In 1921, the first of the tree skirmishes occurred during the felling of the "Prince of Wales tree", planted there during the historic visit of the late King Edward. At the time, Chairman of the Board of Parks, Alfred Wright, said the tree needed to be taken down. - ThreadSky

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ward2hamilton.bsky.social • 20 days ago

In 1921, the first of the tree skirmishes occurred during the felling of the "Prince of Wales tree", planted there during the historic visit of the late King Edward. At the time, Chairman of the Board of Parks, Alfred Wright, said the tree needed to be taken down.

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ward2hamilton.bsky.social•20 days ago

Wright stated, "[t]he tree in question was hollow and dangerous to those frequenting the park. While the Board takes the stand that all such historic relics should be carefully preserved, it was regretfully obliged to safeguard citizens by removing it.”

ward2hamilton.bsky.social•20 days ago

Fast forwarding to the early 1980s, the trees in the park were razed as part of Council's Downtown Action Plan. An architectural firm was hired and called for "the creation of a distinctive urban park, complete with ... grass, shrubs and shade trees”. But Council intervened.

ward2hamilton.bsky.social•20 days ago

Council wanted to save $84k so asked City staff to take over the plan from the firm. City staff weren't resourced, the Planning Department was left out of the final stages, and Council wasn't consulted before Gore Park was stripped of trees in favour of brick pavers and concrete.

ward2hamilton.bsky.social•20 days ago

By 1984, the concrete buildings were taken down, some of the brick paving stones pulled up, and trees replanted, with promises from candidates across the city in the upcoming 1985 election not to make the same mistakes again.

ward2hamilton.bsky.social•20 days ago

The Hamilton Public Library has put together a detailed overview of Gore Park's history. For more details, visit https://lha.hpl.ca/articles/history-gore-park. I'm also grateful to the late Brian Henley for photos from the 80s included in this thread.

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