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 ...

Part of a c.1895 birds-eye view  of the town of Waterloo, looking NE. Image courtesy of the Waterloo Municipal Heritage Committee.   Who were Mary and Allen? We’re not sure, but we have a reasonably good idea who Herbert and John were. Street names in the Mary-Allen neighbourhood seem to read like the branches of a family tree: George, Mary, Herbert, Allen, William, John, Moore…  But for whom are these streets named? Some of the information in this post comes from research-in-progress left by the late Waterloo historian Ellis Little , who had started a file on Waterloo street origins and land surveys.  Click on the link to read about Ellis, a thoroughly knowledgeable scholar of Waterloo history.  After his death in 2004 the Waterloo Public Library local history room was named in his honour, and it acquired his research papers for public use.  Ellis Little’s early research on street names included few source references; more digging will be ...