Park and part of street to be renamed for Daisy Peterson Sweeney

Daisy Peterson Sweeney to be honoured Her family is happy with the city's decision to name a park and part of a street after the music teacher

Renowned piano teacher Daisy Peterson Sweeney will have a municipal park and part of a street named after her.

Charlevoix Bridge Park and part of De Levis Street in Little Burgundy will bear the name of a woman who taught jazz legends Oliver Jones, Ken Skinner, and her brother, Oscar Peterson.

The details were confirmed to CTV by the late piano teacher’s family.

Peterson Sweeney’s family was presented three options by the city, and are happy with the plans.

They have a close connection to the site.

“The third option is right next to the Lachine Canal, which is going through a major overhaul,” said Kenneth Hemmerick, her foster son. “It’s sort of fitting because about five or six years ago, there was a series of concerts for women from that area, and she had a series of concerts in her name.”

Peterson Sweeney grew up in Little Burgundy.

After she passed away in 2017 the city promised to rename a street in her honour, but those plans changed after Valerie Plante was elected.

The new mayor wanted to name a small park on the corner of Guy and Paxton streets after her, but the family insisted on a street that was in the heart of the neighbourhood that she spent so much of her life in.

The street and park are near Atwater Market and just blocks away from Union United Church, where she worshipped.

Her family is already thinking of ideas for what the park will look like.

“Maybe have a piano there,” said Hemmerick. “One of the things Daisy always said is kids, if they see a piano, they have to play it.”

There’s also a two-story mural on Saint-Martin Street of Peterson Sweeney.

It was completed this weekend, and is just a block away from paintings of her famed students.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” said Hemmerick. “It does show her humanity and what a kind person that she was.”

Peterson Sweeney’s relatives are hopeful that the park and street will be ready in time for the hundredth anniversary of her birth, May 7, 2020.