A HISTORY OF BEACON HILL PARK
By Janis Ringuette
Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Limited excerpts are permitted but please credit the author.
CHAPTER CONTENTS
[Note: Appendices, References, and an Index are listed after the 21 chapters.]
Chapter 1: 1842 ...James Douglas selects the future fort site...Local First Peoples’ last year in control...Traditional uses of the land...Cultivating camas...Garry oak habitat prior to the impact of white settlement... (click)---> CHAPTER 1
Chapter 2: 1843-1848 ...The Company takes over...Strategies of control...Fort mentality and British attitudes...Lekwungen lose prime land to Company farms...The Park used as a Commons...Habitat changes... (click)---> CHAPTER 2
Chapter 3: 1849-1857 ...HBC controls Vancouver Island...Victoria land is divided according to the Wakefield System...The “Park Reserve” is set aside...Grant shoots a cow on Beacon Hill...The British “buy” the Victoria region for 371 blankets and a cap...Douglas acquires a personal estate... (click)---> CHAPTER 3
Chapter 4: 1858 - 1869 ...The Gold Rush increases white population... The Lekwungen population declines...Horse racing in Beacon Hill Park...HBC sells more of the Park...A duel on Beacon Hill...Arguments over control of the Park... (click)---> CHAPTER 4
Chapter 5: 1870 - 1888 ...Military camps, sham battles, guns and powder magazine...The Park is transferred to the City of Victoria in Trust...The Trust wording...Landmark decision by Supreme Court Chief Justice Sir Matthew B. Begbie...Millions of butterflies... Bandshell and Fountain Lake constructed... (click)---> CHAPTER 5
Chapter 6: 1889 ... The landscape design competition to develop Beacon Hill Park is won by Henry Cresswell...The City quietly switches to the Blair Plan...Work begins and money By-law passes before the public realizes the change...Protests against Blair Plan developments fill newspapers...Evaluations of the Blair Plan...Other Park news... (click)---> CHAPTER 6
Chapter 7: 1890-1899 ...The zoo in Park history...Efforts to remove the Powder Magazine continue... Ongoing problem with bear pits... Religious groups oppose Sunday concerts... Park improvement plans...Controversy over renting grandstand seats ... (Click) ---> CHAPTER 7
Chapter 8: 1900-1909 ...Burns Monument erected...Two gravel pits in the Park opposed...Grass and broom fires...Chinese Temple Bell installed...Alderman proposes selling part of the Park... First automobiles on Park roads cause problems... Furor over zoo conditions...Ownership of Park moose disputed...Helmcken opposes private bowling greens and clubhouse in the Park...Replica of the Athens Parthenon proposed for Beacon Hill... (Click) ---> CHAPTER 8
Chapter 9: 1910-1919 ...Lawn bowling club signs deed with City...Restaurant proposed...City operated food pavilion suggested...Seismological Observatory proposed...First greenhouse built...Renting chairs controversy... Ice Skating fatality... Huge military camp takes over north end of Park ...Military camp dismantled... (Click) ---> CHAPTER 9
Chapter 10: 1920-1929 ...Assessing the Purdy years...Overview of broom in Park history...Ursus Kermodei cub arrives... Wading pool opens...New bandstand replaces 1888 bandstand...Bonfire beacons celebrate anniversary of Captain Vancouver’s arrival in Strait of Juan de Fuca...Mayors Grove established...Open air checkerboard built...Two buffalo added to zoo... (Click) ---> CHAPTER 10
Chapter 11: 1930-1939 ...The “Warren Years”...Consensus grew for major improvements...Warren’s selection and first days on the job... Relief labour used in the Park...Dog off-leash controversy...Chinese Bell painted orange...Stream completed between Fountain and Goodacre Lakes...Concrete replica of “Indian Village” proposed...Cranes arrived from India...Enclosed shelter built at Finlayson Point...Checkers Pavilion opened...Rose garden constructed...Hanging baskets program started...Flagpole erected...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 11
Chapter 12: 1940-1949...Birds in the Park...Cutting “dangerous” trees...Two commercial golf proposals... Flower stealers...Zoo conditions...Carp acquired...Squirrels introduced...Tropical aviary proposal...Tea-room proposal...Army huts moved to Park...Theatre proposal...Cameron Bandshell constructed...Kermodei bear died...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 12
Chapter 13: 1950-1959...“Mountain Indicator” on Hill...Ice skating fatality...Tree cutting battles ...Poisoning Goodacre Lake...Farmyard proposed...Harrison Yacht Pond built...Vandalism...World’s Tallest Totem...Navy Day...Marathon swimmers ...Commercialism...Southgate Street constructed...Royal Visit...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 13
Chapter 14: 1960-1969...The demise of the first Royal Bust...Easter Egg Hunt fiasco...Speakers Corner... Building and grass fires...Second bust of the Queen...Park workhorse Queenie makes news...High-rise buildings line western boundary...Daffodils in hanging baskets...Provincial Museum proposed on Beacon Hill...City street through Park proposed...75 Foot Tree-house proposed...Knot Garden...Love-Ins...Rock garden...Water diviners...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 14
Chapter 15: 1970-1979...Warren retired...Assessing the Warren Years...Caverns proposed under cliffs...Fire circle... Anti-car rallies...Freeway proposed through Park... Queenie died...Elm weed-tree infestation... Beacon Hill Park Association assertive...Fight on cricket parking...Service building completed... Internal road closures...Michigan Street extension... River Otter in lake...Firehall proposal...Children’s farmyard opened... Lakes and islands named...Putting green installed...First female hired... Development freeze urged...New cricket clubhouse...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 15
Chapter 16: 1980-1989...New lawn bowling clubhouse...100th anniversary of Park...Tearoom proposal... Pesticide kills ducks... Police horse patrol...Children’s farmyard privatized...Lookout Shelter options... Speakers Corner revived... Aboriginal burial cairns reconstructed...Long-term policy debate...Chinese bell removed...Preserving the southeast woods...Friends of Beacon Hill Park...Rare native plants threatened by mowing...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 16
Chapter 17: 1990-1999...Southeast Woods restoration...Police horse barn constructed...Cross-country run, monument and Great Canadian Picnic damage native plants...Camas Day...Off-leash dogs...Horseshoe Bay rock berm...”Gay-bashing”...Lookout Shelter fate debated... Children’s Petting Zoo...Great Blue Heron Colony...Cooper’s Hawks...Bald Eagles...Burns statue stolen...Folk Roots Music Festival proposed...B. C. Supreme Court Justice Wilson’s landmark decision...Wildlife Trees...Mile Zero development plan...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 17
Chapter 18: 2000-2002...Appeal of 1998 court ruling debated...Beacon Hill Park Management Plan process begins...Luminara Lantern Festival...World’s Tallest Totem restoration... Nesting birds... Effect of Bald Eagle predation on Great Blue Herons...Consultant reports...Wading pool closed, spray fountain installed... Commercialism report... Cricket club beer sales controversy...Police horse patrol ended...New water-spray park proposed...Snowbird air-show attracts 30,000...Beacon Hill Park Annual Report 2002...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 18
Chapter 19: 2003-2004...Great Blue Herons...Advertising at charity events...Luminara...Water spray facility...Turtles, fish and birds...Off-leash dogs...Well drilling...Heritage Landscape Plan...Butterfly sanctuary...Cooper’s Hawk nest rescue...Contaminated wood chips...Trucks damage meadows...Drought affects the Park...
(Click) ---> CHAPTER 19
Chapter 20: 2005...The park’s outstanding trees and flowers... How park acres are used...Current map...Media coverage... Luminara Festival...Great blue herons...Bald eagles...Volunteers pull ivy in S.E. Woods...Wildlife Trees...Hanging baskets...Camas harvesting... Scotch broom removal on Beacon Hill...Federal HSP grants...Cameron Bandshell events...Dogs in parks...Park staffing...Squatters camps...Terry Fox statue...Aviary sound installation...Water Spray Park...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 20
Chapter 21: 2006...Storm damage...New tree nursery...Great blue herons...Bald eagles...Cooper’s hawks...Elodea in Goodacre Lake...Fewer Red-eared slider turtles...North American bullfrog captured... Carpet Burweed spreads...Finlayson Point restoration proposal...First Nations marker... Illegal campers...Native plant test plots...Water play design...New crevice garden...Southeast Woods planting party...Wildlife trees increase...(Click) ---> CHAPTER 21
Chapter 22: 2006...Herons abandon colony...Bandshell refurbished... 125th anniversary celebration...New "Watering Can" play area...Luminara in the rain...Cooper’s hawks...Goodacre Lake...Children’s Farm given more park land...Banner year for wild orchids...Native plants disappearing... Homeless campers...Park Managers gone...Carpet burweed...Invasive Eastern cottontail rabbits...New perspective on aboriginal burial cairns...Southeast Woods restoration...Tree Appreciation Day...Cross-Country event damages meadows.(Click) ---> CHAPTER 22
APPENDIX A ...... Boundary lines and acreage totals for Beacon Hill Park: 1849-2004...(click)---> APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B ..... Developments proposed--but not implemented--in Beacon Hill Park...(click)---> APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C - DALLAS ROAD WATERFRONT:
I. CLOVER POINT HISTORY (1842-2005)...James Douglas names
Clover Point...Aboriginal use of the land... Henley’s Hotel/Cliff
House...Clover Point Rifle Range... Boathouses on the Point...Military use
during WWII...Victoria gets 99 year lease...City garbage dumped in sea returns
to beaches...Clover Point “improvements” includes loop road...Erosion
problems... Sewage outfall and pumping station...Tearing up loop road
proposal...Kite festival...(click)---> I. CLOVER POINT
HISTORY
II. HOLLAND POINT HISTORY (1843-2005) ...Aboriginal use of the land... Hudson’s Bay Company farm...Named after George Holland...Nias family occupies...Nias house used for smallpox quarantine...Military gun emplacement...Crown transfers land to city...Used by military in WWII...Public park official, 1947...Harrison Yacht Pond constructed... Coastal erosion controversies...Tall Ships Festival...(click)---> II. HOLLAND POINT HISTORY
APPENDIX D - OFFSHORE REEFS:
I. BROTCHIE LEDGE HISTORY (1843-2005) ...First
called Buoy Rock...Named for Captain William Brotchie...Buoys and markers,
1843-1897...First Brotchie Ledge beacon, 1898-1989 ...Second Brotchie Ledge
beacon, 1989-2005...Wreck of the San Pedro, 1891...Efforts to refloat San
Pedro, 1891-1894...San Pedro demolished, 1897...Scuba diving on the wreck
site... (click)---> I. BROTCHIE LEDGE
HISTORY
II. GLIMPSE REEFS: ...Marine chart of Victoria seafront...Photos of Glimpse Reefs...Grounding of tanker Santa Maria (1938)...Pleasure boat wrecked (1994)...(click)---> I. GLIMPSE REEFS HISTORY
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................(click)---> REFERENCES
INDEX
A comprehensive INDEX covering 19 chapters and the appendices.....................(click)---> INDEX
(Note: the Chapter 20 Index entries are still in preparation.)