The First County Park System in America 
Fully appreciating these underlying conditions, the 
Orange committee went quite exhaustively into the 
subject, endeavoring first to ascertain how the 
desired results could best be accomplished. The 
formulative plans and accompanying legislation of 
established park systems were considered. The 
intent was to select the more desirable features of 
each, based upon practical experiences elsewhere, to 
simplify those com¬ 
mending themselves 
to the committee as 
the most effective and 
practicable, and then 
to formulate a gen¬ 
eral plan that would 
be in every way 
adaptable to the 
municipal, taxable 
and topographical 
conditions, ol Essex 
County. 
As this communi¬ 
cation and plan soon 
became the founda¬ 
tion upon which the 
superstructure o f 
the movement for a 
county park system 
and the f avorable leg¬ 
islation that soon fol¬ 
lowed rested, the 
letter is here given in 
full. It is as follows: 
“Agreeable to the 
understanding at our 
meeting Saturday 
evening, fourteenth 
instant, I note below 
the principal features 
of the plan unani¬ 
mously approved by 
all the members of 
both committees 
then present, as 
being the most feasi¬ 
ble for establishing a 
system of parks and 
parkways- hemlock falls—south 
“First—That ac¬ 
tion be taken by a special commission, authorized 
by legislative enactment applicable to Essex County. 
“ Second—That such commission be composed of 
five members appointed by the resident judge of the 
Supreme Court, and that an appropriation be pro¬ 
vided by a direct charge upon the county for requisite 
expenses, surveys, plans, etc., the commissioners to 
serve without compensation. 
“Third—That the commission be strictly non¬ 
partisan, its members selected for fitness, with the 
object of devising the best scheme for a system 
of parks that is practicable for the entire district. 
“The more we consider this plan the more simple, 
direct and effective it appears. It provides for 
immediate action. It admits of comprehensive 
treatment for the whole section from the Passaic 
River to the Second Mountain, without complications 
or delay incident to 
so many local gov¬ 
erning bodies at¬ 
tempting to solve the 
p r o h l e m . T h e 
method of appoint¬ 
ment, free fro m 
political or specu¬ 
lative interference, 
should at once enlist 
the confidence and 
support of the com¬ 
munity favorable to 
the enterprise. A 
bill, simple in its pro¬ 
vision for the carrying 
out of this plan, and 
affecting only coun¬ 
ties of the first class, 
could hardly meet 
with reasonable ob¬ 
jection in the Legis¬ 
lature. Every one 
recognizes that a 
well-devised public 
park system for this 
great Essex County 
population would he 
not only of great 
benefit and value to 
every locality, hut of 
immense importance 
to the State as well. 
Every home in the 
entire section would 
be made more attrac¬ 
tive and valuable; 
every piece of prop¬ 
erty would share in 
the improvement as a 
whole; and the cost 
be largely compensated in this way.” 
The plan met with immediate popular approval. 
The leading papers favored it. Various civic 
organizations passed resolutions commending it, 
and public-spirited citizens in many different por¬ 
tions of the county wrote strong personal letters 
favoring its prompt adoption. 
No opposition of the slightest weight or significance 
appeared in any quarter of the territory involved. 
MOUNTAIN RESERVATION 
3°7 
