Hotel Brant

scotto

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#21
The Brant Inn was at the foot of Maple street in what is now called Spencer Smith Park. I wasn't aware that they have built a "new" Joseph Brant Hospital in Spencer Smith Park but then I haven't been past there in a couple of years.
The Brant Inn and Hotel Brant are two different places, Hotel Brant was before your time on the Beach and was located where Joseph Brant Hospital is now. The two get mixed up all the time.
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#22
I'm having a hard time following this thread. It is jumping from Brant House to Brant Inn to Brant Hotel. I do think, however, that the reference to where the hospital is now is where the old Military Hospital AKA Brant Hotel was and isn't referencing Spencer Smith at all. Could be wrong because I mentioned the thread is confusing.
 
Dec 1, 2004
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#24
Apparently I am not the only one confused. When I posted about the Brant Inn being where Spencer Smith park is now located, I was responding to David O'Reilly's post which I was certain was, in turn, referring to the Brant Inn since all previous posts were on that subject. How the Brant Hotel came into the subject line I have no idea. I apologize for muddying the waters.
 

scotto

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#25
Apparently I am not the only one confused. When I posted about the Brant Inn being where Spencer Smith park is now located, I was responding to David O'Reilly's post which I was certain was, in turn, referring to the Brant Inn since all previous posts were on that subject. How the Brant Hotel came into the subject line I have no idea. I apologize for muddying the waters.
The title of the thread is Hotel Brant but yes, it is all over the place and confusing. I will start a Brant Inn thread and possibly move some posts.
 

David O'Reilly

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#27
Fred Briggs
10-31-2010, 10:33 AM
The Federal Govenment took it over for a Military Hospital in WWI. The new Joseph Brant Hospital occupies the site now. You can read a lot more of the history in "From Pathway to Skyway Revisited" by Claire Emery Machan. There's also about a page on it in "The Sand Strip" by Dorothy Turcotte, if you have a copy of that.

It was abandoned in 1923, and torn down in 1937.
http://vitacollections.ca/burlingtonhistoricalsociety/50773/data

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David O'Reilly

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#29
scotto
11-01-2010, 06:39 PM
Great links there Rob...


As Fred mentioned, here is a small part from Dorothy Turcotte's book, The Sand Strip-

"Situated near a sloping sandy beach with woods and a pond nearby, area offered all sorts of recreational opportunities. Furthermore, it was within easy reach of Hamilton, and was on the shortest route between Toronto and Niagara.

Almost at once the Brant House became popular. Set in acres of gardens, it boasted a croquet lawn, bowling green, cream parlour, dance hall, and even bathing booths for the convenience of those who wished to frolic in the crystal waters of Lake Ontario.

The property changed hands several times. Finally, in 1899 it was purchased by A. B. Coleman who turned the Brant complex into something even larger.

Next to the Brant House, Mr. Coleman built a large brick building which he called the Brant Hotel. Opening day was July 2, 1900. The advertising for the new resort pointed out that nearly every room commanded an unobstructed view of the waters of Lake Ontario or Hamilton Bay. Built to accommodate 300 guests, the hotel boasted rooms with Ostermoor mattresses, electricity, and the most modern plumbing. There was a ballroom with a hardwood floor, convention hall, and a roof garden with huge pots of petunias ...."

And one minor comment, the Brant Hotel was not the Brant Inn.”

1896 – “A new landmark was about to appear on Burlington Beach, in the form of a brick power house for the HamiltonRadial Electric Ry. The boilers for this plant were on their way from Goldie & McCullough's works in Galt on the 5 June. The plant was built on the Bay side, not far south of the Brant House and a spur from the Grand Trunk was laid, across the roadway and the electric railway line for the purpose of delivering coal.”
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/Brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1896#p16.96.42

Scott,

Do you know if the Hamilton Radial Electric railroad (HRER) purchased land from the Brant House, for its power house? and for their railbed, on the north side of the canal?

And do you know where the Brant Hotel was built in relation to the Brant House?


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scotto

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#30
Scott,

Do you know if the Hamilton Radial Electric railroad (HRER) purchased land from the Brant House, for its power house? and for their railbed, on the north side of the canal?

And do you know where the Brant Hotel was built in relation to the Brant House?


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I have attached a map from 1900 showing both buildings, the Brant House is/was just west of the Brant Hotel, by the scale I would say they were about 75 feet apart.



As far as I would know, Brant's land did not include the Beach Strip and the power house was about a quarter mile south of the Brant Hotel and I haven't read anything to conclude that HRER purchased land from the Brant property.



Both maps are under copyright protection.

And some great info on the Brant House;
http://www.eureka4you.com/burlington/history-history.htm
 

scotto

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#32
Scott
As to Brant owning any of the Beach I thought he owned almost to the outlet.
My thinking was that it was of "military importance" at that time, but that obviously is not the case. I will try to find a few maps of the area and post them.
Also there will be timelines on who owned which land because the Brants sold a lot of their land to pay their debts and people do pass away leaving land to be split up among the heirs.
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#33
The one drawing I posted doesn't say Brant like the hand drawing, it says John Brant. So we know at that time the land has passed from Joseph to John. I don't know what happened to it after John. Kerr's probably had possession for awhile. At some point the land must have gone public. Maybe at the time the Brant House was taken for a military hospital. The last one I can think of that might have purchased it would be Brant Colman.
 

scotto

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#35
Who probably knows is Ray Mifflin. He has lots of information on that area.
By looking at some of these maps, I would see the collecting of ownership data to be quite the task considering how many times lots were divided up and sold. Ray sounds like a good source though.
 

David O'Reilly

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#36
Scott indicates in this thread that an 1877 map shows the Canal Reserve extending ¼ miles either side of the canal.
http://hamiltonbeachcommunity.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-2165.html

so maybe by 1896 when the Hamilton RadialElectric Railroad’s (HRER) power house was built, the canal had been widen, but maybe the canal reserve still existed, and was still ¼ miles on either side of the canal.

So maybe the HRER purchased land that was part of the Canal Reserve? Does anyone know How close the power house was to the canal?
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#37
Scott indicates in this thread that an 1877 map shows the Canal Reserve extending ¼ miles either side of the canal.
http://hamiltonbeachcommunity.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-2165.html

so maybe by 1896 when the Hamilton RadialElectric Railroad's (HRER) power house was built, the canal had been widen, but maybe the canal reserve still existed, and was still ¼ miles on either side of the canal.

So maybe the HRER purchased land that was part of the Canal Reserve? Does anyone know How close the power house was to the canal?
The power house was on the edge of Brant's Pond north of the old outlet. In fact if was about half way between the old outlet and Brant's house. Very close to where Brant Coleman incorrectly marked the outlet inside Brant's Pond. The cut through the Beach was man made.

 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#38
David I should have added that other than the bayside opening of the outlet Brant owned almost all to the mainland to where he lived. An old map indicated Brant's stable there and it appears to show in an old drawing of that area.
 

David O'Reilly

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Dec 15, 2012
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#40
Drogo “The power house was on the edge of Brant's Pond north of the old outlet. In fact if was about half way between the old outlet and Brant's house. Very close to where Brant Coleman incorrectly marked the outlet inside Brant's Pond. The cut through the Beach was man made.”

Drogo after the canal was cut through the beach, was there a portion of the natural outlet that remained? I was under the impression that with the opening of the canal, the outlet had been filled in.

I don’t know where ‘Brant’s Pond is/was. So was the power house built on the canal reserve?

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