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=== Historic figures === Though no known Cranford residents died in the [[American Civil War]], at least 22 were active in the [[Union Army]] at the time of General [[Robert E. Lee]]'s surrender. Cranford's last surviving Civil War veteran died in 1935.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Glazer|first=Steven|title=Cranford and the End of the Civil War|publisher=Cranford Historical Society|pages=1β4}}</ref> James E. Warner is a former sheriff of Union County who was the namesake of the James E. Warner Plaza at the [[Cranford station|Cranford Train Station]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps?cid=12008470322331235572&hl=en&gl=us&shorturl=1|title=Google Maps|website=Google Maps}}</ref> Concerned by the then-growing pollution of the Rahway given the cleaner waters of his youth, Warner advocated for the preservation of the [[Rahway River]] and Rahway River Parkway parkland. One of Sheriff Warner's successful targets in fighting Rahway River pollution was his battle against the discharge of paper makers; one such site is now the [[regional theater]] known as the [[Paper Mill Playhouse]] in [[Millburn, New Jersey|Millburn]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gS0xAQAAMAAJ|title=Report of the State Sewerage Commission to the Legislature ...|author=New Jersey Sewerage Commission|date=December 15, 1902|publisher=State Printers|via=Google Books}}</ref> The [[Cranford Canoe Club]], built in 1908, continues to offer canoes and kayaks for rent on the river in town. Charles Hansel<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/57736040@N03/sets/72157625725498294 Charles Hansel (1859β1936)], [[Flickr]]. Accessed October 3, 2017.</ref> was co-founder of the Union County Parks Commission that preserved parkland all along the [[Rahway River]] and its tributaries in the 1920s, a greenway now known as the [[Rahway River Parkway]].<ref>[http://www.rahwayriverparkway.org/it-takes-a-village.html It Takes a Village... and a park commission] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203000615/http://www.rahwayriverparkway.org/it-takes-a-village.html |date=December 3, 2016 }}, Friends of the Rahway River Parkway. Accessed August 14, 2017.</ref> He was an engineer for the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] and [[Central Railroad of New Jersey]]. Hansel lived in the 300 block of North Union Avenue in a home that still stands today, later moving to what is now Gray's Funeral Home, near what is now called Hansel's Dam by [[William Miller Sperry|Sperry Park]]. For his [[Rahway River]] preservation efforts, a memorial copper plaque was placed to Hansel in [[Echo Lake Country Club|Echo Lake Park]].<ref>[http://lh4.ggpht.com/XlIFB_tmwTRm-h5cd_mza6P3BM5QP38Me2zYFLeiojOoARCT7Wst2mmm5ZJM_iIsHMUqz5HqsdZf44Qw7fg Charles Hansel plaque], Accessed October 3, 2017.</ref> [[File:Joshua Bryant Chrome.jpg|thumb|Joshua Bryant (1852β1898) was Cranford's first Black law enforcement officer, the township's first Black elected official, and an influential figure in local politics. He was born in Virginia during slavery and moved to Cranford. Bryant is buried locally in [[Fairview Cemetery (Westfield, New Jersey)|Fairview Cemetery & Arboretum]].]] Joshua Bryant was Cranford's first Black law enforcement officer and the township's first Black elected official.<ref>Fridlington, Robert J. [http://www.nj.com/cranford/index.ssf/2012/02/remembering_joshua_bryant_a_pr.html "Remembering Joshua Bryant, a prominent figure in Cranford's history"], ''Cranford Chronicle'', February 10, 2012. Accessed October 28, 2016. "Without formal training and despite prevailing attitudes, he became Cranford's first African-American law enforcement officer, the first African-American elected to public office in the township, and an influential figure in local politics."</ref> William P. Westervelt was credited with thwarting the [[Baltimore Plot]], an unsuccessful assassination attempt against president-elect [[Abraham Lincoln]]. He did so by cutting telegraph wires that would have alerted assassins to Lincoln's arrival.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Abraham Lincoln and Cranford|url=https://www.tapinto.net/columns/guest-column/articles/abraham-lincoln-and-cranford|access-date=2021-03-28|website=TAPinto|language=en}}</ref>
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