Route 1001 Hamilton Spectator

Midnight

Registered User
Jun 15, 2005
3
0
0
70
Westbank BC
#1
It has sure been pleasent wandering this site since stumbling across it a few days ago... Today I was looking through the pictures of houses and came across the house where I grew up.. 14 Renfrew ave,, Actually when we first moved in 1955 I was 2 and it was called Cottage Grove however in the years that followed the name was change to Renfrew,,

As I strolled through these picture I began to remember the daily walks along route 1001 of the spec. A route I would walk at least once a day, 6 days a week...from late 56 when my brother Len began to teach me the paper business along with my brother Mike until the summer of 1967 when I graduated from Bell Cairn and went to Delta.. The same year I stopped delivery papers and started bagging groceries at Pollacks... (Kenilworth and Barton)

However as I strolled thru these pictures, I remembered the nice days, the stormy days, summer and winter and all that was in between...The lawns we cut, the driveways we shovelled... The life of a paper boy.. somany years ago..yet for awhile today..the years disappeared..

Today I am in a wheelchair but for a while today, I was back on a bike with two paper back criss crossing my chest and one on my baxck with strap on my forehead...

Route 1001...consisted of anywhere between 100 and 125 customer depending on the time of year... It is hard to believe that it has been 40 years since those summers of swimming and wintres of climbing forbidden icebanks...

The 7:00 am trains and off course the Thursday evening at the amusement park...

Bless you for this site.. I know I have lots to look at and hope to share some more

thank you for being here to find

always a beach bum at heart

Patrick
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
218
63
The Beach Strip
#2
Hi Patrick; :wavey:
Glad to have you on board, we need all the Beach historians we can get. I think I lived at 14 Renfrew for a while and then all the houses were demolished, was that the only newer style home???
I don't remember too many trains, there were only a few from time to time, then none, then the tracks were removed from the Lift Bridge and when the Path was in progress the rest from the Beach were also removed.
Again, thanks for joining up and we hope to hear from you.
Scotto
 

Midnight

Registered User
Jun 15, 2005
3
0
0
70
Westbank BC
#3
No The house you were thinking, was a Red Brick house and when we were in 14 there was a family with 4 boys in 12...Andrew, Raymond, Peter and Brian and I believe it was Peter who designed a crest or something like that for Bell Cairn School.. There was a contest in the fifties or early sixties to design a crest or something similar for the school and Peter Camarny (?) won, if my memory does me right..

Our house was falling down..The front porch was held up by two truck jacks... My father worked at the lift bridge back from the old swing bridge that only lifted on one side...right to the new lift bridge.. The old swing bridge had been hit by a ship.. That ship was the Edmund Fitzgerald..to come to later fame and be written in a Ballad by Gordon Lighfoot but many years earlier , the wrong side of the bridge was opened and the ship hit it.. I also remember a freighter that missed the canal on the Burlington side..it took them awhile to get it out, as kids we though that was neat.

We knew a lot about the bridge especially with Dad working there...and the amusement park.. we all worked there for awhile...

Then the old Lakeside hotel, I don't remember it but in our house hung a bronzed perfect cribbage hand which was the tournament trophy for their crib tournaments and my father had won it the last time and it hung in our house. I think my oldest brother has it today.. he is in Nova Scotia...

I must admit, I do think of the beach often and have many pleasant memories and also
some not so pleasant memories but thats all part of growing up...

bless you enjoy this day...the sun is shining her in the heart of the Okanagen Valley

Patrick
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
218
63
The Beach Strip
#4
Patrick;
Yes we all worked at the amusement park, I ran the Ferris wheel for many years because no one wanted to, then it was off to the Angus Inn for a while because I wasn't old enough to work on the big rides.
We do have a picture of the Lakeside hotel taken from the top of the lighthouse, you may of seen it already(link below). We are always looking for old pictures of the Strip, so better shot might show up.
As for the long gone Bascule, it was struck by the freighter S.W.E. Fitzgerald in 1952, I believe the Sir Edmund Fitzgerald was a bigger vessel. I will have to make sure on that one.
I was also told by old Bridge guys, that the north Bascule wasn't working too well back then, so when the ship asked for an opening and only the south side lifted, Bridge staff thought the ship would just move over to the open channel. But it didn't and even with the engines in full reverse and anchors dropped, it was too late.

http://hamiltonbeachcommunity.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=43
 
Top Bottom