Symmes Inn Museum acquires Queen's Park old ticket office

 

The Symmes Inn Museum announced on December 14 that it acquired Queen's Park old ticket booth, dating from 1896. It will be inaugurated on June 11 during a festival to mark the museum’s opening and to commemorate Canada’s 150th anniversary.

The old ticket booth will be installed on the grounds of the Symmes Inn. It will serve as an information booth during different activities organized by the Museum in addition to being an exhibition centre on Queen's Park’s history and its attractions.

 

The Museum’s Board of Directors awarded the restoring contract to Lumbec, known for their originality and their unique sheds. According to company owner Martin Bisson, this rehabilitation project will prove to be a great challenge for him and his employees.

Between 1896 and the late 1920s, Queen's Park was an amusement park of about 80 acres. It belonged to the railway company Hull Electric Co. Families went there on weekends, taking the tramway from Ottawa and Hull. The park’s attractions consisted of a mirror gallery, a carousel, and the famous shoot-the-chutes amusement ride. There was also an open-air restaurant and a large picnic area surrounded by cedar and pine trees.

Romantic cruises in the moonlight were also organized on the G.B. Greene Steamboat and it’s at the wharf’s entrance that the old ticket office stood.

In the late 1920s, with the economic crisis, the Hull Electric Co. discontinued tramway service between Ottawa and Aylmer and the park ceased operations. All park buildings were then demolished with the exception of the ticket office which was recovered by an Aylmerite residing near the old amusement park site. The park land was later sold for the construction of cottages and homes.