In the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria's reign in 1887, city council decided to take possession of the park and name it Queen's ParkIt then arranged for a celebration to mark the occasionMayor Robert Dickinson officially declared Queen's Park open and dedicated it to the City of New Westminster in honour of Queen Victoria
In 1890, Queen's Park received funding for an exhibition building, in tribute to the Queen Anne Revival styleIt could house 5,000 visitors and overlooked the racetrack surrounding the new athletic fieldsIt also played home to the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Society's annual provincial exhibition
The park was connected to downtown by streetcar and interurban tramline, which ran up Park Row to the gates of First Avenue, then winding through the city also connecting to Vancouver and Burnaby
McBride Boulevard was completed in 1892 for $4,000 and separated the exhibition grounds from the park and from the Asylum Grounds
In time for the Dominion Fair in 1905, a $50,000 grant was approved for new exhibition buildings in Queen's ParkIt included the women's building and industrial building, which were completed in 1914 with the New Westminster Arena, which was intended for horse competitions but was converted into an ice rink
The No1 fire hall on First Street came along in 1901, and the firemen helped build the first zoo in the parkIn 1906, the zoo had bears, coyotes, cougars and deerIt later relocated to the eastern side of the park
When the First World War was declared, Queen's Park was the training ground for battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and home defence unitThe exhibitions were cancelled during the war, and the buildings were used as barracks for recruitsHowever, the May Day festivities continued with the military's guard of honours present
The Prince of Wales visit in 1919 was cause for much hysteriaMore than 22,000 people filled to the park, which was part of his cavalcade's routeHis visit was at the same time as the 50th anniversary of the provincial exhibition
Right when Sir Winston Churchill was meant to arrive for the opening of the Pacific Coast Terminals, tragedy hit the city when a fire destroyed the New Westminster Paper Mills on the waterfront on June 13, 1929The next morning, the exhausted fire crews had to put out a fire to the exhibition buildings in Queen's ParkThe fire grew quickly and by the time crews arrived, the flames had made their way into the adjacent residential areaWithin an hour-and-a-half of crews trying to work with the low pressure from the hydrants, the buildings were reduced to ashOnly the cattle sheds, banquet hall and fisheries building survived and became the Vagabond PlayhouseIn the end, Churchill did come to the Labour Day fair at the park, which was held under tents instead
The Great Depression hindered city council plans to revitalize Queen's Park and rebuild the exhibition buildingsCouncil decided to turn the park into a community centre.In 1930, insurance funds helped build a new civic auditorium, now known at the New Westminster ArenaThe ice arena came about in 1939, which brought the end of the old banquet hall
The 1939 Royal City visit by the King and Queen ballooned the population from 22,000 to 150,000 peopleThe royal figures made their way to Queen's Park and entered the stadium filled with 11,000 school childrenAbout 2,700 of the children performed in the field while wearing costumes when the royal car circled the track
The Second World War again changed the face of the park by dedicating the northern half of it for combat training and exercises for the Westminster Regiment
In 1945, Queen's Park stadium was used as a huge celebration point to welcome back the troops
Compiled by Stefania Seccia, with files from the Parks and Recreation History of Parks and Facilities
