Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Taras Shevchenko Park

Abandoned Recreational in Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Feb 06 2012

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Recent status Abandoned
Location # 4029

The Taras H. Shevchenko Museum and Memorial Park Foundation owns a beautiful 16 acre park near Oakville, Ontario alone the Dundas Highway near the town of Palermo. In the center of the park the stately monument of Taras Shevchenko, cast in bronze, with its pedestal of marble is standing majestically against the blue Canadian sky.

A 3-metre bronze statue of iconic Ukrainian Taras Shevchenko, erected in an Oakville park named for him in 1951, has been chopped off at the feet by vandals and carted away.

The statue, a gift to the 500,000 Ukrainians then in Canada from Soviet Society For Cultural Relations Abroad and valued at more than $350,000, was the center of controversy at the time and for a while was under 24-hour police guard. Erected to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, it stood for more than 55 years atop a 70-tonne granite base in a 6.5-hectare park, which was surrounded by another 47 hectares of parkland along Sixteen Mile Creek that once was home to a children's camp. While the camp closed in 1998, many still visit the park to see the historical figure. When the statue was erected in 1951, around 40 thousand people attended its unveiling.

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4 years ago

This place is now a security guard''s playground; sensors everywhere. Enjoy confrontation.

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10 years ago

I seem to remember it being a summer camp. After it closed and demolished, it was used by the army cadets and/or cub scouts. The scouts only had a trailer there that housed some of their gear. When the camp was intact there were probably 60 or 70 cottages, an olympic sized pool, large mess hall with dancefloor etc. The place was amazing.

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10 years ago

Stumbled upon this local by total accident the other day....man the story of this theft is quite confusing online. Some pages value the statue at $350k and others at $25k...one page says this is the second statue stolen from here. The Head was apparently recovered and put in the museum, while other pages say the statue was recovered in tact. It's 3 meters in some versions and 5 meters in others?

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10 years ago

Yeah I heard that it was a day camp, a cadet camp, and even a military training camp. There were rumours of tanks and whatnot.

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10 years ago

I think I might have come across photos of when this was a camp. It might be the Bolton Day Camp of Oakville. http://images.oakville.halinet.on.ca/81369/data?n=20

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10 years ago

I live quite close to this place and go there to hang out.. "Stonehenge" is my pet name for it :P

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11 years ago

It's sad to think that this place was once a beautiful park and because of the statue thief, it has been forgotten.

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11 years ago

Just got back from the park. Combine is still there as is the monument and the small pedestal with the park name on it. Was looking at the pics from the 50's when it was just grass covered, open parkland. The site is now totally grown in with thick brush and large trees. What a difference 50 years makes. Sad to see such a monument with its rich history just left to be forgotten.

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11 years ago

How it used to look http://www.infoukes.com/shevchenkomuseum/mempark.htm

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11 years ago

@Arenegado , no buildings remain.

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11 years ago

Are those houses still inside the park somewhere? I went deep into the park and couldnt really see any

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11 years ago

Is this place still no trespassing? I heard awhile back it was going to be made into a public park