Planning is underway for the new Wilson-Sheffield community park, which will include some sports courts to accommodate pickleball, tennis and basketball.
The 2022 budget includes money to design the park, which will include gathering public feedback for some elements and the layout of the park.
According to an update from Dean Collver, director of parks, recreation and culture, the 1.25-hectare site beside Admiral Public School was already identified as a good opportunity to add to the town's sport courts in the town’s Parks, Recreation, and Culture Master Plan published in March 2019.
“The plan identified deficiencies in facilities for tennis, pickleball, and basketball,” said Collver during an April 4 corporate and community services committee meeting.
The park, according to Collver, “is anticipated” to include a small washroom/storage facility, a neighbourhood playground, the sport courts, and interpretation panels that identify the Wilson-Sheffield family’s presence and contributions to the community. The panels will also include some Black history of the area, at the request of the Wilson family.
In September 2021, council voted in favour of naming the park after the Wilson-Sheffield family, specifically Herbert Wilson and his wife, Yvonne Sheffield, parents to Sylvia, Carolynn and Herb Wilson.
Herbert Wilson was a foreman working for the Town of Collingwood in 1955 when he died on the job under suspicious conditions. He was 37 years old, with a wife and three children at home. His death was not investigated until 2002.
Before his death, Wilson experienced violent racism on the job, including being sprayed head-to-toe with hot tar.
Yvonne Sheffield was raised in Collingwood and was a gifted athlete at Collingwood Collegiate Institute. She was denied access to competitions, including the 1938 Championship Track Meet in Orillia, because of the colour of her skin.
Herbert and Yvonne’s daughters, Sylvia and Carolynn Wilson, now operate the Sheffield Park Black History Museum, and have spent their lives advocating for justice for their father.
The park named after the Wilson-Sheffield family is on Dey Drive, adjacent to Admiral school and a fenced-in stormwater management pond. It is also near the Train Trail and the Hamilton Drain Trail.
Once the design work is complete, it will be submitted to Collingwood council for approval. Pending council’s support, the park could be under construction by next year.
