Promenade Past "The Pit"

Walking around London allows me to notice places I'd never see when whizzing by in a car. And having so many hang-out spots closed due to Covid means I've been doing more walking than usual - and discovering more. 

I'd been past Old North's Doidge Park on many occasions without stopping to read this monument. Erected by the Historic Sites Committee of the Public Library Board in 2000, and christened with a speech from local heritage advocate Julia Beck, the cairn commemorates the history of this sunken basin at the southeast corner of Wellington and Cheapside. 

Two early settlers, Richard Jones Evans and John Anthistle, established lime kilns near this spot, burning deposits of limestone into lime to be used in mortar and cement. Evans, along with London lawyer David Margrave Thompson, subdivided the surrounding land into building lots in 1856. 

John's son William expanded his father's business and mined "The Pit," as it became known, for gravel, sand and cobblestones for local building. William made cement blocks and sewer pipes and laid out some of north London's first sidewalks. Many of the cobblestone-clad houses he built still stand, including his own home on nearby Cromwell Street, which dead ends just east of the park. 

During the Depression, the gravel pit was taken over by the city, which, with its usual lack of imagination, used it as a parking area for city machinery. But in 1949, local residents formed the North London Community Association and lobbied to have Anthistle's pit converted into a park and playground. Thus it became Doidge Park, named after John C. Doidge, chair of the playground committee of the PUC. The park opened in 1958 with financial help from the Kiwanis Club. 

But on a snowy winter day the park becomes the quintessential toboggan slope for children throughout the neighbourhood and beyond ...

... and if they break anything while tobogganing, there's St. Joe's Hospital in the background, ready to come to the rescue. Altogether an excellent example of what the plaque calls "reclaimed urban wasteland." The Pit is still there for the enjoyment of today's residents. 

 

Wright Lithographing in the "Good Old Days"

London Life employees pose before company headquarters ca. 1920. The building became
Wright Lithographing. (From the writer's collection.)

For the record, I don't really believe in the "good old days." The folks in the photo had spent years fighting a world war and a flu pandemic.  But these were definitely better days for the office building behind them. I'll even bet the clock worked. It was 5:00. Quitting time. But there were still a few minutes to pose for a company photo before heading home.

The building now known as Wright Lithographing was built for Sanitary Dairy in 1902 but bought by London Life in 1906 to become the company's head office. When the insurance company built its new headquarters at Wellington and Dufferin in 1927, the Wright family took over the building. It's been known as Wright Lithographing ever since. 

Nowadays though, it's not looking too good. Farhi Holdings has recently returned the old clock and lettering, removed a few years back due to vandalism. But it's still empty and boarded:

November 2021

Farhi Holdings bought the building in 2007. It's listed on the company website as available for lease but how much effort has the company made to find a tenant in the past 16 years? 

Well, in an interview earlier this year, Mr. Farhi mentions he sent the city an affordable housing proposal for the building. London apparently turned it down, stating other sites could contain more units. Apparently Farhi also had a letter of interest from a financial institution but the deal fell through. No other interest since 2007? Seems like it might be time to sell. 

The vandalism problem might go away if the building was occupied. If anyone lived or worked in it, they'd be keeping an eye out for vandals. Folks are vigilant about a building in which they have a vested interest. And in 2009, the company tore down a rear addition to make more parking space. So parking shouldn't be a big problem, either. 

Of course, one of the reasons for the high vacancy rate downtown was the vacancy tax break that owners of empty commercial buildings received up to 2019. That rebate was originally intended to assist property owners who were having trouble finding tenants during economic recessions. But it also created an incentive for landlords to leave buildings empty. 

But there are rumblings of new ideas to lower London's downtown vacancy rate, including a vacancy tax and land expropriation. The purpose is to "disincentivize" land speculation. 

And that's exactly what's going on with the Wright building, among others - land speculation. Farhi buys properties as an investment, with no specific plans for them, and holds them for future demolition and land reuse or a profitable resale. After being vacant for 16 years, I fear the future for Wright Lithographing is the former. 

Why bother with rules anyway?

Here it is: the proposed site of Auburn Developments' 17-storey "luxury" highrise. A development Auburn and some city councilors say will add vibrancy to Victoria Park and West Woodfield. On November 16, 2021, London City Council voted 8 to 5 in favour of  rezoning to allow the development.  Here's what Auburn intends to build. 

OK, the proposed highrise isn't much uglier than what's built anywhere else these days. You may like it or you may not. But those of us who oppose the rezoning are concerned about more than aesthetics. There are good reasons why a highrise shouldn't be built at this location:

* City Planning Department recommended that City Council refuse the Auburn application. Why does the city employ expert staff if the politicians won't take their advice?

* The proposed development is not consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement of 2020 which promotes intensification in appropriate locations while preserving heritage.

* The proposed development does not conform to the Official Plan of 1989.

* The proposed development is not in keeping with the policies outlined in the West Woodfield Heritage Conservation District Plan.

* The proposed development sets a precedent that may enable more highrises around Victoria Park and in other city HCDs.

* The city is developing a Victoria Park Secondary Plan to establish maximum building heights and densities around the park. The plan is not yet completed. Why should the city make zoning decisions prematurely?  

What London should do, of course, is:

1) Build highrises outside of HCDs, preferably on the downtown parking lots.

2) Allow a one-block low to mid-rise buffer zone around Victoria Park.

As I've said before, there's not much point in having guidelines if any developer can override them by pressuring City Council. Why have rules when exceptions apply to anyone who asks?

Update: May 2022:  City Council has voted to give the Victoria Park Secondary Plan the go-ahead, despite there being very little agreement about what the perimeter of Victoria Park should look like. But of one thing there can be no doubt: allowing highrises to flank the park will detract from this valuable core-area green space. 

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

How wonderful it is to live in the technologically-advanced twenty-first century, with email, texting, and instant digital communication. It's comforting to be able to contact friends and relatives on the other side of the world and receive an immediate response. Our pioneer ancestors would have appreciated the convenience, not to mention the prompt reassurance that loved ones were alive and prosperous, though they might never see them again.

And yet, there's something charming about handwritten words. For those of us who have piles of old family letters, there's nothing like curling up and perusing them. The letters my relatives saved tell me about their lives and the world in which they lived and struggled. I often feel like I know those people who died decades, even more than a century, before I was born. 

Take the letter my great, great grandmother, Jane "Jennet" Moore, wrote home to her parents in Ireland, on July 12, 1847. It was a great help for compiling our family history. Jennet writes her parents that she now has five children, William, James, Robert, Eliza Jane, and John:

Of course, family historians have lots of ways to find the names of their relatives these days. Ancestry and other genealogy websites speedily grow family trees. But it certainly saved us time to have Jennet record the names of her children. What we didn't know for many years was that she had three children after this letter was written - three more boys, in fact. That's where census records came in handy.

From the address label we learned the name of her father, James Richie, and where she came from, Larne, County of Antrim, Ireland. The postmark is for Oxford County, Upper Canada (U.C.), although the province was officially Canada West by that date. 

Jennet's return address appears at the end of her letter, informing her family that they can reply to her at Ingersollville, Oxford, Brock District, Canada West, N.A.

Whether it was common to call Ingersoll "Ingersollville" at that time or whether that was a Jennet-ism I don't know. The hamlet was not even officially a village until 1852, so perhaps she could call it whatever she liked. As for Brock District, it was created in 1839 from the London District but abolished in 1849. 

Jennet's letter home may have been prompted by news of suffering in her homeland. Since she and her husband John had left Ireland in the late 1830s, conditions there had deteriorated. In 1847, the year remembered as "Black '47," the Great Famine was at its worst. "We are sorry to hear of the distress in Ireland," Jennet writes.* "We hope that none of our friends are suffering under it. We hear bad accounts from the south of Ireland." The accounts she'd heard were correct; the west and south of Ireland were the worst hit. 

But Jennet could report that her husband had a good-paying job and she urged a relative to join them. "We had a letter from Robert Moore. He thinks of coming to this country ... he could do better here ... John has wrote to him ... John is serving a time in the iron foundry. He can do well by it. When he serves one year he can get a dollar and a half a day." (I haven't calculated that daily wage into today's currency but would be pleased to learn how.)

John and Jennet eventually moved to St. Marys where John operated an iron foundry. They died in 1895 and 1855 respectively and are buried in St. Marys. The kids mentioned in the letter grew up and did their own thing. William became Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Canada; James and Robert, my great grandfather, became hardware dealers; Eliza became an overseas missionary; John went off to South Africa. 

Robert married my great grandmother, Fanny Clarke, in 1882, but not before sending this charming love letter from his home in St. Marys to hers in Ingersoll on May 15:

"I will be glad to drive over to Woodstock with you on Sunday. You think four or five weeks a long time between my visits. I assure you I do too. I would like to go oftener but it is so inconvenient getting back & forth that it is hardly possible.

My Dear Fanny the months will soon wear by and then we will be together all the time. I will be glad when that times comes for I do love you and am sure you love me so that I expect we will be very happy together.

I have no fear of getting my eyes opened the way you speak of (jokingly of course). I believe it will be just the opposite. The more I know of you the more I will love you and I hope it will be the same with you toward me." 

Robert and Fanny were married in Ingersoll on November 9, 1882, the ceremony being performed by his brother, Rev. Will. They remained together until Robert's death in 1910, I hope as lovingly as he anticipated. They had two daughters, my grandmother, Helen, and Kathleen.

The girls, of course, became letter writers themselves, even at an early age. When Robert was away on business, he could expect an in-depth report on everything going on at home, including the activities of family pets like "Caesar" and "Jack." This letter is from his younger daughter, Kathleen, who had yet to perfect her calligraphy skills. A note at the bottom from Fanny explains that "Helen is busy reading," in case Robert wondered why there was no note from his older daughter. She did write at times, however, because we have letters from her too. 

When she was 11, in 1901, Kathleen helped herself to Papa's company letterhead to comment on the recent letter he'd sent home to his business partner, Mr. Browne. Fanny had read aloud the letter Robert had sent to "Mr. B." Here Kathleen comments on Robert's ride in one of those newfangled automobiles: "I was wishing that I was there to have a ride in a horseless carriage." Naturally! What could be more exciting to a turn-of-the-twentieth-century child? Well, maybe a glimpse of royalty. "Did you see the Duke and Duchess?" she continues. "What did they look like?"

The couple in question were the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, later King George V and Queen Mary, who visited Canada in the autumn of 1901. Their visit lasted five weeks but where Robert was so that he might have waved at them we don't know. His letter was probably returned to Mr. B.

After Robert's death in 1910, and my grandmother's marriage to my grandfather in 1911, Fanny and Kathleen decided to see Europe. Unfortunately, their timing couldn't have been worse, sailing overseas in the summer of 1914. Although they did enjoy a tour of Britain, they never made it to the Continent. In this letter of August 5, mailed to a London hotel, Helen tries to contain her panic: "Where are you and what are you doing? Have you been attacked yet or sent home or what? We hear such terrible rumors of war and I am so glad it has broken out before you got over to France. It might have been so terrible if you had got over there & couldn't get back." Only the day before, Germany had invaded Belgium and George V had declared war on Germany for its violation of Belgian neutrality. World War I was about to begin. 

We also have various letters soldiers wrote to their friend Kathleen, thanking her for the "sox" she'd knitted them, and asking after friends in Canada. There's never any mention of  battles, attacks, or the horrors of the trenches. As her friend, Elliott points out in the excerpt below, "anything interesting would not pass the censor."

But in another note from that same year, Elliott states: "Remember me to Jack and tell him I said this death or glory stuff is not what it's cracked up to be." That message was for my grandfather, Helen's husband, who was in the military but didn't leave Canada. It may be among the great understatements of all time. Perhaps it was Elliott's way of saying "Be grateful you're home."

Elliott, by the way, was Lt. Elliott Manery Durham of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, who enlisted at Sault Ste. Marie in August 1914, aged about 22. Information about him and other WWI personnel may be obtained here. 

And envelopes can be interesting too:

The letter inside this envelope is nothing remarkable, just a note from Fanny to her niece, Sadie, letting her know about her upcoming trip to Britain and hoping she and Kathleen can visit. But the letter was carried on the S. S. Empress of Ireland, a Canadian Pacific Liner that sank off the Gaspé Peninsula on May 29 of that year. The Empress took only fourteen minutes to sink after colliding with a freighter in the fog. 1,012 people drowned in the worst marine disaster in Canadian history. 

Since the ship sank in relatively shallow water and was apparently carrying about £200,000 of silver bullion, the insurance underwriters decided to conduct salvage operations. Much of the mail the ship carried was recovered, dried out and hand-stamped "Recovered by divers from wreck of S. S. Empress of Ireland." The postage stamp is missing; it would have fallen off when immersed in water. 

I don't have letters from every branch of my family, but Kathleen was one of those sentimental savers who hung on to letters, postcards, and photos. Most of them she kept in her portable writing desk. As a child, I liked to take this box off the shelf, place it on my knee and have a good rummage through it, reading the letters and looking at the old photos. 

This isn't the proper way to store archival material of course. Old letters should be placed in acid-free envelopes, archival crystal clear bags, or three-ring page protectors, all of which will keep delicate paper from being exposed to harmful dust, moisture or pollutants. In defense of my family's preservation efforts, though, I can confirm that some material, such as Jennet's letter, has indeed been removed from the desk and protected in proper archival fashion. The rest of it I need to work on ...

So the next time you're thinking about emailing someone, consider sending a handwritten letter instead. Your email may be read and forgotten, perhaps not read at all. But there's nothing like a letter delivered by "snail mail" to get people's attention. It's personal and charming. And, since it takes more time and effort, a letter or card shows you care enough about the recipient to write. 

But, best of all, if your letter is saved, future folks will learn all about you and your life in 2021. Your efforts will be appreciated by future historians, genealogists, and kids who like to "rummage." 

* I have modernized the spelling and grammar in all excerpts. 

Tombstone Tourism: Denfield (Welsh) Cemetery

There's lots of reasons for visiting cemeteries. Some people visit the graves of loved ones to honour their memories. Others find hallowed ground a source of comfort, visiting for spiritual contemplation and prayer. Genealogists look for information about deceased relatives.

Some of us just like cemeteries. 

Whether it's the silence and tranquility, the interesting grave inscriptions, or the feeling of closeness to those who walked the Earth before us, there's something emotional about older graveyards. And you can learn a lot about a community from reading the monuments raised to its founders.

Take Denfield Cemetery. It's located on the west side of Denfield Road, just south of the hamlet of Denfield in the former London Township (now part of Middlesex Centre). Without knowing anything about the history of the area, a visitor quickly deduces that many of the early Denfield settlers were Welsh, the Matthews and Rosser families being among the most prominent. Small wonder that, when a memorial service was held on site in 1934, local historian Dr. Fred Rosser was chosen to deliver the historical lecture.

But I should start at the beginning, 200 years ago in 1821. That was the year three Welsh families arrived in the district - the Matthews, the Morgans, and the Rossers - three couples with no fewer than 25 children among them. Typical for those days, the first burial was one of the little people. William Matthews, aged seven, was the first interment, in 1826. 

It was David Morgan who donated the land for the cemetery, on the northwest corner of the 15th Concession and Denfield Road. A frame Baptist church was built at the cemetery in 1841, replaced in 1854 by a brick building after a storm blew off the first structure's roof. Not surprisingly, early services were conducted in Welsh. And until a baptistery was built in the church in 1870, chilly baptisms took place in nearby Denfield Creek.

Another church building was built closer to Denfield's main intersection in 1890, presumably for convenience. If you're thinking the original building was hardly worlds away from Denfield, you're right, but the distance between concessions in horse-and-buggy days seemed farther than now. And a row of newer houses now fills the gap between the 16th and 15th concessions, so what constitutes "Denfield" has widened. The 1890 church is still standing, empty and unused.

The young Lombardo brothers are said to have played a charity concert at the church during the temperance era. Apparently Carmen Lombardo sang a song entitled "Nobody's Going to Get the Key to My Cellar" which didn't go over well with the stricter locals - until they counted the money brought in by the collection. Then all was well.*

By the twentieth century, the old cemetery was looking a little rough. In 1925, the plot owners set up an endowment fund for upkeep and that same spring the grounds were tidied and trees planted. The current fence and gate were added in 1933. Then came the the 1934 memorial service, held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Baptist congregation, founded before their actual church was built. Historian Frederick Thomas Rosser, author of The Welsh Settlement in Upper Canada and London Township Pioneers, gave a talk that day. I wouldn't be surprised if the London Free Press sent a reporter to the event but, not knowing the exact date, I haven't found a record of it yet. Hence, I can't tell you what he said.  Maybe one day.

In May 1953 the legendary tornado of that year damaged many of the older stones. The cemetery was restored as much as feasible but it was noted that many of the early monuments were deteriorating anyway. Hence, the addition of this memorial stone which commemorates little Willy Matthews as well as other pioneers, both old and young:

*A story recorded in London Township: A Rich Heritage 1796-1997 Volume I. Another source of information about this church and cemetery is "Highlights in the History of Denfield Cemetery" by W. D. E. Matthews, in Western Ontario Historical Notes, Vol. XX, No. 1, March 1964. 

A Walk Through Walkerville

If you're looking for an interesting day trip from London, Windsor might not be your first thought. But a recent excursion to Canada's Automotive Capital made for an enjoyable day out. 

Why? Most of the day was spent in Walkerville, Windsor's answer to London's own Wortley Village. That is, a heritage neighbourhood filled with older buildings that have been adapted into restaurants, antique shops, quaint boutiques, and pubs. The neighbourhood has lots of examples of architectural reuse, including a Bank of Montreal that's become a restaurant/club (left) and the old whiskey storage facility that's now Walkerville Brewery.

For those not familiar with Walkerville, it was founded by distiller Hiram Walker, producer of Canadian Club Whisky, and became a town in 1890. Walker oversaw much of this "company town" himself, even building housing for his workers. It was annexed by Windsor in 1935, by which time industry had diversified to include the automotive industry. 

Despite its incorporation into a larger city, Walkerville has a small town feel. Its main thoroughfare is Wyandotte Street, filled with thriving independent businesses that manage to feel old-fashioned and hip at the same time. My friend and I had lunch was on the patio of The Kildare House, an Irish-style pub filled with lovely dark woodwork. I also need to recommend Biblioasis, not only because they're my publisher, but because what's a fun neighbourhood without a good indie bookstore? 

After lunch, a walk through some of the side streets led to some magnificent old houses like Willistead (right), home of Hiram's second son Edward.  The mansion, designed by Detroit  architect Albert Kahn in the 16th-century Tudor style, was built 1904-06, and really looks like a piece of Old England transferred into Canada's southernmost city. The Windsor municipal government wanted to tear it down in the 1970s but, fortunately, wiser heads prevailed and this 36-room mansion is now a banquet hall surrounded by Willistead Park. 

Surrounding Willistead are other lovely houses, including more designed by Kahn, all nestled among tall trees providing much needed shade for an afternoon walk in July. Altogether, Walkerville contains Windsor's largest concentration of heritage homes, so it's the perfect neighbourhood for architectural buffs to ooooh and aaaah over. The homes are well-preserved, displaying obvious pride of ownership. I think I might have seen one or two B&Bs, something to keep in mind if I decide my next trip needs to be more than a day.  

The only ambiance spoiler, while dining outside on Wyandotte, was the noise from the non-stop trucks headed for the US border tunnel. By non-stop I mean about a hundred transports an hour. My friend, originally from Windsor, assured me it's been like that for decades. My first thought was that all these trucks should be rerouted so I can hear myself think. Unfortunately, Windsor has very few other routes for the truck drivers to take. When  the tunnel was built in 1930, city planners wouldn't have imagined the number of trucks there'd be in the future.

So there you have it. A unique, fascinating - albeit noisy - heritage hotspot within a two-hour drive, recommended by Jenny. Here's to the town Hiram built! 

  

Sign up for a tour of Labatt Park, the World's Oldest Baseball Grounds

 

Labatt Park, the world's oldest continuously used baseball grounds, is finally receiving the promotion it deserves. I say "finally" because, despite owning the park since 1936, the City of London hasn't done much to boost its fame. But this summer, Tourism London is providing tours of the park, which has brand new interpretive signs as well as historical displays in the Roy McKay Clubhouse. You can book your tour here.

Some readers don't need to be told. You're already fans of baseball and Labatt Park. You enjoy the leisurely pace of the game, the fun of keeping a scorecard, the quoting of statistics. You love evening games, sitting in the grandstand under a dark, moonlit sky, the lights of downtown London shining across the River Thames. You also enjoy sitting in the stands on a bright summer day sipping a cold beer, cheering the crack of the bat. 

For others it's like watching paint dry. You may not be into spectator sports at all. 

Even if you're not into baseball, though, Labatt Park is still of interest to everyone interested in London history. Or women's history. Or black history. Some of the new signs illustrate why:

Signboard images courtesy of Tourism London.

The sign above illustrates how the floods of 1883 and 1937 were devastating to Labatt Park as well as the rest of downtown London. The 1883 flood destroyed the original grandstand. The Flood of '37 damaged the park again, necessitating the building of the park's third grandstand and a new clubhouse. 

During the first half of the 20th century, Labatt Park was visited by various Negro League teams from the US. Famed pitcher Satchell Paige visited in 1954 while touring with a baseball version of the Harlem Globetrotters. After Jackie Robinson broke the "colour barrier" in 1947, players formerly in the Negro Leagues, like Ted Alexander, played in the Intercounty Baseball League. 

During World War II, Labatt Park was the home field for several women's baseball, softball and fastball teams, including the London Supremes who played in the Michigan-Ontario Women's Fastball League right into the 1950s. It's like A League of Their Own right here in London. At left on the above sign is Marion Clark Knowles, pitching for the London Supremes. 

Courtesy of Stephen Harding

Information on the above topics and more can also be found inside the Roy McKay Clubhouse (right) which has been turned into a museum space. Shown here are displays about the Supremes, the PUC Playground Olympics, and the famous London Tecumsehs. The Tecumsehs, created in 1868, were named after their patron, the Tecumseh House Hotel that once stood at York and Richmond streets. One of their players was Fred Goldsmith, probably the inventor of the curve ball as this book explains. In 1877, the Tecumsehs became international champions by defeating the Pittsburgh Alleghenies 5-2 to win the International Baseball Association championship. Before it was Labatt Park, the diamond was Tecumseh Park. 

Courtesy of Tourism London

You never know who'll drop by while you're in the clubhouse. Here Barry Moore, 97, poses with a display of his own uniform, glove, and spikes. Mr. Moore, a retired teacher and minister, also found time to be a pitcher for the London Army team of the Intercounty Baseball League. The jerseys  in the background represent London Majors players who enjoyed exceptional careers during the team's 96-year history. Also on display are the jerseys of Londoners who have been inducted in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys.

Today, of course, Labatt Park is home to the London Majors of the Intercounty Baseball League. More information about the team and former players can be found here. Founded in 1925, the Majors are getting pretty historic themselves. 

Let's Play Ball!