PARK AND CEMETERY 
estimated cost for Branch Brook Park on June, 1895, 
was $361,685; at the close of 1896 the cash expendi- 
ture for land alone amounted to $850,687, and a year 
later it had reached to $1,129,086, or nearly one-half 
of the entire county park appropriation for this one 
park of 278 acres. Something practical was now in 
the public mind, and to meet it on May 25, 1896, pro- 
posals were invited for the improvement work. The 
bids were opened in the usual executive session, and 
this caused a public rumpus, and the commission was 
taken severely to task by both press and public. A 
demand for open sessions of the board found utter- 
ance, and a resolution to that effect was offered, but 
it was postponed from meeting to meeting. 
Miany questions now began to crop up, for instance : 
the labor unions, in respect to wages ; the several mu- 
nicipal and other bodies concerning financial settle- 
ments and the closing of streets, etc., wTiich kept the 
board busy. The real work of grading was begun in 
Branch Brook Park, June 15th, 1896. 
In the fall of 1895 the commission determined to 
establish a park on the east side of Newark, a populous 
district of the city, and a tract of a little over 12 acres 
was completed in 1897 at a cost of about $160,000. 
The preliminaries for this park created a demand from 
the West side for a park in that section. The first 
commission had made no special recommendation for 
a park there, but the composition of the commission 
invited all kinds of raids, and in consequence of the 
pressure it was decided to create the desired park. In 
December, 1896, the provisional estimate called for an 
outlay of $75,000; a year later cash disbursements for 
lands and buildings amounted to $172,234, which cov- 
ers about all that has been paid for land and buildings. 
The improvements have cost some $100,000 and the 
area is 23 acres. In connection with this park is a 
question of parkway extension, for which $40,000 is 
held in trust, which has been in suspension for years. 
During the summer and early autumn of 1895 the 
park about Eagle Rock was taken up. This point, on 
the bold precipitous cliff of Orange Mountain, is 600 
feet above tide water, commands famous views, and 
was naturally the first choice of the outlying parks. 
Architects and engineers were authorized to prepare 
maps and outlines of recommendations for a park in- 
cluding Eagle Rock. The limits arranged took in a 
little over 400 acres, extending along the mountain 
cliff and containing some of the finest view-points in 
New Jersey. 
The announcement of choice of site met with a very 
cordial reception from press and public. The esti- 
mated cost of land for this park was $202,775 1 actual 
disbursements by January, 1901, for land and build- 
ings were $243,563. Up to the present the total cost 
of the park, including the 413 acres of land and im- 
provements, has been about $300,000. 
!> 
The plans of the first commission contemplated a 
mountain boulevard running along the crest of the 
mountain and connected' with the main thoroughfares 
of the county by other boulevards, a most attractive 
and practical proposition. The new board, however, in 
spite of resolutions and discussions, stuck to the plan 
of treating parkways as separate from parks. 
A fine tract of land of some 121 acres, a counter- 
part of the Eagle Rock Park, upon which options had 
been secured, and which were strenuously advocated 
by the former board, was abandoned. Steps were taken 
to secure the South Mountain Reservation, a magnifi- 
cent tract of scenic property, which was in due course, 
December, 1896, accomplished, and the limits of this 
reservation include about 2,500 acres at a cost of about 
$250,000. The reservation has a length, north and 
south, of about 3J4 miles, and an average width of i 
to 1J4 miles. 
Weequahic, or Waverly Park, was a creation of the 
new commission, for neither from location nor exist- 
ing conditions did the site commend itself in any way 
to the old board. Except on the part of one member 
of the new board, little interest was taken in it. There 
were also other difficulties in connection with the ac- 
quirement of the land. Considerable discussion was 
indulged in, and the opposition was well founded, but 
it went through. This park comprises 265 acres ; the 
original estimate of 1895 of $180,00 became, Decem- 
ber 31, 1901, $243,563. Large amounts have been 
spent since, and much more will have to be expended 
before it can answer, to any marked advantage, the 
purpose for which it was acquired, says the author. 
The selection and development of the last of the 
county parks, the Orange or Triangle Park, not already 
referred to, “involved a continuous contending of dif- 
ferences between the commissioners themselves on the 
one side, and the almost unanimous sentiment of the 
public on the other.” Those favoring the project finally 
won out after two years of continual effort. The site 
of this park (see map in last issue) had been favorably 
considered by the first commission, but it was radi- 
cally opposed by two of the new members. The pro- 
ceedings of the board in connection with the acquisi- 
tion of this park is interesting reading, but its friends 
persisted, and the final result has been satisfaction to all 
important interests involved in its location and devel- 
opment. It has become what was predicted of it, “one 
of the garden spots of the county,” a gem of the county 
park system. It has been improved upon modern lines 
and methods, and “is one of the most attractive and 
restful landscape pictures that have resulted from mod- 
ern park-making.” The total cost for the 48 acres 
of land and buildings, with the expensive additions of 
1898 included, has been $185,213, and for all improve- 
ments about $115,000. 
(To be concluded.) 
