Citizens Park is 40 Years Old

On one of my infrequent trips to Ridgewood today, I stopped by Citizens Park to pay my respects to the rock. It is a large stone which no doubt was unearthed when the ground was being contoured into a baseball field. It has a bronze plaque with the names of the citizens of Ridgewood, who in 1969 put up the money to purchase the land which they later named Citizens Park. My Dad's name is included, as well as numerous others. I wish I had taken a picture.

The creation of Citizens Park was one of those gestures so typical of the people who Tom Brokaw calls the "Greatest Generation." I am sure they thought it was simply a matter of course. My Dad and Mom never talked about, even though on this site in 1971 my Dad coached my Little League team to a division championship. We were their throughout the spring of that year and not once did he shed his usual modesty and show me the stone.

In retrospect I have come to believe that the men and women of the "Greatest Generation" simply knew in 1969 that the price was right for the land and agreed that if they just ponied up enough money between them it would be a place which could be used by generations to come. They were right and now it is a stellar baseball field with a good amount of park land around it for strolling and simply watching the world go by. This act of foresight may well be taken for granted by the current townsfolk, though anyone with a sense of history knows better.

Today, when I ponder acts of benevolence like this. in the light of our current economic climate. it makes me wonder if we will ever be able to act like this again. It is a gloomy thought which usually passes quickly as I remain an optimist, and know the economy will right itself as it always does in these United States.

On my journey today, I also visited Van Nest Square in the center of town. It was renovated in the 1990s by the "Greatest Generation" as a kind of last defining act by the group of people who had shaped Ridgewood for well over a quarter century. I should have taken a picture of their stone.

We need memories of these people if only to serve as a reminder of what a small group of people can do when they put their minds to it. I tried to Google both sites but have yet to find any mention of these charitable acts. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if there were no mentions on the Internet because that was just how they rolled.