CHAPTER XIV 



THE PARKS AND CEMETERIES 



NO history of the Borough would be complete with- 

 out an account of the magnificent system of parks 

 and parkways which occupy almost one sixth of 

 the total area of the Borough. 



The first record we have of anything in the way of a park 

 tells of the race-course established in the Mill Brook valley 

 by General Staats Long Morris about 1750. Horse-racing 

 was a favorite pastime with the provincial gentry, and General 

 Morris was one of the first to import blooded horses and to 

 breed them. 



South of the ridge upon which Claremont Park is situated 

 is a comparatively level stretch of low land through which a 

 small brook formerly found its way into Mill Brook. It is 

 stated that part of this tract was General Morris's track of 

 the eighteenth century. In 1870, Dater Brothers leased this 

 track from the Morris estate for twenty years and made a one 

 mile race-track on the property. The first race meeting was 

 held on June 8, 1871. Through the failure of the lessees, the 

 property and buildings reverted to the Morris estate in 1880. 

 It was then leased to the Gentlemen's Driving Association, 

 who held possession until the last race meeting on October 8, 

 1897. The park was closed on January 1, 1898, on account of 

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