I - A GATHERING OF MEMORIES
Articles collected from January 3rd, 1952 - May 15th, 1952

QUEEN STREET
There is one old building on our Main Street that is a bit different from the others. It has an air of antiquity and quaintness that is lacking in its neighbours. If you turn your gaze upwards as you pass along the street, you will see projecting from its ridge over the street, a small continuance of the roof and you will wonder what it was made for. It does not add to the architectural symmetry of the building or to its beauty. But you will see just below it, what is or has been a doorway. Under this projection, there used to be an iron ring to which there was attached at times, a pulley. From and through this pulley, there would be a rope. The whole arrangement was used to hoist goods to the chamber over the store for stowage. What kind of goods I do not know, for the building has housed many different businesses in my time. Our first Chinese Laundry was located here. There have been three different Barbers here, Jim Withers, Charlie Smith and Harry Steele. Here Pete Healey carried on his Shoe business followed by Miss Billing. In earlier days, it housed Sando's Butcher Shop and at one time Mrs. Gurvine had a business here. Altogether, it has had a varied existence. Who built it and why are unknown to history and to me. It has also been a photograph gallery and a real estate office.

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MILITARY
To change the subject for a moment, I was thinking of Military men. In this old Town, we have always been familiar with them, and I was thinking of an incident that occurred long ago when we were operating the Ferry across the River. There was a Colonel in command at Fort Niagara, a small man with all a small man's sense of his own importance. The Post Quartermaster was a big outstanding figure, very erect and dignified, smooth faced and wore glasses. Those were the days when the stage from St. Catharines, driven at the time by Bob Allen, arrived at Niagara at five o'clock. I was standing on the railway platform at the foot of Melville Street, when Jim McMillan hailed me from the bar door of the American Hotel. "Come up here Joe, I've a couple of passengers for you." So up I went and who should it turn out to be but the Colonel and the Quartermaster. They were pretty well oiled, but it affected them differently. The Colonel's tongue could wag freely, but his legs were wobbly, while the Quartermaster was stiffly erect and he spoke with difficulty. They had two large baskets filled with bottled goods. "Boy," the Colonel ordered, "Take those baskets," which of course I did. "Brock, give me your arm." And you should have seen that procession, with me leading, laden with those two huge baskets, followed by the two officers, closely linked arm in arm. A cane was propped out on each side of them and the little Colonel toddling along beside big Brock. We got the Colonel safely stowed in the stern sheets of the boat and arrived safely on the farther shore, when the Army fell in, oh not in the River.

But we wended our "weary way" up the path to the sidewalk, when I was directed to set the baskets down. "Brock, pay the man." which Brock did. "Brock, take up those baskets." And up the street they went, Big Brock marching bravely and gravely, one big basket firmly grasped in either hand, looking neither to right or left. Hobbling along behind, a cane stuck out to right and left was the doughty Colonel. While over at the men's barracks was a crowd of enlisted men thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, while I sat on the sidewalk and enjoyed the sight, too.

On another occasion, the General and his Staff from our Camp were invited by the Officers at Fort Niagara to spend an evening as their guests and they were entertained at the Officer's Exchange, as they called it. We were to meet them at the landing at midnight to bring them home. They arrived at the Landing, plastered with mud. We did not presume to comment audibly on their condition, but the next day, I cam across a man from our Town who was in the American Army and who was walking post near the Officer's Building when the men emerged, homeward bound. Lieut. Billy Morrow was Officer of the Day and he undertook to pilot the party. "Follow me, gentlemen, Keep in close tough." It was pitch dark and drizzling rain and they had to pass between two buildings recently erected, leaving the passage between decidedly muddy. Some wretch had left a carpenter's trestle in the way and as the party proceeded in the dark, the whole of them landed in a goose pile with Morrow underneath. After much non-military language, etc., they finally untangled themselves and I'll bet they sneaked very cautiously into Camp.

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LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS
I thought it might not be a bad idea to reminisce a bit about some of the changes in our Town and the People who brought them about. Reverse back to the time when we were in an unimproved state, it would be well to think of the people who saw the need of some changes.

WATERWORKS
Take the case of losses from fire. Prior to 1890, we had no means of fighting a fire but the old hand engine, locally known as "The Man Killer." After the bad fire of 1886, the people generally recognized the need of a supply of water. We had had to depend on whatever wells or cisterns were handy and these were woefully inadequate to cope with a fire of any size. So in 1890, the Council of that year decided that something must be done and after many debates, a bylaw was passed to install a system of Waterworks. The Council of that year consisted of the following men: Henry Paffard, Mayor; John Bishop, Reeve; and Councilors: Robert Bishop, J. H. Burns, Charles Camidge, W. J. Campbell, Henry Garrett, William W. McClelland, John Oliver, Colin C. Milloy and J. Russell Wilkinson. Before anything was actually done, however, Mr. Camidge, who seems to have opposed the project, brought legal action to have the by-law quashed on a technicality and in this action he was successful; nothing could be done that year. So, in 1891 another Bylaw was passed by the new Council. Burns, Camidge and Milloy were missing from Council and were replaced by William H. J. Evans, William Hall and James Longhurst. The Waterworks Pumping Station was built, mains put down and a Water Tower built. I should like to point out that not much stress was laid on the idea of pure water, nor of a drinking water for the homes. The Fire Brigade was reorganized in much the same way as it is now. Two Companies, "A" and "B" were formed. Nearly all of one of the Companies were fishermen. Bob Reid was Chief and Paddy Lynch was Assistant Chief. The old team Pumping Plant has since been replaced. During 1914, the matter of purifying the water came to the fore and it was rendered more important by the presence of some 20,000 troops in our midst. That was my second year in Council and I remember that we had quite a time figuring things out, receiving much help and advice from the Camp Engineers. That chlorinated water was abominable to the taste and other chemicals have been added which have gone a long way to make our water supply palatable as well as safe.

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ELECTRICITY
The next improvement to come along was Electric Light. In 1887, the Canadian Chautauqua was started and when they built, they built themselves a small electric light plant. It had arc lights and a few of them were extended into Town. I remember that there was one in front of the Town Hall and several of them in the grounds of the Queen's Royal Hotel. That seems to have put the idea into people's head to have lights of our own, so in 1893, the matter was debated in Council. Those who were in Council in that year were Mayor Henry Paffard; Reeve John Bishop; Councilors; John Abbott, Robert Bishop, W. J. Campbell, Henry Ellison, John Ellison, W. H. J. Evans, H. A. Garrett, W. W. McClelland and James Swenerton. The matter aroused great interest and the night the decisive vote was taken in Council, the Council Chamber was packed with interested citizens, in fact the gathering overflowed into the hall. Inside, the meeting seemed heated, so much so, that from my position outside in the hall, I could see the moisture running down the walls of the Chamber. However, the project was approved and a system known as the "Heisler System" was constructed. This system carried a voltage of 700 volts and was a direct current, without transformers. It was not particularly safe and was not at all elastic. Under it, streetlights were not lighted on moonlight nights and were turned off a midnight and the whole plant was shut down at one o'clock. It lasted however until 1908, when a supply of electricity was procured from the Ontario Plant at the Falls under a ten-year contract. Before that contract expired, the Ontario Hydro Commission took over the plant and at the expiry of our contract, we became part of the Hydro System. The Town, under that old contract, had built the line to St. Davids to connect with the Ontario Company's line. This cost the Town $8,000.00 and when the Hydro took over, we were only allowed about $3,000.00 as they said the line would have to be rebuilt.

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SIDEWALKS
The next improvement that received attention was about the sidewalks. You must remember that all the walks were made of planks. These varied in width from the two-plank walk to a six-foot width. The two plank ones were laid lengthwise, while all others were laid crosswise. The walks on Queen Street were six feet wide. They were the first to be replaced by cement. That work was done by John Thornton and if my memory serves me right, only two blocks were so done. I think I mentioned in a former article that the job of laying the present walks was done in 1910 and 1911. I was corrected by Tom Bishop, who told me that it was 1907 as it corresponded with the time of his marriage. I have been thinking things over and I find that there was some kind of fuss over the Council of 1905 and most of them were left home after the following election. The 1905 Council was composed as follows: Mayor William Miller; Councilors, Jas. Aikins, T. F. Best, M. J. Greene, W. R. McClelland, John Simpson and Joseph Walker. The 1906 Council consisted of Mayor Dr. H. L. Anderson and Councilors, T. F. Best, James Bishop, John Eckersley, John DeW. Randall, Fred J. Rowland and Joseph Walker. I think this was the Council that started the cement walks. A contract was let to the firm of Langley and Cook of Niagara Falls. Most of the principal streets were to be done under this contract. A good deal of the cement was mixed by hand but a gas-operated mixer began to be used. This mixer was a novelty then and remember that they started to use it at the River end of Melville Street. The method of making concrete walks was not that now in common use. There were four inches of a weak mixture forming the base and one inch of a better mixture forming the surface. The Town had an Engineer overseeing the work and about the first half of the work was done under his supervision. There must have been something wrong with his eyes, for the Council dispensed with his services after the first year and Chief Reid bossed the job for the rest of the contract and did a much better job. You will notice a good many walks that are pretty well played out and mostly they are part of the word done under that system of mixing. We have got much better work since that contract was completed, the work being done by local men under the supervision of our own Chief Constable or the Town Foreman.

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ROADS
In the old days, we used to alternate between dust and mud on our roads and after our waterworks were installed, the Council decided to sprinkle the streets. Not all of the streets were watered; only those whose residents petitioned to have it done were so favored and they were charged for the service as so much per front foot. After a time, it was discovered that a cheap oil preparation could be used and this substituted for the water. Many of you will remember the old tank wagon that was used. The oil preparation proved to be much more lasting in its effect on the dust, but it didn't do away with the mud, so that led to the idea of doing something to give a harder surface to some of our most traveled roads. Of course, we had had a stone road for many years. I do not know just when it was built, but I was told by an old resident that all the stone was broken by hand. The Stone road began in front of the Town Hall and turned the corner at Simcoe Street. Thence it went to Mary Street and along Mary to Mississaugua and to the Town Boundary and on to Homer. This road throughout its length was always known as "The Stone Road". This stoning was only eight feet wide. When the automobile came on the scene, the need for hard surfaced roads became almost a necessity.

About the first of our hard roads to be built at this stage was Melville Street to Ricardo, and along Ricardo to Regent, thus giving us a good highway as far as the Queen's Royal Hotel, from the Steamboat Landing. The type of construction was what was known as Waterbound Macadam. Later on, the remainder of Melville St. was done to Byron. In my first year in Council, 1913, the N. S. and T. Railway was negotiating for an entry into Town. They had intended to come in on the westerly part of Queen Street, but had run into difficulties securing right of way through some properties and wished to come in at the head of King Street.

That Council by the way, was composed of Mayor J. DeW. Randall; Reeve Jas. Aikins; Councilors, Thomas W. Bishop, John A. Black, John H. Brown, Robert J. Cumpson, Joseph E. Masters and Stephen H. Sherlock, the last of whom was Chairman of the Board of Works. The Railway people were offering to grade the road from Cottage Street to Front Street. Steve Sherlock suggested that they be required to put eight inches of stone on the road. After some debate, the railway people agreed to this and the work was so done, the Town undertaking to put a finish of four inches on the road with a binder. Much credit is due Steve Sherlock for his part in this piece of work. He was very much interested in having good roads built, he being in the Taxi business. He did a great deal towards road building and improvements while in Council. Another man who was much interested was Mayor Randall, but unfortunately he was not able to do much, as 1913 was his last year in Council. During the Fall of that year, I was talking to him in front of his store and looking along Queen Street where there was a sea of mud. He remarked to me that he would like to stone the street and that he thought to bringing the matter up in Council, with the idea of submitting it to the ratepayers at the forthcoming election. He asked me if I would support it and I assured him that I would do so. The matter was passed by Council, but alas for poor Randall and his plans, both he and the road plan were turned down decisively. Randall was taken ill and died the following Spring. The street was stoned, however, but through a different method. Bill Harrison, having defeated Randall, went about the stoning of the street by calling a meeting of the property owners on Queen St. at which meeting, it was decided to petition Council to pave the street as a Local Improvement. Under this method, the properties would be assessed according to frontage, instead of the whole thing being chargeable against the general rates.

At first, it was decided to put in curbs, forty-five feet apart, but on second though, the road was made fifty-seven feet between curbs. Some may wonder why the road is so much higher in the center then at the sides. At the time that the road was paved, government specifications called for a crown of one inch for each foot of width. Of course, this was not complied with altogether. It must be remembered too that most paved roads were done with water-bound macadam, which was not waterproofed, so sufficient drainage had to be provided. I was Chairman of the County Good Roads Committee that laid out the County Road System. While it was not the practice to build County Roads through Towns and Villages, but only to their outer boundaries, we decided to build through such municipalities and for this decision we had government approval. So it fell to me to map out the route through the Town to the Wharf. This I did and received the approval of the Town Council. Later on, an effort was made by interested parties to have the route altered to pass along Queen Street instead of Johnson, but the effort did not succeed. My reason for avoiding Queen Street was that it was already paved and we would not have received any financial credit for the work already done, nor would the ratepayers on the street have been relieved from their payments on the same.

The route followed did not take in any of our paved streets except the Melville Street hill. The route was as follows: Mississaugua to Johnson to Regent to Prideaux to Byron to Melville to the Dock. While Queen Street was being built, there was considerable unemployment and men were put to work who otherwise would have been in need. Much roadwork was done during what was known as THE DEPRESSION. Picton, Wellington and Byron were done at different times under a system whereby the Provincial Government paid a part of the cost. Our streets now are a credit to us. One can now drive about the Town on fairly good roads; roads that are pretty free from dust. A friend from out of Town once said to me that he had never been in a small town that was as free from dust as Niagara. A good many men had had a part in this accomplishment. I have mentioned Steve Sherlock and Bill Harrison. I think I may take some credit to myself for at least the County Road, but all the men who served on the Board of Works deserve a pat on the back. Although I was the first Chairman of the County Road Committee and attended Road Conventions for the eight years that I served in County Council, nobody ever though of putting me on the Board of Works during the ten years I spent in Town Council. I only hope that the younger people of today will give the men who laboured for the betterment of our roads and streets some thought and credit for the conveniences which they now enjoy. To quote Shakespeare, "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones." I hope this is not the case in Niagara.

We have much to be thankful for in this Town of Niagara, small though it is. It has a charm which others realize better perhaps, than we do ourselves. I have heard many nice things said about it, about the only derogatory thing being that it is too quiet. Not a bad thing, quietness, after all. What many have admired are its tree-lined streets. I can remember when there was not much shade, the trees being too small to throw a shade. There was talk some time ago about restoring the Town to what it was a century ago. I thought at the time, it was a foolish idea. It was that talk which had a good deal to do with my reminiscing about the old times. How about our trees. A great many of them have about lived out their allotted span. In traveling through our Park I notice many fine trees that are becoming crippled through age and storm. I have regretted that no one seems to be sufficiently interested to plant a few new ones each year so that this most attractive feature will not be lost to us.

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TREES
I noticed while sojourning in Toronto, that streets in the newer parts of the City were planted with young trees. One street where I stayed had maples on one side and elms on the other. Those trees were not the little switches that I have seen planted here, but good healthy trees of a ten to twelve foot height. Each tree had a good stout stake to which it was attached. Why not now start on a plan of planting a few each year so that our old ones can be honourably retired from service as age overtakes them.

Take a look at the streets surrounding our Park and see for yourselves what is happening. That is just a sample of what is happening on most of our streets. There used to be quite a lot of large willow trees here and there about the Town, nearly all have disappeared. Down in the flats, a new crop has grown up. I think that these all had their origin in willow switches that a man named Moody planted when I was a small boy. He was a basket maker. In his day, the most of the flats were frog ponds and the willow switches were stood upright in bunches like a shock of grain. This family moved to Toronto and some of the family still carry on a business in willow furniture on Yonge Street, at 889. I noticed the name when riding down on a streetcar. St. Mark's Cemetery was dotted with these massive willows which have disappeared. Then there used to be some large poplars. One huge on stood on Ricardo Street, just in front of the Logan residence. These too seem to be a thing of the past.

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BROCK'S STONE
I was thinking about some things in which William Kirby was interested and in which he did things with no hope of reward. For instance, I have referred to what is known as Brock's Stone in a former article. Mr. Kirby hired my father, Jack Raynor and Dan Sherlock to rescue it from the river and place it in St. Mark's Churchyard for safekeeping. My father told me of this an my recollection of the matter is that the stone formerly stood on the bluff above the Old Ferry and was dumped into the River when the Railway cutting was dug out. And while I am about it, I would suggest that the Historical Society place some kind of marker near the stone to identify it for those visiting points of interest in our Town. I venture to say that very few of our young people ever heard of Brock's Stone and not many of the grown-ups of our day. I have lately been loaned a copy of Kirby's Annals of Niagara by Mr. Fred Garrett and find many items of interest in its pages. Mr. Kirby sets us an example of public-spirited citizenship that we could all of us, follow. He and Miss Carnochan have done yeoman's service in writing of the former days when our Town and our Country were in the making. Another person to whom we owe a debt of gratitude is the late General Cruikshank who furnished much valuable information gleaned from the Public Archives in Ottawa.

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THE HALF-MOON BATTERY
Another matter to which I should like to call to the attention of our Historical Society is the blotting out of all trace of "The Half-Moon Battery." When the Parks Commission was modernizing Fort George, if I may be pardoned for using the term, they thoroughly removed the last bit of the old Battery. It was quite a familiar object in my young days and I have often noticed the remains of old planking sticking out of the bank below it, where there had been an underground chamber. I think this site should be marked in some way as it played a part in the defenses of the frontier when our friends across the way were not so friendly.

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FORT MISSISSAUGUA
Another thing to be noted is the dilapidated state of Fort Mississaugua. I am told that the Golf People have even been tearing out the planking and timbers within the Tower for purposes of their own. The present Park's Commission has nothing to be proud of in their neglect of our ancient defenses. I am particularly interested in Fort Mississaugua because my father and his brother attended school there when their father was soldiering in Butler's Barracks. Of course, the log buildings which formerly stood within the Fort walls have long since been removed, but there is no valid reason why the poor old Tower should be further wrecked. Historical Society please wake up. It wouldn't be a bad idea to set a wee fire under Todd Daley about this matter.

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AMERICAN TRENCH
The present resting-place of Brock's stone is in what was formerly a part of an American Trench that wound through the graveyard and across the Common. Part of the same trench was filled in when grading was being done for the new Hospital.

FORMER HOSPITALS
I wonder how many remember when the house on Gage Street was used as a Hospital when we were suffering from the flu epidemic of 1918. The house then belonged to W. T. Gray. He and his wife were in England at the time and the epidemic became so serious that the Mayor of that day, Will McClelland authorized to taking over of the house as an Emergency Hospital. Several deaths occurred in it and the Grays never afterwards occupied it but soon sold it and left our Town, never to return.

Then we had a Private Hospital on Gate Street in the house now occupied by George Willett. It was kept by a Mrs. Nash, a nurse, whose husband was killed in the First Great War. I don't think there were any deaths in it, but there were some births. Its services were appreciated and I think that those two hospitals showed the need of a permanent hospital, and the Nelles family and the late Dr. Rigg earned the gratitude of the people for their work in starting what has now developed into such a splendid institution.

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THE 24TH OF MAY
Taking it all in all "the lines have fallen to us in pleasant places." We don't have floods such as have been devastating the west of late. We don't have tornadoes nor earthquakes, nor long periods of drought. We do sometimes have more rain than we want, but not often. I remember, however, that in 1897 we had such a happening. The Queen's Birthday used to be the big holiday of the year then. We hadn't discovered Labour Day yet, so the 24th of May was something of note. To the kids, it meant a holiday from school and it was firecracker day. You could buy firecrackers cheaply then and a bunch of them was a bonanza for a kid. Of course, we had sports. In the forenoon, we had water sports, swimming and rowing, yes and sailing races. On this particular 24th, it began to rain before we finished at the water and it rained every day until the middle of July, so the land sports were a long while after the water sports. As a consequence of so much rain, we had no peaches and no potatoes. Even the shade trees were covered with mould.

I remember, too, that in 19l7 when Uncle Sam decided to take a hand in the doings over the pond, they established an Officers' Training Camp at Fort Niagara. There being not much accommodation for them in Youngstown, a good many of their wives came to our Town to board and we used to transport them over the Ferry. The whole month of June was wet and cold and about the 6th of July, it dried up and the weather became hotter then "Dutch Love in Fly Time." When that came about, I remember one of those ladies remarking, "Gracious, they told me Canada was cold."

We have very much to be thankful for, even if we are not a big metropolis. So, "Feller Citizens, when you feel like doing a bit of grouching, "Think on these things, and give thanks."

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