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Waverley Park (Thunder Bay)
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Thunder Bay
-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is the second oldest municipal park in Ontario. The park forms the centre of the Waverley Park Heritage Conservation District, a collection of historical homes, churches, schools, and other buildings at the centre of Port Arthur
Port Arthur, Ontario
Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Port Arthur was the district seat of Thunder Bay District.- History :...
.
The property was surveyed and set aside as parkland by the Crown Lands Department, in the original ordnance survey of the Prince Arthur's Landing town plot in 1871. It was given to the city of Port Arthur in 1907 on the condition that is "not be alienated or leased and that no buildings be erected on it except municipal buildings".
The most notable features of Waverley Park include its giant cottonwood trees, which stand as much as 40 m above the park. In recent years, many have been removed due to advanced age and disease. Other notable features include a fountain
Fountain
A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
, cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
, and bandshell. The park is between Waverley Street and Red River Road in Thunder Bay, and is located between two historic schools — Port Arthur Collegiate Institute
Port Arthur Collegiate Institute
Port Arthur Collegiate Institute was a Collegiate institute operated by the Lakehead District School Board in Thunder Bay, Ontario from 1910 to 2007. The building was designated a historic building in 1984 and is located at the west end of Waverly Park. The school's teams were named "PACI Redmen"...
and Port Arthur Central School — the latter is now home to Magnus Theatre
Magnus Theatre
The Magnus Theatre - The Dr. S. Penny Petrone Centre for the Performing Arts in Thunder Bay, Ontario was founded in 1971 and is Northwestern Ontario's professional theatre company....
.
Hogarth Fountain
The centrepiece of Waverley Park is the Hogarth Fountain. A gift from the wife of a prominent soldier and politician, Major GeneralMajor General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Donald McDonald Hogarth (1879–1950), the fountain originated from the Luton Hoo
Luton Hoo
Luton Hoo straddles the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire borders between the towns of Harpenden and Luton. The unusual name "Hoo" is a Saxon word meaning the spur of a hill, and is more commonly associated with East Anglia.- Early History :...
Mansion, in the town of Hitchin
Hitchin
Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Its ten tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
foundation dates back to 1790. The fountain was purchased and shipped to Waverly Park in 1964, and dedicated on 5 June 1965.
The fountain features nude children in a renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
style, along with bundles of wheat and garlands of flowers. The water pours from the mouths of lions mounted above leaves which deflect the water away from the center and out into the pool.
Rotary Thundershell
The RotaryRotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
Thundershell is a large wooden bandshell located in the west corner of the park, behind the gymnasium of Port Arthur Collegiate Institute. The bandshell was built in 1984 and for many years was home to the weekly Summer in the Parks concert series. Its construction was financed using donations from various local groups and companies, which are commemorated on a plaque located on the bandshell.
Port Arthur Cenotaph
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and was updated for both the Second World War and the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. It was erected in 1925 by the McCallum Granite Company of Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, through the efforts of the Women's Canadian Club at a cost of $8,000.
The design of the cenotaph is simple. Both immense and yet stark, with simplistic lines, the monument is identical on either side.
The inscription reads:
- ERECTED IN COMMEMORATION OF THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THIS CITY WHO DIED ON THE FIELD OF HONOUR IN WAR THAT CANADA MIGHT MAINTAIN HER HERITAGE OF FREEDOM
Below it are the dates of WWI, WWII, and the Korean War.
Magnus Theatre
Founded in 1971, Magnus Theatre relocated to the old Port Arthur Central School in 2001. Located on the eastern corner of the park, the 123 year old structure was expanded in 1999 to accommodate the theatre. After renovations landscaping was designed to incorporate it into the existing Waverley Park. The grounds of Magnus Theatre feature a memorial garden in the shape of the former schools baseball diamond, lighted pathways, and various trees and shrubs.Memorial Garden
The memorial garden has stones laid out in the shape of a baseball diamond. The bases and home plate are represented by cubic stones with inscriptions. A large, irregularly shaped rock located in the centre represents the pitcher's mound with a plaque that reads:- FIELD OF DREAMS
- CENTRAL SCHOOL BASEBALL DIAMOND
- IN MEMORY OF VISIONARIES
- Jim Griffis
- Wilda Lowcock
- Clark MacDonald
- Bones McCormack
- John Fancy
- THE COALITION FOR WAVERLEY PARK
- 2003
Each of the stones that represent the baseball plates have inscriptions that read as follows:
Home: A JEWEL IN THE HEART OF THE CITY
First: WE DREAMED OF THIS SPECIAL PLACE
Second: FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN TO SHARE
Third: THE PEACE BENEATH THE TREES
Port Arthur Collegiate Institute
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
west of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. The large castle-like edifice was constructed in 1909-10 of Simpson Island sandstone, and incorporated medieval and Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
architectural features. Being located on a hill, it has a very imposing nature when viewed from the park below. Its site was chosen by Montreal landscape architect Frederick Todd
Frederick Todd
Frederick Gage Todd was the first resident landscape architect in Canada. For the majority of his life he was one of a small group committed to the art and practice of structuring urban growth in the first half of the century. His projects ranged from Vancouver, B.C...
, and its architects were Young and Simpson of Toronto.
The hill on which the school is located was the shore of the post glacial lake
Glacial lake
A glacial lake is a lake with origins in a melted glacier. Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,000 years ago, glaciers began to retreat. A retreating glacier often left behind large deposits of ice in hollows between drumlins or hills. As the ice age ended, these melted to create...
which preceded Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
, and is composed mainly of beach sand.