Photograph
Guelph Museums
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| Nom de l'objet : | Photograph |
| Titre : | Streetcars on Wyndham St. c. 1910 |
| Catégorie de l'objet : | 8: Communication Artifact |
| Sous-catégorie de l'objet : | Documentary Artifact |
| Médium : | Paper, Photographic |
| Numéro d'accession : | 2002.113.1 |
| Culture : | Canadian |
| Date de début de production : | 1905 |
| Date de fin de production : | 1915 |
| Date absolue : | circa 1910 |
| Description : | Black and white photograph - probably a reprint from an original - of Upper Wyndham Street, looking from the Square, showing three street cars pulling into the Square and a fourth on Upper Wyndham Street. On of the streetcars says "Suffolk St." Also on the road are some horses and carriages, a vending wagon and a car. Only the East side of the street is visible. The Wellington Hotel can be seen in the background, the barber poles for R.H. McPherson, Barber, Kelly's Music, G.A. Richardson Hardware, G.B. Ryan Dry Goods, Mason and Risch Pianos, Palace Billiards, and C.L. Nelles are visible. |
| Fonctions : | In 1877, the Guelph Street Railway Co. was formed to construct a railway operated by horsepower (as in other large urban centres). The scheme was eventually dropped because a charter couldn't be obtained. Finally in 1894, George Sleeman, owner of the Silvercreek Brewery and several times mayor of Guelph, approached the city for a charter to run a city railway. He was granted the charter, but the conditions were that he wouldn't gain much profit from the railway, but could run lines anywhere in the city. Sleeman wanted to run continuous shifts at the Silvercreek Brewery at the end of Waterloo Avenue, and run people back and forth from his company location. He later built a park and skating rink behind the brewery and sold combination return railway fare/park admission tickets. May 1, 1895, the first spike of the railway was driven by Sarah Sleeman, George's wife, in front of the Sleeman mansion (now The Manor) opposite the brewery on Waterloo Avenue. On Sept. 17, 1895, the first car operated over the line. The railway had been operating for only a year when the first fatality occurred: on October 10, 1896, Mrs. George Truckle was run over by a streetcar of the Guelph Railway Co. To prevent further fatalities, protective fender called the "cowcatcher" was invented in 1899; unlucky pedestrians could then be safely scooped out of the way. Sleeman sold this device to other cities such as Montreal and Sarnia. In 1902, the banks took control of the company of the company as a result of defaulted loans, and in 1903 it was purchased by the city. The city had wanted to gain possession of the franchise from Sleeman that gave him almost exclusive control of all the streets in Guelph. The city also wanted to be in a position to consider any proposals that might come from any company or corporation desiring to build a line to connect Guelph with other municipalities, thereby reducing the railway company's deficit. As such, the name was changed to the "Guelph Radial Railway Co." However, the idea of extending rail car lines out to surrounding municipalities was never realized. Eventually, most North American street railways came under public ownership when public service and private profit came to be seen as incompatible. The street railway was only marginally profitable in the best of years; it was felt that it, indirectly, would be of value by helping to build up out-lying sections of the city, an advantage to manufacturing establishments and their employees. Between 1902 and 1906, passenger traffic doubled but power problems occurred because the generators could not handle the increased traffic. At the time of its construction and for 2 decades after, the railway was mainly an instrument for civic boosterism. Rapidly rising costs and deferred maintenance created an unfavourable opinion of the railway in the minds of Guelphites about 1918-1919. From then until streetcars were removed from service on Sept. 30, 1937, they were as much a liability as an asset to the city. In 1920, Ontario Hydro took over the street railway, but by 1926 had decided to drop railway operations. Unfortunately, there were no willing buyers because the deficit would have to have been assumed by the new owners. The biggest attack on streetcars came in 1926 when the first bus line opened in a part of Guelph not served by the streetcars; the experiment proved successful and more buses were bought until they eventually replaced passenger streetcars altogether on Oct. 1, 1937. Freight service on the railway ceased in 1939. The triangular area at the north-east corner of Woolwich and Wyndham Streets was originally a lumber yard with a small carpentry shop. In 1876-77, a locally-incorporated stock company built the "new" Wellington Hotel on this site. It succeeded the "old" Wellington which had been located at the southern end of the block from 1846-1876. Guelph contractor F.J. Chubb was responsible for the masonry work on the building; the architect was Victor Stewart who was active in Guelph during the 1870's. The format was most sympathetically related to the unusual triangular site. An imposing dome formation capped the apex of the impressive fourth floor, designed in the Louis-Philippe or Second Empire style with decorative dormer windows ornamenting the elaborate mansard roofs along both street fronts. These aspects of flamboyant style suggested the architecture of Paris more than of conservative Ontario. The "new" Wellington Hotel served the travelling public under various owners until July 1975 when a raging fire left the building without a roof and a sadly damaged interior. Four years later, reconstruction commenced; and with Karl Briestensky as architect, Guelph developers Carere and Bridge made every effort to restore the original features of the exterior while developing a fireproof modern interior. Once again, the building stands as a prominent and attractive architectural landmark. In 1980, the restoration, now called the Wellington Building, was designated by Guelph City Council as a building of architectural and historic interest; it also received a Guelph Arts Council Heritage Award. |
| Unité de mesure linéaire : | cm |
| Établissement : |
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| Ville de l'établissement : | Guelph |
| Province de l'établissement : | Ontario |
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