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FIEST COUNTY PAEK SYSTEM 



satisfactorily disposed of ; likewise the details as to surface 

 embellishment. And the ojDinion was expressed by the 

 commission^ that after the transfer "the trolley people 

 would find it necessary to have the consent of the Park 

 Commission, in addition to that of the municipality, the 

 Board of Freeholders and the propert}^ owners, as now." 

 Then Committeeman Crippen put this poser of a question : 



"N"ow, I want to ask if the Park Commission proposes 

 to bring the trolley if it gets possession of the avenues?'' 



The reply must have been a surprise to some of those 

 who had relied upon the statements and insinuations of 

 the traction comjoany's agents and attorneys, for Commis- 

 sioner Shepard promptly declared that "the trolley had 

 never even been considered." 



Finally the understanding was reached that the town's 

 disposal works would, if transferred to the commission, be 

 accepted for a park, and that if the avenues were trans- 

 ferred, the commission would promptly proceed with the 

 work of improving them into parkways. The conference 

 was then closed. 



When the Township Committee members met the com- 

 mission face to face, and ascertained that there was no in- 

 tention of running away with the avenues, or of proceed- 

 ing at once to place trolleys upon them, or of "keeping 

 out the poor people" by the closed gates process ; then there 

 was, with the irresistible public sentiment of their East 

 Orange constituents behind the transfer movement, no 

 longer any delay or question as to the result. On March 

 15, 1897, the Township Committee, by a unanimous vote, 

 passed the ordinance, as prepared by the Park Committee, 

 transferring both Park and Central avenues in East Orange 

 to the Park Commission for parkways, and, by the same 

 vote at the same meeting, the "trolley ordinance" for Cen- 

 tral avenue, then on second reading, was killed. At an- 

 other conference soon afterward between the commission 

 and the Township Committee all the details of transfer 

 were finally agreed upon. 



The popular verdict had won, and the curtain had been 



