224: 



FIEST COUXTY PAEK SYSTEM 



the discussion. In the Olmsted report of December 31, 

 1898, the heavi' traffic "on Park ayenue from the East 

 Orange parkrvay to Branch Brook Park'' is noted as an 

 ''objection'' which it is "impracticable to exclnde/*'' though 

 "the inconvenience might be less and less as time goes on." 

 ^ The report conclndes "that the large proposition of park- 

 ways for Essex County is snre to lead to endless discussion.'' 



Their special report of August 2, 1899, in response to the 

 Park Board resolution, as above quoted, would, I think, 

 have surprised the people of Essex County had it been made 

 public at that time, or at any time during the five years fol- 

 lowing while the contest over the parkways was in progress. 

 This report, according to instructions, was to have "'regard 

 for the various available routes, and to the financial limita- 

 tions" of the commission. After noting that "no entirely 

 new east and west parkway appears to be practicable, except 

 at the north end of East Orange, through Clinton and 

 South Orange,'" or possibly "from the northern end of 

 Branch Brook Park westward to the mountain through the 

 southern parts of Bloomfield and Montclair," etc., the re- 

 port refers to Park and Central avenues as follows: 



"As the board has not yet put this policy — of taldng con- 

 trol of the avenues — into effect, there is still opportunity to 

 reconsider the matter and to leave out of the parkway sys- 

 tem either or both of these avenues. After a careful study 

 of the existing conditions of the territory through which 

 these two avenues run, it appears to us that the greater good 

 to the greatest number of the citizens of the county directly 

 interested, demands that Central avenue be left out of the 

 parkway svstem, so as to be available for ordinary business 

 traffic."'' 



COEPOEATIOX AGEXTS SUPPORTED. 



The reasons as then stated for this conclusion — surpris- 

 ing in comparison with that firm's prior report quoted, and 

 in view of the fact that this statement was directly in line 

 with the "points" vvhich the trolley franchise agents and 

 promoters had been for months actively circulating — were 



