PAEK SITES CHOSEN 



12? 



in the valle}^, along the West Branch of the Rahway river, 

 make an added attraction from many viewpoints within the 

 reservation. 



TVEEQUAHIC, OE TVAYERLY PAEK. 



The first that was heard of a Weequahic Park was the 

 suggestion from Commissioner Mnrphy, soon after the or- 

 ganization of the Park Board in 1895, which was in effect 

 that that was "one of the best locations for a park in the 

 county/' The first commission had, as indicated in a pre- 

 ceding chapter, treated the possibility of a park there, and 

 without any pre-formed prejudice, with scant courtesy. If 

 for no other reason, the mosquito pre-emption and unre- 

 stricted occupancy of the tract was thought a sufficiently 

 serious matter to negative any favorable consideration of 

 locating one of the county parks there. Moreover, the un- 

 certainty as to the large cost and as to the future of the 

 springs that fed the lake and water supply; the direct 

 proximity to Elizabeth and Union Count}^ — ^neither of 

 which would, under a county park plan for Essex, contri- 

 bute to the large cost of acquiring or expenses of maintain- 

 ing a park there — were all factors in the decision that, for 

 m.any reasons, other park sites more within the county were 

 deemed preferable. That Mr. Murphy entertained a decid- 

 edly different view, was apparent almost from the first meet- 

 ing of the second commission. 



On July 18, 1895 — only the three Newark commissioners 

 present — he offered a resolution that "the landscape archi- 

 tects and engineers be requested to prepare a map, indicat- 

 ing their best judgment as to the lines for a park at 

 Waverly.'^ Later, as the subject was discussed, the proposi- 

 tion was not enthusiastically received. Messrs. Barrett and 

 Bogart had not thought well of the Weequahic district in 

 their earlier investigations and reports as experts to the 

 first commission. The situation, however, had now changed, 

 there being in the board an aggressive element in favor of 

 the scheme to locate a park there. With the exception of 

 Commissioner Murphy's ardent advocacy of the project 



