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Gilberts: Did you know Chatham once had a Victoria Park?

If you travel around Ontario, then you probably know that many towns and cities have a Victoria Park. Did you know Chatham also had one?

If you travel around Ontario, then you probably know that many towns and cities have a park, usually in or near their city centres, called Victoria Park. I believe that’s because the latter nineteenth century, when Queen Victoria was in the prime of her reign, was also a time when Ontario was developing parks.  People had more leisure time and they also had more money to spend. They wanted their communities to have beautiful parks where they could spend time in the summer. So it only makes sense that they called these parks Victoria, after their beloved queen. I know for example, that there is a Victoria Park in London and one in Kitchener.

But did you know that Chatham once had a Victoria Park of its own? Some of you who have lived in the city for some years know that Victoria Park School was a public school for some years and only relatively recently closed. But why was it called that? Well, that’s because it was located on the property that had once been Victoria Park.

Gilberts: Did you know Chatham once had a Victoria Park? Back to video

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