Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by René Hackstetter.
Thomas Duncan, referred to as “ Midland’s Grand Old Man," served as chairman of the town's park commission in the 1930s and was one of several men responsible for the development of Little Lake Park.
Originally, the park featured a section known as the 'driving park' and then consisted of what later formed the fairgrounds and ball park.
The western end of the park bordering the lake became the 'camp' portion.
Originally, the Solomons owned the land and sold it to the three Fraser brothers for their farm, which spread over nearly 300 acres and included the portion fronting Yonge Street. At that time, the bush west of the cemetery was being cut down for firewood. However, James Playfair bought it on July 21, 1906 and donated the land to the Town of Midland.
The 'camp' was well-equipped with running water, bathrooms, lighting as well as tennis courts, a beach and changing rooms. The beaches were reconstructed with about a thousand loads of sand and, we learn, “ ...all the bloodsuckers disappeared!" Duncan was largely responsible for supervising much of this work.
From the accompanying J.W.Bald photo, we see that this was a very popular tourist destination in the 1930s. In those days, it was quite an expedition to drive north from Toronto, but the trip was well worth it, of course, as a way to get out of a city teeming with people and find the cool waters and quietude.
