|
 The
real estate that is now Briant Park was originally part of the
Oliver J. Hayes (1802-1861) homestead. In the mid-nineteenth
century the Hayes estate was comprised of 270 acres located
between Morris Turnpike and Springfield Avenue and from Hobart
Avenue and the railroad, with the exception of a tract facing on
Hobart Avenue and extending from Whittredge Road to the
Turnpike.
When
Mr. Hayes died, his will provided that the property could not be
divided or sold during the lifetime of his daughters, Mrs.
Elizabeth Van Ness and Miss Sarah B. Hayes. They were to enjoy
the income from it and on their death it was to go to the three
children of Mrs. Van Ness. Miss Hayes built a home on the
property at 63 Prospect Hill Avenue that was paid for from her
own private funds.
In
1896 Miss Hayes filed a petition to annul that portion of the
will that prohibited the sale of the property. The net income
from the estate was only a few hundred dollars a year and was no
longer supporting the family. The court had previously approved
the sale of portions of the property over the years. There
remained about 150 acres, practically all of which was still
wooded that was appraised at about $750 per acre. The Van Ness
children opposed the petition, but to spite that, the next year
the court approved the sale of the Springfield Avenue front,
including the homestead property, and the Hobart Avenue front.
The
caretaker of the Hayes Estate in 1859 was William H. Briant
(1827-1912). He was the son of Aaron Briant, who had farmed the
area before him, and the great- great-grandson of Cornelius
Briant who settled the family in Springfield in 1717.
William Briant
lived in a large concrete house that currently stands at 175
Springfield Avenue. At the turn of the century wings were added
to the house and it was further remodeled in the 1980s. In about
1867 he built the home at 16 Briant Parkway, which also still
stands but has been greatly altered (see the picture at the
right.)
William
Briant built a dam creating a 12-acre spring-fed lake (then
known as Spring Lake, now Briant Pond) that abounded in fish and
was surrounded by spacious woodland. Below the dam he ran a mill
which had a huge wheel to grind wheat, rye, corn, and buckwheat.
Two large icehouses were built on the property, and the local
area obtained practically all of its ice supply from the pond.
Skaters from the surrounding communities spent many happy hours
there when the ice was good. There was a boathouse where
rowboats were rented out in the summer and a picnic grove that
was open to all, free of charge, for many years. The Summit
Record of December 18, 1897, reported that between 1866 and
1870, "George M. Tingley was engaged in a general grocery
business in the building known as Briant's Mill, which is still
standing near the lake in Huntley. Briant built several houses
in the Huntley area along lower Springfield Avenue. The small
Huntley railroad station stood at 24 Caldwell Avenue until 1905.
The
dam got washed out by a flood in 1888 and was rebuilt in 1889.
However, the rebuild was much lower and caused the pond to be
reduced from 12 to only 7 acres. The dam that stands
today at the East end of the pond is reportedly a rebuild by the
WPA during The Great Depression of the thirties.
At
some point William Briant took ownership to the property or a
part of it, but no records have been found to support the
details of this transaction. In 1930 the estate of Mr.
Briant sold the remaining property, including the ten-bedroom
home, to the Union County Park Commission. Briant, who had been
a Union County Freeholder, had apparently specified this
transaction in his will.
Today
the park is comprised of 30.3 acres and is collocated
within the City Of Summit and the Township Of Springfield.
Thanks to William H. Briant, many area residents to this day
enjoy Briant Park on a regular basis. |
