Old Pics Of Hamilton

[stuckinexeter]

well.... you can tell how old you feel when someone asks, where was the Brant Inn .... gets me closer to Old Age Pension come July
anyhow here are some more from the photo archives of the spec and library....

yes folks, we did pay a toll to use the Skyway when it was built..... i don't know how many times I watched my dad throw that coin into the white bucket...


A shot of James from Main looking north with the Federal Life Bldg (yes Federal Life, not Sun Life) as the pic shows.


The old City Hall on James South


No caption needed for this one.


The first Miles For Millions Walk in '67


Locke St South.... looking south.


Two photos of the Library on Main west (NORTH side) between
Sun Life and Centenary United Church.... the library would get a grant and
rebuild directly across the street. Second pic is demolition of it.



A shot overlooking the Jolley Cut towards downtown.


a market along Hwy 8 in Fruitland...


The Hamilton Forum on Barton St.


In the early days of CHCH TV....


The Desjardins Canal ..... long ago.


New Years Eve 1902 in Gore Park.... yeah..... we have electricity....


View Looking West Over Reservoir to City - (189?)Scene Along the Proposed Beckett Mountain Drive


Nora Frances-Henderson opening a bazaar at Trinity Baptist Church.
The church still stands, but closed about 5 years ago.


You have to really go back..... find where the cross intersection seems to be... it would be King & Kenilworth.... this was Bartonville.


Now go back to 1956... too bad this wasn't in color.... the noteworthy observance of this Gore Park Christmas pic is the Piggot Bldg. Look closely and you will see the crown is illuminated. In this pic it would be red and green and for the rest of the year white.


Citizens piling sandbags at Van Wagner's Beach to protect against a freak 1950 storm surge off the lake.


Go back to 1932... the opening day of the public library on Kenilworth Ave.


Current City Hall under construction...... in this pic the thing to note is the ESSO sign atop the Y.W.C.A. bldg at Main & McNab (where a current 22 story bldg now stands) How many can remember that ESSO sign once being
a RED FEATHER sign, visible from atop the Dundas Hill.


The unforgettable Central Collegiate Fire (it was arson).


Bartonville Public School at King & Kenilworth.


Finally the Wentworth County Courthouse on the site of the current one..
Main St. E. (south side between John & Hughson)


Well that's it for today.... if any one of you can discover a picture of the Neilson Sign, please post it..... in color would be even better.
(The sign stood where Plains Rd meets Hwy 6 north, and York Bvd.)

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Thanks for posting those pics.

I particularly like the Bartonville photo. It's amazing how pastoral it once was...not so much now.

[mattgrande]

That photo of the resovoir near Kenilworth... Any idea of a date on that?

And are those wooden slats on the side of Locke, with rail in the middle? Is that how they used to build roads?

[stuckinexeter]

Thanks for asking, because what i thought.... wasn't.... the photo below should have been captioned..... View Looking West Over Reservoir to City - (189?)Scene Along the Proposed Beckett Mountain Drive.... sorry for that slip up.

as per the locke st photo, maybe someone can help me out.... i think i am seeing the bridge over the th&b tracks in the photo. The th&b tunnel I don't think would have been built yet.
Go to the Hamilton Library image base at:
http://preview.hpl.ca:8080/Sites/index.jspx
This will be of interest to you i am sure.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Yeah, you're right. That photo's taken from the bridge looking South. The buildings to the left still stand on that spot. The one on the corner is a pizzeria, I believe.

The horse-drawn carriages are a nice touch.

I'm trying to imagine the approximate date of this photo. 1880s? 1890s? I don't think Locke was that built-up prior to that time.

[hamtransithistory]

Originally Posted by stuckinexeter

The TH&B Hunter St tunnel was built in 1895. The streetcar tracks on top of the bridge are also from around that time.

Originally Posted by stuckinexeter

Go to the Hamilton Library image base at:
http://preview.hpl.ca:8080/Sites/index.jspx
This will be of interest to you i am sure.

I really wish the Library would allow photo commenting to their image archive. If no date or location was recorded with the photo, then expecting the archivists to assign either is unfair. There are people online (several on this forum) who have the historical and urban knowledge who could do it much more accurately.

[IronWarrior]

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

Yeah, you're right. That photo's taken from the bridge looking South. The buildings to the left still stand on that spot. The one on the corner is a pizzeria, I believe.

The horse-drawn carriages are a nice touch.

I'm trying to imagine the approximate date of this photo. 1880s? 1890s? I don't think Locke was that built-up prior to that time.

Yes, the building on the left is still there...I live just up the street, but It's no longer Paradise Pizzeria the owners sadly retired after 35 plus years...Its been sold and gutted/renovated... If you look up at the buildings on Locke street south you will see dates in the late 1890's. My house around the corner was built in 1907.

[stuckinexeter]

All shots Hamilton Public Library unless otherwise noted.

Burlington St. 1925


Power Station by Desjardins Canal in Dundas


Rollover at the Stoney Creek Traffic Circle.


Winds blowing off the Lake at Van Wagner's


Overhead view of old City Hall, with Eatons, the market, and Lister Block.


Looking south from over Inch Park. Street behind the water tank is Fennel Ave.


View of the old Ottawa St. access, Kenilworth one under construction.
You can see the brick yard on Lawrence Rd. At top of pic is Mountain Brow Blvd (Concession St).... Flock Rd. is along the mountain side. The
part of the "U" shape road on left connects with Ottawa St.


Construction of Royal Connaught.


....and construction of the Royal Connaught addition....


Aftermath of 1949 New Westminister Church fire. (King & Melrose)


Aftermath of the Wentworth Arms fire.
(The building that this pic was taken from would be later set fire by an arsonsist.
Before he could get out, the building blew up).... he survived.


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


Demolition of old City Hall on James.


Carnival in town.... taken while Jackson Square complex going up.
The carnival used this empty area (soon to become home of Standard Life Bldg)


The Belt Line car at Kenilworth & Barton.


Construction of the McKittrick Bridge (King W. at the Basilica).


Different angle looking down the track at the canal. View looking north.
New Lift Bridge under construction. Note also the old railway swing bridge
was still in place.


View from bridge tenders office on the north bascule, looking south towards the south leaf of bridge.


Topping off Century 21.....


View of downtown back then..... late 40's or early 50's.


Downtown from the roof of the Court House.


Overhead the Connaught.... 40's.


Overhead from Civic Stadium (that's what is was back then) .... looking
east. Jockey Club on Barton between Ottawa & Kenilworth at top.


Rykman's Corner (Upper James & Rymal)


Found this on Ebay.... and from the Chicago Tribune... a different shot of
the 1952 collision at the canal. Witnesses say the sound was not that loud, just hearing ripping metal. Took the bridge 15 seconds to settle after
being hit.

[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.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Four theatres in this photo; none of which exist today.

Purple: The Lyric / Century
Yellow: Bennet's Theatre
Red: The Capitol
Blue: The Palace

And that's just in this photo! Just outside the picture is The Tivoli, the Hyland Cinema, The Odeon and on and on and on...all gone.

[stuckinexeter]

All pics courtesy Ontario Archives & Toronto Public Library.

Firstly, some "Theater" photos......







The following airplane views dated 1919.

Memorial School (Ottawa & Main)


Victoria Park (King W runs left to right ... Strathcona Ave parallels the park)


Downtown (wing is over the old Hunter St. Station..... "L" shaped building at top is Royal Connaught.


Now some 50's pics..

King looking west to James


Simpsons-Sears at the Centre Mall...


The Skyway


finally way back to some 1893 photos.
Captions are on the photos....

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Possibly my favourite Hamilton pic ever. Less quaint and more Dickensian I'd say. I can just imagine the cries of 'Boy for sale! Boy for sale!'

I love old pics of the beach strip...it's a mere shadow of its former self.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

I've spent a lot of time looking at that alleyway photo [yes, I'm a TOTAL loser, I know]. Anyway, judging by the location of the City Hall tower, that alley is likely to be located in the [former] James-Market-MacNab-King block.



This photo was taken from the tower looking down at the approximate location of the alleyway.

Just another example of what we've lost trying to 'revitalise' our city.

[stuckinexeter]

(HPL)

[CaptainKirk]

Front?

Looks to me that's looking south and slightly west form the corner of King William (see street sign at very left of pic).

I'm assuming that the old city hall is just out of the picture to the right of the people at the very right of the photo, and we're looking at James and York with the CIBC bldg in the background

What's also interesting is the "Expropriation Sale'' sign. Guessing that's the expropriation for Jackson Square judging by the car seen passing the bus.

[stuckinexeter]

I was rather referencing the wider bottom portion of the oval as to what buildings would be facing city hall.....and I guess Duncan's Book store was not too happy about that block to become history. If memory serves me correct I believed they moved to James/York corner from their old digs on the King W side of the same block..... that's progress eh...

[matt602]

I hate looking at pictures of that block. It's so heart breaking.

[coalminecanary]

created from images in this thread... my guess is the aerial is 1950s, the bottom left photo is 1970s and the bottom right is early 1900s

[CaptainKirk]

^^^ That's an awesome job. Looks bang on to me! (Except it's Sirloin Cellar http://www.thesirloincellar.ca/)

[coalminecanary]

haha... mental block... i knew steak cellar sounded funny!

can you imagine how amazing that u-shaped alley would have been? how did anyone EVER support this demolition???