Military Park (Newark)

Military Park Commons Historic District

Wars of America statue
Location Newark, New Jersey
Coordinates 40°44′23″N 74°10′9″W / 40.73972°N 74.16917°W / 40.73972; -74.16917Coordinates: 40°44′23″N 74°10′9″W / 40.73972°N 74.16917°W / 40.73972; -74.16917
Built 1916
Architect Ely, Wilson and John; Guilbert and Betelle
Architectural style Renaissance, Italianate
NRHP Reference # 04000649[1]
Added to NRHP June 18, 2004

Military Park is a 6-acre (24,000 m2) city park in Downtown Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a nearly triangular park located between Park Place, Rector Street and Broad Street. From 1667, when the city was planned, until 1869 it was a training ground for soldiers. In 1869 it became the town commons.

The New Jersey Historical Society, Military Park Building and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and the Robert Treat Center are located across Park Place from the park. A $3.25 million renovation led by Dan Biederman was announced in February 2012.[2][3] The reconstruction was expected to be completed in late 2013,[4][5] but due to harsh weather was postponed until spring 2014.[6] A restaurant, the first in the park, is planned.[7] The park reopened in June 2014.[8]

Features

In the southwestern part of the park is the colossal Wars of America monument, created by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore.[9]

Bust of President Kennedy

The sculpture itself forms the base of a large concrete sword built into the ground. The sword from the ground resembles a large dry fountain and from the air its shape is easily distinguished. The sword is about eighty yards long from the end of the statue to its tip; the blade is over ten feet across at its base. A bust of John F. Kennedy by Jacques Lipchitz was erected in 1965. The park also has an old drinking fountain with the phrase "My cup runneth over" carved around its base, and statues of Frederick Frelinghuysen and Philip Kearny.

Msgr Doane
"Wars of America"
Philip Kearny statue in Military Park

A three-level underground parking garage is beneath the park. The Military Park Newark Light Rail station lies under the southwest end of the park at Raymond Boulevard and Park Place.

Doane Park

Doane Park is a tenth-acre triangular piece of land north of Military Park, where Broad Street and Park Place veer off and is separated from Military Park by Rector Street. A statue of Monsignor George Hobart Doane, for whom the park is named, was unveiled in 1908. Doane was a rector at St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral and did much for the city including his work with the Essex County Park Commission.[10]

Events

See also

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ Read, Philip (November 2, 2010). "Organizer who transformed New York's Bryant Park to remake Newark's Military Park". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
  3. ↑ Foderard, Lisa. "Revival Is Planned for a Derelict Downtown Newark Park". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  4. ↑ Construction under way for Newark's new Military Park. NJ.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-15.
  5. ↑ http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/news/newarks-historic-military-park-undergoing-revival-benefiting-surrounding-businesses-and-college
  6. ↑ http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2014/05/as_military_park_reopens_developers_talk_challenges_and_changes.html
  7. ↑ http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2013/12/historic_newark_park_to_ink_de.html
  8. ↑ http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/06/military_park_opens_with_music_politicians_praise.html#incart_river_essex
  9. ↑ "Historical Landmarks". City of Newark, New Jersey. Retrieved April 27, 2102. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  10. ↑ Doane Park, accessed on November 2, 2007.

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