Brookdale Park is a county park located in the townships of

Bloomfield, New Jersey Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 53,105. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District. History The initial patent for the land that w ...

, and Montclair. Designed by the

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law ...

landscape design firm, are in Bloomfield; Brookdale Park is part of the Essex County park system. It is partially forested and partially lawns, with paths going through.

Overview

Going through the park is a circular, one way road, with three roads leading out of the park. There are many entrances for pedestrians, and there are two parking lots of approximately forty spots each. The road goes around parts of the park that have many athletic fields, park buildings, and other facilities. In the southern end of this area is the great meadow, and on the northern side there are the playgrounds, baseball/softball fields, and the stadium with the grandstand, track, and turf soccer field. On the outside of the roadway there are many paths through the wood of stately trees that is the western half of the park. This part of the park is mostly in Montclair. Many minor facilities and areas are in the Western half. On this side there is a road entrance, the Rose Garden, the Tennis Courts, and the Dog Park. In the south there is another car entrance. In the northwestern corner there is a smaller field and the Archery range.

History

Before Brookdale was a park, the area was used by the First Nations Lenape Native Americans, later known as the Delaware, as a planting/gathering ground. In the late 17th century, Dutch pioneers took over the area, farming rhubarb on it, and put their houses there. This was the beginning of what would grow into Speertown and then be merged with Cranetown to make Montclair. The Brookdale area was originally called Stonehouse Plains by the Dutch. Land started to be purchased in 1928 and all the land, in total, were purchased by 1931. Frederick Law Olmsted Firm was chosen as the firm to design the park, and they completed most of the park by 1930 but the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

slowed work down. It was finished in 1937. This firm is well known for designing much of the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

.
, www.essex-countynj.org, ?, ?. Accessed July 10, 2008. Old timers recall the park being the site of the area's coal/wood ash dump. Off Grove Street and down what is now Chester Road, the dirt lane saw horse-drawn ash wagons carrying the discarded ashes and clinkers of coal-burning furnaces collected from homes in the surrounding towns. As coal was replaced by oil and then gas as a heating fuel, the dump became part of the future Essex County park site. On January 15, 2023 at 11:30 pm, a fatal one-car crash occurred on the downhill left bend of West Circuit Drive. An SUV left the roadway striking a lamp post, an exercise beam and a tree at high speed. Three minors in the car were injured and taken to local hospitals. One boy, 16-year-old Nathan Latifi, died in the accident. All four occupants were students at

Glen Ridge High School Glen Ridge High School (GRHS) is a comprehensive six-year public middle school / high school serving students in seventh through twelfth grades from Glen Ridge, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary schoo ...

Amenities

* 1½ mile fitness course * softball/baseball fields * Archery field * picnic grounds * Bike and running races * Grandstand * Restrooms * Interpretive Trail * Playgrounds * Annual arts and crafts festival * 11 Tennis Courts * Formal rose garden with over 100 different species * Summer concerts and Fourth of July celebrations * Fireworks displays * Dog Park * Soccer Fields * A block away from Yantacaw Brook Park * Mountain bike trail

Gallery

File:Rose garden at Brookdale Park (2006).jpg, Brookdale Rose Garden File:Running path at Brookdale Park (2006).jpg, A path around the perimeter of the park File:Running track at Brookdale Park (2006).jpg, The running track, grand stand, and turf soccer field File:Entry to Brookdale Dog Park (2006).jpg, The entrance/waiting area at the dog park Footnote:

References

External links

Essex County Parks
{{Montclair Parks, New Jersey County parks in New Jersey Bloomfield, New Jersey Montclair, New Jersey Upper Montclair, New Jersey Parks in Essex County, New Jersey Frederick Law Olmsted works