Churchill Square (Edmonton)

Churchill Square (officially "Sir Winston Churchill Square") is the main downtown square in Edmonton, Alberta, which plays host to a large number of festivals and events including: the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival,^[1] Edmonton Fashion Week, The Works Art & Design Festival, Taste of Edmonton,^[2] Cariwest, and Edmonton Pride.

Churchill Square
City square
Churchill Square looking towards City Hall
Features	amphitheatre
Surface	paving stones
Dedicated to	Sir Winston Churchill
Owner	City of Edmonton
Location	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Churchill Square Location of Churchill Square in Edmonton
Coordinates: 53°32′38″N 113°29′23″W

Site

It is bordered on the north by 102A Avenue, on the west by 100 Street, on the south by Harbin Road (102 Avenue) and on the east by Rue Hull (99) Street. In 2009, 102A Avenue was closed to vehicle traffic permanently, providing easier pedestrian access to City Hall.^[3]

Surrounding the square are several cultural and governmental buildings, including Edmonton City Hall to the north, the Law Courts and the Art Gallery of Alberta to the north-east, Chancery Hall and the Francis Winspear Centre for Music to the east, the Citadel Theatre to the south-east, the Stanley A. Milner Library (the main branch of Edmonton Public Library) to the south and Edmonton City Centre mall to the west.

The centrepiece of the square builds a life-size bronze statue of Churchill, unveiled by Lady Soames on May 24, 1989. It is a copy of a statue made by Oscar Nemon.^[4]

History

Historically, Edmonton's main square was Market Square, located just to the south of Churchill Square, on the site of the present Milner Library.^[5][6] The City Market was housed in Market Square from its beginning in 1900, originally with the market happening outdoors. Successive plans were considered to develop the square into a civic centre, beginning in 1912. A building was built far away on 107 Avenue for the market to be moved indoors in November 1914, but was never used for this purpose and was boycotted by vendors and customers. The market returned to its original location and the city agreed to help construct a shelter. Beginning in 1915 the market was moved indoors, and by 1920 only overflow stalls were outside. From 1916, when the shelter was built, to 1965, when it moved off the site, the market flourished as the hub of Edmonton life.^[7] The City Market was finally shifted east to 97 Street, and the area was redeveloped according to a plan to create a "civic centre" in the area by constructing the new art gallery and library to accompany the new city hall which had been built in 1957.^[5]

In 1969, Lillian Shirt drew national media attention for protesting housing discrimination by erecting a tipi on the square. During the protest, which lasted 12 days, was joined by several others who set up tents and an additional tipi.^[8][9][10]

Churchill Square has undergone several face-lifts, the most recent, expensive, and most controversial, being completed in 2004, in time for Edmonton's Centennial Celebrations. These renovations saw the removal of a large amount of green space, as well as the building of several new structures in the square including an amphitheatre, a waterfall, as well as several structures for retail space (currently occupied by the Three Bananas Cafe and Tix on the Square).^[11][12]

Transportation

Churchill Square is well served by the Edmonton Transit System, being located above Churchill LRT Station, and also near a bus transfer point at CN Tower. St. Albert Transit and Strathcona County Transit also run three bus routes each (StAT routes 201, 202 & 211 & SCT routes 401, 411, & 413) past Churchill Square.

Surrounding buildings

Although Churchill Square is not the name of any street in Edmonton, and all the streets in the area are named, the square is used as the address for buildings facing it, they are numbered clockwise starting in the north.

Full address	Building
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, T5J 2R7	City Hall
1a Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, T5J 0R2	Law Courts
2 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, T5J 2C1	Art Gallery of Alberta
3 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, T5J 2C3	Chancery Hall
4 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, T5J 4X8	Francis Winspear Centre for Music
7 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, T5J 2V4	Stanley A. Milner Library
9 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, T5J 5B5	Churchill Wire Centre
15 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, T5J 2E5	Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton (SAGE)

See also

• List of city squares

References

1. Edmonton Street Performers Festival. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
2. EventsEdmonton.ca - Taste of Edmonton Archived 2008-09-11 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
3. "Avenue between City Hall and Churchill Square to close". CBC News. December 14, 2009. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
4. cf. Zwischenwelt. Literatur, Widerstand, Exil. Magazine of the Theodor Kramer-Society Vienna, 34, 4, December 2017 ISSN 1606-4321 p. 74 (Letter to the editor by Aurelia Young, daughter of Nemon; with picture of the statue)
5. Lawrence Herzog (September 23, 2004). "Edmontons Civic Block". Real Estate Weekly. Archived from the original on May 13, 2006. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
6. Merrett 2001, p. 117.
7. Merrett 2001, p. 7.
8. MacDonald, Alex (1969-05-31). "Woman sets up teepee to protest housing bias". Edmonton Journal. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
9. "Cabinet decides today on future of teepee". Edmonton Journal. 1969-06-24. p. 49. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
10. "Three tents join teepee protest". Red Deer Advocate. Canadian Press. 1969-07-03. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-10-16 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Sir Winston Churchill Square". City of Edmonton. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
12. Angela Brunschot (June 24, 2010). "Churchill Square Comes Alive". SEE Magazine. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2010.

• Merrett, Kathryn Chase (2001). A History of the Edmonton City Market, 1900-2000: urban values and urban culture. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. ISBN 1-55238-052-1. Retrieved 2010-10-26.