Description
Formal portrait of Amelia Parks in oval frame. The image depicts her holding a small book and wearing a long dress.
Amelia Parks (born McCutcheon) was one of the town’s first documented female settlers. Parks was born in 1840 in Camilla, Ontario, and moved to North Bay in 1882 with her husband William and her sixteen children. The family bought a plot of land south of the boundary of the CPR yards, across from the present site of Lee Park. Both the family homestead and a hotel, one of the first in North Bay, were set up on the site of Parks Creek. The family continued to farm the land from settlement to William’s death in 1902.
Over the course of her time in North Bay, Amelia Parks became a significant real estate figure in town. Foreseeing the development of a community around the CPR yards, Parks bought and sold sections of the property to newcomers for housing and farming interests. Because the shoreline property was sold cheaply at the turn of the century, Parks’ lots stretched from Chippewa Creek to the LaVase River (over six and a half kilometres of shoreline). By the time of her death in 1927, Parks was one of the largest property holders in North Bay. Taking a chance on the settlement of the Western Prairies, Parks conducted successful land deals in Edmonton, Portage la Prairie, Winnipeg, and the Peace River Country between Alberta and British Columbia.
Amelia Parks’ legacy is still visible through the original site of her and William’s property, now a park and beachfront which bear her name.Date(s) of Creation
1890 - 1910