History
I hope these notes about the park's history enhance your next visit. You'll be able to point out where the graveyard is and where the lake was. Those faint marks you see here and there in the grass won't be a mystery any more. Do you know where the wading pool was? Read on and you'll know that and more.
1960's
John Pearson, long time local historian and writer, was influential in the choice of Royal Kwantlen as the name for the new park. Parks Administrator R. A. Nicholson's initial plans called for a single combination baseball, soccer and football field, tennis courts, a pool, playground equipment and a bowling green. In 1960 the municipality and the North Surrey Athletic Association talked about possibly locating a $1,250,000 civic centre in the park. Fortunately they eventually chose in the mid 1960's to build the North Surrey Recreational Centre on 135 Street. Royal Kwantlen Park would be quite different today, with more buildings and blacktop than much needed greenspace.
Work on the new park started right away. 2.02 hectares (five acres) were prepared for a sports field and 1.2 hectares (three acres) made ready for grass seeding. It was at this point the municpality did something that would never happen today. The grassed area was created by bulldozing what remained of the Kwantlen tribe's graveyard and the surrounding land on the Hjorth Road (now 104th Avenue) side of the park. The only trace left from the cemetary is a large iron cross possessed by the Surrey Museum. Many, myself included, think there should be a cairn or other marker recognizing the dead of Kwantlen Park. There's been a lot of discusion over the years and everyone seems to agree it's needed but nothing has ever shown up in the park. It would be nice to see something done in time for the park's 50th anniversary in 2009.
The North Surrey Athletic Association began fund raising to buy playground equipment which the municipality would then install. John Pearson and J. M. Reitz wrote a book entitled "The Land of the Royal Kwantlen" to help raise the money. If you can find a copy, it's a great read for anyone interested in the early Kwantlen Park area.
In May of 1960 Royal Kwantlen got two picnic shelters and a stove shelter with a capacity to handle 240 park users. By 1963 the park was busy hosting softball games, community events and picnics. One of the big events during the sixties was an annual Easter egg hunt. Very popular, it had up to 2000 kids searching for eggs, watching the parade, competing in marble tournaments and other contests. The Easter bunny would arrive with a big fanfare, sometimes in a fire truck and once by helicopter. Alberta Slim, pioneer cowboy crooner and Surrey resident, was a frequent entertainer at the events.
Much to the delight of Whalley residents, the park finally got it's swimminmg pool in early 1968. Not quite the combination of Olympic sized main pool and smaller off-shoot originally talked about, it's still a popular attraction on a hot summer day. Also built was a sixties style wading pool for the younger park visitors. The only trace left of the wading pool is a welded shut steel access plate and some poorly growing grass where the pool was. More about that here
randy@kwantlenpark.ca
Updated Feb. 28, 2009 Copyright 2009