Description of Historic Place

Queen’s Square, a public park rear of the Fredericton town plat, is located south of Aberdeen Street. The 3.04 hectare block, which is bounded by St. John and Church Streets, extends back to McLeod Avenue.

Heritage Value

Queen’s Square is valued for its original and continued purpose as a public park. Originally owned by the Odell family, this property had been known as Odell Grove. Edward Henry Wilmot, well-known local benefactor, had entered into negotiations with the family for this property but his untimely demise prevented the completion of the transaction. E. H. Wilmot planned to donate this property to the City of Fredericton for use as a public park as per his half-brother’s wishes. Mr. Wilmot’s half-brother, Lemuel Allen Wilmot, former Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, had been interested as early as the 1870’s in purchasing this property for a public park. It was E.H. Wilmot’s intention to honour his half-brother’s memory by completing the transaction for the Odell Grove property. The Odell heirs honoured E.H. Wilmot’s wishes and executed the deed.

The establishment of Queen’s Square brought a rush on building lots in the vicinity of the park and existing streets were extended in order to accommodate the anticipated growth and development of the area. Housing development in the vicinity of Queen’s Square steadily built up after 1900.

Queen’s Square not only played a significant part in the social and recreational lives of Frederictonians, but paved the way for growth and development at the back of the town. The establishment of Queen’s Square stimulated housing development for more than a decade in close proximity to the park. Queen’s Square has continued to function as a public park for more than a century.

Source: City of Fredericton, Historic Places Files, “Queen’s Square”

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements associated with the Queen’s Square include:
- location in rear of the town plat;
- manicured lawn;
- recreational facilities, including playground equipment, swimming pool, and tennis courts;
- baseball diamonds at opposite corner of the park;
- continued social importance to the community as a public park.