Victoria Park archeological dig throws cold water on plans for a fast-tracked splash pad
Sorry kids: Victoria Park's spray pad and pool of the future must wait until the city digs up the past.
The popular outdoor pool in the west-end park is nearly half a century old and in need of replacement. The attached splash pad is also in rough shape, with nozzles sometimes running dry and a pitted concrete pad that is hard on little feet.
The city parks department originally hoped to fast-track repairs and resurface the splash pad in rubber by last year.
But the aging water play facilities sit in the 22-acre footprint of Hamilton's famed glass-and-timber Crystal Palace, which opened with help from British royalty in 1860.
That means just trying to upgrade or relocate underground water pipes could unearth historically significant artifacts.
It is a complicated site because of the archeology," said city landscape architecture manager Cynthia Graham. It limits our ability to just go in and fix it up."
Given the need for both a new pool and splash pad, the city decided to embark on a wide-ranging archeological scan of the north end of the park, near the corner of Strathcona Avenue and Florence Street.
The summer study includes a checkerboard pattern of shoulder-deep, fenced excavations around the spray pad, pool and tennis courts. (The spray pad is still usable during the study, but the pool is closed because of COVID-19.)
The study is meant to provide maximum flexibility" in the design and location of new amenities, said Graham, so the city can work around" any archeological finds that require more study or prevent development in a specific spot.
It does mean people will have to wait a little longer for the new spray pad," said Graham, who expects to submit a budget request for splash pad design next year. Construction on a new pool, meanwhile, is tentatively pegged for 2022 - if the pandemic-battered city can find the money.
But I think doing it this way will be better in the long run."
History has a way of resurfacing in Victoria Park whenever a shovel hits the ground.
The city had to change the grade of the park's community garden, for example, after finding remnants of a forge from long-ago military barracks. And the area's rich Indigenous history is often unearthed in west Hamilton digs.
Above ground, only heritage plaques are left to remind park users of the Crystal Palace that was pulled down in 1891 - but the buried foundations remain.
(Workers digging in the park have reported possible foundation stones in excavations near the tennis court, but so far, no splash pad deal-breakers have been found.)
The fledgling city of Hamilton lured Edward, Prince of Wales, to officially open the double-winged Crystal Palace in 1860. It was modelled on a similar celebrated glass building in England, but used cheaper timber rather than metal for structural support.
The agricultural edifice featured a balcony with harbour views, a floating staircase linked to a main ballroom and lots of room for farm exhibits. The rickety main structure was pulled down after only three decades - but its tradition as a civic gathering place continued when the area was turned into a municipal park in 1900.
Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com