William Grant Park

Betwixt North and South Pde is William Grant Park, which originally hosted a fortress erected in 1694 with guns pointing down King St toward the harbor. The fort was torn down and a garden, Victoria Park, laid out in 1870, with a life-size statue of Queen Victoria at its center. She has since been replaced by a bust of Sir Alexander Bustamante; Her Majesty's statue now stands on the east side of the park.

The park was renamed in 1977 to honor Black nationalist and labor leader Sir William Grant (1894-1977), who preached his Garveyite message of African redemption here. At the center of the park is a whimsical four-tiered fountain.