2U FIEST COUNTY PAEK SYSTEM 



original plan if the avenues and the money were put in their 

 hands to do it. * * * I think that I have already done 

 all that I can do to urge this result/^ A. P. Boiler said that 

 "future generations will call us blessed if we do our duty^' 

 in respect to the parkways. Archer Brown, Hugh Lamb, 

 W. H. Baker and W. E. Kastendike all spoke in a similar 

 vein. David Young, of the traction company, was present, 

 but said little. It was perfectly evident that there was no 

 need for him to urge favorable action for the company. 



I had been requested as chairman of the Joint Committee 

 to speak for that organization. There was immediate ob- 

 jection by Freeholder Wallace Ougheltree — "because he 

 lives in Orange." Just why a resident of the second city of 

 the county should be debarred from the "hearing"' did not 

 appear. The real reason soon became manifest. Eeference 

 was then made in my remarks to the fact that "the original 

 request of the Park Commission, of November, 1896, for 

 the avenues was still before the board unacted upon;" to 

 the fact that "the parallelogram of the park system with the 

 two avenues for the sides, and Branch Brook Park as the 

 Newark terminus, and the mountain parks the other, with a 

 railroad on Central avenue, would be forever destroyed;" 

 and to the financial reasons, the munificent prospective pro- 

 fits, that impelled the corporations to insist on the franchise 

 at the expense of the parkways. The favorable results of 

 the development of park systems in other urban communi- 

 ties were also explained. 



It was a receptive board on that 12th of June, 1902. All 

 the members apparently listened to what was said. And 

 then they did just w^hat it was apparently understood they 

 would do before they came there — passed the railroad fran- 

 chise precisely as it was wanted by the traction company. 



Before the vote was taken, a letter was read from the law 

 firm of Lindabury, Depue & F'aulks, stating that "two writs 

 of certiorari had been taken out in the Supreme Court, one 

 of them acting as a stay to prevent the carrying on of the 

 work until the action of the East Orange Council had been 

 reviewed/' But what were court proceedings or court stays ? 



