On York Blvd. right between the cities of Hamilton and Burlington Ont. Sits a hidden gem of history, that unless you knew where it was. You would probably never notice it.
In the tress and bushes that line the street, a hidden staircase will take you down to the ruins of a sunken memorial garden.
The garden was built in the 1920s by a local businessman and engineer T.B. McQueston. As part of his plan to construct a beautiful entrance to the city. Here is an Arial view of what he built and of the garden in the 1950s.
Then in the 1960 after part of it had been demolished.
In 1962 the 403 highway was built through the area and the city decided scrap McQueston's design, citing it was ugly and needed to change. Leaving the memorial garden to be reclaimed by nature.
Today only some of the concrete structure remains and you have to walk through a lot of overgrowth to find it.
This cement slab marks where the water pool used to be.
After walking that, you come to where the head of the park was. Now just some stone walls that are completely overgrown. The staircase I came down on one side and another staircase on the other side.
This staircase brings you to an open field area that has a small mound in the middle of it.
The mound has a rock, with a plaque on it. The plaque was installed in 1926, in memory of the unknown soldiers, immigrants and people who lost their lives in the area. Dating back more than 200 years!
