Riverbank Park is a park in the Ironbound section of Newark, Essex County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, United States. The park was opened in 1910 and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on April 16, 1998. It is the smallest and one of the most heavily used parks in the Essex County Park System.

History

The park was 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 O ...

, the firm of

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

. The park land was acquired in 1907 and construction finished in 1910. A driving force behind the building of the park was

Franklin Murphy (governor) Franklin Murphy (January 3, 1846February 24, 1920) was an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 31st governor of New Jersey, from 1902–1905. He was the founder of the Murphy Varnish Company in Newark, New Jersey. Civil War ...

who wanted his workers at the Murphy Varnish Works to have open space. An expansion took place between 1926 and 1931. The baseball fields are on the former location of the Balbach Smelting & Refining Company, one of the largest metal processing companies in the country, which closed in the 1920s. In 1996, there was an attempt to build the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, originally simply Riverfront Stadium, was a 6,200-seat baseball park in Newark, New Jersey, United States built in 1999. It was the home of the Newark Bears, who played in the Atlantic League of Professional Ba ...

at the site of the park, demolishing the park. SPARK (Save the Park At RiverbanK) is a community group formed to save the park from destruction. After an unsuccessful attempt to save the park via referendum, they were able to get the park on the National Historic Register. SPARK's work also resulted in a remediation of contaminated soil in the park, which was completed in 2003. In August 2011, plans were announced to create

Newark Riverfront Park Newark Riverfront Park is a park and promenade being developed in phases along the Passaic River in Newark, New Jersey, United States. The park, expected to be long and encompass , is being created from brownfield sites along the river, which its ...

, next door to Riverbank Park along the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

which opened in August 2012. A further extension of parkland along the river was announced in June 2016. Work proceeded in 2017. Eventually it will reach Bridge Street Bridge.

Programming

Currently, SPARK hosts programs in the park including a Learning Program with the New Jersey Historical Society and

Greater Newark Conservancy Greater Newark Conservancy is a non-profit organization headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, with the stated goal of promoting "environmental stewardship to improve the quality of life in New Jersey's urban communities." It offers programs for yout ...

, movie nights and Music and Art Day.

References

1907 establishments in New Jersey Parks in Essex County, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Newark, New Jersey Geography of Newark, New Jersey County parks in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places {{NewJersey-NRHP-stub

History

Programming

See also

References