Riverview-Fisk Park Calendar of Events

Riverview Park
by Theodore Conrad
October 6, 1981

William P. Kastenhuber procured the site for the park, raised the flag and made the opening speech at the dedication ceremony of Riverview Park approximately eighty-four years ago. He was owner and editor of the Palisade Eagle with offices at 330 Palisade Avenue and also ran a print shop on Cambridge Avenue. He placed the cornerstone at Public School #26, printed the first Dickensonian and was associated with the main Jersey City Public Library.

Tourists had been coming up the elevated line from Hoboken and New York to the Grand View Hall beer garden located on Ogden Avenue between Franklin and Ferry Streets. When benches were first placed on walks in the park facing the view they were crowded on weekends with people eager to get a glimpse of the river before the skyscrapers first made their appearance.

The park was beautifully maintained with flowers and shrubs. At one time sheep were even allowed to graze on the lawn much to the delight of small children. A small playground in a 50'x100' lot on the west side of the park served the needs of the area when Jersey City's population was one third larger than it is now. The Park pavillion, often called the bandstand, was used for concerts evenings and weekends. The lower portion with toilet facilities and storage space for garden tools was also used as a police station by police patrolling the immediate area.

Around 1935 when PWA projects were being used to provide work for the unemployed a crew of workers were sent to "improve" the park. For no good reason the walkway with benches facing the view was eliminated along with all the shrubbery on the steep incline which in short time developed a serious erosion problem. All the hundreds of feet of well-trimmed hedges around the grass plots on the western side which fenced in the sheep were cut off, the sheep and flowers were eliminated, and the park began to take on its present drab appearance. The little playground was moved to the delightfully green passive recreation area facing the view and later encased in an ugly twelve foot high chain link enclosure, all of which blighted the southern end of the park. Tennis courts, now an area for basketball, extended to one third of the area facing the view. A boccie court ruined still more of the remaining walkway on the view side. All these recreation facilities could have been located on the other side of the park instead of in the foreground and vantage point of the most magnificent panoramic view of Manhattan.

Since the Doric apartment on former parkland has cut off the view of New York from Washington Park, Riverview Park is the last clear open space for the public to be able to enjoy this breathtaking view.

The Historic District Commission, well aware of the local efforts to upgrade the area and the importance of perpetuating the view, are opposed to any further installations of recreational equipment which can become a detraction for present and future generations from enjoying this view. The park is not only a historic site but a scenic landmark as well.

The placing of a series of concrete cylinders with holes for climbing to form a castle and two tables with eight chairs which will be covered with graffiti will become an eyesore similar to the recently opened Christ the King playground on Ocean Avenue. Since the haphazard installation of this equipment can be a deterrent to the rehabilitation of the area which depends much on cashing in on the finest panoramic view of New York, the Historic District Commission feels that any improvement to the park should follow the original simple concept to frame in the view with a minimal number of obstructions which would be viewed by visitors as glaring examples of poor planning and lack of maintenance with graffiti smeared over the concrete castle, tables and chairs.