Westmount Park: A community landmark with a rich history

With this, the park also has a rich and illustrious history, with Queen Victoria’s Jubilee to elaborate redevelopment plans being two topics of notable significance. This history has helped form what Westmount Park is today—a green space where citizens can come to rest, enjoy a festival, or plan a safe Sunday afternoon with the family. It is this history that has allowed generations of residents to experience what this neighbourhood has to offer.

In 1874, the Town of Cote St. Antoine was officially established as a municipality. During this time, districts were expected to set up certain facilities and institutions once they were recognized as cities. These facilities included the founding of a City Hall, a tramway system or other means of transportation, and proper water treatment. Another essential element to a city’s founding was to build a large central park.

For Westmount, this park was the Victoria Jubilee Park, now known as Westmount Park. In 1892, part of Westmount Park was purchased so as to be used as a Corporation Yard. This area was used for that purpose for a few years until Westmount officials began to scan different locations to situate their town’s park.

When establishing parks, cities would look for outstanding landscape features and generally place their parks at these locations. This would’ve been the mountain for Westmount, but officials wanted to ensure that the park remained in the centre of the town. Instead, a number of people purchased what is now generally know as Westmount Park in 1898, where it extended from Sherbrooke Street to Western Avenue, now de Maisonneuve Boulevard, and from Melville Avenue to the back of the properties on Lansdowne Avenue.

This area was chosen thanks to a wonderful system of ravines and streams that led into it. Citizens were so adamant about keeping the land as it was that they even began to protest plans to give it a more formal and presentable appearance. It remained a heavily wooded area, broken by deep ravines, until Westmount’s city council received an unexpected bonus to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.

Thanks to this windfall, the City was able to successfully build a small public library and Victoria Hall. Westmount Park was also revamped and shaped, for the most part, into what it is today. However, Victoria Hall was destroyed by a fire in 1924 and was eventually replaced with the hall seen today.

The original Victoria Hall housed a dance floor, a concert hall and stage, bowling alleys, a billiard room, a swimming pool, and a gymnasium. It was also home to the Westmount Amateur Athletics Association and the Highland Cadet Corps.

In 1910, the park’s acreage was increased to its modern-day limits, extending south of Western Avenue. That same year, a movement began to have a Zoological Society installed in Westmount. For this, two baby bears were donated to the City and placed in a viewing area in Westmount Park. This decision did not sit well with many citizens though and after numerous complaints, the park’s committee decided to remove the bear family and give them a home in Toronto.

In an effort to further landscape the park, the City hired M. J. Howard Manning, a landscape architect, in 1912. He was told to rework the land in the spirit of Frederick Olmstead, an American landscape architect famous for designing Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City. The land generally remained in its natural state, though some ravines and the Glen Stream were filled in.

In the 1920s, additional land was obtained so that the park extended to the corner of Lansdowne and Sherbrooke Street. On this land, the City decided to install a floral clock, along with the Flower Conservatory built adjacent to the library in 1927 by Lord and Burnham.

In 1963, Westmount Park got a facelift when a Chicago firm was hired to work on it. The firm initially decided to create paved pathways and raise borders around flowerbeds and trees. However, their plans became much more detailed as work progressed, eventually resulting in a redesigned water course that included a waterfall and island for ducks, a new children’s playground, a shuffleboard court, a refurbished sailing pond, and the construction of the Centennial Commemoration Monument.

Twenty-two years later, in 1985, traffic on de Maisonneuve Boulevard was closed, giving Montreal architect Ron Williams the necessary requirements to design bicycle and walking paths that would replace the roadway.

Today, Westmount Park remains the central park of the City, where residents are treated to loads of activities throughout the year. With this success, the City has continued to respect environment-friendly law by refusing to use pesticides for over 15 years.