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Stanley Park

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For other uses, see Stanley Park (disambiguation).
Location of Stanley Park within Vancouver.

Stanley Park is a 404.9 hectare (1,000 acre) urban park bordering downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1] It is the largest city-owned park in Canada and the third largest in North America.[2] The park attracts an estimated eight million visitors every year, including locals and tourists, who come for its recreational facilities and its natural attributes. An 8.8 kilometre (5.47 mile) seawall path circles the park, which is used by 2.5 million pedestrians, cyclists, and inline skaters every year.[3] Much of the park remains forested with an estimated one million trees that can be as tall as 76 metres (250 feet) and hundreds of years old.[4][5] There are approximately 200 km (125 miles) of trails and roads in the park, which are patrolled by the Vancouver Police Department mounted squad.[6] The Project for Public Spaces has ranked Stanley Park as the sixteenth best park in the world and sixth best in North America.[7]

History

A statue of Lord Stanley at the quoted moment.

Squamish inhabitants of the park were the first people encountered by Captain George Vancouver when he explored the area in 1792. In his A Voyage of Discovery, Vancouver describes the area as “an island … with a smaller island [Deadman's Island] lying before it,” indicating that it was originally surrounded by water, at least at high tide. “Here we were met by about fifty Indians, in their canoes," he continued, "who conducted themselves with the greatest decorum and civility,” and who presented the visitors with cooked fish.[8] No other contact was recorded for decades, until around the time of the Crimean War when British admirals arranged with Squamish Chief Joe Capilano that in the case of an invasion, the British would defend the south shore of Burrard Inlet and the Squamish would defend the north.[9] According to Capilano’s daughter, the British gave him and his men 60 muskets, which were the first guns owned by natives on the BC coast. Although the attack anticipated by the British never came, the guns were used by the Squamish to repel an attack by a First Nation from the north. Stanley Park was not attacked but this was the beginning of it being considered a strategic military location by the British.[10]

The peninsula was designated as a military reserve in the early 1860s in a survey conducted by the Royal Engineers. It was again considered a strategic point in case Americans might attempt an invasion and launch an attack on New Westminster (then the colonial capital) via Burrard Inlet. Although the area was logged by six different companies between the 1860s and 1880s, this military designation saved the land from development.[11] In 1886, as its first order of business, Vancouver’s City Council voted to petition the Dominion government to lease the reserve for use as a park.

To manage their new acquisition, city council appointed a six-man park committee, which was replaced with the Vancouver Park Board in 1890 that was to be elected rather than appointed (a rarity in North American cities). The Vancouver Park Board manages 192 parks on over 12.78 km² of land, but Stanley Park remains by far the largest.[12]

Trees growing out of stumps show the regeneration of the park forest.

On 27 September 1888 the park was officially opened, where it was named after Lord Stanley, Governor General of Canada at the time. The following year, Lord Stanley became the first Governor General to visit British Columbia when he officially dedicated the park. An observer at the event wrote:

Lord Stanley threw his arms to the heavens, as though embracing within them the whole of one thousand acres of primeval forest, and dedicated it 'to the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time.'[13]

In 1908, 20 years after the first petition for the lease, the federal government renewed the lease of Stanley Park to Vancouver for 99 years, renewable in 2007.

Deadman's Island, a small island off Stanley Park and now the site of a naval station, had been used as a burial ground by the Squamish, possibly a reason for its macabre name. During the 1860s to early 1880s, early settlers along Burrard Inlet also used the island, along with Brockton Point, as a burial ground and cemetery. Burials ceased when the Mountain View Cemetery opened in 1887, just after Vancouver had become a city. During a small pox outbreak in the late 1880s, Deadman's Island became a "pest house" for quarantined victims of the disease and burial site for those who did not survive.[14]

The park was designated a National Historic Site by the federal government in 1988. It was deemed significant because the relationship between its "natural environmental and its cultural elements developed over time" and "it epitomizes the large urban park in Canada."[15]

Attractions

Further information: List of attractions and monuments in Stanley Park

Stanley Park contains numerous natural and man-made attractions that lure visitors to the park. Unlike other large urban parks, Stanley Park is not the product of a landscape architect, but has evolved into its present, mixed-use configuration.[16]

The park's forest

The forest gives the park a more natural character than most other urban parks, leading many users to consider it an urban oasis.[17] It is primarily second and third growth and contains many huge Douglas-fir, Western Redcedar, Western Hemlock, and Sitka Spruce trees.

File:StanleyAerial Labelled.jpg
An aerial view of Stanley Park. (click to enlarge)

In addition to logging in the nineteenth century, large swathes of the park were deforested by natural causes on three occasions in the city’s history. The first was a combination of an October windstorm in 1934 and a subsequent snowstorm in the following January that felled thousands of trees, primarily between Beaver Lake and Prospect Point.[18] Another storm in October 1962, the remnants of Typhoon Freda, cleared a six acre virgin tract behind the children's zoo, which opened an area for a new miniature railway that replaced a smaller version built in the 1940s. In total, 3,000 trees were lost in that storm.[19] An extratropical cyclone on 15 December 2006 again ravaged the park with 115 kilometre (71.5 mile) per hour winds. Over 60% of the western edge was damaged. The worst was in the area by Prospect Point, although many other pockets were hit and 1,000 or more trees may be lost.[20] Since 1992, the tallest trees have been topped and otherwise pruned by park staff for safety reasons.

Because the park has been subjected to such dramatic changes, several landmark trees have been affected. The Hollow Tree was probably the most photographed park element in bygone years, an obligatory stop for locals, tourists and dignitaries alike, and a professional photographer was on hand to capture the visit for a fee. The tree was saved from road widening in 1910 through the lobbying efforts of the photographer who made his living at the tree.[21] Automobiles and horse-drawn carriages would frequently be backed into the hollow, demonstrating the immensity of the tree for posterity. While the remaining 700-800 year-old stump still draws viewers and is commemorated with a plaque, it is no longer alive and has shrunk considerably over the years, from a circumference of 18.3 (60 feet) many decades ago, to a more recent 17.1 m (56 feet).[22][23]

View of Siwash Rock, taken from the hiking trail above.

Another tree that has achieved fame is the National Geographic Tree, so named because it appeared in the magazine’s October 1978 issue. With a circumference of 13.5 m (44 feet, 4 inches), it was once one of the impressive big Western Redcedars of the park. It has also diminished over time, ravaged by storms, a lightening strike, and topped by park staff to its present height of 39.6 metre (130 feet).[24][25] A small stand of tall trees that has not survived but was once a popular attraction, “The Seven Sisters,” is memorialized by a plaque and new replacement trees. The death of the distinctive fir tree atop Siwash Rock has also been memorialized with a replacement. The original died in the dry summer of 1965, and through the persistent efforts of park staff, a replacement finally took root in 1968.[26][27]

Recreational facilities

Recreational facilities are abundant in the park, having long co-existed, albeit uneasily, with the aesthetic and more natural park features preferred by those looking to the park as an enclave of nature in the city.[28] The most heavily used and the favourite facility of park users is the seawall encircling the park’s perimeter. Construction of the 8.8 km (5.5 mile) seawall around the park began in 1914, but was not declared finished until 26 September 1971, and did not fully circle the park until 1980.[29]

Henry Avison, the first zookeeper and park ranger, feeding a bear.

James "Jimmy" Cunningham, a master mason, dedicated 32 years of his life to the construction of the seawall from 1931 until his retirement in 1963. Even after he retired, Cunningham kept coming down (once in his pyjamas) to monitor the wall's progress, until his death at 85 on 29 September 1963.[30]

The seawall is a popular destination for walking, running, cycling, and inline skating. There are two paths, one for inline skaters and cyclists and the other for pedestrians. The section around the outside of the park is one-way for cyclists and inline skaters, running counter-clockwise.[31] The walkway has been extended several times and is currently 22 kilometres from end to end, making it the world's longest uninterrupted waterfront walkway.[32] Unofficially, it starts at Canada Place in the downtown core, runs around Stanley Park, along English Bay beach, around False Creek, and finally to Kitsilano Beach. From there, a trail continues 600 metres to the west, connecting to an additional 12 kilometres of beaches and pathways which terminate at the mouth of the Fraser River. An extratropical cyclone in December 2006 subjected parts of the park portion of the seawall to mudslides and falling debris, forcing park staff to close it for an extended repair period.[33]

The miniature railroad was built in an area leveled by Typhoon Freda in the 1960s and is especially popular as the “Halloween Train” and the “Christmas Train” during those seasons. The park also contains tennis courts, an 18-hole Pitch and putt golf course, a seaside swimming pool at Second Beach, and the Brockton Oval for track sports. For entertainment, there is the Aquarium, Canada’s first and largest since it opened in 1956, and the Malkin Bowl, rebuilt after a fire in the 1980s and home to local Theatre Under the Stars productions.[34]

Animals

Until 1996, a main attraction in the park was a zoo, which grew out of the collection of animals begun by the first park superintendent, Henry Avison, after he captured a black bear and chained it to a stump. Avison was subsequently named city pound keeper, and his collection of animals formed the basis for the original zoo, which eventually housed over 50 animals, including snakes, wolves, emus, buffalo, kangaroos, monkeys, and Humboldt penguins.[35]

A duck sitting on the shore of lily-covered Beaver Lake.

In 1994, when plans were developed to upgrade Stanley Park's zoo, Vancouver voters decided in a referendum to phase it out. The Stanley Park Zoo closed completely in December 1997 after the last remaining animal, a polar bear named Tuk, died at age 36. He had remained after the other animals had left because of his old age. The polar bear pit, often criticised by animal rights activists, was converted into a demonstration salmon spawning hatchery.[36] Captive animals can still be viewed at the Children’s Farmyard. Numerous varieties of animals live in the park, including 200 bird species.

The Vancouver Aquarium is also located in the park. Since its establishment in 1956, the Aquarium has become the largest in Canada and houses a collection of marine life that includes dolphins, belugas, sea lions, Harbour seals, and sea otters. The popular children's song, Baby Beluga, was inspired by one of the whales at the facility. In total, there are approximately 300 species of fish, 30,000 invertebrates, 56 species of amphibians and reptiles, and around 60 mammals and birds.[37] The park board approved an $80 million expansion of the Aquarium in November 2006, following considerable public debate and despite a vocal opposition concerned about animal rights and the loss of park trees required by the expansion.[38]

One of the large trees knocked down by the wind storm on 15 December 2006.

Mammals include a large raccoon population, coyotes, rabbits descended from discarded pets, and a thriving Grey squirrel population descending from eight pairs given as a gift from New York's Central Park in 1909.[39][40]

Monuments

Over the years a large and random collection of monuments has accumulated in Stanley Park, consisting of statues, plaques, and various other memorials commemorating a large variety of things. Among these are statues of Lord Stanley, poet Robert Burns, Olympic runner Harry Jerome, and President Harding; plaques commemorating the wreck of the SS Beaver, the sinking of the Chehalis, a tugboat that collided with the MV Princess Victoria off Stanley Park, Pauline Johnson’s burial site, and the Salvation Army; a replica of the RMS Empress of Japan figurehead; and a timber structure that replaced the original Lumbermen’s Arch built by lumber workers for a visit by the Duke of Connaught. Gardens are also a common form of commemoration in the park.[41]

Reflecting the view that the park should be kept in a more natural state and is already saturated, the park board has banned the erection of any further memorials. In what some have considered an exception to the ban, the park board agreed in 2006 to build a new playground at Ceperley Meadows near Second Beach honouring the victims of the Air India Flight 182 bombing. The federal government has earmarked $800,000 to build the playground.[42] A local historian has also suggested the appropriateness of memorials marking the sites of communities that were displaced in the making of the park at Lumbermen’s Arch (Whoi Whoi), Prospect Point (Chaythoos), Brockton Point, and Kanaka Rancherie (at the foot of Denman Street), although a formal proposal has not been put forth.[43]

  • Sunset from Stanley Park.
    Sunset from Stanley Park.
  • Girl in a Wetsuit statue
    Girl in a Wetsuit statue
  • Statue of Scottish poet, Robert Burns
    Statue of Scottish poet, Robert Burns
  • Statue of Olympic runner, Harry Jerome
    Statue of Olympic runner, Harry Jerome
  • Plaque and cairn commemorating the wreck of the SS Beaver.
    Plaque and cairn commemorating the wreck of the SS Beaver.
  • SS Beaver wrecked off Prospect Point.
    SS Beaver wrecked off Prospect Point.
  • Memorial to those killed in the Chehalis collision.
    Memorial to those killed in the Chehalis collision.
  • Replica figurehead of RMS Empress of Japan.
    Replica figurehead of RMS Empress of Japan.
  • Deadman's Island, showing squatters' homes in the early twentieth century.
    Deadman's Island, showing squatters' homes in the early twentieth century.
  • Brockton Point lighthouse
    Brockton Point lighthouse
  • Lions Gate Bridge connecting Vancouver to North Vancouver.
    Lions Gate Bridge connecting Vancouver to North Vancouver.
  • Lions Gate Bridge from Prospect Point.
    Lions Gate Bridge from Prospect Point.
  • The forest in Stanley Park.
    The forest in Stanley Park.
  • The National Geographic Tree.
    The National Geographic Tree.
  • Tree knocked down by December 2006 storm.
    Tree knocked down by December 2006 storm.
  • Tree knocked down by December 2006 storm.
    Tree knocked down by December 2006 storm.
  • Totem poles
    Totem poles
  • Plaque explaining the legend of Siwash Rock.
    Plaque explaining the legend of Siwash Rock.
  • Siwash Rock
    Siwash Rock
  • Siwash Rock
    Siwash Rock
  • Stanley Park on a rainy day.
    Stanley Park on a rainy day.
  • 9 O'Clock Gun
    9 O'Clock Gun
  • Jubilee Fountain in Lost Lagoon in 1936.
    Jubilee Fountain in Lost Lagoon in 1936.
  • Lost Lagoon in the winter.
    Lost Lagoon in the winter.
  • Beaver Lake on a foggy day.
    Beaver Lake on a foggy day.
  • Beaver Lake
    Beaver Lake
  • Beaver Lake in the winter.
    Beaver Lake in the winter.
  • Seawall
    Seawall
  • Second Beach Pool
    Second Beach Pool
  • A dolphin performing at the Vancouver Aquarium.
    A dolphin performing at the Vancouver Aquarium.
  • Along one of the trails
    Along one of the trails

References

  1. ^ Steele, R. Mike (1988). The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation: The First 100 Years. Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. p. 3.
  2. ^ Foss, Lindsay. "A Walk through Stanley Park". Travel. Canadian Geographic. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
  3. ^ "Seawall getting face-lift". Globe and Mail. 21 February 2004. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  4. ^ Parkinson, Alison (2006). Wilderness on the Doorstep: Discovering Nature in Stanley Park. Vancouver: Harbour Publishing. pp. 54, 52. ISBN 1-55017-386-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Welcome to Stanley Park". Parks and Gardens. Vancouver Park Board. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  6. ^ "The Mounted Squad Today". Mounted Squad, Patrol District One. Vancouver Police Department. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  7. ^ "The World's Best and Worst Parks". Making Places. Project for Public Spaces. September 2004. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  8. ^ Nicol, Eric (1970). Vancouver. Toronto: Doubleday. p. 13.
  9. ^ Nicol, Eric (1970). Vancouver. Toronto: Doubleday. pp. 15–16.
  10. ^ Paull, Andy (26 March 1938). "The Battle-Ground of Stanley Park". Vancouver Sun.
  11. ^ "Forest – Monument Trees". Stanley Park Nature. Vancouver Park Board. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  12. ^ Steele, R. Mike (1988). The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation: The First 100 Years. Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. p. 1.
  13. ^ Davis, Chuck (1997). The Greater Vancouver Book: An Urban Encyclopedia. Surrey, BC: Linkman Press. p. 52. ISBN 1-896846-00-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Davis, Chuck (1997). The Greater Vancouver Book: An Urban Encyclopedia. Surrey, BC: Linkman Press. p. 169. ISBN 1-896846-00-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Parks Canada/Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation (26 November 2002). "Stanley Park: Commemorative Integrity Statement" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-12-28. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ Stephan, Bill (2006). Wilderness on the Doorstep: Discovering Nature in Stanley Park. Vancouver: Harbour Publishing. p. 17. ISBN 1-55017-386-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ "Stanley Park - Vancouver's Urban Oasis" (PDF). Tourism Vancouver. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  18. ^ "The Damage in the Park". Vancouver Daily Province. 9 February 1934.
  19. ^ Hazlitt, Tom (22 May 1964). "It's for real -- this railroad". Vancouver Daily Province.
  20. ^ Rook, Katie (19 December 2006). "Stanley Park 'looks like a war zone'". National Post. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  21. ^ Koshevoy, Himie (7 June 1962). "Saga of Stanley Park". Vancouver Daily Province.
  22. ^ Steele, Mike (1993). Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground. Vancouver: Heritage House. p. 108. ISBN 1-895811-00-7.
  23. ^ Parkinson, Alison (2006). Wilderness on the Doorstep: Discovering Nature in Stanley Park. Vancouver: Harbour Publishing. p. 46. ISBN 1-55017-386-3.
  24. ^ Steele, Mike (1993). Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground. Vancouver: Heritage House. p. 108. ISBN 1-895811-00-7.
  25. ^ Parkinson, Alison (2006). Wilderness on the Doorstep: Discovering Nature in Stanley Park. Vancouver: Harbour Publishing. p. 46. ISBN 1-55017-386-3.
  26. ^ "Park Tree's Loss Stirs Memories". Vancouver Sun. 10 August 1965.
  27. ^ "Park Still Feels Frieda's Punch". Vancouver Sun. 6 August 1968.
  28. ^ McDonald, Robert A. J. (1984). ""Holy Retreat" or "Practical Breathing Spot"? Class Perceptions of Vancouver's Stanley Park, 1910-1913". Canadian Historical Review. LXV (2): 139–140.
  29. ^ "Last stone laid in park's seawall". Vancouver Sun. 27 September 1971.
  30. ^ Griffin, Kevin (4 February 2005). "Grand Old Man of the Seawall". Vancouver Sun. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ Griffin, Kevin (4 February 2005). "Grand Old Man of the Seawall". Vancouver Sun. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ Pleiff, Margo (15 May 2005). "Vancouver seawall links city's urban and natural delights". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-12-01.
  33. ^ Shore, Randy (20 December 2006). "Storm closes seawall for weeks". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  34. ^ Foss, Lindsay. "A Walk through Stanley Park". Travel. Canadian Geographic. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
  35. ^ Steele, R. Mike (1988). Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation: The First 100 Years. Vancouver: Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. p. 13.
  36. ^ "Vancouver residents say no to Stanley Park Zoo". Edmonton Journal. 28 April 1996.
  37. ^ "Aquafacts - Frequently Asked Questions". Vancouver Aquarium. Retrieved 2006-12-28.
  38. ^ Vancouver Park Board (27 November 2006). "Board of Parks and Recreation Special Board Meeting". Vancouver Park Board. Retrieved 2006-12-28.
  39. ^ "Stanley Park - Vancouver's Urban Oasis" (PDF). Tourism Vancouver. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  40. ^ Steele, Mike (1993). Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground. Vancouver: Heritage House. p. 108. ISBN 1-895811-00-7.
  41. ^ Osbourne, Stephen (July/August 2004). "Monuments and Memories". Canadian Geographic. 124 (4): 47–50. Retrieved 2006-12-10. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  42. ^ Kittleberg, Lori (6 July 2006). "Air India tribute proposed for Ceperley Park". Xtra West!. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
  43. ^ Barman, Jean (2005). Stanley Park’s Secret. Vancouver: Harbour Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 1-55017-346-4.


49°18′13″N 123°08′43″W / 49.303748°N 123.145237°W / 49.303748; -123.145237

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