Description of Historic Place

The Pioneer Pergola is located in St. Andrews Park, between St. Andrews Street on the east and Lansdowne Road South on the west, in the former City of Galt, now the City of Cambridge. The concrete pergola was constructed in 1907.

The property was designated, in 1984, by the City of Cambridge, for its historic significance, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 95-84).

Heritage Value

The Pioneer Pergola is the only monument dedicated to the pioneers of the former Town of Galt. It consists of two waist-high concrete walls connecting five vertical columns on each side of a concrete slab floor, which is covered with an open-beam ceiling. This structure incorporates a collection of gravestones set into the walls, floor and pillars. These gravestones were originally located in a historic cemetery that once occupied this piece of land around St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

The church was demolished in 1889 and the pergola was built in 1907 by the Waterloo Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. The gravestones name and record the birth and death of 207 pioneers, who died between 1835 and 1873. These gravestones commemorate some of the earliest settlers of the former City of Galt.

Sources: City of Cambridge By-law 95-84; City of Cambridge LACAC Building Description (Pioneer Pergola), 1983; Heritage Assessment Report: St. Andrews Park Pergola, 1994.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value of the Pioneer Pergola include its:
- 207 gravestones with their surviving inscriptions dated between 1835 and 1873
- location on the site of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Cemetery
- two waist high concrete walls
- five vertical columns
- open beam ceiling