Branch Brook Park is currently in the midst of a $25 million, ten-year historical restoration project. Maglin was contacted by the landscape architecture firm, Rhodeside & Harwell to recreate the original historic benches.

Using one of the only iron castings in existence today, and the sepia images of times gone by, Maglin was able to reproduce the classic benches using modern materials. Cast aluminum and Ipe wood were used to ensure durability for the generations of park enthusiasts to come.

Brad Garner an associate with Rhodeside & Harwell worked closely with Maglin on the project. "Maglin was selected because of their ability to produce high-quality custom products with a short lead time, for a price comparable to 'off-the-shelf' products. The experience of working with Maglin through design, shop drawings and procurement was a breeze, and as a result the client and owner have established a long term relationship with Maglin for repeat orders of the custom benches."

Branch Brook Park is the largest public park in the city of Newark and a county park of Essex County, New Jersey. Its meandering 360 acres is bordered on the east by Forest Hill - Newark's most affluent neighborhood - as well as the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Basilica, one of the largest cathedrals in the United States.

The park's spectacular collection of 2,700 cherry trees, collectively called Cherry Blossomland, plays host to the Cherry Blossom Festival in April which draws approximately 10,000 visitors each day of the festivities.

Branch Brook Park was formally created in 1895, but grew in the 1920s through private donations from prominent Newark families. The first designs of the park, based largely on romantic garden  themes, were proposed in 1895 and 1898, after the Parks Commission hired several architectural firms to plan the park. In 1900, the commission hired the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted to redesign the park. The result was the park's current combination of  meadowland, woodland, waterfront and gently rolling terrain.

Branch Brook Park, the first county park to be opened for public use in the United States has been placed on both the New Jersey (1980) and National (1981) Registers of Historic Places. During World War II, the park's grounds served as tent city for recruits, as well as a landing strip for airplanes of the United States Postal Service.

For more information on the Branch Brook Park Alliance, please click here.