Military Park is a city park in

downtown Newark Downtown Newark is the central business district of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Downtown is the site of the original Puritan settlement of Newark located at a bend in th ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. Along with

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

and Washington Park, it makes up the three downtown parks in Newark that were laid out in the colonial era. It is a nearly triangular park located between Park Place, Rector Street and Broad Street. The New Jersey Historical Society, Military Park Building, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Robert Treat Center and the newly built One Theatre Square and 50 Rector St buildings are located across Park Place from the park. A $3.25 million renovation led by Dan Biederman was announced in February 2012. The reconstruction was expected to be completed in late 2013, but due to harsh weather was postponed until spring 2014. A casual restaurant, Burg, does business in the park. The park reopened in June 2014.

History

The park was originally laid out by

Robert Treat Robert Treat (February 23, 1622July 12, 1710) was an English-born politician, military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Connecticut from 1683 to 1687 and 1689 to 1698. In 1666, he co-founded the colonial settlemen ...

at the founding of Newark as a training ground for soldiers. It saw periodic military use throughout its history; it served as a training ground during the French and Indian War, a campground for the American army in the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and the War of 1812. At the end of the American Revolution it was designated as a public park. There was a period of time in the mid-20th century where the park fell into disrepair. The grounds were considered unsafe and therefore unsuitable for the general population's usage. Military Park fell into a state of disrepair until conservation efforts began in 2003 and ground was broken in 2013. The new park grounds boasts a more open and inviting atmosphere for passersby as well as a revitalized location in downtown Newark.

Historic district

The Military Park Commons Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

roughly bounded by Washington Place, McCarter Highway, E. Park Street and Raymond Boulevard encompassing the park. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on June 18, 2004, for its significance in architecture, and community planning and development. The district includes 37

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

, 2 contributing sites, and 9 contributing objects. Eight resources were previously listed individually, including ''

Wars of America ''Wars of America'' is a colossal bronze sculpture by Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum and his assistant Luigi Del Bianco containing "forty-two humans and two horses", located in Military Park (Newark), Military Park in Newark, New Jersey. ...

'' by

Gutzon Borglum John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculpture, sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Moun ...

Griffith Building The Griffith Building, also known as the Griffith Piano Company Building, is located at 605-607 Broad Street by Military Park in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It was built in 1927 and was added to the National ...

, Hahne and Company, Symington House, and Trinity & St. Philip's Cathedral. With File:Americas Wars Newark NJ 3.JPG, ''

'' by Gutzon Borglum File:Broad Street by Military Park, Newark, NJ.jpg, Hahne and Company and

on Broad Street

Features

In the southwestern part of the park is the large ''

'' monument, created by

, the sculptor of

Mount Rushmore The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a National Memorial (United States), national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (, or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dak ...

. 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 Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Lithuanian-born French-American Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, domi ...

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 Philip Kearny Jr. (; June 1, 1815 – September 1, 1862) was a United States Army officer, notable for his leadership in the Mexican–American War and American Civil War. He served in Emperor of the French, French Emperor Napoleon III's Imperial ...

. There is also an old fashioned carousel that was recently installed. A three-level underground parking garage is located beneath the park. The Military Park Newark Light Rail station lies under the southwest end of the park at Raymond Boulevard and Park Place. Located in the middle of the park is the casual restaurant and outdoor bar the Burg, which opened in the fall of 2015.

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.

Events

* In 2011 and 2012, during the

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primar ...

, there was an Occupy Newark encampment in Military Park. * Afro Beat Fest is a new annual festival in downtown Newark of African and

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

culture including music, art, fashion, dance, crafts and cuisine. The inaugural Afro Beat Fest was held in the recently refurbished Military Park in July 2017. Afro Beat Fest is a reboot of an older festival that had begun in the 1980s called "Africa Newark," which had ended in 2006 after it lost city support. Mayor Ras Baraka said he and colleagues recalled the festival warmly from childhood and noted that the city worked with local organizers to revive it. * Jazz concerts are sometimes performed in Military Park. * On Thursdays during the fall, a farmers market is held on Park Place.

Gallery

File:JFK Lipchitz Newark NJ 1.JPG, Bust of President Kennedy File:Miltary Park Carousel jeh.jpg, Merry-go-round in park File:Philip Kearny by Henry Kirke Brown, Newark, NJ.jpg, Statue of Philip Kearny by Henry Kirke Brown

References

External links

Military Park official site

{{National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Geography of Newark, New Jersey Parks in Essex County, New Jersey Squares in Newark, New Jersey Tourist attractions in Newark, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Newark, New Jersey 1916 establishments in New Jersey Neighborhoods in Newark, New Jersey Historic district contributing properties in Newark, New Jersey Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places