Parks
Parkallen is home to two beautiful City of Edmonton parks.
Ellingson Park
Ellingson Park is literally and figuratively the heart of the community. Joseph Ellingson (1902-1979) was the first principal of Parkallen Elementary and Junior High School, serving the community from the day the school opened in 1952, to 1967. When he retried, the people of Parkallen, grateful for his serivce to the community, requested that a park be built in recognition of his “years of faithful service given so patiently, so untiringly and with so deep an understanding to our children and our community.”1
Ellingson Park boasts a total area of 2.76H (~ 7 acres)
What you’ll find here:
The Parkallen Community League Hall and Parkallen School are centrally located at opposite corners of the central park space. You will also enjoy:
A newly upgraded playground with spray park
Hockey rink
Family skating rink
Community Garden
Basketball Court
Soccer Fields
Baseball Diamond
Picnic Tables
Benches
Community Fire Pit
Ample Open Space to Stroll
Large Healthy Mature Trees
Annual Flower Garden Bed
Violet Archer Park
Violet Archer Park was named for the famed Canadian musician, composer and teacher, Violet Archer. Dr. Archer lived in Parkallen during her tenure with the University of Alberta as chair of the Theory and Composition Department.
What you’ll find here:
Violet Archer Park has a small playground for younger children, paths and benches.
About Violet Archer
Violet Archer “earned an L MUS from McGill University in 1934, and a B MUS from McGill in 1936 where she studied composition with Douglas Clarke. She travelled to New York City in the summer of 1942 where she studied with Béla Bartók, "who introduced her to Hungarian folk tunes and to variation technique. She taught at the McGill Conservatory from 1944–1947. Later in the 1940s she studied with Paul Hindemith at Yale. She earned a B MUS from Yale in 1948, and a M MUS also from Yale in 1949. From 1950–1953 Archer was Composer-in-Residence at the University of North Texas. From 1953 through 1961 she taught at the University of Oklahoma. Returning to Canada in 1961 for doctoral study at the University of Toronto, she set that aside when, in 1962, she joined the Faculty of Music at the University of Alberta. There she would become chairman of the Theory and Composition Department. She remained at the University of Alberta until her retirement. Her notable students include Larry Austin, Jan Randall, Allan Gilliland, and Allan Gordon Bell.”2
Naming Edmonton: From Ada to Zoie, Heritage Sites Committee, Edmonton Historical Board, Edmonton : University of Alberta Press, 2004 p. 91
Violet Archer. (2017, October 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:14, October 24, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Violet_Archer&oldid=803650902