Sperry Park (a.k.a. the Sperry Section of the Rahway River Park)

Cranford, Union County, New Jersey

Geology:

the park borders the Rahway River

History:

The donator of the park was William Miller Sperry (1839 - 1927).

1859 – William M. Sperry born at Bristol, Tennessee. His father was a Knoxville newspaper editor and supporter of the Confederate cause, was active in the Civil War.

1890 – Sperry married Carrie M. Whitehead in New York City. They had one daughter.

1891 – Mrs. Sperry died.

1896 – brother Thomas A. Sperry originally founded the S&H firm.

1897 -- in Chicago Sperry married Emily L. Mooney. They had three daughters.

1898 – William Miller Sperry came to Cranford.

He and two of his brothers Thomas Alexander Sperry and Joseph Austin Sperry had much to do with the development of the Cranford community.

c. 1901 – Sperry purchased a half interest in The Sperry and Hutchinson Company, distributors of S&H Green Stamps and succeeded his brother as president.

William M. Sperry was one of the founders and later president of the Cranford National Bank. He was also a director of the Cranford Mutual Building and Loan Association, now the Cranford Savings and Loan Association.

Sperry remodeled the old "Opera House" block on North Avenue west, after a disastrous fire. The building now houses the Suburban Trust Company.

1906 – he erected the Sperry Building in downtown Cranford which still bears his name.

1927 – Sperry dies at Roosevelt Hospital, New York.

Habitats:

There was a lagoon formed by a dam across the Rahway River which served as the focal point of the Annual Cranford Venetian Water Carnival, probably the most entertaining and popular event of the time.