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All old photos to the left are used with the courtesy of Hedemarksmuseet, the photo collection
Hamar park was established in the town of Hamar in 1878 and was the first park in town. The park was created according to the "folk park principles" (better known from the folk parks in Sweden), and was meant as an alternative for those citizens that did not have acces to a garden of their own.
The Park in the beginning had a Duck Pond, Restaurant, Music Pavilion, 25 numbered(!) garden pavilions, play installations for children and croquet- and tennis courts. The tennis courts are still there close to the Park. In the first years the Park was also known for its animal life, there were ducks, cockatoos, peacocks and even tortoises.
The Duck Pond was removed by filling it with earth in 1972, and since then there has been no park animals, except for on the Mountain Farm that for some years was located in the northern end of the Park.
In the winter 2004–2005 a garden architecture firm was hired by municipal authorities to work out a plan with different options the Park's future. The options were: (a) the simpel solution, (b)modern park, (c)historic park and (d) a combination of historic and modern park.
In the autumn of 2005 the municipal authorities decided to go for the last of the above alternatives (d), the combination option. An archeological dig was made to decide the location etc of the original Duck pond. And in the autumn of 2009 the Duck Pond was recreated. But none of us have seen it filled yet. But a duck house is in place.
Hamar Park has in later years been threatened by plans to carve it up in plots and building homes. This due to the central location of the Park. For this reason a support group for the Park has been formed to preserve and protect the Park and also to strengthen the Parks infra structure. As a part of this concerts are arranged in the Park in the summer season.
Source for the text above: Wikipedia - "Hamar Park"
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