By Ellen S. Wilkowe
For 75 years, the Burnham Park Association has been breaking dirt and barriers to preserve a 30-acre vision set forth in 1911 by the Burnham family. Its members aimed to provide a place…
…where tired families can, during the spring, summer and autumn days, obtain that refreshment which is only obtainable apart from the noise and [con]fusion of a crowd.
Protecting the Burnhams’ vision, the association has advocated fiercely on behalf of the space, revitalizing it, sparing it from development, planting native species, controlling the goose population and, most importantly to date, planning for its near future.
Such accomplishments were highlighted last week as the association kicked off its 75th anniversary celebration with a Then and Now historic presentation exploring
100 years at Burnham Park.
Slideshow photos by Ellen Wilkowe and the Burnham Park Association. Click/hover on images for captions:
“This is a grassroots all-volunteer organization that for 75 years has provided an unbroken chain of activities and commitment,” said Burnham Park Association President Lynn Siebert.
The celebration will continue at Burnham Park on Sunday, May 7 2023, with special activities from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Festivities will include children’s games, a workshop, scavenger hunt, a Morris County Sheriff’s K9 demo, guided historical walks of the park and trails in Jones Woods and the Green Strip, and snacks and beverages.
The association also will honor Mayor Tim Dougherty of Morristown and Mayor Mark Gyorfy of Morris Township. Burnham Park straddles the Town/Township border.
Last week’s presentation at the Morristown & Morris Township Library included past and present displays of the park, and century-old newspaper articles highlighting the Burnham family, the surrounding estates, and the trials and tribulations of conservation.
More than 30 people attended. State Sen. Anthony M. Bucco (R-25th Dist.) presented the association with a citation.
Founded in 1948 and incorporated as a nonprofit in 1973, the Burnham Park Association has acted as steward of Burnham Park and the nearby Jones Woods and Green Strip.
Association Trailmaster Rick Bye presented slides featuring development of the Burnham Park Estates, including the original composite drafted in 1911.
The marketing brochure, circa 1926, boasted “the most glorious homestead in New Jersey.” The estates additionally were marketed as a transportation hub because of 60 trains and trolleys and seven bus lines that ran daily.
The slideshow paid homage to contributions by the The North Jersey History & Genealogy Center and the Fred Curtiss Photo Collection.
Two houses, including a residence on Fairmount Avenue, gained instant recognition from the current owners, who were present at the event. Bye praised them for faithfully preserving features from the 1928 photo.
Other slides featured a 1904 photo of a filter house built in 1876 in Jones Wood, and its remains today.
The presentation also included event photos such as a 1926 photo of the speed skating carnival at Burnham Park, a Neighborhood House picnic from 1932 and, from that same year, a photo of the Burnham Park Pool, which opened four years earlier as a stream with a sandy beach.
‘MUCH OF WHAT WE VALUE WAS AT RISK’
In moving back to the future, Paula Zimin of the Morristown Shade Tree Commission gave an overview of a revitalization proposal presented by Colliers Engineering and Design earlier this year.
“First, the town wants to reaffirm its commitment to preservation of the park,” Zimin said. “And next to synthesize the input from residents and partners that use the park as well as have a revitalization master plan to help obtain funding.”
Zimin emphasized the Shade Tree Commission’s role of overseeing the health and well being of trees and shrubs in the area, and ensuring that the revitalization plan is “for the benefit of the ecology of the habitat.”
Zimin reviewed several areas slated for improvement as recommended by Colliers Engineering and Design:
- The entrance and monuments
- Circulation and connectivity
- Playgrounds and pavilions
- The meadow, pool, ballfields and parking, and ponds.
New amenities and enhancements involve pond edge improvements, a nature education/path, a ceremonial grove, a terraced walk to the playground, an amphitheater, and open space improvements.
Lynn Siebert and her husband Don moved to Morris Township in 1977.
“We realized much of what we value was at risk,” she said, referencing slides depicting the playground with just two working swings, a dilapidated bridge, and algae growth along the water.
She said further degradation included destruction of a grove of oak trees; using the wetlands as a dump site for construction of the Ann Street garage; and holes in the gazebo roofs and crumbling stone retaining walls.
In tackling such environmental harms, the association successfully lobbied the town and helped secure a block grant in 1988 to assist with the first beautification plan.
Association activism would help spare the Jones Woods from development and preserve it as open space with three miles of trails. The association also helped preserve 180 acres of environmentally sensitive lands on the Delbarton School property, acreage added to Lewis Morris Park.
“Fred Burnham was a lawyer, and he wrote that if the town didn’t care for the area in the way that he intended, then the land would be reverted to the heirs,” said Siebert.
Determined to fend off development, Siebert took on the mission of finding heirs who have advocated at town meetings for preserving their legacy.
Siebert hailed the association for coordinating with organizations including
municipal recreation departments and police, veterans groups, the Morristown Rotary Club, and the National Park Service.
Since the late 1980s, association members have been ardent Arbor Day participants, planting more than 2,000 trees. In 2005, the association’s tree planting, conservation and stewardship earned international recognition, with a National Arbor Day Foundation Project Award.
“We were one of only five organizations in the world, and the only grassroots one, to win this award,” Siebert said. “One of the other ones was the International Olympics Committee.”
Siebert concluded by paying tribute to all the volunteers for “getting their hands dirty” and building community.
“We have formed friendships and a community that is still working together after 75 years,” Siebert said, tearing up.
“When you break dirt together, it’s a very special way to feel connected to one’s community.”
This story has been updated to reflect that Family Fun Day was rescheduled to May 7, 2023, because of a wet forecast for the original April 29 date.
