Lincoln Park Tour

This popular park was created by the Rutherford Town Improvement Association (TIA). In 1903 the TIA convinced the owners to lease this area to them to create a triangular park, across from the recently built Park School. The TIA bartered with a Lyndhurst businessman to clear the property in exchange for the wood he removed. The women planted colorful shrubs, and thousands of daffodil bulbs donated by Bobbink & Atkins nursery. In 1904 the Mayor and Council voted to buy the property, eventually named Lincoln Park, and renamed Chestnut Street, from Park Avenue to Rutherford Avenue, as Lincoln Avenue.

The park was restored and improved in 2004-2005, and a new gazebo was built near the site of the original bandstand. This is the only spot on our tour not on our Historic Sites Inventory.

The park now has memorials to the Gettysburg Address, the sinking of the Maine before the Spanish American War, World War II, the Vietnam and Korean Wars, and September 11. The cannon at the tip of the park is from Fort Schuyler on Long Island; originally brought by veterans of the Spanish American War and later also dedicated to soldiers and sailors of the Civil War.

This tour will start appropriately at what we are calling “Dedication Rock” (site #1), which honors the Park’s founders and is located near the intersection of Park Avenue and Highland Cross. You will then proceed clockwise from the Park’s southwest corner proceeding northeast along Park Avenue. The tour follows the order in which the monuments appear as you walk around the park, so please bear with us as we jump back and forth between historical periods. Take your time and enjoy the tour.