The Board of Park Management of Hamilton was the official title from the mayor and six appointed officials who ran Hamilton parks from 1900 to 1974. This group was most often referred to as Parks, or the Parks Board because of its long title. In 1961, City Council passed a requirement that three members of the Board must be aldermen to allow Council greater say in parks development.
The Board operated on an annual budget of all profits collected from park rentals and one mill from the City budget. The amount of the mill changed every year, because it was calculated from the assessment or evaluation that defined what all the properties in Hamilton were worth each year. To get one non-residential mill, 85 % of the residential assessment value was added to all of the non-residential assessment value, and then divided by 1,000. A residential mill was 85 % of a non-residential mill.
The Board was considered a separate company, that was lead by the Public Parks Act of Ontario. The Act governing restricted the Board to owning under 404.74 hectares (1,000 acres) and later 809.47 hectares (2,000 acres) of land, or earning more profit from park rentals than one mill.
Some former members of the Parks Board, who are most famous for their contributions to Hamilton parks, and who also have parks named after them, are William Schwenger, Samuel Manson, Thomas Baker McQuesten and William McCulloch.
The Movement of Parks From Rest To Recreation
Before World War II, people had considered parks as most important for walking, viewing and just breathing. For this reason, the Parks Board had traditionally worked towards offering reserved forms of recreation in Hamilton parks. The Board supplied open space, great scenery, shady areas for picnics and summer walks, flowers, trees and fancy bushes.
However, after the war, outdoor sports, athletics and exercise gained a new popularity. The need increased for baseball diamonds and playgrounds space. The Recreation Committee took on this second role in providing opportunities for more active pastimes, and operating playground programs in parks and on other non-park properties. Both the Parks Board and Recreation Committee had one aim, that of green space and relaxation, but each took a different view on what to provide and how.
In 1950, Jack Beemer was the first person to openly suggest that the Parks Board would someday need to unite with the Recreation Committee. In June 1961, the City Council officially considered this as well as other important park issues. The City was nearing the 809.47 hectare (2,000 acre) limit defined by the Public Parks Act, but still wanted to buy more park land. A special committee was also formed to do a study into merging the Parks Board, the Recreation Committee and the Hamilton Recreation Association.
As a result of the four month study, the committee suggested that the Parks Board and Recreation Committee should unite to operate more economically and efficiently as they were two groups so closely linked. The city arborist, beach committee and beautification committee could also be added to the new body. However, if the City chose not to unite the board and committee, then the City would have to ask the Province to increase the limits of the Act, or ask it to exclude Hamilton from certain restrictions.
The Recreation Committee expressed its first interest in cooperating with the Parks Board in February 1965, when it asked to use some Parks funds for recreational needs. Although the Board refused to give the committee any money, discussions surrounding the suggestion strengthened the idea of the connection between the two groups. By 1970, almost all other cities around Hamilton already had followed the national trend, and combined their city parks and recreation departments.
In 1974, the Parks Board and Recreation Committee were liquidated. Their duties were passed on to a new structure of parks administration made of several different committees and departments.
Getting Hamilton Green
Federal government guidelines have set the ideal minimum amount of park space necessary for any neighbourhood to relax and function effectively as 4.05 hectares (10 acres) for every 1,000 residents. In January 1947, Hamilton was the only city in Canada to have this amount of park land, although much of it was difficult to access. By 1960, the growth of Hamilton drove this number down to about 3.16 hectares (7.8 acres) per 1,000 persons. In 1969, many areas of the city core had just 0.10 hectares (0.25 acres) for every 1,000 people.
In May 1969, an official plan document, described as "a blueprint for the future orderly development of the city", was unveiled to help set policies on parks and recreation areas. Approved by the City and Queen's Park, the plan suggested the development of many neighbourhood parks that would allow every citizen to be within a quarter mile walking distance of a local park. This kind of park was described as "a small, pleasant landscaped area, designed to serve as a passive recreation area for all ages". The site would include an open lawn area, trees, shrubbery and shady walks, with tables and benches, perhaps a wading pool, shelter building and all-weather playing court.
In the 1970's, the plan became a particularly strong force in many inner city communities, where park funding needed to be attracted from the City and Province for more expensive downtown property. In September 1970, the number of parks the Parks Board had bought for Hamilton had grown so quickly, that the Board was having difficulties in deciding on names for them all. The Board asked the public to suggest 12 park names to be submitted by October 1st, in order to solve the problem.
By the 1980's, park development in the lower city was coming to a peak. The focus shifted to the Mountain parks, where sub-divisions of new housing were developing the fastest.
Operating Hamilton Parks
World War II caused a great shortage of labour, equipment and supplies for the operation of parks. A wartime call went out to boys from 13 years of age to become Hamilton Park Rangers. The divisions of about 80 boys volunteered to supervise various Hamilton parks, pledging to protect public property, all wild life and little children, and to conduct themselves as gentlemen.
In September 1948, the Board of Health questioned the activities of the Parks Board for the first time, asking it for a maintenance schedule of Hamilton parks. The request came after more organisms than could be counted were found in the water of the wading pool at LaSalle Park. Algae was also thriving in the dirty and scummy water that children were using. The schedule revealed that the water was changed only once every seven to ten days. The discovery allowed the Health Board to suggest important changes to the Parks Board to improve the safety of the public in parks.
In the late 1960's, Hamilton began collecting a park charge for every apartment unit built. This payment was calculated as 5 % of the property value, and could be paid in money or land. Complaints were offered that developers building high-rise apartments were not being sufficiently taxed. In December 1973, the Ontario Planning Act was passed, allowing cities to ask developers to pay this fee as calculated on the population of their proposed building. The City approved this payment structure for Hamilton in February 1974.
In June 1970, Hamilton parks were saved from a terrible fate. The Recreation Committee wanted snowmobiles allowed in public city parks. While the City completely refused them access to all regular City parks, King's Forest and Chedoke Park were considered as possibilities. However, in the end it was decided that both children and grass would not be safe in these parks, if snowmobiles were barreling across the snow.
Many parks and sports grounds in the City have changed their names over the years. However, some have never received an official name, and, therefore, are called various names by the various people who use and maintain them. For this reason, even though some parks had been open for decades, many only received official names approved by City Council in the 1980's,.
Rules and Regulations
A curfew was enforced in parks in July 1941. This was done in response to welfare organizations that were worried about what might happen to boys and girls who would hang around parks at night. The police were allowed to move anyone "suspicious" after 10:00 p.m.
A Parks Board committee lead by T. Reginald Sloan updated the by-law of park regulations in March 1945. Changes removed old and unnecessary park rules, added other rules covering new and recent issues, and explained existing rules in greater detail. For instance, parks were no longer forced to close from 11 p.m. - 5 a.m. from May to October, and 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. in the winter months. The rules running the Victoria Park race track were taken out of the list, because the race track no longer existed. While cattle, horses, mules, goats, sheep, pigs and birds still could not be walked or let loose in the park, dogs could be lead in parks if their chains were no less than 6 feet long. Longer written explanations were also given to vandalism, disorderly conduct, gambling and alcohol use.
The most recent version of the City parks by-law, no. 95-126 "Respecting Parks", was passed May 30, 1995.