The Past is Here

Welcome to The Hamilton Memory Project Blog, a discussion forum about local history and nostalgia to commemorate the city and The Spectator's 160th birthday this year.
My name is Mark McNeil and I'm co-ordinator of the Hamilton Memory Project, a multi-media, interactive look at the city's past, which will culminate in the publication of a special section of the newspaper on June 10.
Blogging is new for me, so I hope you'll be forgiving as I plunge in and try and see how things work. I'll offer you the first look at much of our work — and give you an insider's view of the project. I hope - with your help - to make this blog a meeting place to swap stories and pictures and reminisce about Hamilton's fascinating history.   
Some of the contributions will be developed into content for the Memory Project homepage (thespec.com/memory) and also used in the special Memory Project edition of the Spectator later this year.
Stay tuned. Check in each day. Content will updated regularly.
Mark

Comments

[William Gower]

I spent some time in an orphanage at the foot of James street in Hamilton around 1945 to 1950. I have looked everywhere for info on this place but have had no luck so far. Would like to hear anything about it if possible.
Wm. Gower
ching400@cogeco.ca

[Gary Zoskey]

I am currently writing a short story on my life which encompasses being born and raised in Hamilton. I was born in 1937 and spent the next 40 yrs. in the area. If you are interested I could send you what I have written down of the changes that have occurred and what it was like for me as a child and teenager.

[Jim Boyd]

I dont have a coment yet,it is my first time looking at this site. I have lived in Hamilton most of my life. i grew up in west hamilton around Dundern St.I have a question. Was there a resturaunt located around James and John Street at one time in the sixties or seventies?.
Jim

[June Segato]

I have a "Canadian Pacific Railway Company" receipt book from 1964. This book registered envelopes etc. from different people from around the world coming to hamilton. I was in the railway station after eating at Al's Deli and took a tour around as they were tearing the place down. I picked it up from a pile of files to be discarded. It looked interesting to me.

[Stanley Clewlow]

I go back to 1929, right in the heart of the worldwide deppression. We had just arrived from England and I was only six years old
We arrived at the Stuart St train station and were welcomed and by the way sponsered by the St Georges Society.
Does anyone remember Mr Capelli ? He was a very important man in Hamilton at this time of world crisis. How about the Wentworth St incline, The honey wagons going up and down the alleyways to empty the outhouse cans.Milk and bread delivery by horse and wagon. Ski-ing down the Jolley cut in winter.Hitching a ride on the wagon runners in winter to get to school.
There is more if your interested.

[Linda C. Arnold]

I am 55 years old and the memories I have of Hamilton are when my Father worked at the 'old' Eaton's Store on James Street. I remember riding on the elevators with the operator's with their white gloves and how I couldn't wait for Christmas to go Downtown to see the great displays in the big windows of Eaton's. I also remember participating in the Boy Scout/Girl Guide Parade every year that started out from the James Street Armories and marched past Eaton's where my Dad would be waiving out the window - the open window!

[Stanley Clewlow]

More memories-
Some of the shops on Concession St a few years back- Sam Camerons Fruit and Vegetables, Mclures Bakery, The only big store shopping was downtown, Eatons, Robinsons, Woolworths.
The place us Kids enjoyed most was the Lyceum Theatre , Concession and Wentworth on a saturday to watch the next episode of the serials they always were playing for 5 cents.

[Burke Austin]

Hi Mark, this is a great idea. I am an eastender, born and raised in Parkview West (between Parkdale and Woodward, the CN tracks to Burlington St's. I was born in '56. I remember going on the crosswalks over Burlington St. to get to the Beach, going by Windemere Basin, a black muchole it was with the occasional black snapping turtle. Before Burlington St. Beach Rd. was the only access to the Beach. My older sisters have told me that there were grande homes in our area. One of real interest to me is King's Head Inn or Government house. I guess it was the place to stop between Toronto and Niagra. No one knows exactly where it was but an old map of the Harbour puts it right beside the waterworks. In the mid 90's we found a concrete block with a thistle, rose a clover engraved into it embedded in the ground in Globe Park but it disappeared when the Fed's were checking out the area for the E.A. for the Redhill Expressway. I have asked city staff what happened to it but no one has gotten back to me. Does anyone know anything? Would it not be something to discover such a landmark.

[Anne Marie Pavlov]

I know this is kind of a silly anecdote, but it's probably a special memory to anyone who shopped downtown from about 1970 to 1989. The pet department in Woolworth's basement had an eccentric looking and sounding crow in the pet department, who was named Tim. He could talk and whistle at shoppers, and startle them with his lewd "Hey, you sexy thing!" He was a beloved local treasure, and surely kept many kids amused for hours while their busy parents shopped. A lovely lady named Monica looked after him, and I had the pleasure of working with her when I was a high school student working at Woolworth's part time. I was the last person to ever see him alive when I closed up the department on a Saturday evening in July of 1989. I really miss him - he was one of a kind!

[Warren McCrea]

I grew up on Kingsway Drive, a short crescent from the south end of John St.to Arkeldun Avenue. John St.South becomes a gravel road, which in the '40's was called "The Old Road", as it snaked its way through the woods and came out near the top of the Claremont Access. Another few yards to the very top and you could look down at the ruins of the Incline Railway. We used the Old Road for our winter tobogganing fun, and took turns volunteering to be the "lookout" at the bottom of the run, where it spilled out onto John St. That person's task was to yell "CAR!" at the top of his lungs if the tobogganer was in danger of broadsiding a previously out-of-sight vehicle about to cross John St. from Louisa or Kingsway. Many were the lives saved by his actions;but so also was many a toboggan demolished as it made its riderless way under the wheels of the unaware motorist's vehicle. In one instance the lookout decided I'd fare better if he leaped upon my prone, face-down form on the togoggan, and helped me steer clear of the moving target. Trouble was, he caused my nose to abruptly meet the front of my vehicle, and broke my breather in two places. I spent the next two years breathing through my mouth, as my dad could not find a doctor who would take on the necessary operation to restore my airways. Bill Love Sr. eventually did the job, and today he lives just a short distance from my Aldershot home. His son Bill fixed my kidney stones some 40 years later. How many people can boast two operations, 40 years apart, by first the father, and then the son. I'll gladly wait another 40 years to meet the Holy Ghost!!

[Marlene]

I'm fascinated with regional phenomenon of the '60s - as my memories are of a young child not that of an active teenager or college student.

Most of my memories are from Southern Ontario, of camping at Point Pelee watching the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon on our black & white portable, of the annual Chrysler picnic at Boblo Island off of Amherstburg with its men in white suits smoking cigars as we kids ran around to try each amusement ride, Detroit and motown, afros & platform shoes. I've often found myself wondering what Hamilton was like in the '60's and early '70s while the world was still "innocent" . I have a friend - a true bohemian still, from Hamilton that describes her youth at Rochdale College at Ryerson in the '60. Ryerson aired a talk show from Hamilton's CH called "Open Mind" hosted by Jim Peters - is footage still available?

Can any one offer some interesting stories on life in Hamilton in the '60s?

[Darryl Buckle]

Response to Stanley Chewlow of Feb. 22nd, '06.
Dear Mr. Chewlow:As one of the older codgers hanging about, may I respectfully suggest you check out 'The Head of the Lake Historical Society' Hamilton via google. They have used a drawing of The Kings Head Inn sign by the late Dr.C.W. Jefferys as their logo likely since shortly after they formed in 1944. I am sure that you will find them of assistance.
I suggest strongly that ANY reader check out the Society for that matter. I was involved with them for several years, eventually becoming the V. Pres. under Mr. Stewart Leslie when we helped celebrate the 200th anniversary of Ontario at Dundurn Castle of Friday, June 22nd 1984 with a georgeous garden party. (Although the Spectator sent a photographer to the party where John Black Aird, Lt. Governor of Ontario was among the guests of honour, the Spec did NOT report on the event although it was THE major celebration in the city).

To Linda Arnold who also wrote in the blog of Feb. 22nd, 2006 about some of the stores along Concession Street. Linda, do you know of the fairly new 'Hamilton Mountain Heritage Society'? They produced a grand photo - history book of the mountain recently that ALL who ever lived "up on the shelf" (as we who lived down-town used to call it), should have next to their Bible.

[Darryl Buckle]

Response to Gary Zoskey re a restaurant that existed at James of John Street...HOO-Boy! As James and John are parallel and REALLY long, you'll have to cut the area down a tad for a reasonable response.

There was a W-G restaurant, (White Grill) on the north-east corner of John and Main Streets where the 'Sun-Dried' eatery is now. This former restaurant was run by a gentleman who had a brother running the W-G Restaurant on the south side of the Gore, just a couple of doors west of Hughson Street. As both were open until 1 or 2 o-clock in the AM, they sometimes attracted customers inclined to be a tad rowdy. (I know as I made a few arrests in these places as a city cop in the late 50s-early 60s. I will say that as I became friends with the staff they refused to take the money for coffee, even when it rose to 25 cents a cup.

[Gary Zoskey]

I mentioned previously of writing a story of me life in Hamilton over a 40 year period. Currently I'm up to page 17 so I don't think you would want me to put it all in here. I was born in 1937 and lived on Shaw Street in the north end of Hamilton not far from Emerald up the corner from the American can company. We had a large back yard where we raised rabbits and grew vegetables. In those days it was called a Victory garden. My father worked at the Steel Company of Canada now Stelco. I can remember in 1946 walking the picket line with him. We moved to the east end of Hamilton to a wartime house on Walter Ave in 1944 just outside the city limits. On Pardale Ave there was a small airport running from Barton to Roxborough. In those days we had bread, milk, and coal delivered to the door. Every other day the iceman would drop a block of ice off for our icebox. Our doctor when needed would make house visits. My mother would take me up to the market on old York and MacNab streets.
Directly behind the old city hall you could purchase livestock and occasionally my father would purchase a chicken which you had to kill and pluck yourself before cooking. You couldn't buy frozen chicken at a super market.I remember going to a carnival situated across from the market square just around the corner from Zellers on James St.
I remember one time while riding the trolley down Barton street, my buddies in crime pulled the rope that connected the trolley arm to the power and brought it to a halt. I remember going to a show at the Savoy theatre on Merrick street for a Saturday afternoon matinee. I think it must have been the oldest theatre in town, a throw back from the Vaudville days. This is only a very small bit of my memories.
Gary

[Gary Zoskey]

A note to Mr. Buckle. I think you have me confused with the comments that Mr.Boyd made.

[Darryl Buckle]

Yesterday, (March 1st) I remembered 3 hotels from the Lake Avenue and #8 Highway area in the hopes that someone else would have a memory or two to share re these gone but not quite forgotten places.

To-day, lets move a bit closer toward Hamilton and see if I can jog some tales of yore about the #20 Highway and #8 intersection...(long before #20 was rechristened Centennial Parkway). Again, I am heading back to circa 1950. SURELY, someone else besides me remembers ~

LOCKWOOD MOTORS, run by Claude Lockwood himself on the corner that is now part of Eastgate Square?

How about Gulliver's Restaurant, (later a motel and conference centre)? I recall the original wooden structure with a lunch counter and a couple of nickle slot machines
on the south-west corner.Coffee was a dime.

The south-east cormer was where HARRISON's FLOWERS was situated. Neil Harrisin was the owner's son and a Saltfleet High student a few years ahead of me....

Across the street, (N-E corner), was a small gas station built like a small castle complete with a couple of spires. Was this 'WALLY'S' station?

C'mon you guys ! Am I the only old gaffer who wandered about the area when I was about 15 years old ??? Help me here !

[Stanley Clewlow]

I recall being taken to the area of the Jockey Club {Crntre Mall presently) to watch the races from the back of a Gillies Guy coal truck by my best pals Dad.
Because of the depression many of us kids had to hike down the Sherman cut hauling a wagon to bring back firewood for the stove.
Those days TV was unknown, so we played a lot of outdoor games in the warmer weather such as Hide and Seek,Horseshoes. Baseball.

[Tom Luton]

Here's a comment for all the North-enders here.

My great-grandfather Staff Luton owned a drug store at the corner of James and Simcoe (436 James St North) in the North End, from 1927 until the city rebuilt the area. Anyone remember it?

[Stanley Clewlow]

I am not seeing any stories from oldtimers from back in the thirties and forties' Is it because computers and all these new fangled electronics too difficult for you. If you havent got a computer why not next time your at the library ask someone there and they will show you how Go to it and enjoy. Iam in my eighties so it sure helps the memory.

[Stanley Clewlow]

In reply to Tom Luton, yes I remember the store. It was one of my customers when I delivered Niagara Dry ginger ale and Pepsi,back in the fifties.

[Lenora F. Lewis]

Hamilton is my home even though I live 35 km away. I was born June 28th,1946 which for my parents was both a joyeous day and sad day. I was the first daughter born into a family of 3 sons.That was the joyeous part. The sad part my mother told me years later on Hamilton's 100th anniversary ,was what we had missed out on being born 2 days ahead of July 1st. 1946. It could be likened to the New Year's day babies. The city of Hamilton was offering gifts and monies to the babies born on it's 100th birthday. I am not sure what was all offered but my mom was a little disappointed.
I have always been proud to have been born and raised in Hamilton. We started out in the area of Dalkeith Ave to Barton St.between Cope and Weir to Parkdale at Barton. When we moved to our new home away out in the country as my Grandfather lamented,we did not have roads of any quality. In the spring we plodden in the red clay of the eastend. The time or space does not allow me to remember all of my memories of the east end of the 50's and 60's.
Today, when we travel around even though I do not live in Hamilton it is where I say I am from when asked. I must be honest and say it does sadden me to see the state of the city in many places having the memories of how it was in my years passed. But it does not deter me from still shopping each week at the farmers market, dining at one of the many great restaurants or going to one of the many entertainment venues that are downtown. Hamilton to me is only bounded by Red Hill Valley in the east,Mohawk Road to the south, Cootes in the west and the wonderful waters to the north. My husband too was born and raised in Hamilton and shares many of the same feelings and memories as does his parents also born and raised in Hamilton. Guess you can say it is in the Genes. Recently I have been compiling my mother in laws family history which had me go through some old photographs of her father's kindergarten class in about 1910 at the old Murray St. school to her brother and sister's school's good health club at Hess St. School and to my own mother's photo taken at the door's of old LLoyd George School. You see Hamilton is in our family. Even though our sons were raised outside of the city, they too now live with their families in Hamilton,their choice.

[Stanley Clewlow]

More memories of days gone by.
I worked in the mess hall for a short time as a teenager, at the Mt Hope Commonwealth Air Training Airport. I used to have to get up around 3.00 am to get breakfast ready for the soon to be qualfied pilots.As soon as they qualified they were shipped back to England to help defend Britain against the Nazis.
After WW2 it was next to impossible to get decent accommadtion, everytthing for civilians had come to a standstill, no cars,no apartments, just the the ones available in private homes . The situation was terrible. My new bride and I had to live with my parents for a while, and to make matters worse my Mother wasnt too fond of my wife.She said wy wife had robbed her of her only Son.
In 1949 I got a good job at Stelco in the electrical maintenance dept, so we decided to buy some property and build a house.
We bought two lots on West 19th St that was Barton township then. The city border was Fennel Ave at that time. We bought two lots from the Township at $75.00 per 25ft x 100 ft and built a prefab Alladdin home. The 12 yr mortgage was $46.95 a month.
There were no sewers or water,no sidewalks, just gravel roads including Mohawk Rd.
I worked at Stelco for about 2 years and then my health forced me to quit. The boss there told me I was next in line for Shift Foreman because I didnt join the union when I started. At that timr the union wasnt mandatory.

[Darlene West]

Hi; i just wanted too say that i think that the memories project is a great idea.i wanted too know if it,s possible too be able too look up certain news clippings back in the 40,s and 50,s?My mother told me about a winter storm that they had, and my grandfathers car was in the paper!could you look into this for me.Thank-you

[Darryl Buckle]

COMMUNITY MOTORS STUDEBAKER DEALERSHIP
210 MAIN STREET EAST, HAMILTON
...was a real hive of activity when I started there as a 'Car Jockey' in the summer of 1952.
I drove customer's cars from a small parking lot just east of Ferguson Ave. 1/2 a block south of Main into whatever mechanic's stall for his administrations then back again. Sometimes I even drove a customer to his work then brought the car back to the 'shop' .......VERY CAREFULLY!
A Mr. TUGMAN was the boss who had little to do with us lowly types who worked on the 'service floor'. We took our directions from the Service Salesmen who always wore white coats while we were only allowed to wear brown ones.
At the end of August when I was to return to high school, I was offered the chance to take a training programme at South Bend, Indiana at the main Studebaker plant to learn the ins-and-outs of service selling and basic mechanics. My parents made me turn this down to continue high school however. In retrospect, this was a wise choice as Studebaker ceased operations a few years later although they did amalgamate with Packard for a bit..

Ah me..Two names of grand automobiles that are no longer with us except in our memory.

The sales room for new cars was at the front facing Main Street but was big enough for 3 cars only; the service department and repair garage was in behind and also on the second floor while the used car lot was at Main and Spring.

Occasionally, Mr. 'Gus' Gaskin from the main plant on Mars Avenue would come in for service to his immaculate top-of-the-line Studebaker. I was always impressed that although he was treated with obvious defferance, he was always most courteous and polite to us 'jockeys'.

The main competition was the CLARKE BROS. Studebaker dealership at Ottawa and Main Streets. Perhaps another reader can tell something of this former landmark as I was never in the building.

By the way, my very FIRST car was a new 1954 Studebaker Champion Coupe.

[Darlene West]

I remember as a kid in the early 80,s.My greataunt use too take my sister and i downtown at a place called the Chicken Roost!It was the best.They closed it down and i really miss going their.They has the best hot chicken sandwiches,i can still taste them now.