https://dynamicmedia.zuza.com/zz/m/o...r_Portrait.jpg

Via The Spec.

Who can remember taking a bus from this Rebecca Street landmark?

On Aug. 4, 1955, the old Rebecca Street bus terminal opened to great fanfare and speeches commenting about how the modern facility would encourage tourism and be of great benefit to bus travellers.

The terminal was a joint project of Gray Coach Lines and Canada Coach Lines which between them offered routes to Toronto, suburban communities in Hamilton and several other cities.

The Rebecca Street terminal between John and Catharine streets cost $400,000, including the land.

Loading platforms could hold as many as 11 buses at a time.

The terminal building was two storeys high and featured a restaurant.

When it closed in the early 90s, there were 93 Go Transit buses and 38 from four other carriers departing daily from the terminal. The Hamilton GO Centre was opened on Hunter Street to replace the old terminal. The old building now houses the Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre.

^It was a dump by the time I started using it.

Has anyone ever figured out what the Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre is?

Some pictures of Canada Crushed Stone (CCS) in Dundas. Some of the photos in this first thread were taken by Eugene Van Dusen.
http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrain..._crushed11.jpg



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



and the second link is to the Dundas Historical Museum and Archives page with pictures of the CCS.

https://dundasmuseum.ca/gallery-tags...shed-stone-co/

https://dundasmuseum.ca/wp-content/u...970-edited.jpg

Terminal building On King
 

“TERMINAL STATION IS NO MORE
With this issue of Transit News are two interesting pictures which could be titled “The Old Order Changeth, Giving Place to New.”

One is of the Terminal building, familiar to most Hamiltonians as the Bus Terminal, showing it as it appeared in 1907 when it was opened for business and became known far and near as the most modern and elegant electric railway station on the continent.

The other photograph, taken recently, is of the same building in the process of being razed to make way for whatever is planned by the present owners. The work of demolition was started weeks ago but the Gibralter-like building stood its ground against the workmen with such resoluteness that the wrecking company got behind in its calculations.”



https://www.hamiltontransit.ca/throw...lding-in-1959/

http://www.hamiltontransit.ca/wp-con...59-600x437.png

Two pages on the history of the Cataract Power Company hydro generator at Decew Falls.



“The Cataract Power Company of Hamilton Limited (the predecessor to the Dominion Power and Transmission Company) was organized in 1896. The idea for the company came from John Patterson (one of the "Five Johns" to found the Cataract Power Company) who was developing the Hamilton Radial Electric Railway at the time. He wanted to supply his railway with water-generated electric power and selected De Cew falls as the place to do this. The water originated mostly from the Welland Canal and was used to supply St. Catharines. Before the project could commence, the waterworks commission of St. Catharines had to be consulted. Though they were initially supportive, in the end they refused to provide the necessary facilities. Subsequently, engineers were called on to devise a way to divert the water from the Welland Canal to a more suitable site. They recommended building a waterway to the escarpment bordering the canal channel. In 1897 the Cataract Power Company got a lease for water from the Welland Canal at Allanburg. A canal was constructed from Allanburg to an area near the falls which had recently been converted into an 800-acre storage dam. This in turn led to the power house at the head of the falls. Known as the "Power Glen" plant, it transmitted electricity along 34 miles of wire to the city of Hamilton.”

https://ethw.org/w/images/6/66/Decew...tric_Plant.jpg

https://ethw.org/Milestones:Decew_Fa...ic_Plant,_1898



“Built in 1898, the Decew Falls plant was originally built by the Cataract Power Company of Hamilton, Ontario. It was originally built to provide power to the electric street railway in Hamilton – in those days many power developments in Niagara were intended for specific power markets – 34 miles away by transmission at 22,500 Volts (three-phase). Both the use of high voltage to transmit power that distance, as well as the use of three-phase and the relatively high frequency are unique features of this installation. The plant was acquired by the Hydro-Electric Power Commission (now OPG) in 1930 and continues to generate power for the province on Ontario. The plant itself was expanded several time with a second station added in 1943 to help supply power for the war effort.”

http://www.technology.niagarac.on.ca...cew-Aerial.jpg

http://www.technology.niagarac.on.ca...ting-station/#

The car ramp was on the west side of the building and it curved to the 2nd floor. Really cool design.

This Spec column ("‘Hamilton Mountain’ is a sign of our passion to exaggerate") revisiting the "mountain vs. uptown" issue Scott Radley wrote about last week had some old photos and a link to a recent song video by Mark McNeil with more scenes from the past.

Not sure which of the incline railways that is, but the first photo from 1888 looks like it may have been taken along the Jolley Cut? (if that is a recently built St. Patrick's church in the middle?). There's an image in the video that's flipped.

https://images.thestar.com/2jRBFfL0A..._1888_main.jpg

https://images.thestar.com/_54hZu0rp...te/incline.jpg

• Video Link

I bet it's James St. Look at the harbour, if it were Wentworth St. you would see it stick out where Stelco is now. Yes there was infill but it still stuck out.
It's a bit of a stretch, but that 1st photo could be Strongman road...

There was a discussion about that road a while back... https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...=206010&page=4

And you're probably right about that being the James incline. I can't place the church steeple in the background, but it looks "farther" from the Beach Strip than the one at Wentworth would have been.

EDIT:
It is the Hamilton and Barton Incline Railway at James St. That one had some supporting metal beams underneath a section of it (the photos won't post here, for some reason)
The Mount Hamilton Incline Railway at Wentworth St. did not, at least not taller ones like at the James St. incline.

Source for that is the Hamilton Transit History website: http://www.trainweb.org/hamtransithist/index.html

Yep, it's got to be Strongman('s) Road https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...6777253388.jpg

I used to know all this history but it's been squeezed out of my memory by god knows what over the years.

I love the shoreline in that photo. You can see that the inlets haven't been filled in yet, some of them running quite deep into the city.

Posted this on the Canada forum. Another Spec story pic.

I originally thought it was from the mid-1920s, but looked up the history of Gore Park and found the reference about the flagpole's demise. Probably from 1910 to 1920.

I do wonder what happened to that extra floor on the building next to Arliss Shoes/The Dingiest Sally Ann Store You've ever seen/Olympia Club :philosoraptor:

A couple of old pics from the Spec this weekend...

1893, RHLI marching through town (James St.?)
https://images.thestar.com/T-KCw2sqR...lion/_13th.jpg
Source

Lister Block, date unknown (based on the cars and bus, 1940s?)
https://images.thestar.com/zMzdbSNZj...rth/lister.jpg
Source

I bet 1951. The HSR just shut down the streetcar network, which explains the trolley bus. But it was recent, which is why the tracks are still in.

Good call. I can't open the transit history websites without warning of a trojan virus, but the HSR Wikipedia page notes the dates

Re the parade photo.

I wouldn't put money on it but I think that's King West. Maybe the block between MacNab and Park. I think that's the old King George Hotel in background which stood on the NE corner of King and MacNab.

I miss those trolleys! :(

Quick off the mark. Almost silent. No exhaust.

You probably should have placed a bet... I can't find a photo of the entire stretch there from the same era, but here are a few that show seem to show many of the same buildings.

For comparison:
This one may be showing the building on the very left, the Iroquois Hotel at Park. The windows seem to be identical, with the lighter blocks above the arches, the cornice is the same; its lost the balcony on the second floor, and the building to its east has likely had a floor added:
https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/u...577arf008n.jpg

And this is the hotel you referenced, at MacNab, though it's a beauty school at the time this was taken:
https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/u...577arf004n.jpg

Some of these on the left side of the photo, between MacNab and Park, look familiar too but with some facade and structural changes:
https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/u...577arf005n.jpg

Source for all photos: "The Facelift and the Wrecking Ball: Urban Renewal and Hamilton’s King Street West, 1957–1971", by
Margaret T. Rockwell

^The old market neighbourhood would have cleaned up nice. But then the original Civic Square plan would have been super too. I can understand why people were drawn to the idea. Sure didn't go according to plan, that's for sure...