Trinity Bellwoods Park

Trinity Bellwoods Park

The gates at the southern entrance to the park

Location of Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto

Type public park
Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates 43°38′52″N 79°24′51″W / 43.64778°N 79.41417°W / 43.64778; -79.41417Coordinates: 43°38′52″N 79°24′51″W / 43.64778°N 79.41417°W / 43.64778; -79.41417
Operated by City of Toronto

Trinity Bellwoods Park is a public park located in the west end of Toronto, Canada, bordered by Queen Street West on the south and Dundas Street on the north. The western boundary of the park is Crawford Street, several hundred feet before Crawford intersects with Dundas St. West, the park juts toward Shaw Street, westside of the Crawford Street Bridge. Most of the park's area lies in the original Garrison Creek ravine and this creek, now a buried city storm sewer, still flows beneath the park from the northwest to the southeast corners.

History

Looking south towards the gates and Queen Street West in 1913

The old Garrison Creek emptied into Lake Ontario at the site of Fort York, and the land north and west of the fort was set aside as a military reserve. As the town of York grew around the fort, the military reserve was gradually sold off in lots to retiring British officers and friends of the military command. British Army Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Smith is said to have bought 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of land here in 1801, which he called Gore Vale after Lieutenant Governor Francis Gore, the Vale in the name referring to Garrison Creek ravine.

Kivas Tully's Trinity College building, c. 1851

Much of the current park land was originally purchased from a Mrs. Cameron of Gore Vale in 1851 by Scottish-Canadian Bishop John Strachan, an influential Anglican deacon who wanted Toronto to have a private school with strong Anglican ties, partly in opposition to the recently secularized University of Toronto. Buildings were soon constructed (Gothic Revival structure by architect Kivas Tully) and students began attending Trinity College in 1852. After federation with the University of Toronto in 1904 and completion of the downtown Trinity campus in 1925, the school left this location. The original buildings were then sold to the City of Toronto and most were demolished in the early 1950s. The destruction of the Trinity buildings marked the beginning of two decades of extensive heritage destruction in Toronto. Of the college itself, only the stone and iron gates now remain, at the Queen Street park entrance facing south on Strachan Avenue, although the former St. Hilda's College building, (the women's residence of Trinity College) still overlooks the northern half of the park on the western edge. It is now a seniors' residence, John Gibson House.

In the 1950s, Garrison Creek was entirely buried and the creek ravine backfilled around the Crawford Street Bridge, raising the surface of the northern end of the park to almost the height of Dundas Street. The steep drop from this upper level to the lower part of the park has become a popular local toboggan run in winter. Picnic tables and small barbecues are also provided here for summertime use and public washroom facilities.

In 2001, the Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park was formed to co-ordinate volunteer activities and provide input to the city on park management.

Features

View of the park with the CN Tower in the background

The park is 14.6 hectares (36 acres).[1][2] It has a community recreation centre, managed and owned by the City of Toronto, called Trinity CRC, located at 155 Crawford Street on the west side of the park. It has two indoor pools, gymnasium, fitness centre, indoor walking/running track and multi-purpose rooms. Adjacent to the centre, in the park, are a volleyball court, large playground, and children's outdoor wading pool. Also in the park are eight outdoor tennis courts located in the south-east corner and an outdoor ice skating rink at the north-east boundary. There is also field space for soccer, football, and rugby, as well as three softball fields along the east boundary. Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division maintain a marked Discovery Walk and cycling trail above and parallel to Garrison Creek, which runs through the park from the northwest to the southeast. Trinity Bellwoods is a favourite place for local residents to walk their dogs. The ravine, known as the dog bowl, is the designated leash-free area.

The park is home to white squirrels, the subject of urban folklore in the city. The Toronto Special news magazine featured White Squirrel hunts in a past issue.

The diverse variety of native and imported trees planted throughout the park, in various stages of growth from young to mature, provide a brilliant display of fall colour against the deep green grass. In winter the night view of the Toronto skyline rising above the ravine is extraordinarily beautiful, especially looking east from the Discovery Walk pathway near the western boundary. Tall black Victorian-style iron lamp poles along the main paths provide safe but soft illumination and a charming touch of character.

Events

Trinity Bellwoods has been the site of many recent cultural events, including an anarchist book fair, live theatre, performance art, and informal summer drumming circles. In June 2007 a weekly farmers' market opened in the northwest corner of the park, at Shaw and Dundas.

The largest annual cultural event in the park is Portugal Day, organized by the local residents and businesses of Portugal Village and the Portuguese community of Toronto. In the northwest corner of the park there is a small reminder of the diverse Latin American character of other nearby neighbourhoods: a bust of Simón Bolívar which was donated to the city.

The alleys and laneways which surround Trinity Bellwoods park have become an impromptu art gallery open to the public for one weekend in August for the past four years. The park is the site for an annual art sale in September as part of the Queen West Art Crawl.

It was originally chosen as the site of the G20 protests on June 26–27, 2010, but Toronto Police announced that they would use the area north of Queen's Park instead after local residents opposed the use of Trinity Bellwoods Park as a protest site.[3]

References in culture

Treble Charger wrote a song called Trinity Bellwoods, which was on their debut album NC17. The 1998 film Dog Park was shot there.[4] The 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World had a scene filmed here.[5]

Toronto-based artist organization Humble Empire created the "Live In Bellwoods" series of videos featuring acoustic performances by popular artists living in or visiting Toronto. Each video highlights a different area of the park. Dave Monks from Tokyo Police Club, Luke Lalonde from Born Ruffians, and Chris White of Bellewoods were among the performers to be featured in the series.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trinity Bellwoods Park.

References

  1. ↑ "Parks, Forestry and Recreation : Trinity Bellwoods Park". Toronto.ca. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Toronto Parks: Trinity Bellwoods Park". Blogto.com. July 24, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Police chief reconfirms that Queen's Park will be designated protest area during G20". CP24.com. May 11, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  4. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129884/locations
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
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