Queen Victoria Park
Queen Victoria Park is the main parkland located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada opposite the American and Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Established by the Niagara Falls Park Act in 1885[1] and opened in 1888,[2] the park is operated by the Niagara Parks Commission and is considered the centerpiece of the Niagara Falls recreational tourist area.
The park is known for its outstanding flower displays of
History
Prior to 1888
The area comprising Queen Victoria Park was originally part of the upper
Samuel Zimmerman, who built his fortune on helping construct the second Welland Canal and the Great Western Railway, then appropriated 52 acres (210,000 m2) of land opposite the American Falls with plans to design an elaborate estate. The estate did not come to pass; upon Zimmerman's tragic death in a railway accident in 1856, only two gatehouses and a fountain had been built.
By the late 1850s, Saul Davis came to Canada after having operated the Prospect House in
By 1859, Barnett built a substantial building on the site of the present-day Victoria Park Restaurant and began adding to his museum collection there, yet his war with Davis at the Falls would last into the 1870s, when Barnett's riverfront museum went into receivership.
The first suggestion of a park at this site came in 1873 as an idea offered by Edmund Burke Wood, a member of Canadian Parliament, in an effort to quell the criminal element in the area. This idea was refused, however, by the new Ontario Premier, Oliver Mowat, even when given a federal offer to split the cost of establishing such a park. By 1880, Mowat began considering the possibility of using a private corporation to take on the idea. Several proposals were floated in the ensuing years, all either struck down by Mowat or failing to get legislative backing. Mowat did not want the government to pay for land acquisition and development.
A three-member committee was established in 1885,[3] headed by Polish immigrant Sir Casimir Gzowski, who proposed a government-run park encompassing 118 acres (0.48 km2), to be free to the public. A follow-up report in 1887 warning of "general regret and disappointment" convinced Mowat to push through the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park Act in March, 1887. Unsightly outbuildings were razed, grounds were cleaned up, and Queen Victoria Park was officially opened to the public on May 24, 1888, the birthday of Queen Victoria.[2]
1888 to 1945
Admittance to the new park was free, a charge was only levied if visitors requested tour guides to accompany them. By 1890, however, it was found that incoming revenue was 90% below what the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park Commission was budgeting for. Not wanting to ask the Provincial Government for bonds, the Commission granted a licence to the Niagara Falls and Park River Railway to run a rail route from
A refectory (1926) and administration building (1927) were built by
The original
The Queenston/Chippawa Railway abandoned its lease in 1932, presenting the commission with further financial peril. Compensation to the railway went to arbitration and lasted nearly five years, ending with a million-dollar compensation order paid for by the commission. This judgment, along with the approach of World War II, restricted the commission's ability to make improvements to the Park until the late 1940s.
See also
References
- ^ "Tourism in Ontario: Government and the Tourism Industry - Growth of the Park System". Archives of Ontario. Queen's Printer for Ontario. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ a b "First provincial park was in Niagara Falls". NiagaraFallsReview.ca. Niagara Falls Review. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ a b c Plaques & Markers, Queen Victoria Park - Niagara Parks Commission
- ^ Findlay, Claude Alexander, Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada