Hi Guy there is a photo in your album #27, that I posted many moons ago,.to show that the Manoir was not built on any parkland at all,.it was built on the other side of the railings of the board walk on recovered land via landfill,.....This Manoir had it's construction start prior to the Bandshell being torn down,it is on the river side of the Boardwalk ..at one time there was a relatively steep(ish) bank that ran directly down from the boardwalk in front of the 'Pav' also a set of wooden stairs went straight down from there to the river's edge,.the Manoir I would bet was built some 100 feet from the railing of the old Boardwalk,..and in essence would be standing in midair.if that land fill wasn't put there,.the park was known by many as Cement Downs....if you started way back at the Tennis Club along Lasalle Blvd, you then had the Yacht Club building which also housed the Pav,.then a walkway in btwn the Pav & the back of the Bandshell(which we have a picture of ,from one of our members ) then the Bandshell had a Cement dance floor in front of it,surrounded with park bench's then a gravel like field ,that could be used for baseball ( and it was ) a rink in the winter ( and it was) & at the far end near the Redtop.was a playground for children which ended at Desmarchais,as there was a gate allowing entry to the small playground as you cam up from Desmarchais towards the boardwalk....They has started to 'reclaim' land all along the boardwalk from the STadium to about the Tennis Club,....... So the Manoir stands on 'reclaimed' land but not the park. I will have to go through some of my old photo albums & see if I can find some of these old pictures , I know I have one of myself & my sister's boyfriend of the day Gerry Smith ( who lives here on one of the Gulf Islands,) we were playing Frisbee on that newly filled in part of the River,...... always interesting to try & remember areas we knew as kids..........Have Fun & Remember Verdun
if you look at the right side of this picture from your album, you can see a street lamp,slightly crooked (probably installed by a Politician....lol) but those lamps were along the Boardwalk,& this photo is looking toward s Ville Lasalle side, towards the Pav etc etc ....making the manoir on the left ( river side ) of the boardwalk,the Park was to the right of the boardwalk & lower down............. Now here's a shot of Woodland Park ,prior to the existence of the Manoir....... 
Have Fun & Remember Verdun..............................
7 comments:
My Dad played in the band at the Pavilion, he was there during the Sailor and Zuit Suit riots. That is probably written up in the history of Verdun somewhere.
I also hung out at what we called the Pav around 1957 to 1960, itg was a great place for us young uns to hang out.
The picture above of the park area, brings to mind an old memory of the , I believe it was the RCMP Motorcycle Drill team doing their exhibition show on the park grounds.
Hi Bob (Gabby) ,Do you know the name of the band your Dad was in, because Guy was trying to piece a bunch of information about the old Pav, and the people who played there,Billy Monroe & his band is one , & Maynard Ferguson was rumoured to have played there too,.as well as many others from the area I would imagine.... any old pics around from your days or your parents around by chance ? They'd be neat to see too, if you wanted to post them. hf&rv
Bob,
Look at my photo album no. 15 and you will see a 1930s add I found in the Guardian on Billy Monroe's band playing at the pav. I think you previously said that your father played the clarinet/saxophone with the - David band also in the 30s-40s if my memory serves me right and I also saw an add on this band. I will try to make a copy during my research.
Guy
Les,
You are probably right as you see seem to be more familiar than me on the subject. I left Verdun in the middle 50s but started going back about 5 years ago when I joined the SHGV. However, only a copy of the land registry (cadastre) can give us an exact location of the buildings we are taling about.
Guy
I remember when the landfill was just like a pile of garbage - throwing bricks at a dead dog in the pile - it was really crazy when you think about it, and tons of birds.
Ken M
Wow , Ken the throwing bricks at a dead dog trying to make it's stomach burst,.......So it 'was' you as part of that group of kids that prowled that dump site.....hahahahahha We knew that dumpsite pretty good ,even to hide our cigarettes.....Yikes ! I wonder if the our other freinds will see this .?
Imagine a kids playground being a dumpsite.............hahahahahhaha
Well, Les, I guess we had outgrown the firetruck in the park . Yea, the riverfront was a big part of growing up as it provided so many ways to explore, get in trouble, or just observe the world.
Ken M
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