ManorPark Community

History: A Colourful Tapestry Woven by People and Events

Breaking news! A new Manor Park initiative - our own local history book – is underway. This past summer, the Manor Park Community Association (MPCA) endorsed the funding of a research project to collect local historical information and documents to enable the publication of Manor Park’s history. History and anniversaries are becoming popular. The City of Ottawa marks the 150th birthday of Ottawa this year, the fourth anniversary of its amalgamation. Everyone one has a birthday, and celebrates significant events of weddings, births and funerals.

Manor Park's achievements can join the historical parade. John Graham’s May, 2005 article entitled 'Manor Park: A Chronicle Rich in History' is an introduction into our local heritage. Other published articles from earlier community newspaper issues include Alec Longair's 'As I Remember', and Joan Amy Voller’s 'Recollections of the Thirties in Manor Park'. Let’s build on these recollections as we capture our own local history.

So why is Manor Park special? The broad brush strokes portray innovative housing, the pioneering spirit of early residents and a continued growth of neighbourhoods brimming with vitality. And, let’s not forget that Manor Park will be 60 years of age in 2007. But it goes much deeper that

There has to be a special community story on every block, on every street and in each of the smaller communities that make up the whole of Manor Park - Manor Park East, Manor Park Hill, Cardinal Glen, Brittany Drive and the Highlands and the special spaces occupied by former Manor Park residents in the retirement homes just off Beechwood.

In a recent conversation with a neighbour about the Manor Park history project, a story was revealed, in a very few minutes, about the carefree, 'Huckleberry Finn' summers enjoyed by the local children in the 1960s - biking and foraging their way from Manor Park Hill to McKay Lake and beyond with little human habitation to interrupt these daily rituals. Another Manor Park neighbour, who has since migrated to Nova Scotia, enjoyed riding on horseback through the trails which laced this area. Our local history should preserve these adventures.

Why did the Disney Corporation choose our outdoor rink for the filming of a hockey game that was played over three days in January in the winter of 1982? Are there any team members of Ashbury College or the Canterbury Crusaders in the Park now?

Where are all those enterprising social workers who worked on the Home & School in the early ‘80s and brought in a special “positive behaviour” program to make Manor Park Public School a model for young manners?

Where are the Manor Parkers with a tale to tell or with a treasured piece of memorabilia tucked up in the attic?

A little detective work should answer these questions. An area of weakness is the 1960s and early 1970s. Manor Park community newspapers do not seem available unless lurking in someone’s closet and forgotten.

An Ad Hoc MP History Committee has just been formed. Jim Kenward agreed to be the coordinator. From the moment he arrived in the Park in 1977, Jim became involved in community activities in a significant way. The list includes the community ice rink, the Manor Park Community School Council and twenty-six years of volunteering for the Manor Park Chronicle. His business acumen and straightforward approach has been a big asset for the Park.

Sharleeen Tattersfield should be familiar for her work as Editor to the Manor Park Chronicle. She and her family arrived in the Park in 1990 by way of Alta Vista and is a fifth generation Ottawan. While she has enjoyed helping with the Annual Winter Dinner Dance, the Chronicle has been her major community interest and continues to be as she broadens the appeal of the newspaper.

Bob Bennett and Dawn Logan, the writer of this article, have lived here for many years. Bob has the distinction of being one of the "the first hundred home owners", being 92nd he believes. He started his community involvement by being the first Boy Scout leader and later rejoined community efforts during the Mile Circle and Kettle Island preservation days as a much valued resource person. He is currently organizing all the minutes of the Manor Park Community Association. Dawn has always enjoyed history and currently works in the archival field. Local history can be looked upon as a colourful tapestry with the people and events forming the strong threads.

The success of this book depends on your input. To make it interesting and memorable, please get out your photograph albums or boxes of loose pictures and find one or two that say Manor Park to you. Everyone has a few Manor Park remembrances stitched into their memories. Share your memories. Photographs, remembrances, events, suggestions can be communicated to the Project Coordinator, Jim Kenward, 749-3776. Let’s have some fun with our own local history.

The Proposal to research and publish the history of the community of Manor Park can be read here.

(Article courtesy of the Manor Park Chronicle – Sept. 2005)