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henry_sqared t1_ivtncv6 wrote

Old timers know this as Mosquito Park. It's also the best sledding in the city.

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EliotHudson t1_ivvgbx1 wrote

Fun fact: the buffalo and wolf sculptures in that park were sculpted by an artist whose brother sculpted Mt Rushmore!

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Accurate-Positive-37 t1_ivty3ox wrote

Was it nicknamed mosquito park due to drug use there? A friend asked me about that recently and that was my assumption.

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Chris_NJ t1_ivu4um8 wrote

I have heard 2 stories on the origin of the name. One is that mosquitos would come when the wind blew from the west over all the pig farms of Secaucus. The other is that water coming up from an underwater spring in the park attracted mosquitos. Personally, I don't recall getting bitten there.

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fandagan t1_ivu8fnx wrote

I live right around here and go there often. Mosquitos are more a problem in the surrounding streets than in the park itself thanks to unkempt grass/weeds and standing water. The park itself, while in need of some TLC, is at least trimmed and maintained which means fewer places for pests to hide and thrive. Maybe that wasn't always the case.

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rbastid t1_ivujndb wrote

I don't think so. My father was from around there and they called it that 70 years ago in his childhood.

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mookybelltolls t1_ivwchc4 wrote

Mosquito park was called that because it is still very wet in the back, and so was full of them. People slept under nets especially on the west side. There was yellow fever, malaria and encephalitis.

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