I tried looking for a picture of the gates on Ypres and Hall that mark the entrance to Memorial Park. The only one I could locate, was the photo above from 2001.
Since that time the gates have been restored and some plaques added to it.
It now looks like this:
From The Border Cities Star, July 3, 1925, here’s some background on the park and the gates…
- W.C. KENNEDY PAID TRIBUTE
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Name Given to New Memorial Park in Windsor
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Commission Also Changes Titles of Other Play Centres
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Memorial park, Windsor’s newest public recreation spot, is to be known in the future as Kennedy Park, in honor (sic) of the late Hon. W.C. Kennedy, minister of railways and canals in the King government several years ago, and South Essex parliamentary representative.
NAMES CHANGED
This change was effected at a meeting or the Windsor Parks Commission Friday night. Church Street playground was renamed Mitchell Park, in honor (sic) of Mayor F.J. Mitchell; and Clay playground was specifically changed to Henry Clay Park, to perpetuate the memory of the late Henry Clay, one time mayor and lately clerk of the supreme and county courts.
Garwood Park, on Logan Avenue is to be known henceforth as Alexandria Park.
Considerable discussion took place over the proposal to rename Memorial Park, but Col. E.S. Wigle, and William W. Lanspeary, chairman of the board, who favored (sic) the retnetion of the name “Memorial” as voicing public sentiment in honor (sic) overseas veterans, were outvoted by the rest of the commission. A small plot of ground adjoining St. Alphonsus Cemetery and donated to the city by Mrs. Kennedy, was named Kennedy Court.
OPPOSED HONOR
John Muxlow, one of the commissioners, urged the changing of the Church Street recreation centre to Mitchell Park, declaring that the present mayor, who resides nearby, is the first native of the city to be elected chief magistrate, Mayor Mitchell opposed the suggestion.
Plans were approved for the construction of a storage warehouse on McDougall street at a cost of $6,500. This building which will be fireproof, will be used to house all of the parks equipment, at the present time scattered about the city. The land upon which the structure will be located is owned by the city of Windsor, and the use of it was loaned to the commission by the city council. It lies north of Erie Street.
SKETCH APPROVED
A sketch of the proposed ornamental entrance to Kennedy Park, as submitted by Cameron & Ralston, architects, was also approved. The sum of $2,000 was donated for the construction of this gateway by the Essex Land Company, which sold the 32-acre park to the city last year.
William Macklem, who owns the refreshment concession at Wigle Park, appeared before the commission and explained he was losing money on the concession this year. This was due,he said, because of the smaller crowds of sport fans attending baseball fixtures. The crowds were more interested in senior baseball contests staged at Stodgell Park, Walkerville, he said.
Mr. Macklem asked consideration on the subject.
I wonder why the name was never changed to “Kennedy Park”?
When I was a kid in the 70’s I lived in that nieghbourhood.That park was our playground.I used to think it was the last origional forest in the city. The city used to cut the grass between all the trees. The first summer we were old enough to stay out in the dark we ventured it the pitch blackness of the trees of Memorial Park. We were terrified. My mother used to say if we went in there at night the bums would get us.(now called homeless people)One summer a very large Chrysler Newport went through one of the walls beside the gates and then hit a tree. The wall didn’t stop it but the tree did. The motor ended up in the front seat. All the gaukers came and formed a very large circle around the car to get a look. There were 2 large flower pots on top of the pillars, bigger that the ones there now. I remember hearing a rumor that some kid climbed up on top, pulled down his pants and made a nasty deposit in one of the big flower pots. There was a concrete wading pool in the middle of the park. It was long abandoned by the time I got to it. My older brother swam in it when he was young. After a heavy rain storm it would fill up with water. We’d clean our bikes by riding around in the stagnent water after riding through the muddy park. There was also a raft in the ditch beside the train tracks bebind the park. That was back when you could play on the tracks and the ditches had water in them. The kids could climb onto the raft and sail the length of the park with the aid of a long push stick catching tadpoles and throughing mud at each other or at the tracks. The ditch always seemed to run dry behind the baseball diamonds at the Parent Ave track crossing. The front gates were always kind of a mysterious structure to a little kid with an imagination. We knew that were very old and they were always a stop on our daily summer expiditions.
I grew up on the 2600 block of Turner Rd in the 50’s and memorial park was a extremely important play area. The pool was emptied ever night and us gang of kids would rush to it, by 11am I believe as they turned the fixed fawcett was turned on. It was the size of a fire hose and had lots of pressure. WE played around as the pool filled up. The pool had a deep end where you could crawl around on your hands. BUT the pool had an extremely rough pebble and concrete surface where many a scrpped elbow and knee occurred. It was a wonderful place to cool off in the hot summers.
The rest of the park had picnic tables, which were fun for a game of “table tag” and various jungle gym play eqipment which the kids of today will never see as it’s not considered safe but boy it was fun.
I went back to the park in the 90’s and was surprised to see the pool completely filled in with dirt. Us kids in the 50’s had a lot more fun back then and now kids are obese and watch too nuch TV et all. maybe they need a place like Memorial park was for them.
I grew up just a few houses from the gates on Hall Ave. I spent the first 23 years of my life there and remember how the park used to be. There never used to be the “natural growth” portion that now occupies almost half of the park- but instead it was all short grass. I spent many hours playing around those gates at the front of the park and remember sitting on top of the round globe type things at the ends of the wall. I do also remember something about someone speeding south down my street and crashing right into the gate or wall but I had to be very young at the time. That park brings back many memories for me and I’m glad you posted it!
Colin B on Hall, did you go to John Campbel school and have a cousin who went to Hugh Beaton?If so I think I knew you.
I remember that Dave Hand kid. I think he grew up on Arras at a time when they still had the ice rink at the west end of the park. What a service that rink paid to the surrounding neighborhoods. It may have been small but every kid around learned to skate there. One or two laps with a chair and they were on their way. In the spring kids always were coming home with a container of tadpoles. These simple lifetime outdoor schools of self learning are all gone now, either politically eliminated or fenced off.
Tch, tch, tch.
D Hand: Yes, I went to John Campbell from about 1980-89 but I didn’t have a cousin who went to Hugh Beaton. My mom went there when she was a kid but that’s the only family member that did. Are you around my age?
I do remember the ice rink as well- I skated there for a couple of years when I was younger until… as the story goes- some kids broke the water piping and Parks and Rec didn’t end up fixing it. I remember the boarding and surrounding structure to be green in colour???
Here’s another fixture found in the park- does anyone remember the big air horn located at the back of the baseball diamonds?
I’m sure the South Walkerville faithful enjoyed tobagganing down the hill at the rear of the park as did I when I was growing up!
Colin B I though you might have been the cousin of a friend of mine. Same name and same street he lived on. My friend’s name was Glen. I finished up at Hugh Beaton in 1980.The air horn was an air raid siren. A left behind relic from WW2. I also skated at the rink. Another fun thing to do at the park was to go into the old washroom building. It was like a cave. We would go in there for a drink and scream our lungs out and listen to the echo. Of course everyone remembers the merry-go-round of death. Way too many pinch points and places to get crushed for today’s soft over protected kids.I remember being on that thing and the kids were shoulder to shoulder all the way around the seats, some standing on the hand rails and more on the inside near the pole it hung from and several out on the ground making it spin. What a rush. Anybody who fell off got a mouth full of sand. There was also a sand box near the old swings. You can still see were it was. There is kind of a mound there on the spot. When I was very young I went there daily with the little girl next door and her great grandfather. He must have been almost 80 when he brought us there on our tricycles.It is clear to see that Memorial Drive was supposed to continue behind the park but I don’t know that it ever did. People were always making out in their cars back there. There was even a guy who would climb the trees along the fence on the other side of the tracks and watch the cars with binoculars. We refered to him as Tom. (peeping Tom)We’d see him there all the time. One day we yelled at him and he climbed down from his perch and ran away.
Had a lot of fun there in my early teens. At least the washroom building is still there…or maybe it isn’t?
The park was a jewel until it became the “naturalization” area that many parks have become; this due to lack of budget for Parks & Rec (when will the city get it that parks are more important than arenas and swimming pools?).
I too remember the skating rink but it closed in 1986. 1985 being the last season I believe.
I used to love playing swing tag on the large swings that are no longer there. Still a nice park though.
i remember way back in the 50’s our church always had a church picnc in memorial park i recall swimming in that pool butwhat i remember the most was going to the back of the park and sitting on a fence post for maybe an hour to watch the freight and passenger trains going back
Yes- I remember the sandbox near the swings. I remember the merry go round as well and the teeter totters (sp?) and how scary it was to be stuck at the top! The washroom is still there and is open at certain times as far as I remember. They moved the hill that was at the back of the park to another location nearby too. I lived on Hall until about ’98 and moved a few streets away and stayed there until moving to South Windsor in ’06 so I’m still very familiar with the area. My Mom moved from her house on Kildare this past summer (she grew up on Vimy- east of Kildare). So needless to say, I’ve spent most of my 36 yrs in and around that neighbourhood.
They paved a path along the back of the park about 15 yrs ago (or so). Before that, it was a dirt road that dead ended half way around the back by a dirt hill. I remember in high school going back there for “bush parties” and doing an all-out sprint every time the cops came! I agree about the naturalization- a politically correct way to say, “we don’t want to spend money paying people to take care of half of the park. I liked it so much better when the entire park was maintained and you could see from one end to the other.
I lived in the area from 1965 -70. I remember the park well, Easter egg hunts in the spring, that pool, the swings a hugh ( at the time ) slide, the merri-go-round of death! lol Does ANYONE remember the old fallen tree that looked like an octopus? The ice rink in the winter, and yes, Memorial road went all the way through, until they closed part of it and diverted it so they could build baseball diamonds!
I was wondering if someone else would mention that old fallen tree. That was our favourite play spot. It was polished to a glossy lustre from constant kid-climbing. Personally I like the naturalized area and think we need more of them here in the cancer capital of Canada to offset the air pollution and preserve our natural heritage.
When i was a little girl in the late 1950s there were bushes on the Ypres side of those gates
What most people don’t know is all the east/west streets south of Tecumseh are named after WW1 battles and are signified by poppies on the street signs.