Orange Park (formally

Monte Irvin Monford Merrill "Monte" Irvin (February 25, 1919 – January 11, 2016) was an American left fielder and right fielder in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who played with the Newark Eagles (1938–1942, 1946–1948), New York Giant ...

Orange Park) is a

county park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

in the

City of Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, in

Essex County, New Jersey Essex County is located in the northeastern part of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 863,728, making it the state's second-most populous county, behind Bergen and Middlesex Counties.

, United States, located near the city's border with

East Orange East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...

. The park has a playground, basketball court, soccer field and man-made lake. The park was constructed in 1899 and opened the following year. Orange resident Frederick W. Kelsey was the main impetus for the creation of the Essex County Park System with the introduction of a resolution that led to the formation of a five-member parks commission in 1894, approved by the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging the ...

. Efforts were underway in 1896 to purchase the land in Orange / East Orange, as well as in other areas around the county, with many of the land purchases made anonymously in an effort to avoid tipping off speculators. The property that became Orange Park was acquired in 1897, making it one of the first purchases of land in the Essex County network and one of the nation's oldest parks. The park covers , making it the sixth-largest in the county system, and the marshy land was purchased for $17,500. Funds totaling $100,000 were set aside to drain the swamp and to perform the needed improvements in the park. 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, the park informally opened to the public on August 25, 1900.Monte Irvin Orange Park
Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs. Accessed July 19, 2013. An artificial turf soccer field was reconstructed at the park as part of a $1 million project that was completed in August 2009, including a scoreboard and fencing, with the park to be the home field for the Orange High School Tornados soccer teams. The construction was part of a $5 million series of projects that included redevelopment and improvements to baseball fields, basketball courts and playgrounds. The soccer field was developed with a grant of $100,000 from the U.S. Soccer Foundation, as part of its effort to improve the availability of soccer facilities in underserved communities. The park was renamed in May 2006 for Orange resident and Hall of Famer

, who played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

as one of the first African American players in Major League Baseball. A monument was dedicated in the park in April 2007 in memory of Orange Police Detective Kieran T. Shields, who was killed in the park in August 2006 while trying to arrest an armed suspect.DeSantis, Russ
"Memorial to a Fallen Officer"
''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'', April 24, 2007. Accessed July 19, 2013.

References

External links

Monty Irvin Orange Park
– Essex County Park System {{Essex County Parks, New Jersey 1900 establishments in New Jersey Orange, New Jersey Parks in Essex County, New Jersey County parks in New Jersey