History

In 1907, plans began for a park on the site of Riverbank Park. In summer 1907 a temporary playground was constructed.

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Franklin Murphy, former governor of NJ was a key figure in creating the park. He fought to pass legislation in 1894, which created park commissions and enabled the creation of the Essex County Park Commission. The master plan for the Essex County Parks, which included Riverbank, was created in 1894 with the assistance of Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.

Murphy served as vice president of the Park Commission from 1906-1911, and President from 1911-1920. Murphy owned the Murphy Varnish Factory on McWhorter and Chestnut Streets. He was concerned about the “social welfare” of his employees, most of whom lived in the Ironbound. He wrote in 1910, “Although it is the smallest of the twelve parks, even in its unfinished state, one of the most largely used and is an excellent example of the wisdom and importance of locating
breathing spaces in thickly settled portions of the community.”

Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. who created the plans for the park is a famed landscape designer who also created Central Park in New York City. By the early 1900s Olmsted was aging and his sons the Olmsted Brothers – John and Frederick, created much of the ultimate park design.

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But there was one hurdle to building the park. Ms. Anna Ward lived in the land slated for the park and she did not want to move! Finally, in October 1909 Anna Ward was forced out of her house on Frederick Street and the contract to build the park was given to the JF Shanley company.

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In 1927, Mayor Raymond proposed expanding the park, originally along the river. Eventually there was a plan that created the park as it is today. After the work was done there was a reopening celebration on Jun 12, 1931.

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The park continued to be a site for play and relaxation for many years. During WWII from 1941-1944 the army appropriated the park using it as an air defense contingent for the Coast Artillery, building barracks in the park.

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In 1950, a Little League was organized. In 1979 a summer camp took place. Baseball was frequent throughout the years, as well as dances and concerts.

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In 1996, the  Ironbound community learned from a friend reading a suburban newspaper that Essex County and the City of Newark were making a deal with Rick Cerone, the ex-Yankee baseball player, to build a baseball stadium for the Newark Bears in Riverbank Park.

Ironbound with over 50,000 residents had only about 22 acres of usable recreational space. Baseball and soccer teams were fighting over the small number of available fields. Losing Riverbank Park would make the situation worse. Ironbound Community Corporation helped the community to organize SPARK, Save the Park at RiverbanK, and a David vs. Goliath fight took place, with nearly every politician on the side of the development.

SPARK’s various strategies included a legal challenge, a city-wide referendum special election on the issue, a bid to get the park declared as a historic site (which later happened), and an appeal to the National Park Service which eventually led to the Secretary of the Interior in the White House. The community was successful.  The Olmsted created park, over 100 years old, was preserved and added to the National Historic Register.

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In 2001, the park reopened. SPARK formed a non-profit organization, and in 2004 began two programs in the park: Cultural Arts and Community Learning that continue to be successful to this day. Over 2000 students have gone through the Community Learning Program. SPARK celebrated the park’s 100th anniversary in 2007.

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See more from SPARK’s activities since the 1990s on our photos and videos page. More historical documents are available on Picturing Justice and through our partnership with Newark Library’s digital collections here and here.