DESCRIPTION OF A DESIGN FOR WEST SIDE 

 PARK, JERSEY CITY, N. J. 



By CHARLES N. LOWRIE and DANIEL W. LANGTON, Associated Landscape Architects 



(Meeting of February 6, 1906) 



IN determining what should be the leading motive in a plan for the new West Side 

 Park lands, we were guided by what we believed to be the correct answer to the 



question: "What kind of park thus situated would satisfy the needs of the greatest 

 number of its possible users ? " ^ 



A detailed study of the character of the population which this park is intended to 

 serve, with a view to ascertaining these needs, would lead us far afield; and as the object 

 of this report is to describe our plan for West Side Park, we will omit the process by which 

 we have reached our conclusions and simply summarize them, and then proceed to a 

 consideration of the plan itself. ^ 



Briefly, then, we have in Hudson County a community of some 500,000 people, which 

 it is predicted, will be a million inside of a generation. This great population is engaged, 

 for the most part, in confining industrial pursuits, housed in streets and blocks closely 

 built up; and having, furthermore, on account of the close proximity of adjoining cities and 

 the peculiar geographical conditions, literally no open country within walking distance. 



In the immediate community which the park will serve — ^that is, all of Jersey City 

 with parts of Hoboken and Bayonne — over half of this population lives; and the conditions 

 just outlined are here most acute. No community ever stood more in need of a pubHc 

 park of the kind which we have endeavored to design — one in which the primary purpose 

 from start to finish shall be to off"er rest and recreation. 



West Side Park, on account of its size and central location, will be the most impor- 

 tant park of the Hudson County system, occupying the same relation to the other parks 

 that Central Park in New York and Prospect Park in Brooklyn respectively do in their 

 communities. It would, therefore, seem highly desirable that it be made as beautiful 

 as possible. In our planning we have had this as an important secondary motive. This 

 has not been permitted to interfere in the least, however, with the idea of a thoroughly 

 useful park, where, as we have just said, rest and recreation shall have first place. Our 

 plan provides for a great abundance and a great variety of areas where almost every 

 healthy outdoor recreation may be enjoyed. These features will be referred to as we 

 proceed with a detailed description of our design. 



Referring now directly to the plan, it will be seen that by means of continuous drives, 

 paths, and plantations, and a careful grading off of one type of ground surface into the 

 next, that the park has been kept a compact unit from the Hudson County Boulevard 

 to the Hackensack River, and from Duncan Avenue on the north to Communipaw Avenue 

 on the south. Each part bears a distinct relation to the part next to it, and to the eff"ect 

 as a whole. At the same time, some parts are very different from others in design and 

 function, and, broadly speaking, the park may be divided into three parts, the purpose 

 of each being quite distinct. 



The first division may be said to extend from the Hudson County Boulevard to the 

 brow of the hill some 800 feet west of West Side Avenue. It is treated in a formal manner. 



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