Walkabout Tour of Stratford 1912 by Vince Gratton

1:  We have arrived at the Stratford Union Station at the corner of Guelph and Downie Streets across from the Dominion Hotel; but here we are looking across to the Shops. Waiting for you are two horse-drawn cabs (or taxis), operated by Thomas Johns.  The business was formed in 1886 and continued under his son William (Billy) Johns until 1973. A Small confectionery and tobacco shop at left. The 1870 shops in foreground, with large 1907 addition behind.  Almost half of the city workforce worked here at this time. Further down are the GTR assembly hall and offices and old YMCA.

2:  A view of downtown looking north along Downie Street from a tower on the station grounds.  In front  the YMCA.  You can see the top of city hall, the Worth and Brandenburger blocks on Wellington Street, and behind them the towers of the court house and St. James Church.  To the right are two towers, one at Brunswick and Downie and the other on the Gordon Block at Ontario Street.  Note the cannon in Battery Park ( The triangle between Douro, Waterloo and Downie)

3:  View of the YMCA built in 1896.  It was built on the corner of the GTR Shops property so that it could be heated with steam pipes from the shops.  The GTR also encouraged their staff to be involved in athletic activities and literary pursuits.  The Y and the GTR library in the administrative building next door provided avenues for the workers to take care of their bodies and their minds.  Besides a number of unions, the workers also belonged to the GTR Association which supported these activities. 

4:  Looking north on Downie Street from the edge of Market Place behind city hall, we are treated to the wonderful streetscape that existed here and is still partially preserved.  We also see an early version of “poop and scoop”, as a city worker retrieves the evidence of horse traffic. 

5: Having proceeded across Market Place to the back of city hall, the photographer now took a picture looking south on Downie Street.  Here you see the Commercial Hotel built in the 1860s and the recently built Theatre Albert (since the 1940s called the Avon Theatre).  The building on the corner of Market Place was the first to be built on that street.  Until just a few years earlier the rest of Market Place had no buildings, only a boardwalk over an open creek.

6: This card looking south along Downie Street from the front corner of the city hall. The building at the left is the IOOF with iron construction. 

7: Another view looking south along Downie Street, this time from the north corner of Wellington Street.  Note that the Windsor Hotel ran all the way to the corner.  The end units of the ground floor were stores, including R.M. Miles.  The corner was later torn down by Woolworth’s Department Store, which in turn was torn down by Canada Trust in the 1960s.  In the 1980s, Canada Trust tore down another section of the Windsor Hotel to expand the bank. A similar fate befell the iron IOOF building next door.

8: Looking north along Downie Street from city hall.  You can clearly see the corners of Wellington and Albert Streets.  

 9:  Another view looking north along Downie Street to the post office.  On this card you can see clearly that Downie street continued down the hill to the back of the post office to Erie Street.  The post office was actually built on the street allowance between Erie and Downie streets that had been the Shakespeare Park.  In 1864, an oak was planted in Shakespeare Park as part of the celebrations of Shakespeare’s tercentenary (1564-1864).  Apparently, Stratford was the only place in North America to put on a public celebration of the bard’s 300th birthday.

11:  A wonderful view of the streetscape showing the Worth and Brandenburger blocks down to the corner of Downie.  The Worth block was a new building from 1908 with large Romanesque arches, and the Brandenburger, an older building from the 1870s.  Note the market tables set out behind city hall and the awnings over the store windows.

12:  A clear view of Market Place looking from Wellington Street toDownie Street behind city hall.  You can see the Commercial Hotel straight ahead as well as part of the New Albert Theatre.  Except for the end building, the buildings along Market Place were built in the late 1890s and early 1900s.  The Herald building was built in 1911.

16:   A wonderful view of the post office across the main corner from Erie Street.  At this time the bandshell still sat in the middle of Erie Street at

Ontario.  It was moved to the park at Cobourg and Erie to make way for the War Memorial in 1922 and remained there until after the bandshell was built in 1929.

17:    Taken just across Erie Street from the previous picture, we now lookwest toward the courthouse.  The Court House was built in 1885-87

and was the first building fitted with electrical wiring in the city.  By 1910, the city had hydro wires and telephone wires all over the

downtown as you may have noticed by the prominence of telephone/hydro posts in all of the pictures.  Note the street lamps on this post!  Also note the early automobile among the more typical horse and wagons.  There were three cars in the city in 1908.

19  Corner of Ontario and Huron Streets. Ontario Street looking east.

20: Looking at the north side of Ontario Street, part way up the first block, looking away from Huron Street. Both sides of the street contain some of the oldest brick buildings in Stratford, dating from the 1850s and 1860s. This one contains two of the same horses and wagons as the view facing the court house that we saw earlier, but the car and the other horse and buggy which were travelling on the road are now gone. Before you get to the Post Office is the building that was originally the Albion Hotel, built in 1855.  

21:  Waterloo fire station 1910 corner of Waterloo and Albert Streets. The angle of this photo is looking north from Brunswick up Waterloo Street. The Armories. Lee's laundry and the Knox church are visible in the background. Note the hay in the wagons for the horses. The Fleeland fountain can be seen in front of the station. It was moved several times ending up in the Memorial Gardens on Ontario St. For more on its story click  Freeland Dr.

22: Taken in front of the ornate Perth Mutual Insurance Co. building where Popeyes now sits. On the left corner across Ontario Street you see the Queen’s Hotel, built in 1905 to replace the earlier hotel building from 1855. On the opposite corner is Lee’s Chinese Laundry recently Features restaurant. Behind this you see the front of the Armouries also built in 1905-06, and the Fire Hall (with its tall tower) built in 1897. On the corner you can’t see is the old Knox Church which burned in 1913.  

23: We have a bit of a long walk to get to the Normal School on Queen Street at the edge of Queen’s Park, built by the province in 1908. It was the Teacher’s College until 1973, when it passed to Conestoga College. The building is the only one standing that is basically unaltered on the exterior, except for an entrance to the Festival gift shop at the back of the building. The building is also the only one which has a memorial window and a memorial area to the soldiers from the school who died in the first World War, and subsequently in the second World War. 

24: See previous photo for information. 

25: This view was taken from the roof of the back of the post office, and shows the ornamental garden designed by federal landscape architect Todd in 1904-05 when the Parks Board was first formed. This particular photo was used for the campaign poster to stop the CPR from building a railway along the Avon River that would have destroyed our park system. It is also a great picture showing a boating regatta on the river. The boathouse can just be made out behind the tree on the left. The bath house and swimming area lies at the other end of the dam. Behind this lies a factory and St. James’ Church. To the left is St. Joseph’s Church.  

26: Another view of the ornamental park looking from York Street. Here one can see how close it was to the Orr Furniture Factory . The company merged into the Canadian Furniture Company in WWI and closed about 1917 and was torn down. It soon became parkland as well. The bandstand was moved there in 1922, and the bandshell was built there in 1929.  

27: Another view of the ornamental park looking from York Street. Here one can see how close it was to the Orr Furniture Factory .The company merged into the Canadian Furniture Company in WWI and closed about 1917 and was torn down. It soon became parkland as well. The bandstand was moved there in 1922, and the bandshell was built there in 1929.  

28:  A close-up view of the same park once the two cannon had been moved there.  

29: The the top of the dam crossing over the river. The bath house is clearly seen at the other end.  

30: The bath house and the bathing area with the shallow area marked by a fence. Quite some diving platform too!  

31:   Boathouse

32:  The dam in one of its incarnations, as it was in the early 1910s.  

36: Stratford Collegiate with the first addition and the Manual Training School on either side. The buildings eventually grew together with further additions. The school was built in 1879 to replace the Grammar School on Norman Street built in 1853. The wall of the gaol would be past the Manual Training school. 

37:  A view of the flats below the collegiate. The playing fields are still in use today. 

38: Two stores at the corner of St. Vincent Street (now divided into apartments). Two delivery wagons are parked out front. 

39:  Showing house at 150 John Street with its grandiose pillars and verandah on the corner of Douglas north on John toward Huron Street. 

40: The railway bridge much as it is today, except that it now has metal safety sides. The bulwarks are not as clearly visible today due to overgrowth. 

41: The original General Hospital as built at the crest of the hill above the Avon River in 1891. By 1912 a large addition had been added to theback and a wonderful two-storey balcony . 

42:  A view of the western end of Cambria Street, looking east from near St.

43: Looking west down Cambria Street rom Church Street. 

44: Looking south on Church Street from Cambria. Note the car coming up the street. 

45: Looking north on Church Street from Cambria. Now looking at the rear of the same car after it crossed Cambria Street. 

46: Another view looking south on Church Street at St.David Street.  

47: Located on Erie Street just south of St. Patrick, the congregation was formed in 1848 and this church was built in the 1870s. It became a United Church in 1925. The building burned down in 1959 and a new church was built on Avondale Avenue in 1961.  

48: Zion Lutheran Church on Erie and St. David Streets, built in 1908. The building of the new church and the decision to join the Canada Synod, after having had a series of Missouri Synod ministers, led to the withdrawal of the Missouri supporters to form St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on Cambria Street in the same year (building 1911).  

49: We are now back where we started only on the Departure side of the GTR Union Station. Built in 1870 on Guelph Street. In 1913, this station was replaced by a new station on Shakespeare Street. Across from this station was the former Dominion House built in 1869. Another hotel sat across Downie Street, originally called the New American Hotel, but with frequent name changes in the last century and periods of closures the empty building still stands.

I do hope you enjoyed this 1912 walk-about.