Sunday, July 1, 2018
Monday, April 23, 2018
Lost and Mostly Forgotten 1915 Business Advertising in our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur.....
One may forget that the Hot Rods and Jalopies generation blog pages was the first to publish on line stories and photos of our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur. Thank you to all our loyal followers and those who write in and give us ideas and photos to publish.
So....the donation was a compilation of 1915 "The Daily Times Journal" newspapers from April 1, 1915 until June 30, 1915, 103 years ago as we speak. The stories of WWI are compelling but too intense to write about here, as well as the total history of the sinking of the Lusitania. To start, I decided to concentrate on interesting advertising with a few follow-up stories to go with them. The first three photos are of only one title page of all the ones bound in this book. It is the TJ cover for May 10, 1915.....each photo just a little closer. Click on all photos for enlargements....
Next...Here is an advertisement for the ill-fated Luxury Cruise Ship The Noronic. A 1915 clip advertising the Noronic's Red Cross Night at the CNR Dock (now part of Marina Park) in Port Arthur.
The Noronic was built by CSL and launched in Port Arthur on June 2, 1913, only two years before this ad was published in our paper. It was a Spectacular Luxury Great Lakes cruise ship.
One of the largest and most beautiful passenger ships in Canada at the time, she was nicknamed “The Queen of the Lakes." The picture on the left below was taken in Toronto Harbour in about 1930....but the doomed ship met it's final demise also in Toronto Harbour in a devastating fire that took place on the fateful night of September 17th 1949 at Pier 9. 118 people perished in that fire.
More details by clicking here on a link to Wikipedia.
Now for some old 1915 advertising. Some of the actual locations were difficult to find, but with old phone books and some research...I did my best. The farm produce market was located about halfway between The Superior Bowling Alley and Leith St., at 202 N. May Street....a location very close to where the Goodyear Tire Store was in the most current photo below.
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| The spot would be where the words "Tire Centre" is. |
The RS Piper Company on 1515 Brown St is one of the original hardware stores in West Fort William, but it also was a Grocery Store in 1915 as noted in the advertisement.
Most of our residential city streets today show little or no sign of businesses like corner stores, service stations, bakeries or shoe repair shops, but in 1915 many businesses were placed right smack dab in residential areas and many businesses were operated out of back lane-ways long before the city changed all its bylaws. Dominion Bread was a prime example of residential area business. The address was 132 Ogden Street. One of my family's first homes was on Ogden St.
So there it was...about 3 houses east from McKenzie Street on the south side.
Chapples Ltd., formerly the Grain Exchange building started out small in 1909, but became one of the Lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur's predominant department stores....finally closing its doors due to the emergence of big box stores, and the conversion of that area of Thunder Bay to another ill fated venture, Victoriaville. As you can see by the second advertisement, in the spring of 1915 Chapples was celebrating it's 6th anniversary already. Others claim Chapples started in 1915, but obviously the advertisement doesn't lie.
Here's another West Fort William business advertisement named People's Outfitters in 1915. It's address was 146 Frederica St., which today would be just adjacent (east) to Schwartz Men's Wear.
The original Heintzman & Co. Piano building was in a present day burned out area which is still empty. After The Heintzman Co. moved out of this location at 402 Victoria Ave., this location became a restaurant and eventually there was a fire that destroyed the property never to be built on again.
The two following advertisements both say they are on the corner of Heron and Simpson street, however one was called "Twin City Furniture Store" and the other "A. Gilbert & Company"...possibly later to become Gilbert's furniture which was further north on Simpson St. It's possible that each of these two businesses were on the north and south side of Heron St. long before the Simpson Hotel was built....and today houses The NorWest Community Health Centre. I believe the A. Gilbert and Co. was on the property where the Health Centre's addition is today.
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| This photo was taken before the almost complete block addition to the NorWest CHC building, and where the parking lot is in this photo 527 Simpson St would have been. |
Another well known establishment in 1915 was Neville's Drug Store at 215 Simpson St. It also states that there was another store in the Francis Block. I have no idea where the Francis block was.
The building at 571-573 Syndicate Ave firstly called Coslett Hardware Co. still exists to this day. Coslett's was also a very well known business even into the 1950's
I know it's time for a new CLE racing post...I will try in the near future.....and also possibly more ads from 1915. Thanks for watching, and if it's your first visit... "WELCOME". Be sure to check back through the complete blog for memorable stories about our cities and about vintage racing as well.
Friday, February 9, 2018
NEW February edition of ...... Then's and Now's in our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur...
This post has a few more Then and Now photos to help us, not so much so that you would remember
the pictures, because some of us obviously are not old enough to remember many of them, but to touch on some of our city's fascinating history.
Progress is mostly a good thing, but much of our history goes by the wayside and trying to remember what once was is important, so that we may pass the information on to our children and grandchildren to help them remember their past.
Here at The Hotrods and Jalopies Generation we try to do just that.
I've recently received more never seen before jalopy racing photos from the CLE track which will be posted soon.
This very first one I don't have a "Now" picture of, but if you study it you will be able to see exactly how downtown Fort William looked in 1892, 126 years ago.....yes our little town did progress quite a bit since then. Many of us have seen this photo before, but not of this quality.
Now we jump ahead to the Brill Trolley Bus era, lightly colored to the original Fort William beige and orange configuration. The Port Arthur ones were beige and maroon, during that time frame. I would place the "then" photo in the early 1950's. The nice rainbow sun spot in the "now" photo is courtesy of google maps. ...and as always, click once or twice on all the photos for enlargements.
Almost every year each of our twin cities would have a very elaborate winter carnival many of which I remember very well. Here we have some great old automobiles in front of Bryan's Department store in the "Victoria Block", and it's all decked out as a trading post of the Voyageur era. The photo is from the early 1950's. The "Now" photo shows the old building's wear and tear with little or no upkeep through the years....These are the type of photos I dislike the most as urban renewal basically killed this area of Fort William's downtown, not to mention the building of the Victoriaville Mall, which blocked off Fort William's main artery.
Here is another beautiful postcard promoting our bustling city's main street of Victoria Ave. This postcard is another much clearer copy, and with a more modern editing system I can make them look a little crisper. The beautiful Commerce Bank building is on the left. A sign saying "Sweet Caporal Cigarettes" is on a cigarette shop (This spot a few years later became The Royal Theatre). The St. Louis Hotel is next, as well as a few buildings on the right that still exist today however not in the greatest of condition. A little further down on the right would be the Avenue Hotel, later to burn down and later again to house the Odeon Theatre. The large prominent building at the most eastern end of Victoria Ave is the Canadian Pacific Elevator "B"....long since gone and before my time.
The White Lunch was an important hang out for school kids and teens from the 1930's to the 1950's. It was pretty much on par with the Lorna Doone which was on Victoria Ave. You could purchase a hamburger nip and a coke for .35 cents after school or after ice skating or roller skating at the Fort William Gardens in the '50's. The photo with the young ladies is a facebook find thanks to Barbara Yurkoski. The advertisement on top was found in my mother's Fort William Collegiate yearbook, and the one on the lower left is from a 1950's newspaper. As it says on the top ad..."Three doors North of Chapples". It would have been placed in the old parking lot on Syndicate Ave as shown in the "Now" photo......however the "Now" photo should actually show the brand new courthouse, which completely engulfs this portion of Syndicate Ave. The YMCA building and the Twin City Gas (Kings Stereo) building are also long gone to urban renewal and the courthouse.
Another better quality "Then" photo of the Passenger Steam Engine at the CNR Station on Vicker's Street...showing the station and the Fort William Gardens behind. The "Now" photo shows a very wide Vicker's Street which once was the home of the station and all the tracks you see here.....for those who haven't seen this photo before, the train would next head south towards Arthur Street, and begin a long turn west behind the Bell Canada and City Telephone buildings, head down the north side of Arthur Street and reconnect with the mainline behind the Kingsway Motel. If you tell a youngster this story they think you're nuts. LOL
Speaking of the Kingsway Motel, here is a picture of the Blue Swan Inn which was also along Kingsway street. It is long gone now and replaced with the Apartment building in the "Now" photo. Kingsway Street was the route you would take if you were heading south on highway 61 and crossing the Swing Bridge to the USA, hence there were a number of motels, some of which are still there along Kingsway St.
The History of May and Southern...
Jumping to the north/west corner of May Street and Southern Avenue we have the Royal Fort Tourist Camp. My friend Ron Limbrick lived there with his mother and father (Alderman Hubert Limbrick). Being close to the fairgrounds many of the circus folk would stay there and Ron remembered as a kid watching gymnasts practicing in their front yard. The property would later be sold to Mike Petlow who owned the Columbia Grill. Mike would build one of the very first art deco drive-in restaurants in Fort William called the Millionaire Drive-In. Like the A&W, they had car hops, hamburger and hot dog eating competitions, danceathons and live bands playing on weekends....but also great food. The property would later revert to the Dairy Queen with new buildings as we see in the last photo.
One final Then and Now in this post is the McKenzie Bridge. Friends and Family had camps along Lake Superior and we would actually ride out bikes out here to their camp for Easter break or during the summer months. In those days our parents surely trusted us or maybe weren't worried as much as parents are today.
The original span bridge across the McKenzie River gorge was quite long on which we traveled to frequent the McKenzie Hotel and Restaurant you see in the background of both photos.
In the most recent photo, they realized that a bridge was actually unnecessary. A huge culvert was installed instead and then the gorge was filled in with rock and dirt. It sure looked simpler and cleaner.
Hope you enjoyed this post and as mentioned before....new never seen before racing photos are coming. Thanks for checking us out. Dave
the pictures, because some of us obviously are not old enough to remember many of them, but to touch on some of our city's fascinating history.
Progress is mostly a good thing, but much of our history goes by the wayside and trying to remember what once was is important, so that we may pass the information on to our children and grandchildren to help them remember their past.
Here at The Hotrods and Jalopies Generation we try to do just that.
I've recently received more never seen before jalopy racing photos from the CLE track which will be posted soon.
This very first one I don't have a "Now" picture of, but if you study it you will be able to see exactly how downtown Fort William looked in 1892, 126 years ago.....yes our little town did progress quite a bit since then. Many of us have seen this photo before, but not of this quality.
Now we jump ahead to the Brill Trolley Bus era, lightly colored to the original Fort William beige and orange configuration. The Port Arthur ones were beige and maroon, during that time frame. I would place the "then" photo in the early 1950's. The nice rainbow sun spot in the "now" photo is courtesy of google maps. ...and as always, click once or twice on all the photos for enlargements.
Almost every year each of our twin cities would have a very elaborate winter carnival many of which I remember very well. Here we have some great old automobiles in front of Bryan's Department store in the "Victoria Block", and it's all decked out as a trading post of the Voyageur era. The photo is from the early 1950's. The "Now" photo shows the old building's wear and tear with little or no upkeep through the years....These are the type of photos I dislike the most as urban renewal basically killed this area of Fort William's downtown, not to mention the building of the Victoriaville Mall, which blocked off Fort William's main artery.
Here is another beautiful postcard promoting our bustling city's main street of Victoria Ave. This postcard is another much clearer copy, and with a more modern editing system I can make them look a little crisper. The beautiful Commerce Bank building is on the left. A sign saying "Sweet Caporal Cigarettes" is on a cigarette shop (This spot a few years later became The Royal Theatre). The St. Louis Hotel is next, as well as a few buildings on the right that still exist today however not in the greatest of condition. A little further down on the right would be the Avenue Hotel, later to burn down and later again to house the Odeon Theatre. The large prominent building at the most eastern end of Victoria Ave is the Canadian Pacific Elevator "B"....long since gone and before my time.
The White Lunch was an important hang out for school kids and teens from the 1930's to the 1950's. It was pretty much on par with the Lorna Doone which was on Victoria Ave. You could purchase a hamburger nip and a coke for .35 cents after school or after ice skating or roller skating at the Fort William Gardens in the '50's. The photo with the young ladies is a facebook find thanks to Barbara Yurkoski. The advertisement on top was found in my mother's Fort William Collegiate yearbook, and the one on the lower left is from a 1950's newspaper. As it says on the top ad..."Three doors North of Chapples". It would have been placed in the old parking lot on Syndicate Ave as shown in the "Now" photo......however the "Now" photo should actually show the brand new courthouse, which completely engulfs this portion of Syndicate Ave. The YMCA building and the Twin City Gas (Kings Stereo) building are also long gone to urban renewal and the courthouse.
Another better quality "Then" photo of the Passenger Steam Engine at the CNR Station on Vicker's Street...showing the station and the Fort William Gardens behind. The "Now" photo shows a very wide Vicker's Street which once was the home of the station and all the tracks you see here.....for those who haven't seen this photo before, the train would next head south towards Arthur Street, and begin a long turn west behind the Bell Canada and City Telephone buildings, head down the north side of Arthur Street and reconnect with the mainline behind the Kingsway Motel. If you tell a youngster this story they think you're nuts. LOL
Speaking of the Kingsway Motel, here is a picture of the Blue Swan Inn which was also along Kingsway street. It is long gone now and replaced with the Apartment building in the "Now" photo. Kingsway Street was the route you would take if you were heading south on highway 61 and crossing the Swing Bridge to the USA, hence there were a number of motels, some of which are still there along Kingsway St.
The History of May and Southern...
Jumping to the north/west corner of May Street and Southern Avenue we have the Royal Fort Tourist Camp. My friend Ron Limbrick lived there with his mother and father (Alderman Hubert Limbrick). Being close to the fairgrounds many of the circus folk would stay there and Ron remembered as a kid watching gymnasts practicing in their front yard. The property would later be sold to Mike Petlow who owned the Columbia Grill. Mike would build one of the very first art deco drive-in restaurants in Fort William called the Millionaire Drive-In. Like the A&W, they had car hops, hamburger and hot dog eating competitions, danceathons and live bands playing on weekends....but also great food. The property would later revert to the Dairy Queen with new buildings as we see in the last photo.
One final Then and Now in this post is the McKenzie Bridge. Friends and Family had camps along Lake Superior and we would actually ride out bikes out here to their camp for Easter break or during the summer months. In those days our parents surely trusted us or maybe weren't worried as much as parents are today.
The original span bridge across the McKenzie River gorge was quite long on which we traveled to frequent the McKenzie Hotel and Restaurant you see in the background of both photos.
In the most recent photo, they realized that a bridge was actually unnecessary. A huge culvert was installed instead and then the gorge was filled in with rock and dirt. It sure looked simpler and cleaner.
Hope you enjoyed this post and as mentioned before....new never seen before racing photos are coming. Thanks for checking us out. Dave
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