The Schumacher Flag Park is located at the eastern entrance to Schumacher and features 10 community flags that represent our multicultural heritage and those cultural groups that helped create the community we know today. The Schumacher Flag Park was part of the Schumacher Revitalization Project, which took place in the early to mid 90's and included the development of the east and west entrances to Schumacher, a statue at Laham Hill, storefront rehabilitation and a number of community murals.
As the 90's began, Schumacher's revitalization was considered one of the City's major tourism projects. The theme would be 1930's mining town and work was focused on a three-block stretch along Father Costello Dr. Overall, the area had experienced a decline in visitors since the bypass of Hwy. 101 and the project's aim was to draw more people to downtown Schumacher.
Cultural History
The area we know today as Timmins began in the early 1900's in response to the Porcupine gold rush and the abundance of rich minerals in Northern Ontario. Originally, Timmins was surrounded by smaller individual towns and communities like Schumacher (originally Aura Lake), South Porcupine and Porcupine, but all were amalgamated into the City of Timmins in 1973.
The gold rush resulted in a rush of new immigrants flocking to the area from central Europe, Great Britain and Asia. Single men came to Timmins seeking their fortune. Families moved to the north seeking a better way of life. People of Italian, Finnish, Scandinavian, Croatian, Yugoslavian, and British descent formed small cultural groups and became close-knit communities that retained their language, habits and culture. Many communities had their own cultural meeting points, cultural halls like the Croatian Hall, Polish Hall, Finnish Hall, and Italian Hall, or the Porcupine Dante Club. The Porcupine Dante Club celebrated its 70th anniversary in July 2022, but traces it's history back to the late 1930's. Schumacher itself once boasted the largest Croatian community in Canada.
Immigration to Timmins and area continued before and after World War II and continues today. The diverse cultural representation in the region is part of what makes Timmins' the "City with a Heart of Gold." Timmins is known for being welcoming, inclusive, and a mosaic of cultures that illustrates how the north's natural resources encouraged immigrants from far and wide to call Canada (and Timmins) home.
The Schumacher Flag Park was created with this history in mind.
Included Flags
There are 10 community flag poles located at the Schumacher Flag Park and 18 country flags. 5 flags remain up year-round. In addition to Canada's flag, flags from China, Italy, Germany and Croatia remain up due to the historic significance of those countries and cultures on the founding of Timmins and area. The remainder of the flags are rotated twice annually.
