At a little over ten acres, Riverbank Park in the Ironbound is the smallest park in the Essex County Park system, yet one of the most heavily used. Riverbank Park is a tiny spot of green in the most densely populated part of Newark and one of the best parks anywhere along the Passaic River. The driving spirit behind Riverbank Park was none other than Franklin Murphy. The Murphy Varnish Company was
in the Ironbound and Murphy wanted people like his workers to have a patch of green and a place to swim in their own neighborhood. Murphy loved Weequahic and Branch Brook Parks, but he realized that they were remote from the densely populated, working class portions of Essex County. Interestingly, the Ironbound was not always Iron bound. At the time American Revolution, what is now Riverbank Park was Newark's Mayfair. As industry took up residence, Newark's society gradually left for greener pastures on the west side of the city, except one Miss Anna Ward, in whose person was combined the bloodlines and fortunes of the Ward and Doughty families. Miss Ward had been a vivacious teenager whose interest in art took her to Paris in the 1850s. Returning to Newark in 1860, Miss Ward immediately cosseted herself in her maternal grandfather's 30 room Passaic River mansion, never venturing out for any reason except her sister's funeral at Mt. As mansions were replaced by tenements and lawns were replaced by smoking factories, Miss Ward continued her isolation, with only cats, antique furnishings, and her late father's large library to keep her company.
