Water Stadium was a grass field and the locals played ball when the field was not in use.

Francis Street ran through the entrance to the Outerbridge. There was a center island with the inspection station, Amboy Diner, Atlantic Bottling and Homes. Saturday Nights watch the police pull over the cars coming from Staten Island (underage drinking).

City Field with the Cardinals and circuses, the little league fields. We played ball on the weekends there.Shull School for basketball. Central Park Savings, tennis, shuffle board and swimming pool. Everyone got along. The High School Teams were good.

Now water stadium is a turf field. Shull School Basketball court is now a teacher’s parking lot. The High School took Central Park the street (Boggs) and the Little League fields . Now there is no parking on the adjacent streets before and after school and weekends.

School teams don’t fare well these days. But they always get new uniforms.

This is Progress? Not to me.

– E.F. Jennings