Old Pics Of Hamilton

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Total bummer, man.

[CaptainKirk]

One of twelve new 45-passenger buses introduced in November 1960 by the HSR. @TheSpec photo.

Facebook Vintage Hamilton

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^King W between James and MacNab. Totally unrecognisable...

[srutherf]

Hi all
I am new to this site. But I am looking for a picture of a peanut vendor who might be my great uncle. If anyone has any that would be great.

Thank you
Sandi

[wt02]

Originally Posted by go_leafs_go02

one question

why does every hamiltonian refer to neighbourhoods as surveys, when everyone else I know in Ontario uses the term subdivision? It is completely unheard of, I did a double take the first time I heard my 'subdivision' refered to as a survey. And as far as I know, it's a local phenomenon.

neat pics, neat to see way back when. I just wish some were in colour but whatever. I just noticed the caption in one picture stating survey. haha

A neighbourhood is a particular named area, used by a municipality, to distinguish one area from another and can contain several hundred acres.
A plan of subdivision subdivides a larger area, usually a township lot, into building lots. Hamilton surveyors historically named these subdivisions, on the plan, to more readily determine the plans location. If a subdivision is in Thorner Neighbourhood, for example, it might be called "Thorner Survey No 2" and your legal title would be "Lot 15, Thorner Survey No 2, Registered Plan No 1234 in the City of Hamilton etc." Therefore if your deed says you live in Thorner Survey, it is understandable if you say you live in a survey. While this was not a common practice throughout Ontario, it was not peculiar only to Hamilton.

[mishap]

Originally Posted by wt02

While this was not a common practice throughout Ontario, it was not peculiar only to Hamilton.

It's very uncommon, but it is a valid use of the the word "survey". I have even seen it in Canadian English dictionaries, but way down the list. And I have never heard it used outside Hamilton's area of influence, ie. Caledonia to Grimsby to Burlington and somewhat into Brantford.
Years ago, I was in T.O. talking to another Hamiltonian, and when she used the term, the person listening in just looked so confused. It's like a regional identifier.

[wt02]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

I often wish the Pigott Building was about 10 storeys taller than it is. I'd feel the same about it, but it would have stood out more above the mundane stuff like Effort Square and First City Trust.

I worked on the 13th floor of the Pigott Bldg. One of a very few number of buildings with that floor. Apparently Mr Pigott was not superstitious.

[ScreamingViking]

University Plaza, 1960 (from The Spec, Jan 3)

[bluezzr]

FYI. This building has a car ramp up to the 2nd floor.

[bluezzr]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

I heard somewhere that the original Crappy Tire was housed in this building on Main E. Does anybody know whether or not that might be true?

FYI. This building had, may still have, a car ramp up to the 2nd floor. It is on the west side of the building, near the back.

[matt602]

The old HMP dealership at Main and Bay had a similar ramp in the building, except going up to the roof.

[fuller]

I believe the building was the first *associate* Canadian Tire store, the first one being at Church and Yonge in Toronto.

If you look above the large garage door, in the stone is carved "Service Entrance".

Also, just below the roof line and underneath the herringbone cedar siding, I think the corporate name may be carved there.

[palace1]

The building at 203 Main St. E. was built in 1926 for Carter's Limited.


Source: 32022189079490.jpg Local History & Archives, Hamilton Public Library

The first Canadian Tire Associate Store was at 372 King St. E. at West Ave. S., in the Meakins Brush building.

Charles William Meakins 1832-1908 The Story of 1 West sign 1 West Avenue South by Joe, on Flickr

"In 1934, a man named Walker Anderson convinced Canadian Tire founders Bill and Alf Billes to let him sell their products out of a tiny shop at King Street and West Avenue, which he would own.
The brothers, still touchy from a failed attempt to open branch locations in Toronto beyond their Yonge and Isabella shop, wouldn't let Anderson call the store Canadian Tire in case it failed, too.
So it was called Super-Lastic Tire Sales. Once it was clear the venture would succeed, the store was renamed and Canadian Tire began opening franchises across the country.
The Billes brothers became great believers in independently owned franchises. There are now 490 of them.
At some point, Hamilton's first Canadian Tire was shifted a little south and east into what was then a big store featuring huge windows looking out on to Main Street"
Hamilton Spectator May 21, 2013
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/2...ts-a-facelift/

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Interesting.

Love that building, regardless of what it was.

[ScreamingViking]

The May 27 Spectator has some beauts of the old Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building, going back to its Bank of Hamilton roots.


View east on King from MacNab, 1889. The original Bank of Hamilton building under construction (centre-right).



Bank of Hamilton, ~1905.



1959 aerial of downtown. The bank building had been significantly expanded not long after the previous photo was taken. The Canadian Bank of Commerce swallowed the Bank of Hamilton in 1924. Lots of goodies in this pic.



1967. Commerce had merged with the Imperial Bank in 1961.



1985, just before she came down. Really shows how much the lower facade was changed during the early 1900s expansion.



Weep if you still have tears left...

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

The May 27 Spectator has some beauts of the old Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building, going back to its Bank of Hamilton roots.


View east on King from MacNab, 1889. The original Bank of Hamilton building under construction (centre-right).

Love this photo. Beautiful stone building on the N-E corner of MacNab and King.

[doreilly]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

Again, great photos.

I've never understood why the Connaught addition is different from the original. Perhaps they felt they couldn't match it well enough, so they went with something completely different.

How about that quagmire down on Burlington street! I didn't know there was a streetcar line down there but it makes sense.

I can't figure out that early industry picture. I think that's the Dundas Peak in the background but the angle's weird. I'm sure someone else will know.

There was a Greening wire factory in West Hamilton, on Rifle Rainge Road, where the Fortinos store is now located. Would this have been the building?

The Dundas Museum and Archives apparently has a picture of it. I’ll post it as soon as I get it.

This page has information re Greening Donald in Hamilton, and it's location on Rifle Range Road.


“Greening Donald Wire Company Limited (B. Greening Wire Company Limited)

Location: 1859-1987, Queen and Napier Streets, Hamilton, Ontario

The original Victoria Wire Mill on Queen and Napier Streets in Hamilton (1881) (click for a closer look)The roots of the Greening Donald Wire Company Limited reach back to 1494. In this year, Christopher Greening, an Englishman living in France, opened a pin-making shop in his adopted homeland, the first such shop in France. In 1563 he returned to Great Britain, where it is supposed that he co-founded the Tintern Abbey Wire Works in Wales, though he must have been very old at the time. "

http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301...l/greening.htm


The Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo Railroad (Th&B) serviced the Greening Donald factory in west Hamilton.


"The TH&B Railway in West Hamilton

Malcolm J.A. Horsnell

The Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway, which operated from 1892 to 1987, had a large impact on West Hamilton by servicing industries and passengers.

The TH&B’s Aberdeen freight yard lay at the south end of Longwood Road, with a passenger station on the south side. An industrial spur branched off south to serve the Canadian Porcelain Company,which closed following a strike in 1987. Canadian Westinghouse, later Hotpoint, then Camco,was serviced off the north side of Aberdeen Yard. McMaster Innovation Centre now occupies the property."

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrain...t_Hamilton.htm

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by stuckinexeter

An early industry in Hamilton .... not sure of location.

I don't think that's Dundas Peak. I think it's the "corner" of the escarpment above the south end of Kenilworth (with the rail cut halfway up).

That would probably put the photo vantage point somewhere between Gage and Sherman, north of Barton or Burlington St.

This street view angle on Burlington St. is from the overpass at Wilcox St. above the rail tracks.


(and I really need to go back through this thread again... lots of interesting photos!)

[doreilly]

Here are lots of early pictures of Hamilton Harbour , the Burlington Canal, and bridges.

http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreat...ustrations.asp


and a page on the history of the community that developed at the harbour.


“Old Port Hamilton
Northern limit of James Street North



Before it became known as the North End, this part of town was called Port Hamilton. Before 1850, it was really a town of its own. The thoroughfares of James Street North and John Street provided the only connection to the small downtown core to the south. The distinction was so pronounced that Port Hamilton pushed for its own bailiff and marketplace in the 1830s.



http://workerscity.ca/north-end/old-port-hamilton/

[thistleclub]

Via the Erland Lee Museum collection, surfaced in The Globe & Mail:

The Skyway Drive-In was Canada's first drive-in theatre and was opened in 1946 at Highway 8 and Gray's Rd, an ideal location for the local students attending Saltfleet High School.