Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey during the Cherry Blossom Festival

Photograph of the Ballantine Gates, on the east side of the park, by Forest Hill. The Ballantine gates were given to Branch Brook Park by Peter Ballantine in 1899. They are modeled on gates in Scotland

Branch Brook Park and its cherry blossoms.

Branch Brook Park is a county park of Essex County, New Jersey in the United States, located in the North Ward of Newark, between the neighborhoods of Forest Hill and Roseville. At 360 acres (1.5 km²), Branch Brook Park is the largest public park in the city of Newark. The park is noted for its 2,700 cherry trees, collectively called Cherryblossomland, as well as its spectacular Cherry Blossom Festival each April. Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey during the Cherry Blossom Festival. ... Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey during the Cherry Blossom Festival. ... Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1009 KB)picture of Ballantine Gates, Branch Brook Park. ... Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1009 KB)picture of Ballantine Gates, Branch Brook Park. ... House in Forest Hill Another stately house in Forest Hill. ... Peter Ballantine (1781 – January 23, 1883) was founder of Patterson & Ballantine Brewing Company in 1840 in Newark, New Jersey. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the state of New Jersey. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... House in Forest Hill Another stately house in Forest Hill. ... Roseville is a neighborhood in northwestern Newark, New Jersey, bordering Bloomfield and East Orange. ... An acre is the name of a unit of area in a number of different systems, including Imperial units and United States customary units. ... Nickname: Map of Newark in Essex County County Essex Founded/Incorporated 1666/1836 Government  - Mayor Cory Booker, term of office 2006–2010 Area [1]  - City 67. ... “Cherry tree” redirects here. ...

The park was formally created in 1895, by the newly-created Essex County Parks Commission. The area had formally served as an Army training ground during the American Civil War. At the time, the northern portion of the area had been a marsh known as Old Blue Jay Swamp. In 1898, a public appropriation financied the conversion of the swamp into a landscaped lake. The initial park was only 60 acres (0.2 km²) in size but grew in the 1920s through private donations from prominent Newark families, such as the Ballantines, eventually reaching the city limit with Belleville and becoming one of the largest urban parks in the United States. The Morris Canal originally ran on the park's west side, until its old bed was turned into the Newark City Subway, providing access to the park from Downtown Newark. The United States Army is the largest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Map of Essex County Highlighting the Location of Belleville Township Belleville is a Township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. ... 1827 map The Morris Canal was an anthracite-carrying canal that incorporated a series of water-driven inclined planes in its course across northern New Jersey in the United States. ... PCC streetcar at Newark Penn Station in 2001, signed as 7 City Subway. ... Military Park Downtown Newark is Newark, New Jerseys major central business and cultural district. ...

The first designs of the park, based largely on romantic garden themes, were proposed in 1895 and 1898, after the Parks Commission hired several architectural firms to plan the park. In 1900, the commission hired the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted to redesign the park. The result was the park's current naturalistic look and feel, with acres of meadows and forests, in a manner similar to Olmsted's earlier designs of Central Park and Prospect Park. Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was a United States landscape architect, famous for designing many well-known urban parks, including Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City. ... Central Park is a large public, urban park (843 acres or 3. ... Prospect Park is a 526 acre (2. ...

The famous cherry trees were the result of a 1927 gift from Caroline Bamberger Fuld, sister of department store magnate Louis Bamberger and widow of the store's vice president. The Cherry Blossom Festival attracts approximately 10,000 visitors each April. Louis Bamberger was Newark, New Jerseys leading citizen from the early 1900s until his death in 1944. ...

During World War II, the park's grounds served a tent city for recruits, as well as a landing strip for airplanes of the United States Postal Service. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent establishment of the executive branch of the United States government (see 39 U.S.C. Â§ 201) responsible for providing postal service in the U.S. Within the United States, it is colloquially referred to simply as the post office. ...

The neighborhood on the east side of the park, Forest Hill, is Newark's most affluent. Also on the east side of the park is the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Basilica, one of the largest cathedrals in the United States. House in Forest Hill Another stately house in Forest Hill. ... The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. ...

In 1980, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. A typical plaque showing entry on the National Register of Historic Places. ...

Branch Brook Park is currently in the midst of $25 million, ten-year, restoration program. In 2004, the Park Avenue bridge was repaired, as were the ballfields in the center of the park.

External links

• Official site
• Branch Brook Park Cherry Blossom Festival Photo Galleries