Lake Ontario Park: A Chronology
The following is a summary of a chronology of Lake Ontario Park compiled by local historian Jennifer McKendry and presented at the February 23 stakeholder-group visioning workshop. The full text of McKendry's research can be downloaded using the link at right.
SUMMARY STATEMENT
Lake Ontario Park has been of importance over centuries because of its own physical properties and its proximity to significant natural features such as Little Cataraqui Bay, Little Cataraqui Creek and the associated wetlands. Forming a point of high land and low shore along Lake Ontario, it may have attracted the attention of First Nations, as they travelled searching for food and furs - perhaps while navigating the creek.
In the late 17th century during the French regime (spanning 1673 to 1758 in this area), the potential of the Little Cataraqui Creek for fishing was noted. Perhaps in the first half of the 18th century (most likely in the years preceding and during the Seven Years War), the military implications of an enemy (the British) disembarking from sailing ships on the bay's shores resulted in the fortification of "the east point" of the bay. The concern may have been that an overland march from this area could herald a surprise attack on Fort Frontenac. But if what is now Lake Ontario Park was fortified, the enemy would have to land on the western shore of the bay, negotiate walking along the shore and crossing the mouth of the creek - while exposed to French gun-fire from the eastern side. The evidence of a French battery ("a fortified emplacement for heavy guns") was visible, when the area was inspected by a British Royal Engineer in 1794.
When the British surveyed this area in preparation for granting farm lots to Loyalists in the 1780s after the American Revolutionary War, particular note was made about the potential of Little Cataraqui Creek as a means to access the back country. Concern was recorded about the potential for an enemy (the Americans) taking over Snake Island and the west point of Little Cataraqui Bay and thus disrupting shipping channels on the lake. By the end of the 18th century, farm lot 16 (Lake Ontario Park is on the lot's "broken front" or southern 30 acres), consisting of about 230 acres, was granted to an important Loyalist, the Reverend John Stuart, minister of St George's Church (now Cathedral). As he had a home and farm close to Kingston (on lot 24), lot 16 was likely not developed by Stuart, although parts may have been leased to local farmers. At his death in 1811, the land was inherited by his son Andrew Stuart.
Because of the outbreak of war in 1812 with the Americans, attention turned to defending the town of Kingston and the important naval dockyard on Point Frederick. Frontal attack by ship was an obvious danger due to being situated on Lake Ontario, but land attack posed special danger, because the enemy would have control of the high land behind the small town (then clustered near the shore). In 1813, a protective series of blockhouses linked by a palisade was erected to ring the land side. Thought was given to possible overland routes by which the enemy might reach the town - for example, from various points along the Little Cataraqui Creek. It is likely that this was the reasoning behind the British War Department buying the south half and broken front of lot 16 from Andrew Stuart in 1812 - land later described as, "a strong military position commanding the Little Cataraqui Bay, about 3 miles west of Kingston." Indirect evidence that the British did establish a battery is found on a map of 1856, which notes the "Site of old Battery" north of Front Road (King St West). Although not directly on land now occupied by Lake Ontario Park, the military would have had to cut any park trees obscuring sight lines for firing.
War tensions dissipated over time, and the military property was leased to private individuals for farming, pasturing and wood lots. In the 1840s, Dr James Sampson, whose farm of 1833 was to the east on lot 17, leased 12 acres on the southernmost part of what is now Lake Ontario Park, probably as a forested buffer for his buildings, which were very close to the boundary line. In the 1850s, Edward Revell leased 127 acres on each side of King St West for farming. Any buildings were likely modest in scope and of wood (the military might require a lease-holder to remove them at the end of a lease). In 1856, there were two "log sheds" on each side of King St West but four years later Revell's house, root house and stable are noted just north of the road. In the meanwhile, the nearby village of Portsmouth was established in the early 1830s (in response to the building of the Provincial Penitentiary). The decade of the 1860s saw the development of the Rockwood Lunatic Asylum (now part of the Providence Continuing Care Centre property) to the east of Dr Sampson's farm. By the end of the 19th century, the hospital property, having engulfed lot 17, became the park's neighbour to the east. For a brief period, the institution held the lease on the 12 acres once leased by Dr Sampson but, in 1894, the Kingston, Portsmouth, Cataraqui Street Railway Company extended its line to bring summer visitors to its new park on the most southerly part of lot 16. It is from this year that we can date "Lake Ontario Park," a name which appeared on a contemporary map. The same map, however, suggested the northern half of the park, as we know it today, was separate and may have continued as farm land leased by the government. (In 1870, the British War Department surrendered the land to the new Dominion of Canada.)
In 1917, the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club acquired the lease of the land once rented by Revell; most of the property was north of the road but there was, as well, a small piece to the south. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Lake Ontario Park featured swimming, refreshments, dancing in a pavilion and camping in motor homes and tents. Pairs of handsome stone piers were built to distinguish the entrance on Front Road, beyond which there were open fields and, in the distance, shade trees and bush sheltering the camping area. In the 1920s, the golf club cleared their land south of the road for new holes. Industry came to the area in 1929, when Little Cataraqui Bay was dredged in preparation for building a huge grain elevator (demolished c1988), serviced by a train spur line. This disrupted the recreational enjoyment of the natural sand beach at the end of the bay.
In 1930, the City of Kingston bought the assets of the Street Railway Company including the facilities at Lake Ontario Park (even though the park is in Kingston Township until 1952). At the same time, it acquired most of the rest of the land south of King Street West in the possession of the Golf Club (who had just bought it from the government). Thus the land occupied today as park is finally possessed by one owner, the City of Kingston. The era of the street railway was at an end; access to the park was now by foot, bus or car from the city and Portsmouth Village.
From 1948 until the mid 1950s, the Kiwanis Club managed the park under a lease from the city. Club volunteers began the long process of rejuvenating the park by sprucing up the dance pavilion, the tourist cabins and bathing house and by adding attractions such as a zoo, baseball diamond and children's train. In 1952, the park was included in a large area annexed by the City of Kingston. After the city took control back of the park from the Kiwanis, plans were laid to renovate certain areas, for example, an extensive sand beach was artificially created in 1960 for sun-bathing and swimming and was supervised by life guards. Not all of the ambitious schemes of this era were developed, but the old frame dance-pavilion was removed and replaced by a steel open-air picnic pavilion in 1964. Amusement rides and refreshment booths were installed, while camping in motor homes and tents continued. As the 21st century opened, overnight stays and active entertainment outlets were closed down, but walking, jogging, cycling and contemplating were encouraged by extending the park waterfront walkway into Elevator Bay Park on the west. On the east, the path from the park running along the hospital grounds was extended to the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour site. The children's playgrounds remain in the park.
Buildings and amusement rides have come and gone, trees have flourished and disappeared and the soil covering itself has been rearranged in areas but stubbornly surviving are the rocky underpinnings of this point with its magnificent shoreline and brilliant views of one of the Great Lakes. The park's brushes with significant historical events during various tense war years, first under the French and then under the British, have brought it into the sphere of national history. Its long ownership by government protected it from industrial, suburban and cottage development. It is a significant municipal heritage and natural asset.
