Mary Allen Stories...

  written and researched by Deb Ferguson The Mary Allen neighbourhood had waited years for the development of the southern end of the land at the corner of Allen and Willow streets. Improvements had been made at the other end of the plot, closer to the train tracks, but residents were becoming cynical and thinking that maybe this change would never happen (see The Making of Mary Allen Park, Part 1 ). Click to enlarge. In 2012, the corner of Allen and Willow streets, adjacent to the first phase of Mary Allen Park. In 2010, when Melissa Durrell was knocking on doors during her bid for the job of Waterloo City Councillor for Ward 7, the question she heard most often was, “When can we get our new park?” So, once she was elected, one of her first priorities was to get started on the Mary Allen Park expansion. Politics, Public Input, and...yup, Parking (Again!) Councillor Durrell discovered that the Catholic School Board was interested in selling the land to the City, but it insisted th...

written and researched by Deb Ferguson I’m sitting at the harvest table in my park – Mary Allen Park. It’s right by my house, and, I’m guessing, close to the homes of most of the other people who are enjoying it right now. It is a great place to play and be active, meet with friends, or to throw a ball for the dog. This park serves as a place to burn off excess energy on the way home from school, as a meeting spot for some well-needed social time with other parents, and as a destination for seniors in the neighbourhood. It is a place for people to hang out, chat, or observe.    I t’s the centre of our neighbourhood and it gets a lot of use.       In front of me, and slightly to the right, are a variety of climbing areas, surrounded by older trees and newer bushes. There are large rocks and vertical logs to run across and balance on, a thick segment of a fallen tree trunk, a swing set, and a variety of climbers. In the distance, by the north entrance, are ...

At the corner of Willow and Allen streets in Waterloo, across from the former St. Louis Catholic School (see blog post St. Louis Catholic School ) , sits an empty lot that has been mostly vacant for many decades.  Click to enlarge. The corner in question: Allen and Willow streets in 2012. Since the City of Waterloo recently bought the space, along with the school building itself, the corner has gotten a lot of attention in the  neighbourhood. Its future is an open question, but its past is a bit less of a mystery... Walking through this quiet intersection, looking at the empty corner, can your imagination conjure a looming, four-storey factory built right to the edge of the sidewalk and stretching far back along both streets?  Between 1903 and 1930, that’s exactly what occupied this lot. Prior to 1903, it was undeveloped: Click to enlarge. Part of a c.1895 birds-eye view of the town of Waterloo, looking NE, created by the Toronto Lithographi...