These walls were constructed between the early 1920s and the mid 1960s, many of them make-work projects, a legacy of the
Dirty Thirties. They show varying methods and styles of construction which changed with the times. Some were dry laid, without mortar, while most were set in mortar. The walls employing larger rocks indicate their construction in later periods, when more and larger equipment became available to the stone masons.
The city has recently placed ten bronze plaques at strategic points throughout the city which indicate the date of construction of particular walls and the names of the stone masons who laid them. This is a wonderful way to commemorate these stone masons from yesteryear and the legacy they have left behind for future generations.
This wall runs the length of the Fifth Avenue hill, from east of McLean Street on the bottom to where it becomes Bowser Street at the top. It averages about four feet in height and is several hundred metres in length. About midway up the hill is a covered wooden stair leading up to Valleyview Drive above. This plaque is mounted on the wall beside the bottom of these stairs. It tells us that the wall was constructed in 1957. The stonemasons involved were:
Francesco Plati, Francesco Bernava, Carlo Di Domenico, Stefano Como and Camillo Cappelletto.
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