First Telephone on the Beach

scotto

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#1
Had this question sent in by member David O'Reilly;

_________________________________________________________

Does anyone know exactly when the first telephone was on the beach?

In 1890 a telephone call was made by the Oakville harbor master, to Capt. Campbell at the Burlington Canal about The schooner W. J. SUFFELL, which was caught in a severe snow storm in Lake Ontario off of Oakville.

"Capt. Campbell was a man who had an outstanding reputation when it came to lending a hand to anyone in distress and this was just one more occasion when he was ready and willing to do so. Neither was he at a loss for extra hands in an emergency. Thanks to the old party-line telephones, every fisherman living along the Beach would have the word as soon as he did. It would be but a few minutes before the first pair of heavy boots would be clumping across his porch. Men arrived during the early afternoon with pike poles, ropes, grappling hooks, and in fact, anything they grabbed on the way out into the fury of the gale."
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1890

http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1890
 

scotto

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From the Book, Pathway To Skyway.

In the late 1800's, the telephone was a miraculous new gadget. On September 24, 1877, a Mr. Black, a telegraph company official came to the Ocean House on the beach to disconnect the telegraph wire for the winter. He brought a primitive telephone and connected it up with similar equipment set up at the Burlington telegraph office. Unfortunately the experiment produced a good deal of static. Regular telephone service first came to Burlington in 1885.
 

scotto

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#4
Sent in by member David O'Reilly

Scotto,

I was interested in what you presented from the book ‘From Pathway to Skyway’ I.E. that the Ocean House had its own telegraph office. Do you know if it actually did? I thought that telegraph systems were owned by railroads. and any office(s) were housed in buildings owned by railroads.



I know that the Grand Trunk railroad (gtr) (which didn’t come on to the beach until 1888) had a telegraph office right beside the Ocean House….both of which burned down in 1895.

http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/Brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1895#p16.95.19



So maybe there was some sort of araingement between the two, for the latter to have a connection to the railroad system, with its own telegraph office?



The railroad that was on the beach in 1877 was the Hamilton and Northwestern (H&NW)

http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/industrial/hamiltonnw.htm



David
 

scotto

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A drawing of the Ocean House and surrounding area, I don't know if that is the telegraph office that is connected to the Ocean House.
Also I don't see telegraph lines, but they could of been left out.
OceanHousea.jpg
 

scotto

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#6
Another message from David O'Reilly

A drawing of the Ocean House and surrounding area, I don't know if that is the telegraph office that is connected to the Ocean House.
Also I don't see telegraph lines, but they could of been left out.

Scott, do you have a date for this picture?

I think that the Ocean House was located immediately south of the canal. It seems that the telegraph cable between the beach and Burlington, was located at the bottom of the canal. So rather than being suspended on poles, the wires might have gone directly from the telegraph office into the canal.

"The schooner OLIVER MOWAT, entering the Burlington Canal on the 19 July, let go an anchor, which promptly hooked the Montreal Telegraph Company's cable. After fiddling around for three hours, during which time the swing bridge was held open with a train waiting, they succeeded in breaking the cable."
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1881

It's interesting that the cable was owned by the 'Montreal Telegraph Company'. At this time it was the Hamilton and Northwestern Railroad (H&NW) that was on the beach. Maybe the H&NW hired the Montreal Telegraph Company to operate there telegraph system?
David.

Additional Comments

I said in an earlier post, that in 1877 the railroad on the beach was the Hamilton and Northwestern RR (H&NW) and I provided a URL. Unfortunately that page doesn't indicate that the railroad was located on the beach. And, at that time the railroad wasn't the H&NW, it was the Hamilton and Lake Erie RR (H&LE). The H&NW purchased the H&LE in 1878.

1874 "John Killough, Chief Engineer of the Hamilton & Lake Erie R. R. on the 20 May,:
"the extension of the line to Burlington Bay was awarded to Alex. J. Brown and the earthwork north of the G. W. Ry. was let to John Taylor in March. The overhead bridge on Barton Street was completed this spring. Half a mile of track has been laid and is being used for delivering the stone for the bridge."
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1874

in 1876, the H&NW which had built south into Burlington had reached the canal.
""By the 1 September, the Hamilton & North Western Ry. rails had reached the Burlington Canal and work was being done on the foundations for the swing bridge."
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1876

Charles Cooper has written a book on this railroad called 'Hamilton's Other Railroad'.
 

scotto

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#7
Sorry David I don't have a date for the picture and really it isn't a picture but a drawing, I have attached another showing the opposite angle and you can't see the small structure that is clearly shown on the first one and I believe could be the telegraph office. In fact both drawings are very different which shows that you can't trust the history behind them that you could from a real photo.
Hopefully Fred chimes in and we can get some real answers.

OceanHouseDrawing.jpg
 

scotto

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#8
From David O'Reilly

In the late 1800's, the telephone was a miraculous new gadget. On September 24, 1877, a Mr. Black, a telegraph company official came to the Ocean House on the beach to disconnect the telegraph wire for the winter. He brought a primitive telephone and connected it up with similar equipment set up at the Burlington telegraph office. Unfortunately the experiment produced a good deal of static. Regular telephone service first came to Burlington in 1885.
I wonder if any of the other hotels on the beach had similar telegraph offices.

Some information about the Ocean House

, on the 20 April, the Spectator said:
"The above is the name of the new hotel in course of erection on the Beach and which promises to be a really noble building. It was commenced in February last and will be completed in time for the summer season. Its dimensions are 100 x 40 feet and it is two and a half stories high. It contains 42 bedrooms, four parlor and sitting-rooms, a dining room 40 x 20, billiard, bar and other rooms, A double verandah encircles the house and adds greatly to the beauty of the building. Adjoining is an ice-house containing 100 tons and a laundry is being erected

http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1875

a picture of the Ocean House
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/Brookes/Figures.asp?ID=f58
 

scotto

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#9
From Gary Evan's book "Memories of the Beach Strip, written by Bob Houghton

The two and a half storey main building (Ocean House) must have been quite impressive and could likely be seen from many parts of the city and even as far away as the Oakville or Grimsby shorelines. In size, it was 100 feet long, and around that was built a wide veranda, which not only served as a deck and promenade but also supported a second floor deck so patrons could open each room's large, shuttered French doors and venture out into the sunshine on a lazy summer afternoon.
Once inside, patrons could stop off at one of the four different parlours and sitting rooms, play a game of billiards, visit the bar or have a seat in the large dining room before having a stroll along the beach or retiring to one of the 42 rooms in the hotel. Other facilities adjoining the
original building included a boat launch, a laundry room and an icehouse, capable of storing
100 tons of ice - enough to last the entire summer season.
The first season must have been quite a successful one because plans were immediately
brought into action to expand the original hotel to include a second building, similar in size, to
completed in 1876. This new building, south of the original, was to take over as the entertainment centre of the complex, giving the guests at the main hotel greater peace and privacy.
The bar and billiard rooms were moved to the new building and replaced with a public reception room with a piano lounge as well as a ladies refreshment room serving soda water and
ice cream. Over in the new facilities, apart from the bar and expanded billiards room, was added a full-sized bowling alley and a gala ballroom and music hall.


Other amenities and innovations were also introduced for the service of the visitors to the hotel such as a windmill powered water pump (1878) and even an early telephone (1877).

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A very good description of the Ocean House, but no mention of a telegraph office.
 

David O'Reilly

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#10
Scott, the 1876 addition had a telephone. I wonder if there were any news paper articles written on this, and if they would be in the Hamilton Public Library. if so, they would probably indicate if this was the first telephone on the beach.
 

scotto

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Scott, the 1876 addition had a telephone. I wonder if there were any news paper articles written on this, and if they would be in the Hamilton Public Library. if so, they would probably indicate if this was the first telephone on the beach.
From the Hamilton Library;
________________________

The Telephone on the Beach
Yesterday afternoon Mr. Black proceeded to the Ocean House for the purpose of closing the telegraph office there for the season, and, thinking that telephonic communication might be kept up for the balance of the summer, took a pair of those instruments along with him. After removing the ordinary instruments, he attached the " telephone," and proceeded to Burlington, where the loop leaves the line for th Beach. At Burlington office the wires were detached from the main line and the telephone attached, whereupon an animated conversation took place between parties in Burlington and the " Ocean House," to the entire satisfaction of all. Apart from tho public use which may be made of this line, a few interesting observations were made. Hitherto the tests made in Hamilton were on a circuit composed of line wire and a return through earth. On all these occasions when connection was made a peculiar sound was heard in the telephone resembling frying of grease, while instruments connected together by wires inside of a building were entirely free from that sound. It is supposed by some that the sound proceeds from the vibration of air or wind upon the wires, while others contended that it comes from the earth. Yesterday's test proved it to come from the atmosphere, as the sound was heard very distinctly, though the circuit was composed entirely of wire, no connections being made with the earth at either end. In all the Hamilton experiments telephonic signals were heard, faintly of coarse, but discernible. It was supposed that the Beach experiment would have been free from them as these wires were on poles entirely free from other wires, but Mr. B. was astonished to hear them while listening at the Ocean House end; and can only account for them by supposing that the sound of the telegraph instrument at Burlington waa taken up and conveyed by the telephone.
The drawback to the use of this wonderful invention is the want of a suitable call, or indicator, to know when communication is desired, but this will be obviated shortly, when suitable signal bells will be here. A public exhibition will then be announced. A recent trial at Wankegan, Wis., may be mentioned, which was witnessed by Mr. C. D. Cory. He states that two houses were connected together by insulated wires, and a powerful singer in one house was heard by all in a room in the other house by simply gathering around the instrument, instead of only one person holding it to his ear. The small Hand-Telephone was used in this instance.
 

David O'Reilly

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#15
Scott, "Fred has decided that the picture isn't of the Ocean House'. does anyone know what the building is? it would be good to creat an inventory of all of the buildings that were constructed on the beach in the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries.
 

scotto

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Scott, "Fred has decided that the picture isn't of the Ocean House'. does anyone know what the building is? it would be good to creat an inventory of all of the buildings that were constructed on the beach in the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries.
The watering holes along the Beach are well documented in many books, in the picture of the "Ocean House", there is a Radial Railway car travelling by, but according to Gary Evan's newest book the Radial Railway didn't come into full service until one year after the Ocean House burned down ("as it burned down in 1895"). Looking at some photos in other books, the building is clearly the Lakeside Hotel.
 

Drogo

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#17
My two cents is that the picture on the Hamilton Harbour page is definitely not the Ocean House. Probably before that was Baldry's and I believe the Perry family ended up with a hotel/tavern in about that area. Jake Corey had a place but I don't know where. We do need a timeline.
 

scotto

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My two cents is that the picture on the Hamilton Harbour page is definitely not the Ocean House. Probably before that was Baldry's and I believe the Perry family ended up with a hotel/tavern in about that area. Jake Corey had a place but I don't know where. We do need a timeline.
I will start another thread on hotels on the Beach.
However, you are right going by some of the pictures from the book "The Sand Strip".
Attached is a picture showing the Perry House which is the same building from the maritime history site, the only thing missing is the sign on the front upper deck which reads "Lakeside Hotel". It could of changed hands, but we will leave that for another topic.
 

Drogo

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#20
From when I was a young girl I remember Gert Perry. Her "partner" was Nip Dynes. When my grandfather wanted to build the motel on Plains Rd. Gert gave him the mortgage to do it. They were retired but my grandfather knew her from when she still ran a Beach Hotel.

Glad to have that picture identified. Much better one then the one on the Maritime site. I remember her as being a very nice lady. Quite her own person. At one time there was a Perry House or Perry Hotel at the end of present day Van Waggoners where it turns and becomes Nash Rd. Right in what is now a parking lot. It's on one of the old maps.
 
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