Garden State Park Racetrack

Garden State Park was a harness and thoroughbred race track in Cherry Hill, Camden County, New Jersey.

Garden State Park's 600 acre (≈1 square mile) land area is roughly bounded by Route 70, Haddonfield Road, Chapel Avenue, and New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Rail Line.

[1] Due to the seizure of 30,000 tons of structural steel by war authorities, developer Eugene Mori[2] mostly constructed Garden State Park's ornate Georgian-style grandstand of wood.

This dinner nightclub hosted acts like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Liberace, Cherry Hill Estates neighbors Al Martino & Frankie Avalon and more; before closing due to competition from casinos in Atlantic City.

The "Golden Triangle" lost a leg on April 14, 1977, when a fire raged undetected at Garden State Park in the Colonial Room restaurant's kitchen during a racing program.

Despite the flying embers nearly igniting The Rickshaw Inn across the street and the wooden barns and stables on the backstretch, the damage was contained to the massive grandstand complex.

One patron (Ed Bucholski) and one employee were later found in the rubble, and one fire officer (John McWilliams) died of a heart attack on-scene.

The retail section includes Costco, Wegmans, Home Depot, and Best Buy, and restaurants such as Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Panera Bread, Chick Fil-A, and Starbucks Coffee, The Cheesecake Factory, and Brio Tuscan Grille.

[4] There have been plans by Parx Casino and Racing and Penn National Gaming, in a partnership, to build an Off Track Betting Parlor at the site of the former raceway near the lone standing entrance gate.