Pineywoman:
If you are interested in the Duke of Gloucester, you might want to view this thread:
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/riverview-beach-park.3881/#post-38210
And here is some information on his steam
boat business:
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/bay-days.4811/page-9#post-95088
You wrote:
“I'm trying to do a bit more research on the legendary Washington Park. I know Frank Stewart was a huge part in preserving the historical integrity.”
Are you suggesting in the above quote that Frank Stewart played a role in preserving Washington Park? While Stewart worked on preserving the federal lands at National Park that contained Fort Mercer and the Red Bank battlefield, he played no role at all in Washington Park. As an antiquarian, Stewart did well, but his efforts at documenting history are a bit uneven and heavy handed. All too often he let his own thoughts influence his writings instead of pursuing the truth contained within the primary sources he should have been using.
After the second fire at Washington Park on the Delaware, the amusements closed down and the Joseph A. Campbell Company, forerunner of Campbell Soup, purchased the property as an experimental farm. When the First World War broke out, the federal government arranged a lease of the land and requested the MacArthur Bros. Company to build and operate the Woodbury Bag Loading Plant. This facility featured 247 buildings with each building completed in an average of 10 hours and 48 minutes, such was the press to complete the plant. With the complex up and running, they women who worked there turned out 22 propellant charges per minute. Total production reached over 1.3 million bags of powder. Chances are the brick ruins you found are remnants of the bag-loading plant and not Washington Park on the Delaware.
The amusement parks you named in your message above are all downriver parks. The Smith family operated Soupy Island as a private sanitarium for inner-city youth. Missing from your list are Germania Park and Lincoln Park, both in Billingsport. The upriver parks included the perennial favorite steamboat stop—Island Beach Amusement Park on Burlington Island—and some minor amusements in Beverly and Florence, New Jersey. Parks inland from the river included Rancocas Park, Woodlynne Park, Clementon Lake Park, Pillings Lake Park, Silver Lake Park, Kirkwood, Almonesson Park, Grenloch Park, Whitaker Park, Tumbling Dam Park in Bridgeton, Union Lake Park, Lake Lenape, Lily Lake Park Alcyon Park, Almond Road Park, and Lubins Park or Rainbow Park. Trolley operations owned and operated many of these parks to generate revenue from the fare box.
It was a different era when people could not just jump in their automobiles and drive to the shore or up to Six Flags Great Adventure. The lack of air conditioning drove folks to seek relief from the heat by taking excursions on the Delaware, riding open trolley cars, sitting in a grove of trees by a lake, or riding amusements in their local parks.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
