Old Pics Of Hamilton

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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???

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^From what I've read there was widespread opposition to the project, especially as the plans changed from 'Civic Square' to the indoor mall we have today [I'm sure somebody here has the blueprints for Civic Square and can upload them]. It would have been much better than what we have today, though still a far cry from the bustling market neighbourhood that once stood on that site.

[woreg75]

That is certainly the "lost Hamilton"... that quaint little corner was such a cool image to see, and I'm sure there were many more unique places that fell to the wrecking ball.. Thanks for that post, was thoughtfully put together.. Really makes you think..

[urban_planner]

In post 108 does anyone know the rought date that shot with the watertower just south of fennell was taken? My house is in that shot and I am hoping to used it to get a rough Idea of the age of my house.

Thanks

[NortheastWind]

Facebook Page - Vintage Hamilton

Great place for people to post old, unseen photos of Hamilton.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vintag...57013597650273

[Pearlstreet]

Like many of you renovating in this town, I wonder how many have found treasure from the past like this I found during a fireplace renew.

It tells the true story of when the house was constructed (1914!). It's older than I had thought! As far as I can make out, it says "J.W. Midgley 4/ 4/ 14".
Before

Buried treasure

After


A relative of any of yours?

[Pearlstreet]

A very well produced 'Best of Hamilton' YouTube series of Hamilton sights. Worth a look!

'Subscribe' worthy as they keep adding new ones!


Dr. Disk (HD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubdsU...Agq52Zr6tm7-dQ

Super Crawl 2012 (HD)
http://youtu.be/8dYjeQOV0AQ?hd=1

Albion Falls in (HD)
http://youtu.be/DdJGm12LF1w?hd=1&t=3s


Also check their news feed on the book of faces: http://www.facebook.com/cdspark#!/Be...milton?fref=ts

[palace1]

That signature on the fireplace looks like it says G. Midgley.

In the 1911 census there is a George Wm. Midgley living at 1 Regent St in Hamilton. He was a Tile Setter for Kent-Garvin and worked 52 weeks, 44 hours per week for an annual pay of $730.

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census...w.jsp?id=31139
(from what I can tell a portion of Garfield Ave S. was named Regent and this address would be at approx. the corner of Dunsmure).

The 1922 city directory listing for Kent-Garvin:
KENT, GARVIN & CO, LTD, Ernest
E Kent, mgr, builders hardware,
mantles, tiles, etc, 10-20 Catharine
St North

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by palace1

That signature on the fireplace looks like it says G. Midgley.

In the 1911 census there is a George Wm. Midgley living at 1 Regent St in Hamilton. He was a Tile Setter for Kent-Garvin and worked 52 weeks, 44 hours per week for an annual pay of $730.

Neat. If true, that existing tilework might have been almost a century old. Treasure from the past, right out there in the open.

[movingtohamilton]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

Neat. If true, that existing tilework might have been almost a century old. Treasure from the past, right out there in the open.

That's so cool.

I don't have an old photo to contribute, but I am doing a little research on the house we bought. We were told it was built in 1929/30. But then I found the 1922 City of Hamilton Directory, 49th edition, published by Henry Vernon & Son.

This Directory is a great resource. Here's a link: http://archive.org/stream/vernonhami...ge/n3/mode/2up

The streets are listed alphabetically.

Our street address shows up, with the name of the occupant. So it was built perhaps a few years earlier than 1922.

I started looking into the 1911 Census, but there is no specific Ward 3 enumeration, as far as I can tell.

Now I'm determined to do more digging!

[Pearlstreet]

http://archive.org/stream/vernonhami...ge/n3/mode/2up

That link is a great find! I have to show my neighbour this...