Posted by Ricardo Kaulessar, Urban Times News on July 24, 2003 at 15:10:28:

Urban Times News

by Ricardo Kaulessar - HACKSMITH1872@aol.com

June 8, 2003 It started with a phone call to the City Clerk's office. I was immediately referred then to the city's Real Estate Office. A gravelly female voice then gave this small piece of information: Block 1379, Lot 2E3. Those coordinates are the formal specification for the location of the little park on the corner of Pamrapo Avenue and Old Bergen Road in Jersey City, N.J. For this writer, it is the beginning of what will become a campaign to restore this piece of land to its former glory. To transform a potential eyesore into a possible oasis.

Growing up on Pamrapo Avenue since 1975, except for a year and a half living in New York, the park had always been there. Been there when I was running late to Public School Number 30 on Gates Avenue. Been there when I had to hurry to catch the Number 80 Bus going to Journal Square. Been there whenever I was playing hide-and-seek with my childhood friends Tito, Chucky and Paul. Been there for those who wanted to find a place to play or hang out when backyards, front porches or streets weren't available or weren't enough.

And it is still there as a nondescript park with no sign, a rusting flagpole, a water fountain that hasn't spouted anything since Tommie Smith was mayor, grass that is several shades green, brown and gray has become an unofficial dog run, five trees that can do with some trimming, a street light inside the park which works sporadically if at all, fencing in serious need of mending and a back alley area which one day became a gated enclosure created by the resident next to the park for storing jet skis! A park that has become so neglected that nobody spends the time anymore even neglecting it.

When I asked the person in the Real Estate office over the phone what was the name of the park, I was pointed in the direction of the New Jersey Room. The New Jersey Room, located in the Main Branch of the Jersey City Public Library is the place for resources and information about the history of New Jersey and especially Jersey City. Another nice lady on the phone told me it was Columbus Park. Hmm, named after the man who supposedly discovered American until it was discovered that he wasn't really the discoverer. But I needed to know how long the park existed, when was it built, what did it look like when it opened, where's the sign that it was Columbus Park.

May 2nd soon became May 19th, when I paid a visit to the New Jersey Room. The nice lady, who answered my phone call previously, turned out to be Cynthia Harris, director of the New Jersey Room. When I gave Harris the location and name of the park, she handed me a folder with newspaper clippings. An incomplete but substantial history of the creation, completion and politics of Jersey City's many parks. There I found amongst articles about the discovery of chromium at Metro Field and the dedication of Sgt. Anthony Park, a list of the 44 Jersey City parks and playgrounds in existence as of June 2002. On that list, between Major Desmond Park - Audubon/Kennedy Boulevard and Mercer Park - Border of Bayonne & Jersey City, was Martyniak-Enright Park - Old Bergen/Pamrapo. Columbus was wrong? Now, it's Martyniak-Enright. The floodgates opened and various new questions arose:

• Who were Martyniak and Enright?
• Why was the park named after them?
• When was the idea to name them brought up and by whom?
• Where were Martyniak and Enright when the park was named after them?
• How did the park go from being Martyniak-Enright Park to just being the little park on the corner?

Post a Followup

Name    : 
E-Mail  : 
Subject : 

Comments:
: by Ricardo Kaulessar - HACKSMITH1872@aol.com


Optional Link URL:  
Link Title:         
Optional Image URL: 

 

Hoboken Guide

Jersey City and Hoboken Real Estate Waterfront Apartments and Condominiums

Featured Link Featured Listing Advertising Program Business name, Web Site Link and a brief description or motto – runs for one month in the Page (or Pages) of your choice. Sales Associates Wanted! GET NJ seeks sales associates to market ads on a commission basis. For more information, e-mail your resume and contact information to sales@getnj.com – Be sure to mention the area of New Jersey and/or the market segment that you plan to serve. GRAVE ROBBER Jersey City Computer Repair 297 Griffith Street, Jersey City, NJ - 201-798-2292 - In the Heights just off of Kennedy Blvd. - Very close to Journal Square and Union City, just five minutes away from Hoboken, Downtown Jersey City, Newport, the Waterfront, Secaucus, North Bergen and Weehawken - Tech support for The Jersey City Mayor's Office during the administration of Bret Schundler - PC repair - Tivos, too!, upgrade, hardware install, software install, data recovery, spyware removal, virus removal, replace hard drive, replace motherboard, copy files from notebooks, backup information from dead laptops Wanted! Used Computers! Used computers bought and sold. Located in Jersey City, NJ - convenient to the Hoboken 2nd Street Light Rail stations and the Journal Square PATH subway station. E-mail graverobber@verizon.net with an itemized list (description) of what you have for sale and the price. Pickup in the New York City Metro area -- minimum 10 units. Secure, guaranteed data removal is available.

For All Sorts of Unique New York City Information, Visit GET NY!