12 FIRST COUNTY PARK SYSTEM 



In thus adhering to the line of truth, I shall reproduce 

 here and there letters and oral statements of those officially 

 or directly concerned, adding, in this way, the element of 

 personal touch and a present and live interest to the record. 



For a number of years prior to 1893, I had given con- 

 siderable attention to the development of the larger 

 American and European parks, and had become firmly 

 convinced of the needs and opportunities for a park system 

 covering the interesting and varied topography of Essex 

 County, with Newark as the central or radiating point. 



On December 6, 1893, the Board of Trade of the Oranges 

 adopted a resolution which I had presented to the meeting, 

 urging "that legislation may obtain at an early date that 

 will enable the growing communities in this portion of the 

 State to provide a suitable system of parks and parkways,^^ 

 and authorizing copies of the resolution sent to "His ex- 

 cellency, Governor Werts, also to the Senator and to the 

 Assemblyman-elect from this district.^^ 



The resolutions were well received and favorably com- 

 mented upon at the time. Very soon afterward, J anuary 3, 

 1894, the first annual dinner of the board was given in the 

 Music Hall building, Orange. Among the sixty or more 

 guests present was President William A. Ure, of the 

 Newark Board of Trade. 



In responding to the toast, "Orange and Its Suburbs," I 

 referred to the action that had previously been taken favor- 

 ing a park system; described the wonderful views from 

 Eagle Rock and other points on the crest of the Orange 

 Mountain; noted that no such locations for public parks, 

 with such views and overlooking such vast populations, were 

 elsewhere available in this county, and brought out the 

 desirability of immediate action. Later in the evening, in 

 meeting then for the first time Mr. Ure, his generous and 

 complimentary reference to my presentment of "the larger 

 park project," as he termed it, led to the suggestion made 

 at his office in Newark, a few days afterward, that the com- 

 mittees of the two boards should "get together" and see 



