Middlesex County's Newest Park Will Be On Perth Amboy Waterfront

PERTH AMBOY, NJ — Middlesex County will soon unveil its newest county park, to be located on the Perth Amboy waterfront and scheduled to open in the next coming months.

The park will be located at 500 High Street in Perth Amboy. It is not open yet.

The park will be named Thomas Mundy Peterson Park, in honor of Peterson, a Perth Amboy resident and the first African American to vote in the United States after the 15th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution, which gave African American men the right to vote.

The park will include a synthetic turf multi-use field that can host soccer or football; a second synthetic turf field for softball and baseball (it will include a portable mound); a waterfront walkway with views of the Arthur Kill and park benches.

The park will have its own parking lot and comfort stations (bathrooms) for visitors.

An exact opening date has not been set. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony and dedication will be announced at a date later in 2021.

This will be the nineteenth park in Middlesex County’s park system.

The park is located in a designated brownfield area that has been identified as an area in need of development.

As such, Middlesex County received $2.5 million from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program to build the park and $1.35 million from the Office of Natural Resource Restoration to improve public access to the Newark Bay/Arthur Kill.

“Through its location along the Arthur Kill in Perth Amboy, Thomas Mundy Peterson Park will provide wonderful outdoor space for Middlesex County residents to enjoy," said County Commissioner Charles Tomaro. "This project was made possible thanks to the substantial financial and logistical support of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which helped fund the cleanup of the land and construction of the park’s amenities and helped ensure its successful completion."

“The new Thomas Mundy Peterson Park will showcase our city’s beautiful waterfront and serve as a location for our community to gather and enjoy the outdoors," said Perth Amboy Mayor Helmin Caba.

Some Middlesex County African-American history:

Peterson was a Perth Amboy resident whose mother was a former slave. He was born on October 6, 1824 in what is now Metuchen. His father, also Thomas, was a freedman who worked and lived on the farm of Ezra Mundy and both father and son would sometimes adopt the Mundy last name. The Peterson family moved to Perth Amboy in 1828. Records indicate that Peterson worked several jobs throughout his lifetime, including as a janitor at Perth Amboy’s School No. 1. That school is now named the Thomas Peterson Elementary School in his honor.

On March 31, 1870, Peterson voted in a local Perth Amboy election, which asked if the citizens of Perth Amboy would accept or reject revisions that had been made to their city’s charter. Peterson voted in favor of the revisions, which were accepted by a vote of 230 to 63. When additional minor changes were required in January of 1871, Peterson was among the seven men appointed to the committee to make those changes. By dropping his ballot into the box, Peterson made history as the first African American man in the nation to cast a vote under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had been certified as law the previous day.

Peterson’s vote in 1870 was the start of a lifetime of civic engagement. He voted in every election he could for the rest of his life. After serving on the committee to revise the city of Perth Amboy charter, he served as a delegate at the Middlesex County Republican Convention, likely in 1880.

Records show that by 1886, Peterson had left the Republican Party to be a delegate in the New Jersey gubernatorial convention of the Prohibition Party. According to historians, Peterson felt that the Republican Party had not adequately addressed the problems of alcoholism that he saw as damaging to his race.

Peterson also served as a Middlesex County juror, and evidence suggests that he ran, albeit unsuccessfully, for elected office several times.

In 1884, a bi-partisan committee confirmed that the March 31, 1870 Perth Amboy ballot was the first election held in the nation after the ratification and adoption of the 15th Amendment, making Peterson the first African American man to cast a vote in the country under the new law. Peterson was presented with a gold medal recognizing this achievement on May 30, 1884 – then known as Decoration Day but now officially known as Memorial Day.

Peterson reportedly wore his medal proudly each week to services at Perth Amboy’s St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. He died in Perth Amboy on February 4, 1904 at the age of 79.

On April 3, 1998, the New Jersey Legislature passed a resolution that March 31 be known throughout the state as Thomas Mundy Peterson Day.

“It is with great pleasure that I announce, on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners, the naming of our newest County park in honor of Thomas Mundy Peterson,” said Middlesex County Commissioner Director Ronald Rios. “Naming this beautiful waterfront park in his honor is a fitting tribute to a Perth Amboy resident and American citizen whose simple act of casting a ballot marked a turning point in the history of our nation."

Be the first to know. Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com