Regina’s Public Green Space: Twice as Much Would Still be Little Enough
In the fall term of 2023 The REM partnered with the University of Regina’s Urban Geography class 246. The REM came into the classroom to teach the students the benefits of using source documents in the form of archives and interviews for research. Here is the third student report we will highlight “Regina’s Public Green Space: Twice as much would still be little enough” by Jessie Stueck.
Regina’s Public Green Space: Twice as Much Would Still be Little Enough
Mean and dirty streets breed mean and dirty men, wizened children, stunted youth, sickly women. If the city council have powers to secure open spaces, cottage gardens, playgrounds, etc., let it exercise its powers. If it have them not, let it get them. (Trant, 1910)
Regina, Saskatchewan is not a city noted for its beauty, function or sustainability. One of the most notable features in Regina is Wascana Park in its southeast, one of the largest urban parks in North America. Wascana Park is certainly a treasure to the city, but its presence does not negate the need for accessible public green space in other parts of the city or justify continuing encroachments on existing public green space. Early architect Thomas Mawson envisioned Regina as a beautiful, lush city connected by a network of parks and vegetation (Mawson). In 1911, Magistrate William Trant commented on how valuable the current parks were to the city but noted that they “will not be sufficient for the future” (Beautifying..., 1911). Some of the parks Trant mentioned no longer exist in Regina today. The historical centering of cars and private industry in Regina has led to permanent loss of public green space and resources. This report will examine how the city's relinquishment of specific green spaces has represented a lasting absence of public green space in parts of Regina that has never been adequately restored or replaced.
Regina’s Civic Nursery & Greenhouses
Thomas Mawson’s ambitious vision relied on the work of Regina’s parks superintendent, Malcolm Ross (Mawson, pp. 32-33). Ross managed the city’s nursery and greenhouse, where trees and flowers were raised for use in the city's public spaces, including parks, fair grounds and city hall (Trees to..., 1911). Ross’s brother worked at the Indian Head Forestry Station (To beautify..., 1911), and Ross himself was considered to be knowledgeable and skilled in his line of work (Mawson, 32).
The city’s nursery was located on Broad Street and Fourth Avenue, just east of Regina Cemetery. In 1911, the nursery had 20,000 flowering plants, and an acre and a half of planted trees (Trees to..., 1911). By 1920, the nursery covered roughly 35 acres, had almost 100,000 trees and shrubs, 10,000 herbaceous plants and an additional 75,000 plants grown in its two greenhouses and hotbeds (Municipal Manual, 1920, p. 59).
The nursery and greenhouse operated in this location at some capacity into the early fifties, when the city entered an agreement to sell a portion of the nursery land and rezone it from park land to industrial use (The name..., 1950). In 1951, Regina city council agreed to sell 10 acres of city land including a portion of the nursery for $15,000 to Ford Motor Company to build a one million dollar parts and accessories warehouse (Ford will..., 1951). Later in the same year, city council approved a similar sale of 10 acres of the city nursery land to Saskatchewan Federated Co-Operatives (Sale of..., 1951).
These sales resulted in the nursery being moved to a new site in southeast Regina, very close to the current location of the Wacana Centre Greenhouse complex on Assiniboine Avenue. At this time the city also built a new greenhouse and garage at the Broad Street location (Regina greenhouse..., 1952). The city’s greenhouses operated there into the nineties (Weidlich, 2016). In the present day, the only remaining greenhouse at the Broad Street location houses the Regina Floral Conservatory.
There have been various subsequent civic nurseries; the southeast Riverside location and another outside of the city on west Dewdney Avenue (Tree Canada, 2000). The Provincial Capital Commission operates its own greenhouse complex within the Wascana Centre and currently provides flowers to the city of Regina (Saskatchewan, 2023). According to the city, all flowers, trees and other plants for city use are purchased in volume by the city and it does not grow anything itself.
The fate of the civic nursery on Broad Street and Fourth Avenue has had a lasting impact on north Regina. This is evidenced in the stark difference between an aerial photo from 1951 (Figure 1), the year the city sold nursery land to Ford Motor Company and Saskatchewan Federated Co-Operatives, and current Google Maps satellite shots (Figure 2). The fact that the city no longer grows any of its own plants or trees has a clear impact on the city's sustainability. The out-movement of the nurseries and greenhouse from north Regina to Wascana Centre, and even out of the city, exemplifies the city's reliance on Wascana Centre to provide sufficient public green space.
The historical location of the civic nursery could have presented an opportunity for a large block of public green space in the northern half of Regina (Figure 3), where now the Regina Cemetery and the Regina Floral Conservatory remain as tiny green islands in a sea of car dealerships and Canadian Tires (Figure 1). Having a civic nursery in city limits would provide access to public green space, opportunity for public involvement and outreach and provide beauty to the currently bleak and industrial northeast Regina. The obvious environmental impacts of more trees growing within city limits would also contribute to the city’s environmental sustainability.
Regina’s Parks
Much like today, early Regina was home to many parks. This included the iconic Wascana and Victoria Parks, both of which remain today, as well as others which do not, such as Alexandra Park, Stanley Park and Broad Street Park in the core. It is quite difficult to find specific information on Alexandra Park and Broad Street Park, so this section of the report will focus mostly on the gradual loss of Regina’s Stanley Park.
Broad Street Park was located on Broad Street and Twelfth Avenue, and can be seen in the 1951 aerial photo (Figure 4). The park was just a few blocks from Victoria Park and it primarily functioned as a children's play area in the summer and hosted a hockey rink in the winter. Despite opposition, the city put the land up for sale in 1959, citing the area unsuitable as a playground due to increased traffic (Play area..., 1959). Alexandra Park is mentioned in several archival news articles from the early 1900s, and listed as one of Regina’s parks in Municipal Manuals at least up until 1920 (Municipal Manual, 1920, p. 57). There is no park of that name in Regina today.
The most interesting example of green space loss in Regina’s downtown may be Stanley Park. Arguably Regina’s first park (Regina Chamber of Commerce, 1953, p. 20), Stanley Park occupied a triangular section of land at the corner of what is now Saskatchewan Drive and Broad Street. Most will be familiar with this area as the Casino Regina parking lot. The park was directly adjacent to the Canadian Pacific Railway, and as early as 1910 the C.P.R was seeking increased control of the space occupied by Stanley Park (C.P.R. expect..., 1910). In 1932, the city agreed to give the title of Stanley Park to the railroad for further development of its depot (C.P.R. seeks..., 1932). In early photos, Stanley Park is verdant and beautifully landscaped (Figures 5 & 6), and even in the 1951 aerial photo the location is fairly lush for a parking lot and additional green space can be seen to the west along South Railway Avenue/Saskatchewan Drive (Figure 7). Looking at the same portion of the current Google Maps satellite images, the parking lot where Stanley Park used to be is much more pavement than trees, and almost half of the land from Albert Street and Broad Street between the railway and Saskatchewan Drive is empty lots (Figure 8).
Downtown’s Victoria Park is beautiful, but its small ice rink and playground do not make up for the play area and hockey rink lost with Broad Street Park. Wascana Park is vast and historic but does not provide lush green space to the corner of Saskatchewan Drive and Broad Street like Stanley Park would have. The parking lots and hotels we have in their space are a poor replacement for the accessible public green space these parks would have provided year-round.
Regina’s Future
There is a commonality between the loss of parks like Stanley Park and the old civic nursery. The first sale of nursery land to the Ford Motor Company was intended to create space for a centre of distribution for all the prairie provinces (Accessories, parts..., 1951). The second sale of nursery land was part of Saskatchewan Federated Co-Operatives long term plans to centre their headquarters in Regina (Sale of..., 1951). Stanley Park was developed into nonexistence to provide for the “finest railway station in western Canada” (New railway..., 1931). There is not currently a Ford distribution warehouse or a Co-op headquarters in the old nursery lot, and there is no longer a regionally significant railway depot along the C. P. R. tracks on Saskatchewan Drive.
These green spaces were given up to make way for Regina’s potential future as a centre for distribution and private sector headquarters, but earlier visionaries had different ideas of what would add value to the city. Thomas Mawson believed that the parks section of his report was the most important and that its implementation would give Regina “an outstanding place among the cities of your great dominion” (Mawson, p. 47). Magistrate William Trant believed that the key to Regina avoiding problems faced by older cities was beautiful and accessible public green space (Beautifying..., 1911). Though Trant’s idea of a park bordered boulevard surrounding the city (Beautifying..., 1911) or Mawson’s greenbelt parkway through the “heart of the City” (Mawson, 36) may seem less than achievable or practical, there is no denying that where Regina has invested in green space it has paid off and provided lasting benefit to the city.
Where the city has chosen to invest in and maintain public green space, like Victoria Park or the jointly managed Wascana Park, the continuing positive impacts on the city are apparent. The sacrifice of green spaces like the civic nursery or Stanley Park have not provided the same consistent value to Regina. When interviewed at the time of his retirement in 1962, parks superintendent William Murray argued that “Regina could spend twice the amount it does now on parks and not waste a cent” (Twice as..., 1962). The central assertion of that interview can be applied to both current expenditure on parks and green space in the city as well as the physical amount of public green space in Regina: “twice as much would still be little enough” (Twice as..., 1962).
Figure 1. The white line down the centre is Broad Street, with the border to the left being Albert Street and to the right being Winnipeg Street. The city nursery is to the right side of Broad Street and Regina Cemetery is to the left.
ArcGIS REST Services Directory. (1951). Regina Airphoto. Screenshot retrieved from
https://opengis.regina.ca/arcgis/rest/services/Imagery
Figure 2. This is current satellite imagery of the exact same area shown in Figure 1. Screenshot retrieved from Google Maps. (2023).
Figure 3. This is a satellite image of northeast Regina with the 1951 aerial shot of the nursery imposed in its old location.
Figure 4. The street running from left to right along the centre of the image is Twelfth Avenue, and the image is bordered on the left by Lorne Street and on the right by Osler Street. Victoria Park is the large square park in the bottom left corner and Broad Street Park is in the bottom right corner of the image.
ArcGIS REST Services Directory. (1951). Regina Airphoto. Screenshot retrieved from https://opengis.regina.ca/arcgis/rest/services/Imagery
Figure 5. Canadian Pacific Railway Gardens or Stanley Park.
City of Regina Archives. (1915). [Stanley Park], CPR Gardens in Regina. Retrieved from
https://memorysask.ca/stanley-park-cpr-gardens-in-regina
Figure 6. Stanley Park. Regina: The capital of Saskatchewan, Canada. (1906). The Regina Board of Trade. Collection of Prairie History Room, Regina Central Library.
Figure 7. Aerial photo from 1951. Bordered on the left by Lorne Street and to the right by Broad
Street. The angled street running from right to left is South Railway Street, now Saskatchewan
Drive. The building to the top left above South Railway Street is the old rail depot and current
casino and the triangular area between it and the street is the location for old Stanley Park.
ArcGIS REST Services Directory. (1951). Regina Airphoto. Screenshot retrieved from
https://opengis.regina.ca/arcgis/rest/services/Imagery
Figure 8. Current satellite image of the same location as Figure 7. Slightly expanded to show the
extent of empty lots. Bordered on the left by Albert Street instead of Lorne Street.
Screenshot retrieved from Google Maps. (2023).
References
Accessories, parts plant. February 16, 1951 (page 1 of 24). (1951, Feb 16). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/february-16-1951-page-1-24/docview/2213390768/se-2
Beautifying Queen City. June 21, 1911 (page 5 of 14). (1911, Jun 21). The Morning Leader (1907-1930) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/june-21-1911-page-5-14/docview/2177192067/se-2
C.P.R. expect to Start on New Station in the Spring. November 25, 1910 (page 6 of 12). (1910, Nov 25). The Morning Leader (1907-1930) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/november-25-1910-page-6-12/docview/2212725909/se-2
C.P.R. seeks title to park at rail depot. July 5, 1932 (page 3 of 14). (1932, Jul 05). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/july-5-1932-page-3-14/docview/2212923766/se-2
Ford will pay $15,000 for lot. February 19, 1951 (page 3 of 20). (1951, Feb 19). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/february-19-1951-page-3-20/docview/2213615077/se-2
Mawson, T. H. (n.d.). Regina: A preliminary report on the development of the city. (Pages 32-48) T.H. Mawson & Sons. City Planners, London, Lancaster & Calcutta. Collection of Prairie History Room, Regina Central Library.
Municipal manual: city of Regina. (1920). (Pages 57-59). Collection of Prairie History Room, Regina Central Library.
New railway depot, finest on prairies, nearly complete. October 7, 1931 (page 2 of 18). (1931, Oct 07). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from
https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/october-7-1931-page-2-18/docview/2212930096/se-2
Play area up for sale in Broad Street Park. November 18, 1959 (page 3 of 36). (1959, Nov 18). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/november-18-1959-page-3-36/docview/2217363255/se-2
Regina Chamber of Commerce. (1953). Regina: Queen City of the Plains 1903-1953. (Pages. 20-21). Collection of Prairie History Room, Regina Central Library.
Regina greenhouse to city outskirts. February 2, 1952 (page 3 of 24). (1952, Feb 02). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/february-2-1952-page-3-24/docview/2213337485/se-2
Sale of city land to co-op favored. September 28, 1951 (page 3 of 36). (1951, Sep 28). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/september-28-1951-page-3-36/docview/2213513338/se-2
Saskatchewan. (2023). See how spring blooms in the Wascana Centre Greenhouse. April 21, 2023. https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2023/april/21/see-how-spring-blooms-at-the-wascana-centre-greenhouse
To beautify fair grounds. January 10, 1911 (page 10 of 10). (1911, Jan 10). The Morning Leader (1907-1930) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/january-10-1911-page/docview/2177137426/se-2
The name big secret. September 19, 1950 (page 3 of 18). (1950, Sep 19). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/september-19-1950-page-3-18/docview/2213562131/se-2
Tree Canada. The Regina urban forest management strategy. (2000). Tree Canada. May 2000. https://treecanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/THE-REGINA-URBAN-FOREST.pdf
Trant, W. (1910). As the homes, so the people. December 7, 1910 (page 8 of 12). The Morning Leader (1907-1930) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/december-7-1910-page-8-12/docview/2212725103/se-2
Trees to make Regina beautiful. May 26, 1911 (page 16 of 16). (1911, May 26). The Morning Leader (1907-1930) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/may-26-1911-page-16/docview/2177175503/se-2
Twice as much would still be little enough. March 20, 1962 (page 17 of 32). (1962, Mar 20). The Leader Post (1930-2010) Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.uregina.ca:8443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/march-20-1962-page-17-32/docview/2217383063/se-2
Weidlich, John. (2016). Stop and smell Regina's flowers (they cost $1.25 each). May 15, 2016. CBC Saskatchewan. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-flowers-supply-wascana-centre-1.