There once was a crown hanging over the centre of Guelph.
11/17/1960 The rising of the decorative crown in St. George’s Square in November of 1960. A truck with a tall ladder is on the left side of the photo, with a man at the top of the ladder. The crown is made of wire and Christmas lights and is being lifted up with the assistance of two men on the ground and another on the truck.
Photo Credit: Guelph Museums 2014.84.41-2
This crown, made of wire with Christmas lights, hung over St. George’s Square from around 1960 until it was taken down at the end of the 1970’s.
The Crown, which was purchased from Texas as part of a Christmas Ornament Package, was removed around 1979 in preparation of the St. George’s Square makeover. When the city took down the crown, it was found to be very badly corroded from salt spray etc. It is buried in Eastview Landfill site as reported here. (Update: Link is now dead due to Metroland deleting Guelph Mercury blogs.)
After the makeover of the square, the crown was not replaced but instead honored by installing a large sidewalk crown made of stone in front of the CIBC Building sometime in the mid-1980’s. This was removed in 2002 due to the revamping of the Eaton Centre into Old Quebec Street Mall & Shops.
There are many people in the city who have fond memories of the crown hanging in the Square. The city is considering options to reconfigure St. George’s Square when road work along Wyndham Street commences in the next few years. At the time of this blog posting, none included replacing the long-gone crown. (Update: The Mayor has instructed to city staff to consider this as an option when the Square and Wyndham Street get reconstructed in the future.)
Guelph Museums 1988.24.32 
Wyndham Street at Night during Christmas Season, 1971 Guelph Museums Item: 2013.72.59 
Crown in St. George’s Square at night in 1966. Guelph Museums 2009.32.4781 
This October 6, 1976 photo shows Guelph’s illuminated crown being placed back above St. George’s Square. Guelph Public Library F45-0-10-0-0-251 
Circa 1960 photo of St. George’s Square. Woolworth, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Quebec Street can also be seen. Copyright Guelph Public Library C6-0-0-0-0-1216 
This November 29, 1966 photo shows downtown Guelph with Christmas lights lit up at night. Guelph Public Library F45-0-10-0-0-53
Vintage Guelph 
Where is it now?
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As mentioned in the post, in the dump.
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Hi, the city of Guelph and library workers are looking to recreate the crown at Sparkles in the park. We’d like to have a description of the Crown’s history for everyone to read, along with a photo of the original crown as well. Could we use information from this post and photos as well? Do you have any photos without watermarks? Let me know.
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You will have to contact Guelph Museums and/or Guelph Public Library about non watermark photos.
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