PARK SITES CHOSEN 129 
property of the New Jersey Agricultural Society, better 
known as the Waverly Fair Association. This property con- 
sisted of a number of acres, a racetrack and the usual para- 
phernalia of country fair grounds, and was the focal point 
of the district. The association owning the. property had 
had financially a varied and varying career since its incor- 
poration in 1858. In good seasons the receipts might result 
in a dividend on the $90,000 of capital stock of perhaps five 
per cent. With bad weather and poor attendance, an assess- 
ment on the stockholders for the deficiency growing out of 
the light receipts was not an uncommon occurrence. As a 
result of these conditions, the price of the stock had for 
years, up to 1895, oscillated between 30 and 60, or, in ex- 
treme cases, 80. Transactions were few and far between, 
and if a holder must sell he was usually at the mercy of 
the buyer, somewhat after the order of the unsuspecting 
merchant of old who once met that world-renowned indi- 
vidual who demanded “the pound of flesh.” 
There were 3,600 shares of the stock, of a par value of 
$25 per share. It was “well distributed.” Nine stock- 
holders, however, with their combined holdings, controled 
the association. They held the majority of the stock. These 
stockholders of record at that time were: P. Ballantine & 
Sons, 60 shares; Franklin Murphy, 186 shares; E. A. Dodd, 
70 shares; E. B. Gaddis, 122 shares; H. H. Isham, 721 
shares; L. H. Jones, 230 shares; G. B. Jenkinson, 109 
shares; Jacob Skinkle, 125 shares, and EH. A. Wilkinson, 
139 shares. 
This was the situation when it was reported in the papers 
that in all probability there would be a park at Weequahic. 
As the indications and reports grew more favorable, the 
price of the Waverly Fair Association stock increased pro- 
portionately in value. What would have been considered a 
good sale, at 60 or 65, at the time the reports were first 
emitted, was no longer a fair price. The stock was soon re- 
ported “worth par and none of the large stockholders would 
sell for a penny less.” The history of this enterprise was 
not known in the Park Board rooms—certainly not to all 
