254 FIRST COUNTY PARK SYSTEM 
the meeting of November 25, by unanimous vote, South 
Orange avenue, “from the westerly line of Ridgewood road, 
westerly to the western boundary of South Orange,” was 
transferred to the commission “for the purpose of the park 
act.” Owing to a modification of the Park Board plans, the 
avenue was never accepted, but the transfer on the part of 
the authorities was thus promptly effected. 
The ordinance transferring the short end of Park and 
Central avenues in West Orange, was introduced at the 
Township Committee’s November meeting, finally passed 
at the next meeting, and officially reported to the Park 
Board on November 20, 1897. 
The application for Brookside avenue was not made until 
May, 1897, but the transfer was promptly made and ac- 
cepted by the Park Commission September 11, 1897. In 
the board’s official report for 1897 this reference (page 14) 
occurs: “The Brookside road, which has been transferred 
to the commission by the Millburn authorities, has been im- 
proved and is an excellent example of the way a neglected 
road can at slight expense be converted into a delightful 
pleasure drive. The entire drive of two miles has been 
drained, widened, graded and stoned at a cost of $3,000.” 
Thus, from the Park Board’s own standpoint this improve- 
ment was used as an illustration, and as an example of how 
existing avenues could be at comparatively slight expense 
converted into parkways. This, if important for a moun- 
tain roadway, how vastly more important was the practical 
application of the same principle to the two great connect- 
ing parkways so vital to the whole park system. ° 
The transfer of Mt. Prospect avenue, West Orange, was 
not requested by the Park Board until March, 1898, but was 
made without delay or objection, the local authorities being 
anxious to co-operate with the Park Commission in securing 
parkway benefits for their localities, rather than opposing 
such improvements for years, under the blighting influence 
of the corporations, as in the case of Park and Central, 
avenues. 
On January 16, 1903, the Supreme Court rendered a de- 
