Dundonald Park
Somerset Street West
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
Named for the Earl of Dundonald (the last British general commanding officer of the Canadian Militia), Dundonald Park is more than 100 years old. The park occupies a city block and is well cared-for by the Friends of Dundonald Park, who maintain the park's gardens.
Commemorative plaques in the park highlight a tale of Cold War espionage. It was from Dundonald Park that RCMP officers monitored the home of Igor Gouzenko and his family on the north side of Somerset Street.
In September of 1945, Gouzenko, a cipher clerk, defected from the Soviet Union with over 100 secret documents taken from the Soviet embassy. These documents were the first pieces of hard evidence that the Soviets were spying on their allies. Some have called this moment the “first major international event of the Cold War.”
Did you know that initially the RCMP did not believe Gouzenko's story, and he was forced to hide his family overnight for fear that Soviet agents would find them?
