CHAPTER VIII. 



SELECTIOX OF OEA^TGE PARK. 



The Orange or Triangle Park, the last of the connty 

 parks not already referred to, has a unique history, quite 

 unlike the other seven locations described. The selection 

 of the Orange Park involved a continuous contending of 

 differences between the commissioners themselves on the 

 one side, and the almost unanimous sentiment of the public 

 on the other side. That those favoring the project finally 

 won, after two years of persistent effort, was the outcome 

 of an incident which may be of interest here. 



As a prelude, however, it may be well to give a very brief 

 history of the events leading up to this conclusion. Nearly 

 forty years ago, after the triangle bounded by Central ave- 

 nue, Harrison street. East Orange, and Center street, 

 Orange had been formed by the opening of these streets, it 

 was a favorite topic for discussion among those in the 

 Oranges who had a spirit of civic pride and forethought for 

 the future, to refer to this tract as a place for a public park, 

 which would be much needed in the time to come, and 

 which, from its topography, would be one of the most at- 

 tractive of parks, at a comparatively small cost. Although 

 the central portion of the tract was low, swampy, marsh 

 land, this was surrounded on each of the larger sides of the 

 triangle with gentle slopes to higher ground the entire dis- 

 tance. Among the pioneers of civic betterment at that time 

 who continued to refer to the desirable improvement were 

 Llewellyn Haskel, Mr. and Mrs. Eoss Browning, of 

 LlewelhTi Park, and Edward Gardner, then proprietor of 

 the Orange Journal. Some of the articles published in The 

 Journal manv years ago on this subject, show how clearly 



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