News Release
Point Pleasant Park Gates to be Repaired
(Friday May 12/2000)--Halifax Regional Municipality has found a partner to finance the repair of the historic ornamental gates at the Young Avenue entrance to Point Pleasant Park.
The HRM Millennium Committee has agreed to provide the estimated $16,000 to refurbish the ornamental gates. An appropriate brass plaque marking the occasion and thanking the donor will be placed on the gates during an official ceremony later this year.
Jack Keith, chair of the Millennium Committee, said " I am pleased to announce our financial support as a gift to the Halifax Region for the restoration of the historical gates at the Young Avenue main entrance to Point Pleasant Park. Point Pleasant Park has served the city as a beautiful parkland throughout a good part of its history, and will continue to be enjoyed well into the new millennium."
Mayor Walter Fitzgerald thanked the Committee for responding to the public call for a financial donor for the project. " The Millennium Committee and its private sector partners are to be congratulated for this tremendous effort. Thanks to their financial support, the gates at the Park will continue to be enjoyed by future generations."
Tony Grady, of "Hammer and Tongs," was the successful bidder for the repair and restoration work on the gates. The company has carried out similar work in this area. The contractor estimates it will take between 8-10 weeks to complete the work on the historic gates.
The gates were taken down by municipal crews more than a year ago out of concern for their condition and due to the risk of further deterioration because of the weather. The historic gates have had regular maintenance over the years, but continual exposure to the elements during the past century has taken its toll on them.
The gates date back to the late 1800's, when Sir William Young, the first Point Pleasant Park Commission Chairman, donated the gates to the Park. They were designed by Edward Elliott, for the Starr Manufacturing Company, in Dartmouth. Sir William decided to include the massive Nova Scotia granite pillars. The gates were officially put up at a ceremony on Saturday, August 21,1886. The new avenue created -- Young Avenue-- was called after Sir William. The gates formed the entrance from the avenue to the park.
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Mayor Walter Fitzgerald
(902) 490-6531
Bill Stevens
Millennium Events Coordinator
(902) 490-4724
