Location: Between Mountain Ave, Park Ave, and Orchard Street. Parking is available near the Carriage House at 11 Park Ave or near the playground, basketball courts, and turf fields at 8 Orchard Street.

Description:

Borough Park sits in the heart of Mendham Borough with a lot of open space and lively action. Borough Park boasts:

  • 3 Baseball Fields - Baseball Doubleday Field (Borough Park Gazebo Area - first image), Elliott Baseball Field with Scoreboard (Borough Park Upper Area - second image), and Lenape Field (Borough Park Lower Area - third image) which are all available for public use and can be reserved here

Doubleday Baseball Field with PlaqueElliott Baseball FieldLenape Field

  • Gazebo which is available for public use and can be reserved here

Gazebo

  • Veteran's Memorial Borough Park which you can learn more about here

Veterans Memorial at Borough Park

  • Carriage House which is available for public use and can be reserved here

Carriage House

  • 2 Tennis Courts (Orchard Court in the first image and Park Court in the second image) which are both available for public use and can be reserved here

Orchard Tennis CourtPark Tennis CourtTennis Court Exterior

  • 2 Basketball Courts

Basketball Half CourtBasketball Hoop

  • Gaga Pit

Gaga Pit

  • Playground

PlaygroundPlayground

  • 2 Turf Fields - First Responders Soccer Turf Fields 1 & 2 (near the fire station area) which are both available for public use and can be reserved here

Turf Fields

Borough Park has so much to offer - it is the perfect place for every family to enjoy. Whether you want to play baseball, tennis, basketball, soccer, or volleyball; play on the playground; or enjoy a picnic, Borough Park has it all. Everything is open to the public, but certain fields can be reserved ahead of time. In addition, there are Carnival Fireworksnumerous little league games that take place here, so it's the perfect place to enjoy watching a game. Borough Park is also the home of the Labor Day Carnival, movies in the park, concerts, Mendham Borough Day Camp, and more. It is truly the hub and heart of Mendham Borough!

History:

Located in the center of town, land for the Borough Park was purchased from the Babbitt sisters in 1923 for $3,500. The next year, Amzie Chambers offered to sell the Borough a strip of land that would become Orchard Street, and he donated land that is now Park Street, thus creating most of the current park boundaries. By 1945, the park needed substantial renovation, and Cyril Birch has been credited for organizing the Mendham Borough Fire Department as the source of labor to upgrade the facilities. Birch also donated maple and fir trees that lined the park, and for several years he had his employees maintain the land.

Welcome SignSome seventy-five years later, the Borough council approved funds to renovate the ballfields and parking lot, but it rejected the plans for a building to house lavatories, storage areas, and even a snack bar because it was too expensive. However, the cinder-block “shack” was crumbling down around the Little League volunteers and was in danger of being condemned.

As luck would have it, builder Pat O’Neill was working on a project off Prospect Street. Although he doesn’t recall exactly who, when, or why the idea occurred, a notion developed that perhaps a historic 1800s carriage house doomed for destruction on the property right-of-way could be moved to the park. Developer Kevin Wilk, architect Nick Cusano, and Councilmen Larry Haverkost and John Andrus put their heads together, and it was deemed possible. With some architectural renovations included, Pat presented the Borough with an unimaginable and unanticipated gift: if the Borough would remove the old shack and prepare the foundation, he would absorb the expense of moving the structure to the ballpark.

It wasn’t long before the Carriage House, loaded on a huge trailer, was inching its way down Muirfield and Heather Hill, up Hilltop, and down Mountain to the park. Now resting securely between three baseball diamonds, the Carriage House serves as a shelter, storage facility, and meeting room for summer day camp and for all who use the fields. Thoroughly unique in its design and shaded by trees planted in memory of Debby Gaffney and Peter Kenny, the structure both overshadows the more modern options and visually appears a perfect fit for its location.

In 2025, Mendham Borough acquired land from Mendham United Methodist Church and will develop a 1/3-mile loop trail through Borough Park as well as establish an arboretum. This will be done with the help of a Morris County Trails Planning grant. It is currently in the planning phase, but in the near future, construction will begin and bring even more life to Borough Park.

 

Sources:

  • The Centennial Book Committee. Reflections on a Community: Mendham Borough - the Centennial 1906–2006. Online PDF

  • Emmons, Catherine M. Through the Years in Mendham Borough. 1973.

  • Various Photographs from Daniel Malikov through his Eagle Scout Project