Vintage Road Horse Assoc. N.J. Pinback button from the 1930 - 31st Annual Banquet for the Association

Eighteenth-century horse racing began along the eastern end of Market Street. It put a big dent in Newark's Puritan society, but not until the 19th century did serious racing flower at the old Waverly Fair Grounds, now Weequahic Park.

The agricultural fairs included much attention to this simple country pursuit, and in 1857, the Waverly Fair became associated with the Gentlemen's Driving Club, which sponsored races on Saturday afternoons and summer holidays. In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant attended the Newark races when he came to town to inaugurate the great Newark Industrial Exhibition.Generally, the season extended from Memorial Day until Columbus Day and was a "splendid period in the city's sporting history." But as the country began to celebrate the "City Beautiful" movement, local leaders took interest instead in decorating public buildings with artwork. Outdoor sculpture came to be placed in public spaces and great parks were planned for unattractive or unoccupied land. In Newark, the old New Jersey Agricultural Fair Grounds were converted to Weequahic Park by the newly established Essex County Park Commission in 1897.

Racing continued to be popular, and later a stadium was built for the Newark trotters. Here, horse racing was presented under the sponsorship of the New Jersey Road and Horse Association until 1943, when the track was taken over in World War II for soldiers' housing.

In 1955, horse racing was resumed under the direction of the Weequahic Park Amateur Trotting Club and continued until 1961. By 1963, the track was no longer being used for horses, but it was "to be used for more general recreation." Finally, in the early 1990s the old grandstand, which was such a landmark, was razed.

OFF TO THE FIRE

A romantic and dashing example of local horsepower is in the pages of Newark's fire history -- extending from the end of the Civil War until the early 1920s. At that time, horses pulled the city's great steam fire engines. Before the Civil War, Newark's fire equipment was pulled to a fire by firemen who then had to fight the blaze but often were exhausted. But about the time of the Civil War, well-trained horses were assembled to get to the scene of a fire.

On one occasion, the Newark News noted: "No finer sight was ever seen than the three-horse-hitch on both Engine 1 and Truck 1, rushing out of quarters in Broad Street near where Branford Place is now, and thundering to the alarm. The pure white horses on these pieces of apparatus surely made a stirring picture." After arriving at the fire scene, "the horses were calm no matter how fierce the fire, no matter how great the excitement. They and the engineer were the calmest ones at the blaze."

But as times changed, so did firefighting techniques. After 1910, the first motorized truck appeared. By 1922 and 1923, the last of the great horse-driven engines was replaced. In 1922, Brownie, Baby and Bunk pulled Hook and Ladder Company No. 8 for the last time from its home at 471 Ferry St. "The rumbling wheels and squeaky traces merely announced that the last horse-drawn hook and ladder truck of the city was being scrapped, and a powerful motor apparatus replacing it. The horses were reassigned," published reports say.

Finally, on Dec. 20, 1923, the fire horses responded to the last alarm. The horses did not know that they had left the firehouse for the last time. When the alarm sounded, they rushed out and dashed a short way down the street. When they returned, a motorized pumper had taken their place in the engine house. After this historic run, the horses were turned over to the Department of Street and Public Improvement and put to work drawing refuse wagons. Jerry, Pete and Baby were the three horses "never to run a rescue mission again."

19TH-CENTURY GAS STATIONS

Just as the modern gasoline filling station supplies all the essentials to operate an auto, the livery stable supplied many needs of the horse-and-buggy era. If one were wealthy, one probably had one's own stable. But as time passed, even fewer horses and stables were available. In 1955, there were only 25 livery stables housing 700 horses, which included Morgans, a good saddle horse; Clydesdales, a good workhorse, and miscellaneous Appaloosas and cow ponies. By the 1960s, Milton George, who had been in the horse-renting business for 50 years, shut his business at 92 Charlton St. for lack of customers.

Late in the 19th century, several commercial histories listed some of the best-known stables. David Cody's Livery Stables at 53-55 East Kinney St. included a carriage house. F.W. Munn's Livery Stable at 76 Chestnut St. was the "largest and best livery and boarding place in the City of Newark," and Clayton and Hoff Co., located on the western side of Halsey Street, "included not only horses for hire but elegant buggies, carriages, coaches and landaus in an immense number of styles and attractive patterns."

The era of the horse was fast disappearing. The horse and peddler were being replaced as the supermarket sent both Old Nelly and the familiar peddler into oblivion. The cost of oats and the problem of finding a blacksmith to repair a broken horseshoe further complicated the problem. The battle between the motor and the horse seemed over.

While horse auctions are no longer held in the back streets near Washington Park, races are no longer run in Weequahic Park on Saturday afternoons, Springfield Avenue is no longer the site of brightly painted horse-cars, and three mighty equines no longer pull smoking steam engines to a blazing inferno, horses are still to be found on downtown streets. Their presence is due to the Mounted Squad of the Newark Police Department.

Founded in 1894, and temporarily disbanded in 1975, it was reactivated in 1988. Critics call it a luxury; however, when the facts are known, it provides fundamental service to all involved. Sitting astride a commanding horse, police officers have better visibility and mobility than a small group of officers. "They are faster than a cop on foot, they can patrol as slowly and as closely as a footman and see a lot better because they are higher up. And they can go places where a police car or motorcycle can't go. And faster that a foot cop," reports say.

While these points are valuable to good police service, the tradition of the mounted squad adds its own special magic to Newark, or any other place that employs them. A successful mounted officer on patrol and horse receive special training, a process which takes approximately eight weeks, "and from the beginning you have to let them (the horse) know that you're the boss." One officer said, "I treat my horse like a child, you teach them the difference between right and wrong. They stand real nice in a crowd."

Most of the horses are named for police brass, with the exception of Sharpe Shooter, named after Mayor Sharpe James. Other names include General Grant, a dappled gray, Billy C., named for former police director Celester, and Johnny M., named for former Mounted Squad member John Morello, following his retirement.

One policeman said, "I still say a horse cop does the job as much as a foot cop and does it better. He's worth 20 cops on foot."