Please pass along to Brian Roulston that I really enjoyed his article on Richard Springer in the June Breezes. I particularly liked the description of the terrain. I have found clam shells in my garden from when there was water here.
I love the history of the northend as much as Brian. Thank goodness for Bill Manson & Margaret Houghton & The Head-of-The Lake Historical Society & the dedication of folks like Brian.
The northend is truly a treasure chest of history. A community with both famous & infamous people & history galore!
Brian brings those people & that history to life. I still have his article – This Is Our Street – Sawyer Street – in my binder because a bygone owner of our home worked at the Sawyer-Massey plant.
Just on my block, Hughson, were William Johnson boatbuilder of The Lizzie, Charles Lee elected to city council board for St. Andrew’s ward, the Thompson Boat House family, Mahoney Ice Company, & the Jobborn family of Jobborn Manufacturing. My father was born at Macnab & Murray streets in 1913, across from The 3 Sisters or The Painted Ladies, the terrace homes that Hamilton’s famous architect James Balfour built for his daughters. I grew up on Catharine N where there is the upcoming street party/garage sale. My husband’s family lived on Bay St. N by about 1937. Behind was the Cotton Factory & next door was Mr George Halcrow who was a city alderman & then MPP for the Labour Party from 1919 to 1923.
Here we are, give or take 100 years later, in the North End, on Hughson St., in a brick Gothic Revival worker’s cottage & proudly loving every minute of it.
Pat & Larry Taggart
