Part Six: 1913 to 1928
In 1913 the parks board found a new project. A farm fronting on the north shore of the bay directly across from Hamilton was offered for sale and the board saw an opportunity to establish a bathing beach and picnic area. The scheme was endorsed by the city council and the two parties worked together to effect the purchase. In the past, new park purchases, which required expenditures beyond the scope of the one-half mill budget had been presented to the electorate for approval. For the beach purchase this process was not followed. Instead
| by an Act of the Legislature of the Province of Ontario, entitled an Act Respecting the City of Hamilton, assented to on the 6th day of May, 1913, power was given to this Council, without submitting the same to the ratepayers qualified to vote on by-laws for the creation of debts, to pass a by-law authorizing the issue of debentures for an amount not exceeding $50,000 for the purpose of completing the purchase of certain lands for the extension of the Parks System of the said City.[65] |
It appears that the project was considered too important to risk the chance that the ratepayers might turn it down. They had rejected a parks debenture by-law in 1912.[66] The parks board may also have realized that they would have difficulty justifying acquiring more park land when they were actively seeking industrial buyers for the land they already held on Sherman Avenue.
Toronto, in 1913, was developing a plan for improving all water front land not suitable for commercial or industrial uses. They were going to
| provide concrete breakwaters east and west of our island park to the extreme limits of the city for shore preservation; to provide attractive promenades, driveways and board walks as well as bridle paths along our entire water-front park area...to provide recreation piers ..bathing beaches, playgrounds and outdoor amusement reservations as additions to parks such as add to the health and enjoyment of summer by the waterside.[67] |
Toronto was Hamilton's chief rival and the development it proposed would give it an advantage in the competition for new industry. This reason for the Wabasso purchase does not appear explicitly in the parks board minutes. However, it is implicit in the board's development of the park. Wabasso was patterned after the Toronto scheme. A beach was cleared and a pavilion and wharf were built. The new park was publicized in a pamphlet promoting Hamilton's amenities.
| And where Bay and Lake are seperated by Burlington Beach, Hamilton has its summer playgrounds--a natural resort unsurpassed on the continent.[68] |
The purchase and development of Wabasso Park can be viewed as a booster scheme jointly conceived by the city council and the parks board in response to the threat the Toronto water front plan was perceived to pose to the city.
What was to become a radical change in the direction of the public parks movement began during the first world war. The war effort emphasized the benefits to the country of a physically fit population. Involvement in sports was promoted as one means of becoming physically fit.[69] As more and more people became involved in athletic activities the old private clubs and playing grounds could not, and indeed were not designed to accomodate them.[70] The playground movenent had paved the way for the suggestion that park's would be more useful to city dwellers if athletic facilities were located within them.[71]
The Hamilton Trades and Labour council had promoted playing fields in parks since the development of Victoria Park. They had had only minor successes. Baseball fields had been allowed at Victoria and Dundurn and skating rinks were provided on park land in the winter months. The council had protested the inequity of the private athletic facility.[72] Many of their members could not afford the membership fees. Until the war their suggestions had fallen on deaf ears at the parks board. By the end of the war both the parks board and the city council were actively seeking to make more sports facilities available within the city.
In 1919 the city council approached the parks board with the suggestion that an athletic field could be developed on land the city had acquired within the Scott survey in the east of the city. A playground, a free sports field, and an enclosed sports field where an admission could be charged would be developed by the city and then the land and the facilities would be turned over [73] to the parks board. The parks board agreed and the Hamilton ratepayers passed a by-law approving the development of the Scott athletic grounds and improvements to other city parks in 1920. It is likely that Mr. Scott also approved the city's actions. He had designated the area as Central Park in his survey plans and had several times asked the parks board to buy the land from him.[74]
With the prospect of the new athletic grounds before them and facing increasing requests for accomodation by sports groups the Board of Park Management decided in 1920 to set up a Recreation and Games committee
| 1) to control all portions of parks set out
for games or other purposes 2) to supervise all athletic events in parks 3) to arrange league schedules to provide maximum accomodation of amateur clubs in various sports 4) to lay out and set aside portions of parks for specified athletics 5) to provide suitable sites for open air rinks [75] |
In a press release the chairman of the new committee declared that
| the time has come when municipalities must foster and encourage good, wholesome, outdoor amusement and entertainment. No better form of amusement exists than athletics in various forms.[76] |
The parks board commitment to expanding sports facilities grew throughout the twenties.
Expansion of the parks system meant that more and more money was needed to equip and maintain the parks and that almost no money was left over to purchase new parks. As early as 1916 the parks board had found themselves unable to purchase land which they had wanted for several years. When the Gage property in the east part of the city suddenly was offered for sale the owners had had to prevail upon the city to purchase the property.[77] Largely as a result of this experience the parks board had joined with boards in other municipalities and actively lobbied for an amendment to the Public Parks Act which would give them a full mill on the city's assessment. In 1922 nine-tenths of a mill was granted and in 1925 a full mill was allowed. The parks board immediately took over the Gage Park property from and city and began to improve it.
The parks board's interest in sports oriented parks was not accompanied by the total abandonment of previous park principles Gage Park would be developed as a pleasure ground but some sports would be accomodated in a segregated area of the park. Cricket, lawn bowling, and tennis facilities were placed in Gage Park. The rest of the improvements were traditionally those of the pleasure ground. An iron fence surrounded the park, a fountain and a promenade leading to it were prominent features, a rose garden was planted and flower beds were plentiful. A carpet of green grass was planted and those who used the park were admonished to walk only on the paths provided. Gage Park was the last park developed primarily as a pleasure ground in Hamilton.
Even with the full mill assessment the parks board found itself unable to afford all of the facilities it considered desirable. A solution to this problem was found in a suggestion that public facilities be operated by interested citizens. A private club which would charge a membership fee to cover the cost of maintaining the grounds could be incorporated and could then reach an agreement with the parks board to take over the facilities from them. Several such clubs were formed in the twenties.
The first of these was the Chedoke Civic Golf Club. When the Hamilton Golf and Country Club moved to new facilities in Ancaster the Hamilton Board of Trade suggested that the old facilities should be purchased by the city. The proposal was first made and was rejected in 1917. [78] The Board of Trade, supported by the Trades and Labour Council, revived the question in 1921.[79] They had gathered information about civic golf clubs in Buffalo, Calgary, and Toronto. In 1921 the parks board could not afford the purchase of the golf greens and again rejected the proposal. The Board of Trade, however, was not prepared to give up the idea. A progressive community like Hamilton needed a civic golf club especially since other cities had acquired golf clubs. A club in Hamilton would enhance the city's image. The board leased the greens from the Hamilton Golf and Country Club and set up the Chedoke Civic Golf Club. In 1924 the parks board was persuaded to purchase the land. The greens would continue to be managed by the private club. To ensure that the golf club would not become a drain on the financial resources of the parks board fifty interested citizens were asked to guarantee donations of fifty dollars each for the next five years.[80] Following this example the Gage Park Bowling Club, the Rosedale Tennis Club, and the Victoria Park Tennis Club were set up to manage those facilities.[81]
Besides these club facilities,baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, and rugby, playing fields were being located throughout the city. A track and field area was set up at Scott Park. Two new parks, Donohue and Mahony, were acquired and developed as sports grounds.[82] Bleachers, grandstands and dressing room facilities were also provided by the board. To recoup some of their investment the board sought refreshment vendors for the sports grounds and collected a percentage of their profits.