AFTERLIFE accommodation
Building that now houses the Hamilton Children’s Museum was once proposed as a sanctuary for ghosts of the Gage Family
The Gage Park building known today as the Hamilton Children’s Museum is going through a $5.3-million expansion expected to be completed in 2025; but 72 years ago, plans were very different for the two-storey Victorian farmhouse that had been home to members of the Gage family.
Owner Eugenie Gage died at the age of 80 in March 1952 and her will was clear: She wanted the house, known as “The Retreat,” to remain “unopened, unoccupied and undisturbed forever.”
“She was convinced the spirits of her ancestors were going to return to … take up residence there,” local historian Bill King wrote in a 1980s paper for the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario called “The Gage Family and 'The Retreat.'”
King says Eugenie — who never married and had no children — was of the “spiritualistic inclination and was a devotee of various religious organizations, to which she would occasionally donate large sums of money.”
David Beland from the Friends of Gage Park, who has also extensively researched the Gage family, says “Eugenie was very eccentric. There is no doubt about it. She wanted the house sealed up forever so the spirits would have a home.”
Eugenie instructed her executor, Judge William Schwenger, to use a maximum of $25,000 to obtain an agreement with the City of Hamilton to lock up the house in perpetuity.
“It was an impossible will,” says King. “It was like trying to leave your estate to pets — animals are not legally competent to own property.”
And neither are ghosts. Schwenger could not imagine the Gage house “sitting deserted in the midst of a city park, only to become the object of curiosity-seekers and vandals,” King wrote.
So, the executor nixed the request, auctioned off the contents of the house and sold the building to the City of Hamilton. The house became the responsibility of the city’s parks board and the land around it became folded into Gage Park, which had been previously created from property the family sold to the city.
But the building was in grim shape. A city inspector at the time said “the roof leaked, plaster was off in many places, verandas were in bad shape, plumbing was antiquated and there was no wiring.”
Tenders were called to demolish the house and, King wrote, “By this time, no doubt, Miss Gage was turning over in her grave.”
But the building ended up being saved to be used by the city’s parks department as its headquarters. By the late 1970s, the structure was modified into a children’s museum, even though there was limited space — only a maximum of 75 people, including staff, could use it at any one time.
Today’s ongoing construction work will more than double the square footage of the building — allowing 169 people — with an elevator, accessible washrooms and a
fenced outdoor playground.
But who were the Gages? Weren’t they caught up in the War of 1812 in Stoney Creek? And how did the park come about?
Eugenie Helen Gage (1872-1952) was the only child of lawyer Robert Russell Gage (1840-1918) and Hannah Jane Gage (1842-1925). Robert and Hannah were cousins and direct descendants of William Gage (1744-1820) and Susannah Jones Gage (1754-1821), United Empire Loyalists who came to Stoney Creek from New York state in 1776.
It was on Gage family property in Stoney Creek — more than 35 years after the arrival of William and Susannah — during the War of 1812 that American forces established an encampment which later fell to the British in a surprise attack in the famous Battle of Stoney Creek.
At one time, Gage family members owned more than 600 hectares of land in sections between the escarpment and the bay in Stoney Creek and the east end of Hamilton. Part of it was used for the grounds and house that was built in 1875 by Robert and Hannah at 1072 Main St. E.
Shortly before his death on March 26, 1918, Robert Gage agreed to sell 26 hectares of the property to the City of Hamilton to be used as Gage Park. His home and 13 hectares of property were passed on to Eugenie, who lived at the house for the rest of her life.
Amid extensive landscaping work from 1919 to 1927 in the neighbouring Gage Park by famed landscape architects Howard Grubb and Lorrie Dunington, the city proposed changing the name of the park to Sir Isaac Brock Park to honour the renown British general who was killed in the War of 1812 at the Battle of Queenston Heights — eight months prior to the Battle of Stoney Creek.
Eugenie stepped forward with an offering: if the city would keep the Gage Park name, she would donate $20,000 toward a grand fountain in the park.
The city agreed.
And that’s why the park continues to be known as Gage Park today, with a showpiece three-tiered fountain that flows into a sevenlevel canal. It was designed by the brilliant architect John Lyle, who also designed Toronto’s Union Station and the Royal Alexandra Theatre, among many other projects.
On June 22, 1927, the fountain was unveiled by the Viscount Willingdon, Canada's Governor General at the time, as part of celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation.
The fountain was also built to honour Eugenie’s parents, with block letters around the base that said it was erected by Eugenie “in loving memory” of Robert Russell and Hannah Jane.
But keeping the fountain operational was a problem.
Shortly after it opened, the city's health department shut it down temporarily because children were playing in the water, which wasn't filtered properly for swimming.
For decades, the fountain was either dry or operating only a few hours a day, until the 1980s when it went through a $160,000 retrofit. Since then, there have been problems of vandalism, most notably the theft of a bronze turtle that sprays water into the pool.
Then, in 2012, the fountain went through a massive $600,000 restoration and remains operational today.
“It has been running over the summer months,” says Beland.
“It’s been pretty good overall. The odd time it gets graffiti on it, but the city comes out cleans it off.”