New sign coming to Habernickel Park in Ridgewood
Wednesday June 12, 2013, 10:52 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
The Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands’ (CRPL) proposal to install a new sign by one of the village’s flagship parks is expected to receive the seal of approval at Wednesday’s council meeting.
Ridgewood council members will vote on a resolution accepting and approving CRPL’s donation of a large rock with bronze plaque bearing the name “Habernickel Park, Ridgewood.” The rock and sign will be placed at the entryway to the Irene Habernickel Family Park on Hillcrest Road.
Funding for the new land marker will come entirely through donations and fundraisers conducted in recent months by CRPL members. The organization formed last fall with the mission of raising money to beautify and preserve Ridgewood parks and open space.
“We started this in October with the opening of Habernickel Park, and we wanted to put in an entrance sign,” said MaryBeth Lane, CRPL president.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/recreation/211197271_New_sign_coming_to_Habernickel_Park_in_Ridgewood.html#sthash.TRigmeOf.dpuf
It used to be a nice park.
Now its just another soccer field.
Soon it will be a mud hole just like the former Citizens’ “Park’ which is now just another sports field.
What a disgrace.
RIP Ridgewood ‘Parks’.
Sports nuts win again.
Enough big rocks and people thanking themselves for nothing.
Why did we name it “Habernickel Park”? Ddn’t the village and state buy the property?
I agree. It was obtained for ‘market price’ and not a discount. It should be called ‘Hillcrest Soccer Field’. Thats what it is. Why name it for someone who didn’t give it to the town?
Did they pay for maming rights? If not then Hillcrest Field is a good name.
Is the name really Habernackle Park or is that just what the Ridgewood Conservency calls it?
A plaque. Soon his daughter will get him a wing at the valley expansion. It is all about the legacy.
I wish they’d go in and preserve Grove Park from the residents along Berkshire Road who go in, chop down protected trees in a wetland so they can put up solar panels.
Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands is another organization looking for donations. Is this the best use of donated funds?
We are deluged with requests from organizations for donations. It is time we stop and look at the “charitable” activities before we give our limited funds.
Habernickel looks great! Great job by all involved in creating a multi-use facility that fills a lot of needs and still fits in beautifully with that neighborhood. Once the field is “fixed” it will be a great asset for the town.
Abutters purchased their homes next to another single family dwelling. Not next to a soccer field.
Unlike those who bought on linwood or steilen, they paid market price.
Habernackle looks great, but why is it named after the person who sold it to the town? Why not Hillcrest field? It even sounds better.
Thank the Village’s Boy Scouts for the good works at Habernickel (and elsewhere around town and in our schools). More than a few of those nice amenities have been Eagle Scout service projects. They boys have donated hundreds of hours of planning and labor this year.
who is going to do all the cleaning . the parks dept is down to 4 workers. they had 7 a few years a go.
My name is Richard Huffman and I am writing to give a little history on the property that is now known as the Habernickel Family Park. I lived on the farm from 1950 until 1977. My dad, Arthur C. Huffman, bought it in disrepair from a doctor who had previously bought it years before to become a recuperative home for his sickly child who suffered from breathing problems. The doctor spent a huge amount of money and time planting many of the beautiful trees that now grace the property, hoping that they would help his child,s breathing problems, but, unfortunately, the child died before the project was completed, We named the property Sweetbriar Farms. My dad founded Huffman & Boyle Furniture (later Huffman-Koos) and was a prominent member of the community. Over the years, the farm was always open to the public. Ice skating on the pond all winter, fishing in the summer, Boy Scout campouts in the lower fields, and hiking through the woods. The Kuiphers (Habernickel) family bought the farm part of the the property from my dad in the late 1970s and, in 1986, bought the last 2 acres where our house was located after my father had passed away. I am suprised that the that the town chose to name the park after the prior owners since, at $7.4 million, it was in no way a charitable donation by the Habernickel family. They made a very handsome profit on the sale to the town. A more appropriate name for the park would have been Hillcrest Park,
Richard Huffman, I read your comment. My dad has stated the same thing as you. However I cannot find any info on this property. To my knowledge prior to the docore owning it and maybe a few others my dad’s family owned it. Yes there was lots of property. He is saying when the wife remarried they moved over to by Westwood were they owned another house.
I you have any other info like the name of the doctor that owned it I’d appreciate it.