obtains, for instance, in the case of municipal street openings, is possible.
This, of necessity, makes confusion and uncertainty in the legal proceedings, and gives an almost unlimited oppor- tunity and exceedingly broad field for never-ending litiga- tion to "those who won't pay." Then, too, as every park is different in size, topography, and the other conditions noted, the task of fixing with comparative exactness and equity the district lines within which an assessment for park benefits should be levied, becomes the more difficult the more study is given to the solution of the problem. Shall the park belt benefits extend 100 feet, 1,000 feet; or over the whole municipality or county wherein the park or parks are located? This becomes the troublesome question.
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