The stormy beach became a placid park

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Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator, no date on this article, my guess would be around 1992.
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Mike Hanley
"A YOUNG alderman's dream of a summer playground for Hamilton's industrial workers and their families became a reality today."
— Hamilton Spectator, April 9,1958

WHEN THE Hamilton City Council voted to expropriate 86 acres of land on the shore of Lake Ontario, including Van Wagner's Beach and Crescent Beach, Alderman John Munro was successful in initiating the development which became known as Confederation Park.
For years, the cottages at Van Wagner's Beach and Crescent Beach had taken an annual battering from vicious storms whipping off the lake. Not only had the cottages suffered, but the rocky and debris-laden shoreline was fast eroding.
In 1957, living conditions in the area were investigated by the city's building department, health department, fire prevention bureau, and the assessment department. As a result, several of the houses were listed as unfit for habitation.
Community-minded citizens, notably Mrs. Stanley Parker, Women's Civic Club president, along with others who cared about the Beach Strip, began to push for a shoreline park, a broad, clean expanse of bathing and picnic areas for average citizen.
Alderman John Munro had taken a personal interest in the scheme and took the idea to Mayor Lloyd Jackson, who enthusiastically endorsed the plan.
Munro called the beach park idea "a wonderful thing for the people of this city, especially those who are unable to get away during the hot weather.
"The beach could be cleaned up and the sand sifted. Properly-constructed, clean bathhouses can be provided to give people a proper place to change. Parking space for cars could also be provided," Munro said.
About 700 people were eventually uprooted by the decision to turn Van Wagner's Beach and Crescent Beach into a recreation area, but most seemed to think it was a good idea.
Saltfleet Township councillor J.W. Haylock, whose home was on Van Wagner's Beach, termed the development "a wonderful scheme for the people of the city. This means I will be eventually pushed out of house and home, but then we were expecting that. It didn't exactly come as a bombshell."
In February 1959, an additional 87 acres were slated for expropriation as part of the beach park scheme. Controller Jack Macdonald had been successful in encouraging the provincial and federal governments to financially support the project, thereby reducing the costs of land acquisition and clearance.
At a February 1963 meeting of the Board of Control, Alderman Reg Wheeler, chairman of the beach committee, urged the city to "get the project going." He then moved a recommendation calling for the construction of a parking lot, and a building to house a restaurant, change rooms and washrooms.
On June 25, 1964, Hamilton's lakefront recreation area known as Confederation Park was officially opened at a ceremony chaired by Wheeler.
Munro, by then the federal MP for Hamilton East, told the assembled that "all Hamiltonians could be proud of this beautiful park."
In his speech that day, Mayor Vic Copps paid tribute to Munro and Macdonald for their efforts in making the park a reality.
Three years later, on Aug. 15, 1967, Wheeler unveiled a plaque at Confederation Park recognizing Mrs. Parker. Geraldine Copps was asked to read out the inscription which noted that Mrs. Parker's proposal "eventually resulted in the establishment of Confederation Park."

Photo-Special Collections, Hamilton Public Library
At the official opening of Confederation Park in June 1964 were, from left, Ontario municipal affairs minister J.W. Spooner, beach rescue unit chief Bud Allan, Hamilton mayor Vie Copps, and MP John Munro With them — and finding the water a little chilly, was 4-year-old Brenda Gunton of Hamilton.

 

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Growing pains at Confederation Park

Hamilton Spectator
Thursday May 29/80
By JUDY NYMAN Spectator Staff

CONFEDERATION PARK is the throes of adolescence — and not without growing pains.
The park, now in its 17th season, was sold by the city to the region in January. Hamilton-Wentworth asked the Hamilton Region Conservation Authority to manage
Since the takeover, irate citizens have had many complaints: No free drive-in access; no free admission for senior citizens in cars; permanent closure of the animal farm; mounds of earth piled in various locations; 9 p.m. daily closure; and increased entrance and camping fees.
The conservation authority is tying to solve the problems, but it will be inconvenient and will take time. The alternative, they say, would have been to close the park for the season while improvements are carried out.
And that would have caused more of an uproar, they say.
No organization
"In the past, people got in from everywhere and were parking all over the place. It lacked oganization and that's why we're trying to control access now," said Ben Vanderbrug, the authority's general manager.
"Also, revenues were very low due to the easier access, which is partly why the city was running the park with an annual deficit of out $260,000."
John Coates, Mr. Vanderbrug's assistant, said senior citizens are not given special treatment because the authority charges for cars, not individuals.
"It would be too difficult to decide which cars should qualify if there were persons other than seniors as passengers. There is, however, a group bus rate for seniors," he said.
The animal farm was closed because it was too expensive to operate. A new and costly barn was needed, some of the animals were being abused — a buffalo was shot last Halloween — and the dirt, smell and insects were not conducive to a park setting, Mr. Coates said.
The piles of earth are for berms to eliminate highway noise and add some privacy and landscape texture to the park. They cannot be covered with top soil and sodded, however, until there is sufficient fill.
"We can only move as fast as the fill is available," Mr. Vanderbrug said.
The nightly closure is to help keep the park clean, cut down on vandalism; and keep the park in line with other authority facilities. Security has been stepped up and the park will continue to operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
As for the increased fees and lack of free parking, the authority, unlike the city which shared the cost among all taxpayers, has a user-pay philosophy in all its parks.
"We're not out to make a profit. We just want to break even. And we feel those who use the park should be the ones who pay for it," said the authority's chairman, Bill Powell.
Dredged
While swimmers may be dismayed by the lack of lifeguards at the beach this summer, boaters will be pleased by the improved launching and paddle-boat areas which have been freshly dredged.
Confederation Park, once a swampy, storm-battered huddle of cottages, has gone through many changes since it was conceived:
• 1960 — The city paid $1.7 million for the old Van Wagner's Beach and Crescent Beach properties to build the 175-acre (70-hectare) park. Senior levels of government kicked in another $800,000.
• 1961 — The city named it Confederation Park in honor of Canada's 100th birthday. It was hoped all development would be completed by 1967.
• 1963 — The city approved a 10-year, $750,000 development plan.
• June 25, 1964 — It was offically opened.
• 1965 — The city began charging 50 cents for parking. There were 476 spaces.
• 1966 — The animal farm opened.
• 1967 — Swimming was banned due to pollution for the first of several such occasions.
• 1968 — The city sold 6.7 acres (2.7 hectares) of the park to the provincial department of highways for $66,700 for a north service road to the Queen Elizabeth Way.
• 1970 — A camping area opened with spaces for 23 trailers, 16 tents and two mobile homes at $3 per night.
• 1980 — Hamilton-Wentworth bought the park from the city and asked the conservation authority to run it.
The park now stands on a 205-acre (82-hectare) site along 2.5 miles (4 kilometres) of shoreline. It has parking for about 1,600 cars and will have another 300 spaces in the near future.
Free parking for 290 cars is provided for customers of Lakeland Go-Karts, Lakeland Pool, and Hutch's Drive Inn.
As of this weekend there will be two entrances — one off Confederation Drive just west of Highway 20 (replacing the three free ones that used to be east of Hutch's) and the other east of Highway 20 off Gray's Road near the camping area.
Charges
Vehicles are $2 per day (up 50 cents from last year) and campers $6.50 and $7.50 (up $1) for serviced and unserviced sites, respectively. A seasons' pass, which is $30, gets campers $2 off the fee and also gives holders access to other conservation authority parks such as Christie, Valens and Fifty Point. Pedestrians and bicyclists are admitted free and there are two bus stops around the park.
Future plans — most of which should be implemented before the 1984 season — include a children's village similar to the one at Ontario Place; a family restaurant in the old Van Wagner's Beach school; bicycle rentals and a bicycle path along the shoreline; a miniature golf course; a roller skating area; cross-country skiing in the winter; fishing in the camp-ground pond and more picnic and camping areas.
With the aid of newly-posted signs on the QEW, the authority hopes to make the park a large tourist attraction that will financially benefit the entire region.