Waterloo Park Winter Soliloquy, Waterloo ON Canada

Описание: A New News walk around Waterloo Park’s Silver Lake, featuring waterside scenic views of the park as it appeared in 2018 before major redevelopment in 2020-2023. Formed by Laurel Creek's impounding, the millpond originally powered Pennsylvania-German Mennonite immigrant Abraham Erb’s 1816 gristmill. The 111 hectare (275 acre) park began with the 1890 purchase of Jacob Eby's 26 ha (65 ac) waterside farm. In 1806, Abraham and his wife Magdalena (nee Erb) settled on 365 ha (900 ac) of swampy land beside Beaver (now Laurel) Creek, which he purchased in 1805 from Jacob and Daniel Erb. Erb's two-storey grist mill operated for 111 years. Today's replica, near the old millrace, is a typical 1800s generic design.
An Ontario heritage plaque provides a brief biography of Abraham Erb: "Like many pioneers of this district, the founder of Waterloo was a German Mennonite from Franklin County, Pennsylvania. In 1805 he purchased 365 hectares of bush land on the site of this town. He settled here in 1806 and erected the first sawmill two years later. His gristmill, built in 1816, remained in continuous operation for 111 years and formed the nucleus and social centre of a thriving municipality."
The Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physic’s distinctive buildings overlook Silver Lake. Saucier & Perrotte designed the 2004 building, receiving the Governor-General's Medal of Architecture in 2006. Teeple Architects designed the 2011 gold-glazed Stephen Hawking Centre.
Laurel Creek's streambed and course have been heavily modified since the early nineteenth century. A 500 metre concrete culvert, built in 1960 for the Waterloo Square development,channels the creek beneath Bridgeport Road and King Street to Regina Street South where it emerges near the Waterloo City Centre (1987). The creek continues to another culvert beneath Erb Street East. Silver Lake was dredged in 1997 to remove recurring silt deposits. More dredging and channel improvements were part of the $5 million 2020-23 Waterloo Park rehabilitation project.
This is the fourth instalment of a Waterloo Region ‘Soliloquy’ series. See ‘Huron Natural Area Christmastide Soliloquy, Kitchener ON Canada’ (   • Huron Natural Area Christmastide Soliloquy...  ), ‘Expressway Trail Midwinter Soliloquy, Kitchener ON Canada’ (   • Expressway Trail Weber-Krug Winter Soliloq...  ), and ‘Kolb Park Grand River Winter Soliloquy, Kitchener ON Canada’ (   • Kolb Park Grand River Winter Soliloquy, Ki...  )