Construction will officially start Thursday in a four-year, multi-million-dollar makeover of Hamilton's most famous and controversial park.

Managers of the project are calling it a "pedestrianization initiative," with an emphasis on making Gore Park more people friendly. To that end, the south leg of King Street will be closed to traffic and made into a promenade. It has been used in recent years as an idling area for buses.

The initiative makeover will consist of in three phases. Each phase will focus on a different section of the park.

Phase I

WHERE: Middle section of the park, between John and Hughson

TIMELINE: Most construction work is scheduled for this summer, to be completed in the spring of next year in time for the PanAm Games in July 2015.

GOAL: The section will be known as Veterans' Place, remembering Canadian vets who have taken part in military conflicts and peacekeeping missions throughout Canada's history.

COST: $2.3 million

The Cenotaph will be refurbished, and rotated so it will be facing west instead of east. This will create more space for spectators, and is at the request of veterans' groups.

A 3-metre high, 2-metre wide Memorial Wall will be built. It will be double-sided, laminated and inner-lit to "commemorate service to community and country."

A series of Memorial Enclaves,similar to the Memorial Wall but smaller, will create a rhythm along the south edge of the park.

The curb and sidewalk on the south side of the park will be removed. The park, promenade and remaining sidewalk on the south side of the promenade will be refashioned.

The Gore Park washrooms — closed since 1984 and housing electrical equipment since then — will be infilled. The electrical equipment will be brought above ground and put in an enclosure.

Phase II

WHERE: Between James and Hughson

TIMELINE: 2016

GOAL: To make minor improvements to the section.

COST: To be determined

The concrete walkway around the fountain will be expanded and benches placed at the back.

The Queen Victoria statue will be left where it is with new benches around it.

The road surface will be raised to make it level with the park.

A large curved bench will be placed near Hughson Street.

Phase III

WHERE: Between John and Catharine

TIMELINE: 2018

GOAL: To incorporate the Sir John A. Macdonald statue in a more reverential location and make small improvements to the section of the park.

COST: To be determined

The Sir John A. Macdonaldstatue and the cannons beside it will be moved, piece by piece, across John Street.

Improvements will be made to the driveway in front of the Royal Connaught Hotel.

Improve landscaping.

Gore Park timeline

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For nearly 200 years, people in Hamilton have tilted between pride and indignation about The Gore, a tiny piece of land left over from a failed attempt to create a town square.

In 1817, George Hamilton — the man after whom Hamilton is named —donated a triangular piece of green space to be joined with a second similar-shaped property owned by Nathaniel Hughson.

But Hughson turned his back on the deal and the town square idea was abandoned.

The land became a mud hole of neglect, a place to dump garbage. People called it The Gore, because of its triangular shape.

But it became known as a disgrace.

Over the years, there were lots of ideas about what to do with the property: Some suggested constructing a large building that would have a park on the roof. Town councillors in 1833 thought a market would work, but the Hamilton family opposed the plan and launched a legal action to halt the idea.

It took a royal visit in 1860 by the Prince of Wales to break the impasse.

A major cleanup was launched to turn the eyesore into a pleasant park with a fountain that would be "a symbol of the city representing the public spirit of citizens who wished to make their community's commercial core a place of beauty as well as a place of commerce."

Here are some momentous years in the life of Gore Park, our downtown landmark:

Trees

122

Number of trees now in all three sections of Gore Park

38

Trees to be removed, most of which will be replaced.

111

Number of trees remaining after completion of three phases.

Trees are being removed because they are either ash trees suffering from attacks by Emerald Ash Borer, because they're dying or dead, or because they impede the design changes.

Gore Park Concept Plan