| Lincoln Park | |
|---|---|
| West Side Park (1905–1930) | |
 Lincoln Park Lake | |
 | |
| Type | Urban park |
| Location | Jersey City,New Jersey |
| Coordinates | 40°43′29″N74°04′51″W / 40.724640°N 74.080939°W /40.724640; -74.080939 |
| Area | 273.4 acres (110.6 ha) |
| Created | 1905 (1905) |
| Operated by | Hudson County, New Jersey |
Lincoln Park is anurban park inJersey City, New Jersey with an area of 273.4 acres (110.6 ha). Part of theHudson County Park System, it opened in 1905 and was originally known as West Side Park. The park was designed by Daniel W. Langton andCharles N. Lowrie,[1][2] both founding members of theAmerican Society of Landscape Architects and part of theCity Beautiful movement.
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 toU.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 ofwetlands restoration project adjacent to theHackensack River. TheHackensack RiverWalk is a partially completedgreenway along the banks of the river running the length of theHudson County shoreline. TheEast Coast Greenway also traverses the park.[4]
Lincoln Park was the first park in theHudson 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 theHackensack 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 theHackensack 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 theEast Coast Greenway crosses through the park,[9] which is site of one of five kiosks in the state for the project[10]
Aballpark within the grounds was the home of theJersey City Skeeters of theEastern League from 1902 through 1905.
Lincoln Park East contains many sports fields and recreational facilities. There are 21 outdoortennis courts, seven baseball fields, a cricket pitch, three children's playgrounds, theCharlie 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.[11] The lake has also been used formodel yacht racing.[12] In 2009, a suspected virus resulted in a large number ofcarp dying in the lake.[13]
Lincoln Park West featureswetlands with hiking trails and Joseph J. Jaroschak Field, the facility for the baseball, softball, and men's and women'ssoccer teams ofSaint Peter's University. The field was opened and dedicated in 1990 by Mary Lou Jaroschak, and named after her late husband.[14]
In 2011, construction began on a nine-hole public golf course in Lincoln Park West, the first public course in Hudson County.[15] Skyway Golf Course, named after thePulaski Skyway, opened in May 2015 after environmental restoration, grading, and landscaping.[16][17] Previously, the golf course was the location of abatting cages and adriving range.
New York Road Runners hosts a weekly 2.7-mile Open Run.[18]
Lincoln Park East has fourgazebos, several maintenance buildings, and the Park Administration Building.[3] The Administration Building houses offices as well as the Hank Gallo Community Room.
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 theEl 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 alongside his daughter andRat Pack "Clan".[19][20] In 1991, the Hudson County Democratic Organization was addressed by then Arkansas GovernorBill Clinton.[21] It was also the location of weekly meetings of theRotary Club of Jersey City.[22]
The city leases the building to a private enterprise.[23]
The original building was demolished in April 2020 and a replacement called "The View at Lincoln Park" is set to be completed in September 2022.[24][25][26]
Skeeters Park was a minor league baseball field with bleachers and a grandstand with a seating capacity of 8,500 people, built in 1902.[27] It was home to theJersey City Skeeters, a minor league baseball team from 1902 to 1905.
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]
The primary piece ofpublic art in the park isLincoln the Mystic, a statue byJames Earle Fraser commissioned in 1929[28] by the Lincoln Association of Jersey City.[29] The sculpture was dedicated on June 14, 1930.[30] 4,000 people attended the unveiling and the crowd was addressed by New Jersey GovernorMorgan F. Larson.[31]
The park is also home to the world's largest concrete monument, the 365-ton Lincoln Park Fountain designed by Pierre J. Cheron at the center of the park's traffic circle.[32] The fountain is 53 feet (16 m) tall, and contains 27 frog-shaped spouts and 150 lights.[33][34] The fountain was rededicated on June 16, 2016, after a $7.2 million restoration.[35][36]
The park also contains several monuments and memorials:
Lincoln park is also featured in the HBO miniseries The Plot Against America where actor Johnathon Tuturo can be seen riding a horse by the fountain circle
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 the 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), the oldest group of its kind in the nation. The park contains a lake, a classic fountain (restored in 2016), 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.
| Hudson County Park System |
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| State and national parks | ||
| Municipal parks | ||
| Paths and promenades |
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| Meadowlands preserves |
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| Golf courses |
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| History |
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