Skyway Tolls

Not much traffic on the Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge early on October 30, 1958.

Windy up there too, especially for pedestrians.

Pedestrians?

Officially opening day for the Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge, and before the cars, trucks, and buses were allowed to start using the bridge, people were allowed to take in the view of the harbor or Lake Ontario from the deck.

Also, before the motorized traffic was unleashed, the first vehicle to officially pay to pass through a Skyway toll booth was the above, driven by OPP Constable Thomas Morkin, with son Tommy along for the ride.

Toll gate open – price for cars 15 cents, and other vehicles, especially trucks, could be charged as much as 45c cents depending on size.

In all there were 11 toll booths and they would remain in operation until December 28, 1973.

All photos courtesy PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.

Tigers

Extremely popular at the turn of the century and beyond, the Hamilton Tigers played their home football games at the large property bounded by Charlton Avenue, Reginald street, Bold street and Queen street south.

Above is pictured the 1905 Championship team. Note the escarpment visible in the background.

Another Tiger team picture, with a cartoon mascot looking down. The player, third from the right, is Ben Simpson, who played many years for the Tigers, so many that the balding Simpson was joking known as “the Daddy of ‘Em All.” Simpson would later be a teacher, then a high school principal in Hamilton.

Finally another team photo taken on the Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association (h.A.A.A.) grounds with the tower of the Ryerson Public School visible in the background.

All postcards courtesy Janet, http://www.hamiltonpostcards.com

Derrick in the Gore

That is not a misprint. That rather unworldly structure is an actual thing, located on the eastern portion of the Gore extension. The “thing”, taller than the post office tower at the King and John streets in downtown Hamilton.  Photographer is looking eastward and the main portion of the image shows the south side of King between Hughson and John streets.

The images above and below are looking westward from John street – the steel structure has been erected in the middle of the Gore extension.

Although a little faint, the “thing” is in this colored postcard as well. The green of the grass is accurate – the other colors less so.

Taken a little further east, and looking westward, the whole of the structure can be seen, as can be seen the Sir John A. Macdonald Statue, the Bank of Hamilton, a horse drawn carriage parked to the right, and a bicyclist wheeling west.

Looking east from about James street, the whole of the “thing” can be seen dominating the skyline. Note the electric street car tracks, and the passengers walking out to board a car.

Final image and the nature of the “thing” explained. It was a very tall flagpole, made of steel and a donation to the city from the Canadian Club of Hamilton. When it was erected, it was claimed to be the highest in Canada.

Carlisle 1951

It was a warm, sunny day, June 6, 1951 when Spectator photographer Bruce Murdoch, ventured to what was then East Flamboro Township to record his impression of the community then known as Carlisle.

The village was first settled in 1826 by John and Catharine Eaton, and was originally known as Eaton.

It was named Carlisle in 1853.

The above image shows a general store and post office, built about the year 1900.

The above image shows the Community Hall which was erected in 1921, and was dedicated as a memorial to the men from the district who had served in the first World War.

The above image is of an 11 room stone residence. Every stone used for the construction of the house came from the basement excavation for the house.

Above is the Memorial Methodist Church, as it was called in 1951. The church, built in 1891, is the second church built on the site. Many early pioneers from the district are buried in the church graveyard.

The final Carlisle image appearing in this blog is of a general store, reportedly dating to the mid-19th century.

All images from the Murdoch Collection, PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.

Proposed Mountain Drive – Photo Essay 3

The 3rd of 4 installments of the Photo Essays containing images of, or taken from, the proposed route of a mountain carriage drive, which would run from Chedoke Falls to Albion Falls.

This 3rd segment runs east from the 2nd segment which ended at the James street incline railway.

The above image shows the the top of the Jolley Cut.

The above image, looking west, shows the stone quarries located beside the Jolley cut.

Looking west from the top of the escarpment above Wellington street. Note cattle grazing, visible in lower portion of picture.

From the base of the escarpment, opposite Emerald street, looking upwards.

All photographs taken by Charles Cochran made available via PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.

Dundas 1951

On late winter day March, 03, 1951, Hamilton Spectator photographer headed over to the Valley Town of Dundas to take a few pictures of scenes and individuals.

Above is a traffic-free view of King street looking towards Hamilton.

Above is the genial John Don, long-time mayor of Dundas, posed with some Robbie Burns literature.

In 1951, subdivisions were appearing on the fringes of the original part of Dundas. The above is a view of Wilar Court where the houses were mainly of the same size and style, and finished in cement block. The view looks towards the escarpment across the Dundas Valley.

Above is photo of the two Jaggard brothers, Cal, left, and Mel, right, veterans of the Second World War. After the war, they became proprietors of a news store on King street.

One of the best known characters in Dundas in 1951 is pictured above, tinsmith Charlie Brady. Charlie’s grandparents came to Dundas in 1844.

Finally, a stern Dundas Police Chief Earl Jack. Don’t even think of fooling with Chief Jack!

All photos by Murdoch, courtesy PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.

The Strike That Never Ended

On May 31, 1946, Local 129 of the International Typographical Union went on strike. The union represented workers with all the Southam Chain of newspapers, including the Hamilton Spectator.

It was a particularly bitter strike in Hamilton at first, with violence on the picket lines as “scab” workers entered and exited the Spectator Building on King street east.

While it is difficult to gauge the proportion of the Hamilton population who supported management or supported the union, suffice it to say that much of the support for the union was visible.

One manifestation of union support were signs and placards affixed to vehicles, especially trucks.

The above image from May 1946 shows such a union supporting truck placard, while the image below shows another such vehicle strategically parked in front of the Spectator building.

The strike was never settled – in theory, it is still going on!

Images courtesy PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.

Hamilton Red Cross and World War 2

During World War 2, the City of Hamilton was one of the most patriotic cities in Canada in terms of the volunteer efforts to support the war effort. The Local Branch of the Canadian Red Cross was a significant presence in organizing the volunteers

Among the many programs the Red Cross delivered, one of the biggest in Hamilton was the on-going drive to provide parcels for prisoners of war.

Volunteers would solicit funds from the public to pay for the parcels. A $2.50  donation would pay for the contents and delivery of  one 10 pound parcel. Each parcel would include at least the following : biscuits, chocolate, prunes, raisins, canned beef, powdered milk,  jam, tinned sardines and salmon, coffee, sugar, salt and a bar of soap. Often special little extras were added as well.

Volunteers packed the parcels at the distribution centre, one of only five such facilities in Canada.

Considerable effort from many hands kept the process moving along rapidly, including as pictured above the preparation of the cardboard boxes from the flat cardboard delivered to the centre.

Once packed the boxes would be loaded on trucks and sent off to be delivered to the prisoner of war camps. At its busiest, over 60,000 parcels per month were assembled and distributed from the city of Hamilton to prisoner of war camps in Europe.

All photos are from March, 1943 – courtesy PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.

Desjardins Canal Basin

When it was decided that Dundas would be the absolute western head of navigation for freight and passengers using the waters of Lake Ontario, the Desjardins Canal was constructed. The canal allowed ships, such a freight steamer pictured above, to enter Hamilton Harbour via the Burlington canal, then pass through Coote’s Paradise to Dundas.

Note how large the vessel is in comparison with the sail boat and two men beside.

To allow the vessels of that size to get back to Coote’s Paradise, the bay and on to Lake Ontario, a turning basin had to be provided so that the boats could be turned 360 degrees.

A view of the Desjardins Canal turning basin looking towards the canal connection to Coote’s Paradise. The large building is a warehouse.

After the Desjardins Canal Company went bankrupt after the completion of the Great Western Railway, and especially after the railway swing bridge over the canal was replaced with a fixed bridge, only small vessels, such as the passenger excursion steamer pictured above, could proceed from the bay to Dundas. The basin was plenty big enough for vessels like this to turn around.

A lovely color postcard from about 1910 showing the basin with two small passenger steamers and several rowboats.

Above is an image of the Dundas Turning Basin in 1946.

As a 1967 Centennial Project, it was unfortunately decided (my view) to fill in the basin and create a park.

Color postcards courtesy Janet , http://www.hamiltonpostcards.com Black and white images courtesy PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.

Book House – Ancaster Township

It was one of the oldest, and for its time, most grand houses in the Greater Hamilton Region, Ancaster Township in particular.

In 1789, John Book and his wife were basically squatters on a piece of property in the area now known as Fiddler’s Green Road, overlooking Book Road. In 1801, after the Books had cleared the land and had started a farm, they applied for, and received a grant of 700 acres, making their ownership legitimate.

The house itself was built over a 5 year period, 1811 to 1816. The large home was 2 and a half stories in size, rectangular shaped, with chimneys at each end. Work on building the house was interrupted when both sons of John Book had to leave to fight under General Brock’s leadership in the Battle of Queenston Heights during the War of 1812.

In the early years of the 19th century in Upper Canada, the Book House was considered one of the finest homes in the province.

The Book House, vacant at the time, was lost to fire on June 21, 2005.

Both images courtesy PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.