The pride of Mountain Town: Guelph's standpipe of 1909

Because they were souvenirs, old postcards of Guelph (like many other towns) put churches, train stations, public buildings, and beauty spots at the centre of attention. However, it is sometimes interesting to peruse the periphery of these images. There may lie items that were not deemed of interest to casual shoppers but are of interest in the city's history.

Consider the image below, from a postcard printed for Charles Nelles around 1910.

This picture was taken from the Central School and looks towards St. George's Square. A number of buildings still present today are visible in it, such as Knox Church, Chalmers Church (now Royal City Church), St. George's Church, and the Wellington Hotel.

Scan the horizon on the right and an unfamiliar cylinder appears on the brow of what was then called Horsman's Hill in the St. George's Park neighborhood. This was the Royal City's first standpipe, then the tallest item in town. At the time when the photograph was taken, the standpipe was very new, a highly visible symbol of the city's progress and, according to its admirers, the pride of Mountain Town.

In this case, a standpipe is a cylindrical tower used as a water reservoir. Guelph acquired one because it was experiencing trouble delivering water to its residents, businesses, and fire fighters—a perennial problem for modern cities.

From its early days, Guelph's central water supply system consisted of an iron hand pump. This "town pump" was located at the corner of Wilson and Carden streets, and had four sweeping handles that could be cranked manually to produce water from a well. To fight fires, water was pumped from such fixtures into a tank incorporated into a horse-drawn fire truck.

As the town grew and fire posed a greater threat to life and property, such a system was found inadequate. Schemes to provide centralized water distribution through pipes were proposed as early as Confederation but design and construction of a waterworks began in 1879, the year Guelph became Ontario's ninth city and acquired the moniker "The Royal City." A pumping station was erected along the Eramosa River and ten miles of pipe had been laid by the end of 1880.

As time went on, shortcomings of the system became more acute. Water drawn from the Eramosa river could be discoloured at times. Tests revealed "colon bacilli" in the water. As more residents, businesses, and services joined the system, its capacity became inadequate. Also, changes in pressure from the pumps damaged the pipes, resulting in leaks and breakages.

A standpipe helps to deal with problems of variations of pressure. Instead of feeding water to the system directly from a pump, which causes a surge whenever the pump is turned on and then a subsidence when it is turned off, a standpipe provides constant pressure as water can flow steadily downhill through the system from its fixed, elevated reservoir.

In 1907, the City set up a Water Commission to recommend changes to the system. The Commission advocated the idea of bringing clean water to town from springs at Arkell in Puslinch. The City adopted this plan, bought about 70 acres (about 28 hectares) in Arkell and had a pipeline laid to bring spring water to Guelph.

The standpipe was built to deliver the water in abundance and at an even pressure. Naturally, the structure had to occupy a high point in town and near the waterworks, so Horsman's Hill was an obvious choice. A special section of the Evening Mercury (13 March 1909) provided a gushing account of the new system, including the Royal City's outstanding new cylinder.

("The Stand Pipe", Evening Mercury, 13 March 1905.)

The enormity of this towering achievement is described in every way possible. It is said to be the largest standpipe in Canada at the time, of prodigious proportions:

The standpipe is thirty feet in diameter and 100 feet from base to top. An iron ladder runs perpendicularly up its south side to an iron platform and railing which encircles it near the top. The capacity is 500,000 gallons.
...
The base is of concrete. The first two rings are of 13/16 inch steel plates and these gradually decrease in the ascent to 3/8 inch. The structure itself with base, with water, when full, weighs 3,200 tons.
...
The work on the foundation for the standpipe was started on June 1st, and was satisfactorily completed within eleven days. A staff of fifteen men were employed on this contract. The foundation is 32 feet square and is 7 feet thick, and its immense strength can be judged by the tremendous weight that it must uphold. The excavation amounted to 428 cubic yards.

The amount and uniformity of the water pressure delivered are also spelled out in detail:

When it is full it gives 43 pounds pressure at the base. At the post office it gives 75 lbs. pressure when full. There is 50 lbs. pressure on the ground floor of the General Hospital. Pumping direct it is possible to give as high as 140 lbs. pressure at the Hospital. At other points in the city, of course, there are different degrees of pressure, according to the elevation. The load is always the same. The latter does not vary more than two pounds in the 24 hours. With the old pumps, the pressure varied from 45 to 110 pounds. So long as the standpipe is full there will be exactly the same pressure at a given point, whether one or ten streams are being drawn from it.

The system was also admirably suited to the demands of fire fighting in 1909:

The fire underwriters standard stream requires that a 1 ½ inch nozzle at the end of a single line of hose 250 feet long, will discharge 500,000 imperial gallons in 24 hours, with 80 lbs. pressure at the nozzle. That equals 200 gallons per minute. The fire underwriters call for ten standard streams the same as this for a town the size of Guelph. Such, then, is the capacity of the pump that the department can run 50 per cent, overload, or 4 ½ million gallons per 24 hours, in addition to having ½ million gals. in standpipe.

Residents of the Royal City could be forgiven for beaming with joy when they saw this new monument to progress overlooking their fair city, on the brow of "Mountain Town," opposite the Central School and the Church of Our Lady.

The standpipe appears in other postcards as well, though always in the background. Perhaps the best image is in the real-photo postcard below, with the standpipe looming behind a house on the Speed River, ca. 1910.

The message on the back of the card adds:

Xmas Greetings
Minnie & girls on River Bank on our lawn 34 Queen Street Guelph

That address is now 34 Arthur street N. Built in 1866 for Robert Melvin, who was Mayor of Guelph 1875–1876, the house was originally called Calderwood (Partridge 1992, p. 16). The name "River Bank" is very suitable, as it sits on the bank of the Speed directly opposite the onetime location of the Priory.

One hopes that the residents of River Bank appreciated the chance to live in the impressive shadow of the giant new standpipe.

The standpipe appears in the background of another postcard, printed by the F.H. Leslie Co. of Niagara Falls around 1935.

In the foreground is the house where Guelph's early musical celebrity Laura Lemon was born. In the background is the great standpipe.

The standpipe was located in the space between Grove street and Prospect avenue, in behind the current location of Hillcrest Park. In the map below, its approximate location and footprint is represented by the big black circle.

In 1968, the city waterworks were updated and the mighty standpipe removed. Yet, its sizable silhouette still lurks in old photos and postcards of the Royal City, where it stood ready to deliver fresh water for nearly 60 years.

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Good sources of the early history of Guelph's Waterworks can be found in these issues of the Guelph Mercury:

• 13 March 1909, "Water works section," pp. 11–16.
  
• 20 July 1927, "Town pump yields place to modern electric equipment," p. 6.32.
  

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On the name "Mountain Town" for the St. George's Park area, Ross Irwin (2008, p. 2) explains:

In 1829, John McDonald, PLS, the Canada Company surveyor of part of the township, acquired 186 acres east of the River Speed bounded by Metcalfe Street, Eramosa Road, Grange Street, and Budd Street. It was named "Mountain town".

Though the height of the drumlin on which the St. George's Park area sits is considerable, the term "mountain" does seem like an overstatement, of the sort usual with real estate developers. The name was very rarely applied, that I am aware of, though it is interesting that it persisted long enough to appear in the Mercury in 1909.

Personalizing postcards: X marks the spot

Picture postcards were introduced in the Edwardian era as souvenirs and as collectors items. Yet, as often happens with popular products, consumers soon found new uses for these cards. In particular, postcards often showed images of significant local buildings, such as churches, court houses, and schools. In Guelph, many postcards showed images of the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) and the Macdonald Institute and Hall. These cards could be sent away to show off Guelph's interesting structures or to please collectors of images in those categories.

However, postcards could also be modified to convey extra information relevant to the sender and the addressee. Anyone who collects Guelph postcards will soon notice that more than a few are marked by their senders with an "X" at a place of special significance. For example, consider the following card of the then-new Macdonald Institute and Hall, produced by Charles Nelles:

The sender, Miss Margaret Smith, has put an "X" beside a third-storey room in the middle of the top picture with the notation, "X is my room" underneath. Beside the pictures, in her meticulous handwriting, Margaret adds, "My address is Macdonald Hall, Guelph." On the reverse, she writes:

Dear Uncle:—This is a picture of our home and school. Hope you are all well, poor Carolyn is having sick time in Toronto. Lovingly, Margaret Smith.

The postmark shows that the card was mailed on 30 May 1906.

Of course, the modification is a simple one. Still, it changes what was a generic image meant for mass consumption into a personal representation, specially meaningful to Margaret and her uncle at an important time. Her stay at the Macdonald Institute may well have been Margaret's first prolonged time away from home, in a place where she would learn how to run a household of her own.

Besides their accommodations, young women at the Institute used postcards to indicate where they conducted their studies. The card below is typical:

Three Xs hover determinedly over rooms of the building. On the back, their significance is explained in the accompanying message:

Dear Auntie,—I am feeling fine and we all are. The places which I have marked are the places where we have domestic science. G.B. from G.H.

No doubt, the postcard was selected because it provided a vantage of the rooms G.B. had her classes in. It was sent in 24 Feb 1908.

The young men at the OAC were no less interested in communicating where they lived and worked on campus. One student, whose initials appear to be CTA, sent this card to his friend Keith to keep him up on current events.

In the message, we learn about the writer's academic progress and his attitude towards marriage:

O.A.C. 30/14 // Dear Keith—Mighty glad to get your card. better use multiplication table & make it a letter. I pulled turnips about as big around as a foot ball one afternoon this week. Haven’t got my false head yet. Have been doing lots of studying lately. Hear Bert Milliken is married also Russ. Feel awful sorry for them. CTA (??) I live in room X.

Careful examination of the picture shows an "X" in the third-storey window just to the left of the central mass of the Main Building (since replaced by Johnston Hall). The card is postmarked 30 October 1914.

As did the young women of the Institute, the young men of the OAC used postcards to show where they did their learning. In the card below, young R. Harris shows his Auntie Alice where he takes his dairy classes:

Four windows on the upper floor are marked with Xs while four below are marked with asterisks, as R. explains:

Dairy School 13/2/08 // Dear Aunt. // Your card received & here is one in return. I wish I could get some more pictures of the Dairy Buildings. This is the Main building with Dairy Class room up stairs with X on windows. Creamery & Butter Making Dept. downstairs marked "*" on windows. Hope you are both well. R. Harris

The Dairy Department had several structures on campus of which this "Dairy Building" was the main one (since demolished). It was indeed the only dairy edifice to be shown on commercial postcards of the era. The postcard was postmarked on 14 February 1908.

Other buildings were occasionally marked with Xs by their occupants. For example, N.N. sent a postcard of the new Macdonald Consolidated School to Miss Barbour of St. Marys, Ontario:

Instead of Xs, N.N. has used brackets and "My room" to indicate the first-floor classroom south of the main entrance, facing out onto Dundas Road (now Gordon Street). The Consolidated School was part of an attempt to improve rural education, sponsored by Sir William Macdonald, by concentrating rural students to central locations where they would have access to better facilities and teachers than were usually available in one-room schools. Assuming N.N. is a girl, she would have learned skills in cooking, sewing, nursing, and gardening in addition to the three Rs. Her room also had an excellent view of the lane next to the school where the vans would gather after class to take the children home. The card was postmarked on 18 November 1907.

Postcards of the OAC and Macdonald Institute are the ones most frequently modified in this way by consumers. This is likely because these institutions had a high turnover of occupants, many of whom wanted to inform their friends and relations about where they were off to school. However, postcards of other places were sometimes given similar treatment. For example, here is a postcard of the Opera House block in which Xs flag a couple of places of business.

The message explains:

Aug. 31/12 Hello Nellie:—This is where I am spending the holiday. Received your kind letter and will answer when I get back. The places marked x are my brother-in-law’s stores. Hope you are keeping fruit (??). Will

Interestingly, the Xs point to the Opera House Pharmacy, operated by Frederick Bogardus, the subject of an earlier blog post. The postcard was postmarked on 31 August 1912.

Since Frederick Bogardus was Will's brother-in-law, we can identify him as Wilfred Henry Hill, brother of Ada Maude Hill, who married Bogardus in 1910. Unfortunately, I have little further information about Mr. Hill to share. I hope he enjoyed spending Labour Day in Guelph!

Picture postcards could seem quite impersonal, the mass-produced ones being generic and disposable. However, people found ways to make these items more personal, such as marking Xs to designate places that were in some way special to them. Among Guelph postcards, these were often cards of the OAC and Macdonald Institute, which the young men and women, newly arrived in Guelph, would mark up to communicate some of the excitement to their friends and relations back home. When looking at old postcards, it is worth paying attention to these little signs for the glimpse they offer into the personal lives of those who put them to use.

Guelph's postcard producers: Chas. L. Nelles

Anyone who has looked at many postcards of Guelph from the Edwardian era will be familiar with this caption:

Dozens of Guelph postcards of that era bear the imprimatur of Charles Lonsdale Nelles of Guelph. Some of my own favorites were produced by Nelles and sold in his bookstore. Among Guelph's vendors of mass-produced postcards, only Nelles had his name displayed prominently on the front of each one. From this, you might conclude that Nelles took special pride in his cards and that he took the photographs himself. However, the truth is somewhat more nuanced, as it often is.

Charles Lonsdale Nelles was born on 16 November 1867 in York, Haldimand County, third of eight children of John A. Nelles and Caroline Nelles (née Turner). In 1878, the Nelles family moved to Guelph and bought out John Anderson's book store there (Mercury, 25 July 1904).

It did not take long for young Charles to find trouble. He threw a stone at a locomotive from an abutment of Allan's bridge, which flew through a window pane and struck engineer Nigh on the cheek (Mercury, 15 August 1879). Nelles ran away, telling the other boys present that his name was "Smith." The subterfuge was unsuccessful—Nelles was nabbed by police chief McMillan and brought to police court. Mayor Howard was satisfied that the act was not malicious and Nelles' father offered to pay for the damage. Charles was let go.

The next winter, young Nelles had a skating accident while playing "crack the whip" on a rink (Mercury, 21 February 1880). He was flung into a rope and fell backwards to the ice on his head. Despite this injury, a few days of bed rest seemed to restore the lad.

In 1889, young Charles left town for Chicago to "push his fortunes" (Mercury, 20 July 1927). Quite what he did there is not clear. However, he was back in town to take over his father's store in 1891. In its special section on Guelph the following year, the Toronto Globe described Nelles' business as follows (6 August 1892):

Charles L. Nelles, the leading book-seller and stationer, has been in business a little over a year, having bought the well-known and old-established business of his father, Mr. J.A. Nelles. The City Book Store, as it is familiarly called, is very centrally located opposite the post-office, and is one of the prettiest and neatest that can be found, besides carrying a very extensive and complete stock of books and stationery, wall paper and fancy goods.
The first floor is filled from the ceiling down with the newest and finest lines in books and stationery, while the second storey is used as a showroom for carriages, toys, wall paper, etc., and everywhere the most complete appointments for displaying goods will be found.
They make a special line of novels, magazines, etc., and travelers will always find the latest American, Canadian and English publications on hand. Last, but not least, Chas. A. Nelles gives every one a hearty welcome at all times to the City Book Store, Guelph.

From this description, we get an idea of what goods a bookstore of the era carried.

In fact, an illustrated map of Guelph from around 1900 provides a lively drawing of the City Book Store, with C. Nelles as proprietor:

(Courtesy of Guelph Civic Museums, 2012.29.1)

Today, this is the site of Royal Gold Jewelry in St. George's Square. Compare with this image from Google Street View:

The building now has "Skyline" rather than "WALL PAPER" on the roof.

On 15 September 1898, Nelles married Alice Mary Pipe, daughter of Dr. William Pipe, who had been the first mayor of the town of Berlin, now Kitchener. They were married in St. James' Anglican Church on Paisley Street, in what was regarded as a "fashionable wedding."

The following year, Nelles moved his business to bigger digs at 101 Wyndham Street, now the location of Vicane's maternal clothing store, seen in the Google Street View image below.

A view of the interior of this store, as seen from the back, was printed in the June 1906 edition of Bookseller and Stationer magazine (p. 22).

Having married and managed a successful business, Charles Nelles became a respected Guelph merchant, and well-placed to respond to the imminent postcard mania.

Happily, Nelles was an active member of his trade. He was an officer of the Booksellers and Stationer's Association, even its president in 1907. He wrote many letters to Bookseller and Stationer, the trade magazine, from which we can learn much about his views on the trade and about postcards in particular.

Nelles makes mention of postcards in the January 1904 edition, reflecting on the previous year and looking ahead to 1904 (v. 20, n. 1, p. 12):

Calendars and cards had as great a sale as ever and the annuals were even better than usual, for which we are very thankful. I had a nice range of private postal cards with Guelph views made up in November, comprising 12 in the series. The sale of these reached nearly 3,000 for the December month and were considered just the thing to send to friends abroad.

The marked Nelles postcard with the earliest date I know of is the following one, entitled simply "View in Guelph, Ontario" (24 May 1904):

It is a view of Eramosa Road taken from the top of the Wellington Hotel. The card is of the old type, with a space for the message on the front, which is "Here today, JBS" in this case. The back of the card was reserved for the recipient's address exclusively. A set of similar views of roads and significant buildings were sold until (and including) 1906.

In March 1906, Nelles made the following assessment to his trade in postcards in Guelph (Book and Stationer, v. 22, n. 3. p. 10):

The post card business has reached its limit, in fact it did that a year ago, and now it is more of a staple line than a novelty. The sale was created from the album business and the rivalry of procuring the greatest number of different cards from all parts of the world, but it has become so cheap and extensive that the collecting has become tiresome and the number so great that they are too common.
As far as our business is concerned, they will always be kept for transient use, this being the easier way of reminding those at home of your whereabouts, but we do not expect the volume of trade we had last season, and within a short time it will be restricted to local views and cards for the seasons such as Valentines and Christmas ones.
Four or five years ago we put up our own cards. Special photos were taken, half-tones made, cards cut from cream Bristol boards and printed by local men. These we sold in thousands until the Canadian manufacturers got the craze, and now we have special views put up by them. The sale last year would be from 20 to 30 thousand in my store. We also have an exclusive book of Guelph views made up by the Albertype Company, Brooklyn, and which retails for fifty cents. Of these we sold 900 in three months.
Do not think I am pessimistic and that the post card business is finished, as it is not, but I consider that it has reached its highest point. Besides, the cheap comic lines, some of which are too nasty, have helped considerably to bring down the tone of the whole line, and also to reduce the price. At present I have an order in for twelve thousand, which goes to prove that I am not yet quite out of it.

Here, Nelles describes the initial phase of the picture postcard craze, in 1901 and 1902, in which vendors sold homebrew cards. Subsequently, this business was taken over by bigger printers in larger centers, who could supply cards in larger volumes at cheaper prices.

Nelles also remarks that the postcard collecting phase reached its peak in 1905. That is, saturation of the postcard market then overwhelmed many people who set about collecting whole sets of cards. In fact, postcard collecting became more focussed, with people collecting around particular themes, e.g., postcards of train stations, bridges, or places like Guelph.

Besides collecting, picture postcards found a niche as a quick and inexpensive means of rapid communication—"transient use," as Nelles calls it. Priced at a few cents and mailed for a one-cent stamp, postcards were delivered quickly by the post office. Mobile post offices in train cars processed them as trains went from one town to the next. People could count on next-day (or sometimes same-day!) delivery in many cases. Postcards were used in a way reminiscent of text messages today.

Nelles also mentions a book of postcard pictures made up by the Albertype Company of Brooklyn. The book is also mentioned in the Mercury (13 Sep. 1905):

A copy of the new Souvenir Book of Guelph has been presented to the Mercury by Chas. L. Nelles, who deserves great credit for his enterprise in putting such a splendid production on the market. The cover of the book is very artistic, and the views, to the number of fifty, have been taken this summer, and are the best that have ever been shown. It comes in a cardboard box, ready for mailing, and every citizen should send them broadcast throughout the world. The price is only fifty cents, and they are for sale at all the bookstores...

Copies of this book are held in local museums and archives today.

The introduction to this book credits the photos to one J.E. Runions of Cornwall, Ontario. So, it appears that Nelles was not one who took the pictures in his postcards. In fact, it was common practice for postcard producers to contract with professional photographers to take the pictures and arrange them for publication.

The remarks above were also the last ones that Nelles made about postcards in the Bookseller and Stationer that I have been able to find. It seems that Nelles was not a postcard enthusiast but rather a businessman who regarded them simply as something in his line of trade that it would be profitable to sell. And sell them he did! I have seen postcards with Nelles' name on them postmarked as late as 1924.

Many of Nelles' cards are notable for the window that they provide on Edwardian Guelph, and the quality of Mr. Runion's photography. Here are a few:

This card offers two views, one of the Carnegie Library and the other of Exhibition Park. It is also hand-colored, as noted in the bottom, right corner. It is a divided-back card, having separate spaces on the back for a message and an address, thus making it possible to fill up the front with an image. It was simple to take advantage of this new format, only recently permitted by regulation, simply by inserting two half-pictures from older cards.

This card is a favorite! It gives a fine view of Jubilee Park, facing City Hall, before the Park was replaced by the new Grand Trunk station. Here, the City Hall is seen with its old clock tower, the Church of Our Lady has yet to acquire its towers, and Northumberland Street still connects with Norfolk Street instead of ending at a pedestrian overpass.

The card is exceptional in the sense that it provides a good view of the citizens of Guelph, at their leisure, instead of a just a seemingly deserted building.

This card is notable both for the newly renovated Post Office, featuring its third floor but before the clock was installed, and the decorative frame. The frame is a standard Christmas motif into which scenes from any place could be set for quick sale in the holiday season. This card is postmarked at 22 December 1904. It shows that Nelles continued his practice from 1903 of stocking special cards for the Christmas trade.

With the advent of the Great War, Nelles appears to have stopped selling postcards, perhaps entirely. In 1920, a new line of cards appears, such as the view above. It displays the Wellington Hotel and Opera House in the middle ground, with the Church of Our Lady and the old Central School behind, as seen from Queen Street. These cards were printed in England and had a nice, glossy finish and a raised frame around the photo. Very classy! I have found cards from this line dated as late as 1924. At that point, it appears that Nelles got out of the postcard business.

Nelles did have a brief flirtation with banking. In January 1907, he took the job of manager of the Metropolitan Bank in St. George's Square and put his bookstore up for sale. However, in spite of receiving about 100 offers, he was unable to complete the sale on account of the "stringency" of the money market at the time (Mercury, 7 Feb. 1908). Nelles found it too difficult to manage both his bookstore and the bank. In February 1908, he resigned as bank manager and resumed his former profession full-time.

In September 1920, his bookstore was damaged by fire to the tune of $10,000. However, he evidently carried enough insurance and managed to re-open it the next month, fully renovated and re-stocked (Mercury, 7 Oct 1920).

Ever active in his trade, Nelles became the first President of the Booksellers' and Stationers' Association of Canada when it was re-formed in 1921. A portrait of him appears in Booksellers and Stationers magazine (May 1921, v. 7, n. 35, p. 31).

Nelles was highly involved in local affairs. He was a founder of St. James's Anglican parish in Guelph, serving as a church warden. He was an officer of the successful Victorias hockey club of 1897, President of Guelph's Fat Stock Club, and a member of the commission that renovated Woodlawn Cemetery, among many other things.

In 1920, the Nelles family moved into "Hadden Cottage" at 83 Paisley Street, a lovely home that is a designated heritage structure today.

In 1927, he was appointed Registrar of Deeds for Wellington County South. This appointment seems to have marked his retirement from business.

On 3 April 1939, Charles's wife Alice died at home. Charles, who was seriously ill at the time, passed away 36 hours later in the General Hospital (Mercury, 5 April 1939). They are buried together in Woodlawn Cemetery.

The couple had no children. However, Charles Nelles is remembered today among local postcard enthusiasts for the many exceptional pictures of Guelph that he sold in his store over a century ago. Look for the "Chas. L. Nelles" at the bottom of the card!

Old Home Week, 1913 - the preparations

One hundred years ago, one of the biggest occasions for the city of Guelph was Old Home Week. Old Home Week was a celebration in which former residents of Guelph were invited to return to the city to join in festivities arranged in their honour by residents. The custom originated in New England in the late 19th Century when Frank Rollins, a successful entrepreneur in Boston, returned to his native New Hampshire to run for governor. After his election, he decided that many former residents of the state shared his nostalgia for it, and arranged a homecoming for them in 1899. The event was so well received that the idea spread to neighbouring states and provinces, giving rise to many Old Home Weeks and Old Home Days (Daniell 2000, pp. 356-357). Guelph held its first Old Home Week in 1908 and, since it was such a hit, residents decided to do it again in 1913.

In 1913, Old Home Week (also known as "Old Boys Reunion" to some) took place during the last week of July, that is, Sunday July 27 through Saturday August 2. Many of the stationary stores in the city did a brisk business in postcards among other items during that stretch, as visitors wanted to share their experiences with folks who did not attend. One such postcard is shown here:

This postcard was published by The International Stationary Co., Picton, Canada, my favourite source for photos of Edwardian Guelph. It shows three ladies enjoying a leisurely row on the river. I am not sure where the photo was taken, but the growth suggests a more rural area, perhaps even the Eramosa River near Victoria Landing, where there was a boating club.

In any event, the postcard is postmarked on August 1, 1913 and has a special cancellation stamp made up for the occasion, as you can see in the upper right corner on the back of the card.

The cancellation stamp says, "Guelph’s Old Home Week 1913 July 28 Aug 2". According to the Canadian Philatelic Society of Great Britain, these "slogan cancellations" became a popular device in 1912, and remained so for a number of years.

The message on the back of the postcard is of the usual having-a-good-time variety, apparently referring to the celebrations in town:

Well I suppose you are going on your trip. Hope you have a good time. I am just having a great time. Love to all the girls. Nita

Interestingly, I have another postcard addressed to Miss Ida Fissette in my collection, dated in 1908 and addressed to her in Simcoe.

Preparations for the event were extensive and expectations were high. On July 4, the Mercury reported that the executive committee had met and felt enthusiastic about the prospects for the event...

... and expressed the hope that every citizen would take right hold and make the reunion a great advertisement for the city as well as a time of pleasure in the meeting of old friends...

In modern terms, then, the party was not just for old time's sake but to burnish the brand of Guelph in the region. To this end, the committee had made special arrangements at the "Toronto end", which go unexplained. I assume they made a special effort to get former Guelphites from Toronto to make the trip. However, I can find no mention of Guelph's Old Home Week in the Toronto Star or the Globe.

The Mercury also makes special note of the hot weather, which persisted through the month.

Soon, city businesses began to advertise special sales for the event. On July 16, Charles Nelles (who happened to be the treasurer of the executive committee) began to advertise decorations, namely flags and "Chinese lanterns". I suspect the latter term refers to paper lanterns in the form of a ball and illuminated by an electric light. On July 21, George E. B. Grinyer advises his patrons to "Have your electrical decorations done early: We can do your work at once; next week, we'll be busy". Nelles had a stationary and wallpaper store at 101 Wyndham St., while Grinyer had a plumbing, heating, electricians and tinsmith (sheet metal) business at 124-126 Wyndham. It seems that the festivities would be well lit!

On July 24, G. Anderson & Co. advertised "A good supply of flags, tissue paper, pennants, canes, etc." In the daytime, without the benefit of electric lighting, the town spirit would depend upon flags waving and bunting twisting in the winds. Charles Anderson had a book, stationary, china, and fancy goods store at 53 Wyndham (phone 256).

As great as all this sounds, my favourite ads are those of D. E. Macdonald & Bros. The Macdonald family—Donald, Evan, Florence (not a brother, I assume), Norman, and William—had a dry goods, clothing and "mens furnishing" store at 1-9 Wyndham, and were determined to help Guelphites do it in style. Here is their ad from July 21.

That ad emphasizes the decoration needed to prepare properly for the event. The following ad, published in the Mercury during Old Home Week, emphasizes the accoutrements needed to properly enjoy it.

A straw boater and cane, or a parasol, and you're all set!

Some visitors started to arrive early in order to take full advantage. The "City News" column of the Mercury on July 22 notes the following arrival:

For Old Home Week.

Mr. J. M. Ogilvie and Mrs. Ogilvie and family motored up to the "Old Burg" for Mr. Ogilvie's vacation. They will be here for two weeks, for as Mr. Ogilvie says, "We wouldn't miss a Guelph Old Boy's Reunion for anything. That's why I got my holiday right now."

Mr. Ogilvie's arrival raises two issues regarding Old Home Week. The first is the importance of the "motor" or automobile to it. Cars were assuming an ever greater role in personal mobility, especially with the relatively inexpensive Ford Model T on the market since 1908. As we will see, cars also assumed a formal role in Old Home Week itself.

Second, the issue of how the event would affect local businesses was much discussed as July 28 approached. Clearly, goods and services vendors downtown were elated. However, factory owners were not so enthused. On July 24, Mayor Samuel Carter suggested to the city council that the August Civic Holiday—that would fall on the first Monday in August, right after Old Home Week—should be either cancelled or moved earlier to within the Week itself:

[Factory owners] claim that in all probability they will have to close down during Old Home Week, and that they cannot afford to close down again on the Monday following.

The Trades and Labor Council and the Executive Committee of Old Home Week met to discuss the matter and recommended that the Civic Holiday be moved to Tuesday, July 29, during Old Home Week. An editorial in the Mercury (July 25) inveighed against the change for the following reasons:

• The date of the Civic Holiday was set by a by-law, which probably could not be amended in time;
  
• The railways give special rates on that day and would not change the date at the last minute. Thus, Guelphites would be deprived of their chance at affordable train travel for holiday making;
  
• Stores in town would have to close on Tuesday, taking away a great deal of business and inconveniencing attendees.
  

There are no indications that I can find that the Civic Holiday was moved.

With all obstacles removed and preparations made, it was time for the celebrations to begin...