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Maple Leaf Forever Park

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An urban park or metropolitan park , also known as a city park , municipal park (North America), public park , public open space , or municipal gardens ( UK ), is a park or botanical garden in cities , densely populated suburbia and other incorporated places that offers green space and places for recreation to residents and visitors. Urban parks are generally landscaped by design, instead of lands left in their natural state. The design, operation and maintenance is usually done by government agencies, typically on the local level, but may occasionally be contracted out to a park conservancy , "friends of" group, or private sector company.

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32-525: Maple Leaf Forever Park is a municipal park in Toronto , Ontario , Canada. The park is named after the song " The Maple Leaf Forever " composed by Alexander Muir . The park was created in 1933 by public subscription to honour the composer, and is located in Leslieville south of Queen Street East between Leslie Street and Greenwood Avenue. The main features of the park, all related to Alexander Muir, are: In

64-451: A 10-minute walk , provides multiple benefits. A park is an area of open space provided for recreational use, usually owned and maintained by a local government. Grass is typically kept short to discourage insect pests and to allow for the enjoyment of picnics and sporting activities. Trees are chosen for their beauty and to provide shade , with an increasing emphasis on reducing an urban heat island effect. Some early parks include

96-469: Is an ancient and distinguished Hungarian noble magnate family . The Head of the family bears the title Prince ( Fürst ) of Batthyány-Strattmann , while other members of this family bear the title Count/Countess ( Graf/Gräfin ) Batthyány von Német-Ujvar respectively. A branch of the family ( Croatian : Baćan ) was notable in Bosnia and Croatia as well, producing several Bans (viceroys) of Jajce in

128-756: Is aware that there are many gaps that cast some doubt on the historical testimony". In 1991, John J.G. Blumenson, Preservation Officer, Toronto Historical Board, described Maple Cottage as: Maple Cottage became a community centre in 2002. At that time, the cottage had a large meeting room, two offices, a kitchen, and a smaller room. Municipal park Depending on size, budget, and land features, which varies considerably among individual parks, common features include playgrounds , gardens , hiking, running, fitness trails or paths, bridle paths , sports fields and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps, performance venues, or BBQ and picnic facilities. Park advocates claim that having parks near urban residents, including within

160-547: The La Alameda de Hércules , in Seville , a promenaded public mall, urban garden and park built in 1574, within the historic center of Seville. The Városliget ( City Park ) in the City of Pest , what is today Budapest, Hungary , was a city property when afforestation started in the middle of the 18th century, from the 1790s with the clear aim to create a public park. Between 1799 and 1805 it

192-553: The Village of Yorkville Park in Toronto , which won an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Parks are sometimes made out of oddly shaped areas of land, much like the vacant lots that often become city neighborhood parks. Linked parks may form a greenbelt . There is a form of an urban park in the UK (officially called a "recreation ground", but commonly called a "rec" by

224-459: The 15th and 16th century and later Bans of Croatia in the 16th, 17th and 18th century. The Batthyány family can trace its roots to the founding of Hungary in 896 CE by Árpád. The family derives from a chieftain called Örs. Árpád had seven chieftains, one by the name of Örs, which later became Kővágó-Örs. In 1398, Miklós Kővágó-Örs married Katalin Battyány. King Zsigmond (Sigismund) gave Miklós

256-593: The UK, with around 2.6 billion visits to parks each year. Many parks are of cultural and historical interest, with 300 registered by Historic England as of national importance. Most public parks have been provided and run by local authorities over the past hundred and seventy years, but these authorities have no statutory duty to fund or maintain these public parks. In 2016 the Heritage Lottery Fund 's State of UK Public Parks reported that "92 per cent of park managers report their maintenance budgets have reduced in

288-515: The United States and the world, though cow grazing did not end until the 1830s. Around the country, the predecessors to urban parks in the United States were generally rural cemeteries . The cemeteries were intended as civic institutions designed for public use. Before the widespread development of public parks, the rural cemetery provided a place for the general public to enjoy outdoor recreation amidst art and sculpture previously available only for

320-827: The United States are Central Park in New York, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Mission Bay Park in San Diego. In the early 1900s, according to Cranz, U.S. cities built neighborhood parks with swimming pools, playgrounds and civic buildings, with the intention of Americanizing the immigrant residents. In the 1950s, when money became available after World War II , new parks continued to focus on both outdoor and indoor recreation with services, such as sports leagues using their ball fields and gymnasia. These smaller parks were built in residential neighborhoods, and tried to serve all residents with programs for seniors, adults, teens and children. Green space

352-490: The confines of a serpentine carriageway, put in place the essential elements of his much-imitated design for Birkenhead Park in Birkenhead . The latter commenced in 1843 with the help of public finance and deployed the ideas which Paxton had pioneered at Princes Park on a more expansive scale. Frederick Law Olmsted visited Birkenhead Park in 1850 and praised its qualities. Indeed, Paxton is widely credited as having been one of

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384-493: The cottage was built in 1873 – 6 years after the song was composed in October 1867. In 1991, the provincial Conservation Review Board recommended the "designation of the property at 62 Laing Street as a property of historical value or interest"; however, it noted that Maple Cottage was built in 1871 after the composition of the song. The board also wrote: "In assessing the evidence that was presented in favour of designation, this Board

416-405: The cottage. Unlike local residents, historians are skeptical that the 150-year-old tree at Maple Cottage was the inspiration for Muir's song. George Leslie, after whom Leslieville is named, wrote in a local newspaper that he and Muir were walking together when a maple leaf landed on Leslie's arm. Leslie turned to Muir and suggested he write a poem about the maple leaf. Leslie recalled the location

448-449: The designed landscape as a setting for the suburban domicile (an idea pioneered by John Nash at Regent's Park in London) and re-fashioned it for the provincial town in a most original way. Nash's remodelling of St James's Park from 1827 and the sequence of processional routes he created to link The Mall with Regent's Park completely transformed the appearance of London's West End . With

480-494: The establishment of Princes Park in 1842, Joseph Paxton did something similar for the benefit of a provincial town, albeit one of international stature by virtue of its flourishing mercantile sector. Liverpool had a burgeoning presence in global maritime trade before 1800, and during the Victorian era its wealth rivalled that of London itself. The form and layout of Paxton's ornamental grounds, structured about an informal lake within

512-779: The form of walking, running, horse riding, mountain biking, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing; or sedentary activity such as observing nature, bird watching, painting, photography, or picnicking. Limiting park or open space use to passive recreation over all or a portion of the park's area eliminates or reduces the burden of managing active recreation facilities and developed infrastructure. Many ski resorts combine active recreation facilities (ski lifts, gondolas, terrain parks, downhill runs, and lodges) with passive recreation facilities (cross-country ski trails). Many smaller neighborhood parks are receiving increased attention and valuation as significant community assets and places of refuge in heavily populated urban areas. Neighborhood groups around

544-475: The front yard of Maple Cottage, there is a plaque commemorating Muir and his song. It was erected in 1958 by the Grand Orange Lodge to replace an earlier plaque erected in 1930. According to legend, Alexander Muir was the owner of Maple Cottage when he composed the song "The Maple Leaf Forever" in 1867. He was inspired to write the song when he saw a leaf fall from the silver maple tree standing in front of

576-480: The inspiration for "The Maple Leaf for Ever." Elliott casts doubt that Muir ever lived at Maple Cottage citing John Ross Robertson's 1914 book Landmarks of Toronto which details Muir's residences from the age of three to his death but makes no mention of 62 Laing Street. However, the book cited 2 nearby residences where Muir dwelled between 1863 and 1869. Also, according to the Toronto Historical Board,

608-525: The large amount of open space and natural habitat in the former pleasure grounds, they now serve as important wildlife refuges, and often provide the only opportunity for urban residents to hike or picnic in a semi-wild area. However, city managers or politicians can target these parks as sources of free land for other uses. Partly for this reason, some of these large parks have "friends of X park" advisory boards that help protect and maintain their semi-wild nature. There are around estimated 27,000 public parks in

640-567: The need to provide substantial space to congregate, typically involves intensive management, maintenance, and high costs. Passive recreation, also called "low-intensity recreation" is that which emphasizes the open-space aspect of a park and allows for the preservation of natural habitat. It usually involves a low level of development, such as rustic picnic areas, benches, and trails. Passive recreation typically requires little management and can be provided at very low costs. Some open space managers provide nothing other than trails for physical activity in

672-404: The park was built was purchased by Richard Vaughan Yates, an iron merchant and philanthropist, in 1841 for £50,000. The creation of Princes Park showed great foresight and introduced a number of highly influential ideas. First and foremost was the provision of open space for the benefit of townspeople and local residents within an area that was being rapidly built up. Secondly it took the concept of

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704-420: The past three years and 95 per cent expect their funding will continue to reduce". Parks can be divided into active and passive recreation areas. Active recreation is that which has an urban character and requires intensive development. It often involves cooperative or team activity, including playgrounds , ball fields, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and skateparks . Active recreation such as team sports, due to

736-452: The principal influences on Olmsted and Calvert's design for New York's Central Park of 1857. Another early public park, the Peel Park, Salford , England, opened on 22 August 1846. Boston Common was purchased for public use grazing cows and as a military parade ground and dump in 1634. It first started to get recreational elements in 1728, arguably making it the first municipal park in

768-465: The public.) and some EU states that have mostly recreation grounds for kids to play within a park, but may also have a duck pond, large grassy zones not meant exclusively for sports, many trees, and several bushy places. When it occurs as a separate facility on its own, without any parkland, at a street corner or by a shop, the play facility is called a playground . Batthy%C3%A1ny The House of Batthyány ( Hungarian: [ˈbɒccaːɲi] )

800-556: The region around the town of Battyán (now called Szabadbattyán ) and he took the name Batthyány (lit. "from Battyán"). The family were first mentioned in documents in 1398 and have had their ancestral seat in Güssing in the Austrian region of Burgenland since 1522. In 1570, Boldizsár Batthyány transformed the seat of the family, Güssing , into the center of Protestantism in the region. His descendant Ádám Batthyány (1610–1659), however,

832-485: The wealthy. In The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1982), Professor Galen Cranz identifies four phases of park design in the U.S. In the late 19th century, city governments purchased large tracts of land on the outskirts of cities to form "pleasure grounds": semi-open, charmingly landscaped areas whose primary purpose was to allow city residents, especially

864-484: The workers, to relax in nature. As time passed and the urban area grew around the parks, land in these parks was used for other purposes, such as zoos, golf courses and museums. These parks continue to draw visitors from around the region and are considered regional parks , because they require a higher level of management than smaller local parks. According to the Trust for Public Land , the three most visited municipal parks in

896-524: The world are joining together to support local parks that have suffered from urban decay and government neglect. A linear park is a park that has a much greater length than width. A typical example of a linear park is a section of a former railway that has been converted into a park called a rail trail or greenway (i.e. the tracks removed, vegetation allowed to grow back). Some examples of linear parks in North America include New York's High Line and

928-636: Was Catholic and founded a Franciscan monastery in Güssing. On 3.1.1764 Count Karl Josef Batthyány was created Prince of the Holy Roman Empire . As he didn't have surviving sons, his princely title was inherited by his nephew Count Adam Wenzel (1722–1787). Count Lajos Batthyány became the first Prime Minister of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and was executed in Pest in 1849. After 1945,

960-525: Was of secondary importance. As urban land prices climbed, new urban parks in the 1960s and after have been mainly pocket parks . One example of a pocket park is Chess Park in Glendale, California. The American Society of Landscape Architects gave this park a General Design Award of Honor in 2006. These small parks provide greenery, a place to sit outdoors, and often a playground for children. All four types of park continue to exist in urban areas. Because of

992-568: Was on Queen Street East rather than on Laing Street where the alleged tree of inspiration grew. In January 1909, Muir's widow told a similar version of the story to John Ross Robertson, who wrote a chapter on Muir in his book "Landmarks of Toronto". According to Robin Elliott, editor of the Institute for Canadian Music, the 1930 Orange Lodge plaque may be the first mention of the Maple Cottage tree being

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1024-537: Was rented out to the Batthyány family to carry out such a project but the city had eventually taken back control and in 1813 announced a design competition to finally finish the park; works started in 1816. An early purpose-built public park, although financed privately, was Princes Park in the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth . This was laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from 1842 and opened in 1843. The land on which

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