Hamilton Bayfront #071022
Bayfront Park
The development of Bayfront Park in the Hamilton District has made a substantial improvement in public access to and enjoyment of Hamilton's civic harbourfront lands. What began as a project to remediate a large industrial landfill site resulted in the transformation of this site into a versatile public green space. Since its opening in the summer of 1993, it has become one of the City's most popular parks.
Bayfront Park boasts a number of features perfectly suited to a waterfront setting. A six metre wide asphalt pathway provides wonderful opportunities to engage in a variety of leisure activities while enjoying views of the surrounding harbour area, making it a popular spot for walkathons. Gravel and crushed stone pathways located along the lower shoreline offer visitors a quieter, more restful waterfront journey, as well as close proximity to fish and waterfowl.
Additional features include naturalized areas of shrubs, trees and wildflowers; park lighting for evening enjoyment; a free public boat launch with parking; numerous benches and picnic tables; a natural grass amphitheatre; and accessible public washroom facilities across a gravel parking lot (limited hours). Bayfront Park's upper plateau, an expansive lawn area, makes it an ideal location for special events such as Aquafest, Festitalia, and Canada Day festivities, which bring thousands of people to the park every year. Parking is available on-site. The park is fully accessible and is located on Bay Street North at Harbourfront Drive / Simcoe Street West.
Pier 4 Park
The 1992-1993 development of Pier 4 Park (Hamilton District), undertaken as part of a City of Hamilton initiative to revitalize Hamilton's waterfront, dramatically altered this site from a featureless, open green space to a charming and picturesque waterfront park. The new design of the park took full advantage of Pier 4's size and excellent location in the harbour to create an intimate waterfront experience.
One of the most striking features of Pier 4 Park is the popular "Bayport" tugboat (c. 1945), an 80-foot tugboat refurbished as a creative play structure with accessible components. The Bayport is oriented to provide children with a full view of the water and forms the centrepiece of a unique, interactive play area including water spray pad.
A curved boardwalk with a pavilion and benches offers spectacular, panoramic views of the surrounding marinas and parkland, and a shoreline promenade allows access to the water's edge. The site is also a superb vantage point from which to enjoy water activities such as boating, windsurfing, and sailing.
The Gartshore Thomson building, a late 19th century brick office building nestled on a rehabilitated slope, was relocated to the park and renovated to house public washrooms (limited hours) and office facilities. The building once served as an office for the Gartshore-Thomson Pipe and Foundry Company (est. 1870), once one of Hamilton's leading industries and the largest pipe manufacturer in Canada. Both the tugboat and the Gartshore-Thomson building were donated to the City of Hamilton when the park was redeveloped.
Additional features include lighting along the asphalt pathway and pier, an open lawn area, a parking lot, picnic tables, benches, and a wheelchair access ramp extending from Bay Street North. Pier 4's interconnected pedestrian/cycling trails facilitate barrier-free access to all areas of the park and provide linkages with the surrounding harbourfront community. Parking is available on site. Pier 4 Park is located along Hamilton's waterfront at Bay Street North and Guise Street West.
Pier 4 - the Park
At the beginning of 1991 the Public Works, Parks and Recreation Committee recommended the redevelopment of Pier 4 Park. As early as 1965 recreational usage of Pier 4 had been included in Hamilton Harbour development plans (HHCAR 1965) though, it was in the 1990s that a Park would actually be opened.
Pier 4 Park was opened in 1993, the same summer as the opening of Harbourfront Park also known as Bayfront Park. (HHCAR 1993) The Park was created in order to provide enjoyment and increased recreational access to Hamilton Harbour. (HHCAR 1991) In 1995 the Park and the associated Harbour West facilities were considered a "full service recreation and commercial facility operated by the Hamilton Harbour Commission. It provides access to various forms of recreational boating and related facilities including boating services, sailing lessons, and boat repairs and is home to the Leander Rowing Club, the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club and the Hamilton and District Chamber of Commerce. (HHCAR 1995)
In order to accomplish the task of this redevelopment of the park several considerations were outlined. The first consideration was to seek input from sources that were interested in the development of Hamilton's Waterfront lands including
* the Citizens of Hamilton,
* the Golden Horseshoe Outdoors Club,
* the Great Lakes Remedial Action Plan, Local Stakeholders,
* Hamilton Bay Sailing Club,
* Hamilton Boy Scouts,
* Hamilton, Harbour Commission,
* the Leander Boat Club,
* Macassa Bay Yacht Club, and
* MacDonald's Marine Services.
The second consideration was financial. Funding for the redevelopment was from Capital Budget as well as from a funding subsidy from the Ministry of the Environment.
Highlights Of The Pier 4 Park Plan
Boat Launch Ramp:
The Pier 4 Park Plan included the construction of a public boat launch on the Hamilton waterfront which would be completed for the 1991 boating season and was estimated at a cost of $90 000. The proposed boat launch, a double launch ramp with a 'floating' dock, would be constructed at the foot of Strachan Street West allowing boaters to access the Harbour by a channel between the former Lax Property (the proposed Hamilton Island) and the Canadian National Railways Freight Yards. 100 parked vehicles with boat trailers could be accommodated at this location. This location is preferred because parking and increased traffic due to those using the ramp would have the least impact on the neighbourhood and green space in Pier 4 Park.
Parking Facility:
100 cars will be able to park in the new parking facility at the embankment between Bay Street North and Pier 4 Park.
Creative Play Area:
A nautical theme used for a park for the neighbourhood children with a de-commissioned tug boat revitalized into a play structure.
Pedestrian/Bicycle Linkages:
There are linkages between Pier 4 Park and Eastwood Park to the East and with Bayfront Park to the West. These are integral components to the movement of people to and from the site with ease and safety in mind.
Pier 4 Park, like other parks in Hamilton is a great place for both summer and winter recreation.
Reclaiming the Harbour
The south shore was once a vast wetland of remarkable beauty. The harbour and its long, shallow inlets provided a welcoming habitat for many kinds of fish and wildlife. Curious children discovered turtles, frogs, and walnuts in places like Gage’s Inlet and Cootes Paradise.
But in its quest for industrial and urban growth, Hamilton sacrificed the quality of, and its relationship with its waters. In order to build new docks, warehouses and factory sites and to hide garbage, Hamilton’s inlets were gradually filled in. Inevitably, the harbour became very polluted and people stopped harvesting ice, fishing, and swimming in its waters. The bayfront – the people’s playground – was declared off-limits to the community.
Finally, in 1987, the International Joint Commission declared Hamilton to be an “Area of Concern” in the Great Lakes. For the sake of present and future Hamiltonians, things had to change. The Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan (RAP) was developed. In 1992 RAP stakeholders representing every level of government, industry, academics, scientists, and community members began to identify and clean up harbour pollutants. The Remedial Action Plan combines active intervention with ongoing research and monitoring. In addressing concerns including toxic substances and water quality, urban sprawl, the restoration of fish and wildlife habitat, and increasing public access to an attractive harbourfront, the plan has already been a great success.
Two groups – the Bay Area Implementation Team (BAIT) and the Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC) – oversee the work of the Remedial Action Plan. While BAIT ensures the RAP’s goals and recommendations are met, BARC encourages the public to learn more about and become involved with the clean up of the harbour. They recognize that, together, we can bring back the Bay.
“The site of Hamilton was originally covered with a dense growth of tall rank, Indian grass, with a coarse serrated edge.. The country between the mountain and the bay was cut here and there with deep ravines and dotted with patches of swamp or swale – a favourite haunt for quails, rattlesnakes and frogs. The monotony of the Indian grass was relieved here and there by tall water elm, and close, low and almost impenetrable patches of shrubbery which formed safe shelter for the wolves.”
All variety of wildlife – fish, birds, frogs, plants and flowers – are once again thriving in Hamilton’s waters thanks to the introduction of the fishway at Cootes Paradise and the development of small island habitats for fish and reptiles in the harbour where birds can also nest.
By the late-nineteenth century, the public was expressing concerns about the deterioration of the Bay. In 1887, The Hamilton Spectator wondered, “what will it be like in a few years from now if the present insane idea of emptying the sewage of our fast increasing city into it is carried out? It will be a place that man cannot live on its shores nor fish in its waters – a veritable hotbed of disease. Bathing, shooting, fishing will be a thing of the past, and even rowing will not be a desirable pastime over a putrid, filthy mess such as it will become.”
Hamilton’s policy of infilling resulted in the loss of one-quarter of the Bay and the destruction of natural habitats for fish, birds, plants, insects, reptiles, and mammals, including people.
The Earthly Paradise of Canada
That’s how French explorers described Hamilton Harbour in the 17th century. Wildlife abounded. Vast cattail marshes attracted huge flocks of migrating ducks, geese and shorebirds. Marshy inlets and Cootes Paradise provided ideal nursery conditions for fish. Early settlers established a thriving fishery here.
But two centuries of industrialization and growth brought the vibrant harbour ecosystem to its knees. In the 1980s Hamilton Harbour became one the Great Lakes “Areas of Concern”. A Remedial Action Plan, or RAP. Was established to restore ecological integrity.
A major step forward was the fishway which keeps Asian carp out of Cootes Paradise and allow desirable species through. In the absence of carp, aquatic plants are returning, and with them, insects, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.
Around the harbour, artificial islands have restored populations of colonial nesting birds. Underwater, artificial reefs are popular haunts of bass and perch.
Even though Hamilton Harbour is one of the most industrialized places on the Great Lakes, wildlife is returning. Local naturalists will tell you that Hamilton is one of the best places for nature appreciation in southern Ontario.
Plague of the Emigrant Ships: The Cholera Epidemic of 1832
In the summer of 1832, Hamiltonians watched nervously as a cholera epidemic travelled across the Atlantic deep within the holds of emigrant ships. As a busy port where many new settlers arrived each week, Hamilton was especially vulnerable to an outbreak of the plague.
Fearing disaster, community leaders, local health officials, and the public resolved to make Hamilton as healthy as possible. During their cleaning frenzy, they praised personal hygiene, and they scrubbed, disinfected, and cleared away garbage from their homes, yards, streets, and outhouses. Access to public meetings, circuses, and theatres was restricted. Then, all eyes turned towards the emigrant ships.
Terrified citizens bearing pitchforks and clubs greeted the schooners as they arrived at the north end wharves. They prevented the ships from docking and allowing their desperate passengers to disembark. Although a few Hamiltonians pleaded for calm, the town adopted the motto “Bread! Quicklime! And transportation out to town!” in dealing with new arrivals.
After weeks at sea, settlers now faced internment in hastily built waterfront shelters, where they were isolated from the rest of the community. Many healthy emigrants preferred to sleep in the open fields along the shore rather than risk contagion within the filthy, overcrowded sheds. The gravely ill were shuttled to an abandoned 1812 army barracks on Burlington Heights, which became Hamilton’s first hospital. The dead were quickly covered in quicklime before being buried.
Doctors frantically prescribed a number of remedies in the hopes of curing, or at the very least, alleviating the suffering of cholera victims. Still, the illness spread and the death toll mounted. Following the death of the local jailer and his wife, all of the prisoners were released. Nighttime was haunted by the mournful cry of “Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!”
As autumn approached and the days grew cooler, the crisis passed, leaving the community shaken but determined to persevere.
Cholera – Important specific for Cholera
Eight ounces of Sal ammoniac, eight ounces of unslaked lime, one quart of boiling water. The two first articles to be finely powdered, and put into a large bottle (to allow of effervescence) and the water added as hot as can be done with safety to the bottle. The mixture to be frequently shaken, and in the course of three days or sooner, it will be fit for use. The liquor to be decanted from the sediment, and sell secured from the external air.
Manner of using it.
Three drachmas, of weight or measure diluted, with three times the quantity of water is a dose for a grown up person – a few drops of essence of peppermint makes it more palatable. When the first does is ejected; a second has stopped the disease. To allay the thirst, which succeeds on the stoppage of the vomiting, water, in which mint has been steeped, is the most effectual & pleasant. To children of four or five years of age. One-half to two drachmas with nine of water. Cured with above mixture 165. Died for want of it 62.
Another popular cholera remedy involved a potion consisting of charcoal, lard and maple sugar.
“Great waves of Canadian settlers arrived from Great Britain and Ireland during the 1830s and 1840s. Turning their backs on overcrowding, limited prospects, poverty, and famine at home, they ventured forth in search of a better life. Upper Canada beckoned with promises of cheap and abundant land and jobs for the willing.”
“To Mr. Thomas Langord
The Nephews and Nieces of Mr. Thos. Langford of the District of London, (nine in number) beg to inform him that they are now at Port Hamilton, on the edge of Burlington Bay, and are destitute of support. Their Father and Mother died on the passage from Europe about two months ago since which they have been unjustly deprived of the property which remained to them after the death of their parents. N.B. It is hoped the London Sun and St. Thomas Journal will copy the above.
Port of Hamilton, Gore Dis. July 15, 1832”
“Notice to Emigrants
Persons wishing to bring out their friends from the North of Ireland to Canada, are requested to take notice, that Mr. David Grainger, so long known in the Passenger Trade, will have a regular succession of vessels form 1st April to 1st August, in every year, to sail from Belfast to Quebec. Mr. Grainger’s vessels are of the first class and every attention will be paid to the comfort of the passengers. The subscriber will engage passengers here, on unusually low terms.
Francis Hincks.
York, 21 Yonge St. July 20, 1833
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