The Railroad’s and Radial’s Beach Stops

[Fred Briggs]

Elsinore

Elsinore was built immediately south of the old Methodist Church, on property that extended to Fourth Avenue.
The old wooden church, or meeting hall, eventually became the Community Hall, as I remember, and I believe it was owned by the Beach Commission. Hobb's Hops were also held there, and they may have been the dances that I remember but was too young to attend. I definitely remember that there were dances held there on some Saturdays, and Sunday School the next morning, sponsored or hosted by Delta Tabernacle. I believe that was organized primarily by Mrs. Skeene, with help from her husband, and a different Motivational Speaker from the Evangelist Circuit appeared every Sunday.
The old church was torn down and the lumber was used to build the Youth Hall (for the Cubs and Sea Scouts) behind St. Andrews by the Lake Anglican Church.
A doctor (Woodhouse?) had a house built on the church/community hall property, and I believe the address of that house now is #865.
Before the Radial Line came to the Beach, the railway stopped at a platform behind Elsinore, and Elsinore also had a dock or pier on the bayfront.
While Elsinore was definitely on the Lake side of the road, there are people from the beach who believe that it was on the Bay side. I believe they are confusing it with Elsinore Park, a city park on the bay side. I don't know how close it was to the dock or pier, but I think it was a little to the north of Elsinore itself. I know when the city was planning it, there was a suggestion that they approach Elsinore for help with it, so I suppose they provided some money for it, and the park was named after Elsinore, but that's speculation at this point.
There's alway more research to be done!

 

[Paul Grimwood]

Thanks for your reply regarding Elsinore. One of the Sanford properties, in 1938, was "Green Gables", at 904 Beach Boulevard, containing 1.84 acres. Mrs Sanford's will is somewhat confusing as in the same description, it mentions a water-lot adjoining of 2 acres. The house on this parcel has been destroyed by fire. I'm wondering if this two acre plot used to contain Elsinore.

As well, there is another vacant lot of 9/10 acre on the west side of Beach Boulevard, depth of 323', to Burlington Bay. But no street number is given.

I'm thinking that this all seems to be around 4th Avenue, as you say, and perhaps the Elsinore property was the two acre parcel.

 

[scotto]

Hi Paul and welcome to the Beach Forum, the only Green Gables I ever remember on the Beach was located in the low 1100's and not near 904.
There are a few threads on that building, but this shows pictures of before and during the demolition. The land is now under development for a condo complexe.

http://hamiltonbeachcommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1335

 

[Drogo]

Dr. Woodhouse

Fred,
Dr. Woodhouse doesn't seem quite right to me. He was a friend of my grandparents who lived at 814 and I remember the Dr.'s house north of there and I think it had a circular drive. I'm really taxing my brain on this but I seem to recall the name as Woodhall. Does that sound familiar to you?:bang:

 

[Fred Briggs]

Yes, we're talking about the same house, that used to have a circular driveway, and the same Doctor. Woodhall sounds even better than Woodhouse!

 

[Drogo]

Maybe someone else will verify it but my grandfather talked about him alot. I was young but the older I get the clearer the younger days. LOL

 

[David O'Reilly]

it seems that Station 9 was in front of the Holiday House.
http://search.ourontario.ca/results?lc=Burlington Beach&lcmore=1&itype=Photographs&sort=score desc

and this thread indicates that Holiday House was at 'sixteenth Avenue intersects'. and that's north of the canal?
http://hamiltonbeachcommunity.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-2088.html

 

[David O'Reilly]

Fred, "The radial made several stops along the Beach, all of which were called Stations. When the Radial Line
http://www.trainweb.org/hamtransithist/HRER.html
withdrew from the Beach and buses replaced their cars, the buses stopped at the same spots, and the Station numbers were kept."

Did the buses start on the beach immediately after the radial line stopped? Was it the Hamilton Street Railway, or a private bus company?

 

[David O'Reilly]

Fred, radial station 8 was at Holiday House.
And this thread indicates where Holiday House was.
http://hamiltonbeachcommunity.com/forum/threads/609-beach-blvd-holiday-house-then.591/

 

[David O'Reilly]

AND HERE IS THE LINK FOR THE INFORMATION ON HOLIDAY HOUSE. I'll wake up some time today.
http://search.ourontario.ca/results?lc=Burlington Beach&lcmore=1&itype=Photographs&sort=score desc

 

[scotto]

Beach Road and the Beach Stops

From the book, Hamilton's Other Railway
Many thanks to Charles Cooper for allowing his work to be posted.
________________________________________________________
After the trains out of Hamilton had passed the "Waterworks siding" (constructed by 1880, its switch facing towards Hamilton) and crossed the last of the inlet trestles, in the GTR era the first station to greet visitors was Beach Road, located near the junction of what is now Beach Boulevard and Van Wagners Beach Road. It was built in 1890, and served until the end of passenger service in 1896. It survived as a private residence until the late 1970s/early 1980s, when it was bought by the City of Hamilton as part of a "green space" program, resulting in its demolition.
The next stop was at Dyne's Hotel. This establishment has survived (rebuilt after a fire in 1882) on the same site as Dyne's Tavern. (Dating from 1846, Dyne's is said to be the oldest continuously operated public house in Ontario.)
The Dynes railway stop still appeared in a 1903 GTR timetable, but if there ever was a platform, it was not included in the 1907 GTR B&B inventory.
Then came a halt at an imposing mansion by the name of "Elsinore", built in 1890 as a convalescent home for needy children (by the same architect [William Stewart] who designed the Hamilton Yacht Club). Its 1891 flag stop shelter was about twice as long as the station at Beach Road.
The Baldry Hotel had burned down in 1874, and in its place there was erected the prestigious Ocean House Hotel. The GTR built a flag stop shelter there in 1894, slightly smaller than the station at Beach Road. The hotel did not have long to get the benefit of the shelter, because this grand establishment passed into history in a spectacular fire in 1895. It appears that the Ocean House Hotel was used as overnight accommodation for railway inspection trips (requiring a siding for the train). Coincidentally the inquest into the 1891 Canal bridge accident (see below) refers to a siding approximately 100 yards south of the Ocean House Hotel platform. With the frequency of the Beach trains, a passing siding somewhere on the Beach had to be an operational necessity, and it is therefore likely that this siding was installed with the commencement of the Beach train service.
The Ocean House Hotel and the Hamilton Yacht Club (which opened at the Canal in 1891), were two of "high society's" favourite haunts. The Hamilton Yacht Club likewise went up in smoke in 1915-
On the Burlington side of the Canal, there were three early flag stops, namely Hargrove, Gibson's Landing and Brant House. Hargrove and Gibson's Landing were still shown in a 1903 GTR public timetable, but Brant House, a very popular location for picnics, dances and concerts during the Beach's height of popularity, had already been dropped. In the 20-year interval between the demise of the Ocean House and the Yacht Club, the resort era started to decline, but remained popular for picnics and special excursion trains.

All the Beach stop locations except arguably for Dynes have since passed into obscurity, but the author recalls there was still a signboard "CN Hargrove" in 1978.

 

[scotto]

located near the junction of what is now Beach Boulevard and Van Wagners Beach Road. It was built in 1890, and served until the end of passenger service in 1896. It survived as a private residence until the late 1970s/early 1980s, when it was bought by the City of Hamilton as part of a "green space" program, resulting in its demolition.

Charles Cooper's book shows a picture of what was the first Station on the Beach, attached is a picture of the building taken back in 1980 by resident Miora Niel.

For more information on Mr. Cooper and his books,
http://www.railwaypages.com/index.php

 

[David O'Reilly]

Scott, on the ‘Burlington Canal Bridges’ thread you posted
“From the book, The Sand Strip;

"When the radial electric railway line was constructed in 1897, a second bridge was needed. This one had wooden sidewalks and a narrow lane for vehicles beside the tracks.
The days of the ferry were over-or almost. The old scow was retired from service, and was towed to the bayside home of Thomas Irwin at Station 26 where it served as a wharf for many years."

http://hamiltonbeachcommunity.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-2173.html

so was ‘station 26’ a station for the radial? And if it was, and we can determine where ‘Thomas Irwin’ lived then we will know where that station was.



________________________________________

 

[scotto]

Also from the book The Sand Strip;
The following is a list of the old radial stations or "stops" across the Beach as remembered by several long-time residents. Not all agreed on all of the locations, so this list contains some compromises. When the radials stopped running, the same zones were adopted by the Canada Coach Lines buses.
Station
# 2 - Beach Road;
# 4 - Dynes Hotel;
# 5 - The Fresh Air Camp;
# 6 - Beach Bungalow School (lakeside) and Ryan's Drugstore (bayside);
# 8 - Holiday House;
# 9 - South park Avenue;
#10 - Bethel Chapel;
# 12 - Milligan's House;
#14 - The Murton House ("Cahill's Castle");
#16 - Sir John Gibson's House (bayside), Tuckett House (lakeside);
#18 - Just before the amusement park;
#20 - The Canal;
#22 - Old Virginia Restaurant;
#24 - McDonald Park;
#26 - White Towers;
#28 - The pump house cottage;
#30 - The Power House
The Brant Inn.

 

[Sharla1]

How old was the change house building?

 

[David O'Reilly]

Fred
“Elsinore was built immediately south of the old Methodist Church, on property that extended to Fourth Avenue.” … “While Elsinore was definitely on the Lake side of the road, there are people from the beach who believe that it was on the Bay side. I believe they are confusing it with Elsinore Park, a city park on the bay side. I don't know how close it was to the dock or pier, but I think it was a little to the north of Elsinore itself. I know when the city was planning it, there was a suggestion that they approach Elsinore for help with it, so I suppose they provided some money for it, and the park was named after Elsinore, but that's speculation at this point.”

Fred, this is rather confusing, as it refers to ‘Elsinor’, but on ‘Burlington Beach.

1894 - “In November, the Hamilton Steamboat Co.qpany's pier at Elsinore on Burlington Beach, was being repaired and strengthened., http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/Brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1894

 

[scotto]

Sent in by Fred Briggs

David:

Yes, David, Elsinor was on Burlington Beach. There really was no Hamilton Beach until 1959! Hamilton was trying to get control over Burlington Beach at least as early as 1893, without success, and the Hamiltonians always called in Hamilton Beach. I don't have the date at my finger tips, but the Province of Ontario gave Hamilton a right to lease land to cottagers, and collect rent every year. In 1909 Ontario set up the Burlington Beach Commission to run Burlington Beach, collect taxes, build sidewalks, etc. (while Burlington Beach still remained in Saltfleet Township, within Wentworth County). the Burlington Beach Commission passed by-laws, built streets, provided running water, etc., until 1959 when it was disbanded and Burlington Beach was turned over to Hamilton (by the province).
The part north of the Saltfleet Township/Wentworth County line, was in Nelson Township/Halton County, and that section of Burlington Beach remained under the auspices of Burlington even after 1959, and continued to be known as Burlington Beach. Later (I don't know when and don't have time to look it up right now) Hamilton turned over the part of Hamilton Beach north of the canal and south of Nelson/Halton to the town of Burlington. The people living there wanted sanitary sewers, and it would be very difficult to run the sewer pipes under the canal for sewage treatment for those north of the canal, but Burlington already had their sewage treatment on the Beach north of the Saltfleet Nelson Line, so they could serve those people more easily. I hope that clears up the confusion.

Fred

 

[scotto]

How old was the change house building?

The one that was across from the amusement park?

 

[David O'Reilly]

Thanks Scott. I think you gave that history in an other thread. So I should look it up and try to learn it.

Fred has said that there was an ‘Elsinor Park’. So was the “qpany's pier at Elsinore Park, or the Elsinor house?

 

[David O'Reilly]

Scott, the other thread that you gave some beach history in, is ‘Houses and Cottages’. When you have the time, can I suggest starting a thread solely on the politics of the beach?