In the 1920s and 30s, a modest baseball diamond on the current Mackin Park site attracted loyal ball fans from across the region. Each Sunday afternoon, large crowds descended on the park, paid their 10 cents and filled the stands. Many came to cheer on the “Circle F” Fraser Mills team as it challenged teams from Seattle, New Westminster, and the Asahi team from Vancouver. The Mill managers would often import college players from the United States to improve their line-up. These people would be given jobs at the mill. However, they very seldom showed up for work. One man would punch in for about 10 of them.
Group portrait of Circle F players in 1930. Photograph courtesy of City of Coquitlam Archives – CCOQ F20-S02-F20.3338CCOQ C6-S01-C6.933.
On April 12, 1943, the Canadian Western Lumber Company Limited donated Mackin Park to the District of Coquitlam. Mackin Park was officially dedicated as a public park on December 4, 1979.
During the 2011 Canadian Winter Olympics, the Olympic flame came to Coquitlam and a reception was held in Mackin Park on February 11, 2011. The flame was carried by Chris Wilson, a Coquitlam resident and championship wrestler, who represented Canada at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
Anecdotes
During the ’20s-30s, Children would fetch balls for the player in exchange for a nickel, they sometimes earned up to 70~80 cents in an afternoon.
Baseball games were very popular in Maillardville, and they would draw big crowds. People had to come early in order to even get a seat. In the earlier days, women were generally not allowed to come the games, but some women did not take this nonsense and came anyways.
Kenneth Charlton (born in 1919) lived on #47 King Edward Ave., where Mackin Park is now. When he was a kid he planted two chestnut trees. He remembered them being “oh, just two little guys”. Later, when the City cleared out all the houses in the area to make way for the park, they left the two trees standing. One of the trees died in the 1980s. Mr. Charlton, an old man by then, used to walk by every once in a while and pat it and say, “Come on, get better,” but it didn’t. Later, the other tree grew sick and had to be taken down as well.
