This year marks the Year of the Garden. While some people might naturally conclude that City Hall Park is the oldest public ornamental park in Red Deer, the first was actually created in 1905 by the C.P.R. train station as a rest area for passengers who were tired or wanted relief from the smoke and grit of the early steam trains.
There had been a grassy area next to the station soon after the first station building had been built in the early 1890s. However, Town Council felt that a more formal park was needed.
A “practical” gardener, Mr. Nash, was hired to take care of the changes and new plantings. More than 100 spruce and poplar trees were acquired from Red Deer Nurseries, a large tree nursery in what is now the Grandview subdivision.
Nash re-leveled the lawn areas and reseeded them. He also dug metre-wide borders along both sides of the walkways and planted large numbers of colourful flowering perennials and annuals.
A grand event occurred in April 1906. The Lieutenant Governor, Premier and all the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the newly-formed Province of Alberta were invited to Red Deer as part of a pitch to make Red Deer the provincial capital. There was a lavish banquet at the Arlington Hotel where the speeches went on until 4 in the morning.
The next day, or more accurately, later on in the morning, the provincial dignitaries were roused out of bed and taken to the C.P.R. Station Park. They each planted a ceremonial spruce tree to commemorate the creation of the Province of Alberta.
The dignitaries then boarded the train, extolling the many charms of Red Deer and the wonderful time they had enjoyed during their visit. However, once back in Edmonton, the overwhelming majority voted to make that city the permanent capital of the province.
The brutal winter of 1906-1907 took a terrible toll on the plantings in the C.P.R. Station Park. Particularly hard hit were the experimental trees and plants that had been used.
In the spring of 1907, the Town invested $225 to renew and refurbish the park. Nash was rehired to do the work. Many of the lost trees and perennials were replaced by Red Deer Nurseries with native varieties.
The crowning centerpiece for the renewed park was an ornamental fountain, which was donated by former mayor Edward Michener. It soon became a landmark feature for travelers coming to Red Deer on the train.
Ironically, in 1955, while Alberta was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary as a province, a proposal was made to turn the beautiful C.P.R. Station Park into a parking lot. While initially, nothing happened, in the summer of 1960, the park was finally paved over, the trees were all cut down and the fountain discarded.
Fortunately, Russell McFaul, a local contractor, salvaged the fountain.
The fountain was later sold to Ken Martin, who used it as a centerpiece in his yard at Penhold. In 2001, Mr. Martin very generously decided to donate the fountain back to the City of Red Deer, on the understanding that it would be put in an appropriate park setting. He also had the City promise that the fountain would not be discarded again in the future.
Meanwhile, the parking lot on the old C.P.R. Station Park location was sold off for a commercial building site as the City determined that there was not a need for so many parking lot spaces in that part of the downtown. The Clarica/Sun Life Financial building was constructed on the old park/parking lot site.
Consequently, a new park was created, with the fountain as a centerpiece, on a new site south of the Medican complex, along 52 Avenue. A set of historical arches were installed around the edge of the new Michener Fountain Park. Resembling the old roundhouse, which used to stand west of the old C.P.R. station, they have become a landmark for the community, much as the Michener Fountain has been.
Michael Dawe is a Red Deer historian and his column appears on Wednesdays.