Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
A. Brown, an Orillia photographer, published this postcard showing the two six-inch cannons mounted on wooden supports, facing the lake, close to the park dock.
On June 22, 1905, The Times reported: "The Dominion Government has presented the town with a couple of cannons from Quebec, to be set up in the park. The town is to supply freight and supply carriages.
"Guns were asked for some years ago, at the last distribution of old cannons, but before Orillia’s application was reached, the supply was exhausted. Llater that year, in a report to council, the parks department stated that the $98 cost to bring the cannon, given by the Government, from Quebec to Orillia was money well spent."
For over a hundred years, the cannons have been a fascinating attraction to the park
In the early years, children and teens would pile onto the end of the cannon and try to tip it, but after being moved several times, they were mounted securely on a solid concrete base, still facing the water, several metres from the park dock.
