Lincoln Park (Jersey City)

Lincoln Park
West Side Park (1905–1930)
Lincoln Park Lake
Type	Urban park
Location	Jersey City, New Jersey
Coordinates	40°43′29″N 74°04′51″W / 40.724640°N 74.080939°WCoordinates: 40°43′29″N 74°04′51″W / 40.724640°N 74.080939°W
Area	273.4 acres (110.6 ha)
Created	1905
Operated by	Hudson County, New Jersey

Lincoln Park is an urban park in Jersey City, New Jersey with an area of 273.4 acres (110.6 ha). Opened in 1905, it was originally known as West Side Park. The park was designed by Daniel W. Langton and Charles N. Lowrie,^[1][2] both founding members of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The park consists of two distinct sections: Lincoln Park East, 150.4 acres (60.9 ha), and Lincoln Park West, 123 acres (50 ha).^[3] The sections are named for their positions relative to U.S. Route 1/9 Truck, which passes between them, and are connected by foot and vehicular bridges over the highway. The Lincoln Park Nature Walk is part of wetlands restoration project adjacent to the Hackensack River. The Hackensack RiverWalk is a partially completed greenway along the banks of the river running the length of the Hudson County shoreline. The East Coast Greenway also traverses the park.^[4]

History

Lincoln Park was the first park in the Hudson County parks system. The Hudson County Parks Commission was created in 1903, and began work on the park in 1904. The park was built primarily on undeveloped swamp and the privately owned Glendale Woods.^[5] By 1925, 85 acres (34 ha) of land had been reclaimed from the Hackensack River in the western portion of the park.^[6] The park was expanded again in 1938 with the acquisition of additional properties along the Hackensack River.^[7] The Lincoln Park Nature Walk is part of 31-acre (130,000 m²) wetlands restoration project on a former landfill site adjacent to the Hackensack River unveiled in July 2011. It is hoped that the nearly $10.6 million development will enhance bird and fish populations.^[8] A section of the East Coast Greenway crosses through the park,^[9] which is site of one of five kiosks in the state for the project^[10]

The park was the home of the Jersey City Skeeters of the Eastern and International Leagues from 1904 until 1934, when the team relocated to Syracuse, New York.^[11]

Facilities

Three of the baseball fields, with Pulaski Skyway and smokestacks of the Kearny Generating Station in background

Ceremonial opening of East Coast Greenway segment in the park

Athletics and recreation

Lincoln Park East contains many sports fields and recreational facilities. There are 21 outdoor tennis courts, seven baseball fields, a cricket pitch, three children's playgrounds, the Charlie Mays running track, five basketball courts, two football fields, two soccer fields, and four handball/paddleball courts.^[3] This section of the park also contains a 3 acres (1.2 ha) lake available for fishing.^[12] The lake has also been used for model yacht racing.^[13] In 2009, a suspected virus resulted in a large number of carp dying in the lake.^[14]

Lincoln Park West consists primarily of wetlands as well as Joseph J. Jaroschak Field, the facility for the baseball, softball, and soccer teams of Saint Peter's College. This section formerly had batting cages and a driving range. In 2011, these were demolished and construction was begun on a nine-hole public golf course, the first public course in Hudson County.^[15] which opened in May 2015 after environmental restoration, grading, and landscaping.^[16][17]

Structures and buildings

Lincoln Park East has four gazebos, several maintenance buildings, and the Park Administration Building.^[3] The Administration Building houses offices as well as the Hank Gallo Community Room.

Casino in the Park

Just south of the Lincoln Park Lake is Casino in the Park, a catering facility owned by the county and leased to a private operator. The original structure was built as a clubhouse for the tennis courts, but was underutilized due to the distance between them.^[1] It was used as a summer museum by the Jersey City Public Library before being leased to Ray Dillman, manager of the El Morocco nightclub in New York City, as a restaurant.

The restaurant is regularly used for meetings and events. Many well known people have attended private and public events at the venue. In 1963, Frank Sinatra attended his parents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration at Casino in the Park.^[18] In 1991, the Hudson County Democratic Organization was addressed by then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.^[19] It is also the location of weekly meetings of the Rotary Club of Jersey City.^[20]

Former facilities

Skeeters Park was a baseball field with bleachers and a grandstand with a seating capacity of 8,500 people, built in 1902.^[21] A nine-hole golf course was built on 140 acres (57 ha) of the western portion of the park in 1925.^[6] The park also had a concrete swimming pool 40 by 130 feet (12 by 40 m) near the athletic fields.^[6]

Lincoln the Mystic at eastern entrance

Fountain

Art

The primary piece of public art in the park is Lincoln the Mystic, a statue by James Earle Fraser commissioned in 1929^[22] by the Lincoln Association of Jersey City.^[23] The sculpture was dedicated on June 14, 1930.^[24] 4,000 people attended the unveiling and the crowd was addressed by New Jersey Governor Morgan F. Larson.^[25] The park is also home to the world's largest concrete monument, the 365-ton fountain designed by Pierre J. Cheron at the center of the park's traffic circle.^[26] The fountain is 53 feet (16 m) tall, and contains 27 frog-shaped spouts and 150 lights.^[27][28] It will undergo a $6.7 million renovation in 2014.^[29]

The park also contains several monuments and memorials.

Civil War memorial

Detail of the Farrier Memorial

• The Jersey City Civil War Memorial was dedicated on May 28, 1926. The bronze sculpture is 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and depicts a marching Civil War soldier dressed in a full uniform. Originally intended to be placed in Hamilton park, the memorial was installed by the executor of the estate of Edward J. Donnelly, Sergeant, Company C, 5th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry.^[30]
• The Farrier Memorial, a 6-foot (1.8 m) bronze statue of a firefighter atop a domed granite base of 15 feet (4.6 m), was a bequest by Police Captain Frederick T. Farrier to honor the Volunteer Fire Department and was dedicated on November 21, 1931.^[31]
• The Great Irish Famine Memorial, erected by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, is a celtic cross of 18 feet (5.5 m) and was dedicated on May 8, 2011.^[32]

References

1. "Lincoln Park". Jersey City: Past and Present. New Jersey City University. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
2. "Lincoln Park". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 2011-10-06. Inscription: Hudson County's great public work of the 1890s was Hudson (now Kennedy) Boulevard, a 20-mile landscaped roadway running through the county. Construction caused the demolition or relocation of many buildings and was completed in 1895. The road marked the Bergen section as the most desirable in Jersey City. Elaborate homes faced the boulevard and side streets. Beginning in 1905 Hudson County's Park Commission began to turn Glendale Woods and surrounding area, an unsightly swamp, into the 208 acre West Side Park. Under landscape architects Charles Lowrie and Daniel Langton, terraces, ponds, athletic fields, statues, fountains and flower gardens were built. To create a mall and view of the Orange Mountains a block of buildings were moved from Belmont Avenue. Some were placed on new foundations on Communipaw Avenue. The 1930 statue of Lincoln was sponsored by the Lincoln Association of Jersey City (1865), oldest group of its kind in the nation. The park contains a lake, a classic fountain, pavilions, and memorials to Jersey City's Union Civil War veterans and firemen. Nearby are prime residential streets of Gifford and Bentley Avenues, the 1925 Temple Beth-El and the 1909 Saint Aloysius Church, a 900 seat French Renaissance edifice. Its 150 foot bell tower has been a landmark for generations.
3. "Hudson County Park Master Plan" (PDF). T&M Associates. November 1998. pp. 2–18. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
4. New Bike Path Connects Jersey By Daniel Reyes/The Jersey Journal, 25 June 2012
5. Shaloub, Patrick B. (1995). Jersey City. Arcadia Publishing. p. 90.
6. "Golfers to Have $1,000,000 Course". The New York Times. June 22, 1925.
7. "Land Deals Extend Jersey City Park; Hudson Commission Buys Nine Parcels on River Front and Communipaw Avenue". The New York Times. January 8, 1938. p. 28.
8. Whiten, Jon (Jul 19, 2011). "Restored Wetlands Area in Lincoln Park Now Open to the Public". Jersey City Independent. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
9. "Welcome to the East Coast Greenway in New Jersey". East Coast Greenway. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
10. Copeland, Denise (Betty the Bike) (December 9, 2010), "Weekend kiosk building party at Lincoln Park, Jersey City, for the East Coast Greenway", The Jersey Journal, retrieved 2011-09-28
11. "Jersey City Out of International League". Prescott Evening Courier. February 26, 1934. p. 5. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
12. "Places to Fish - Ponds, Lakes and Rservoirs". www.state.nj.us. New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
13. "MODEL YACHTS COMPETE; Millpond Club of Jersey Wins Regatta in Jersey City". The New York Times. May 31, 1937. p. 32.
14. Takahash, Paul (July 31, 2009). "Viruses may be killing Lincoln Park carp". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
15. Wilshe, Brett (December 11, 2010). "Hudson County freeholders approve building county's first public golf course adjacent to Lincoln Park in Jersey City". The Jersey Journal.
16. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2015/05/hudson_county_golf_course_to_open_next_month.html#incart_river
17. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2015/06/hudson_countys_first_public_golf_course_to_open_mo.html#incart_river
18. "Sinatra Attends As Parents Note Golden Wedding". Hartford Courant. Feb 10, 1963. p. 8B.
19. "Mighty HCDO has fallen: No dinner, just breakfast". The Jersey Journal. October 3, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
20. "The Rotary Club of Jersey City, New Jersey USA". www.jc-rotary.org. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
21. Weiss, Bill; Wright, Marshall. "Jersey City Skeeters". 100 Best Minor League Baseball Teams. MLB.com. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
22. James, George (January 24, 1999). "For 134 Years, Jersey City Puts Politics Aside and Honors Lincoln". The New York Times. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
23. Karnoutsos, Carmela; Patrick Shalhoub (2009). "Abraham Lincoln Association of Jersey City". Jersey City Past and Present. New Jersey City University. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
24. "New Lincoln Monument Is Unveiled Today". The Jersey Journal. June 14, 1930.
25. "Jersey City Unveils Monument of Lincoln". The New York Times. June 15, 1930.
26. Scheller, William G.; Scheller, Kay (2006). New Jersey:A Guide to Unique Places. Globe Pequot. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-7627-4055-0.
27. Collins, A.B. (May 1912). "An Artistic Concrete Fountain". The Cement Age. p. 257.
28. Hack, Charles (June 9, 2012), "Hudson County freeholders approve spending $3.9M on restoring Lincoln Park's 100-year-old fountain", The Jersey Journal, retrieved 2012-06-09
29. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2014/09/county_to_spend_13_million_on_projects_in_jersey_citys_lincoln_park.html#incart_related_stories
30. "War Memorial Legacy Upheld". The New York Times. November 4, 1922. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
31. "Farrier Memorial". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
32. Mestanza, Jean-Pierre (May 9, 2011). "100 in Lincoln Park welcome new memorial to Great Irish Famine". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved May 10, 2011.