Speedwell stations: The Prison Farm's forgotten train stops

Some time ago, Bob Keleher kindly loaned me what remained of his father's—Jim Keleher—postcard collection, which was quite extensive. Among the many cards of note was a real-photo postcard with the label, "Guelph Hospital, D.S.C.R., March 1919" written in pencil on the back.

("Guelph Hospital, D.S.C.R., March 1919," real photo postcard. Courtesy of the Jim Keleher collection.)

My first thought was that this notation was rather mysterious: There is certainly no hospital depicted in the image. "D.S.C.R." meant nothing to me at that point. So, I filed the image away with a mental note to revisit it sometime later.

I came across it again recently. Having become better acquainted with the Guelph scene of the early 20th century in the meantime, I recognized what I was looking at. It is a view taken from the concrete bridge over the Eramosa River at the Speedwell train station, or stations. The D.S.C.R. stands for "Department of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment," the governemnt agency in charge of demobilizating soldiers from the Great War. They ran the Speedwell Hospital, a facility to help returned soldiers to recuperate and prepare for civilian life once more, that was formerly the "Prison Farm" or, later, the Ontario Reformatory.

This image is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it depicts the Speedwell train stations, which is the first pictures of them that I have seen. The careful viewer will observe that there are several structures in view on the left side of the picture. The closest one is, I believe, the station built by the Toronto Suburban Railway (TSR), a private railway that provided a regular, electrified streetcar service between Toronto and Guelph (as one of its several routes). The line opened in 1917 and ran until 1931.

The TSR had a flag stop across the Eramosa from the Reformatory. It's not clear that this connection was used much by people to go to and from the Prison. However, it does seem that the TSR did a good business hauling milk from the Reformatory's dairy herd to Toronto. Such "milk runs" from local towns to the Big Smoke were a regular part of its business.

(Detail of "Guelph Hospital" postcard above. The TSR's Speedwell station is in the right foreground, while behind it from this perspective stands the CPR's Speedwell station. A farmhouse and barn are visible at the top of the cliff.)

The TSR's Speedwell station is certainly a modest building. But, it was clearly more than a simple shed, as attested by the chimney rising from its back wall. The presence of a stove is a sure sign that passengers would be treated to a little warmth in the winter months. Posts with guy poles can be seen at the front of the station (behind it from our perspective) and running off to the right, which provided the trains with power.

("Canadian Pacific Railway Co., Station. View of a little flag station on the CPR double track east of Smiths Falls;" courtesy of Ingenium Archives, Aubrey Mattingly Transportation Collection, MAT-06233. Though not a perfect match, this picture gives us some impression of what a flag stop of the era would look like at the front.)

I do not know what became of this station. It may well have been sold and moved elsewhere when the TSR was wound up.

The second building, right behind the TSR station in the image, would be the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station. The TSR and CPR tracks ran parallel at that point, although they intersect away to the right where the CPR line (actually, the Guelph Junction Railway but operated by the CPR, even to this day) crosses the Eramosa while the TSR veers west to remain parallel the river.

The CPR station was built at the bridge crossing to the Reformatory in 1912, when the latter institution opened. It was a flag station, meaning that trains stopped there only when there were people or things to pick up or drop off. In the CPR timetable for 30 May 1915, the name of this stop is given as "Sturdee," presumably after Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, a British Admiral who had recently led a successful battle against a German naval squadron in the south Atlantic. However, the name failed to stick, perhaps because the CPR already had a "Sturdee" station near Glacier in British Columbia. Instead, the 31 October 1915 timetable applies the name "Speedwell." How this name arose is not clear, although its proximity to the Eramosa River, then usually known as the "Eramosa branch of the Speed" may have been decisive.

Other structures of some interest can be seen in the picture. Above the CPR station, a house can be seen along the crest of the ridge. A barn or outbuilding is visible a little ways to its left. A farm of 32 acres, belonging to Arnold Sanders, is shown in that location in the 1908 Wellington County Atlas. The portion of the farm above the ridge, which had not been added to the Prison Farm property, was apparently still in operation.

Some of these structures can be located in a site plan of the Reformatory dated to 1921 (detail above). Curiously, the CPR's Speedwell station is indicated on the plan but not the TSR's station, although both sets of tracks are present. Did this section of the map derive from a time before the TSR station was built?

Near the centre of the postcard image, the Royal City's standpipe can be seen poking up from Grange hill on the horizon. Much of the water for the city came through a pipeline from the Arkell springs in Puslinch. The pipeline ran parallel to the CPR tracks, buried about 5m away from the side near the cliff.

Speaking of water, the perceptive viewer will have noted quite a bit of it in the foreground, apparently lapping at the back of the TSR station. Guelph suffered quite a deluge on 18 March 1919, which rendered the Dundas bridge impassible, thus sundering the city from the Agricultural College on the hill. From the look of the postcard image above, it appears that the Eramosa nearly flooded out the railway tracks at Speedwell station.

("Prison Farm"; Postcard by International Stationary Co., ca. 1915; author's collection.)

It is quite possible that the same event was recorded in another postcard, from nearly the reverse angle. Unfortunately, this other card does not show either of the railway stations.

Perhaps the biggest recorded flood to affect the Speedwell stations was the great washout of 1921. On 10 July, only days after Guelph's most disastrous fire, a massive thunderstorm roared over the town at night, unleashing a torrential downpour accompanied by hail stones the size of walnuts! The downtown was quickly submerged (London Advertiser, 11 July 1921):

The storm commenced shortly after 11 o’clock last night, and for two hours raged with a severity never witnessed here before. Without hardly a moment’s cessation the sky was brilliantly illuminated with vivid flashes of lightning during the entire storm, and deep thunder roared continuously. At midnight the downtown streets were several feet deep with water, and firemen and city employees worked up to their hips trying to keep the watermains open.

At Speedwell, rainwater poured over the cliff above the station in sheets, pushing boulders down the slope and inundating the train tracks. The water pipe burst and disgorged another torrent of the wet stuff into the scene. Unfortunately, a freight train from Hamilton, approaching Speedwell on the CPR line, ran into a section of track that had been undermined by the flood. The locomotive derailed, its tender overturned into the ditch, while the following car ended up at a 90 degree angle. No one was badly injured, however.

Naturally, hundreds of Guelphites made the trip to see the wreckage as it was being cleaned up. No photos of it have come my way, although there must be some out there.

(Locations of the former CPR and TSR Speedwell stations located on a current map of the former Reformatory grounds. Image courtesy Google Maps.)

Having survived this mini Noachian deluge, among other watery assaults, the TSR station burned to the ground on 12 November 1926, succumbing perhaps to its own heating stove. It was, to my knowledge, not replaced. Perhaps, if and when the former Reformatory grounds become a National Urban Park, the former presence of these most structures will be memorialized.

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Actually, the Library & Archives Canada has a file entitled "The Toronto Suburban Railway Company - Lands and Leases - Matters In Connection With Speedwell Station" (1548596). Perhaps this file contains images or descriptions of the TSR Speedwell station. Next time I'm in the Capital City, I may have to have a look. Of course, if you have seen this material, let us know about it in the comments!

The Heffernan street footbridge 3.0

Early in the morning of 5 February 1913, Martin O'Donnell came across a grisly surprise, "the body of a dead man, frozen stiff, in the centre of the through siding near the C.P.R. freight shed, one arm being missing" (Mercury). The body was later identified as Carmillo Angelo, who lived in a boarding house in the "Italian colony" in the Ward.

Forty-two years old, Angelo worked at the Pipe Mill (later the Old Mill) and was probably returning to his boarding house when he was struck by the 8:30pm train from Toronto, which dragged him some distance and severed his arm. He had lived and worked in Guelph for five years and had become naturalized only a couple of months before. He left a widow and five children back in Italy.

The incident occurred in behind the CPR freight shed, formerly the Speed Skating Rink, near the Heffernan street bridge. Angelo's death illustrated the hazard to pedestrians of having a popular pedestrian route, fed by the pedestrian bridge, hard by a railway.

As noted in an earlier post, Guelphites seemed generally happy with the convenience and aesthetics of the second Heffernan street footbridge. However, the proximity of its southern entrance to the Guelph Junction Railway was always problematic.

(This view shows the proximity of the second Heffernan street footbridge to the Gueplph Junction Railway. Postcard published by the International Stationary Co., ca. 1910. From the author's collection.)

In the early 1900s, the Canadian Pacific Railway was spending money on improvements to its facilities and, in Guelph, aimed to build a new railway station to replace the decrepit Priory, the first building constructed on the townsite. In conjuction with this plan, the CPR made a offer to the City of Guelph: It would build gates at the Eramosa Road railway crossing, and erect a new Heffernan street bridge that went over the tracks, if the city would upgrade the crossing at Allan's bridge (Mercury, 17 November 1909). This would ensure that the CPR would be in a position to build a new railway station at the nearby Trafalgar Square site in the following year or so.

(Indeed, it appears that the board of the Railway Commissioners ordered a new footbridge to be built that passed over the tracks, though I have yet to find a record of the order itself.)

The city seems to have accepted the deal and the tender of Rutherford & Paten, of St. Catherines, was accepted to construct the new bridge.

This was duly not accomplished. The city's Board of Works returned to the old idea that a vehicular bridge should be built to carry street traffic over the river. This plan was not carried out, apparently because the city refused to drain the river for the purpose of construction, as the builders had assumed they would (Mercury, 15 April 1912).

So, the Board reverted to the scheme of having another footbridge constructed instead. New plans were drawn up and a call for tenders issued. Ever indecsive, the City's call for tenders listed two different designs for the bridge (Engineering and Contract Record, 23 April 1913):

Tenders will be received up to April 26th by Board of Works and Sewerage Commissioners for: (1) steel foot bridge, consisting of 2 97-ft. deck spans, 1 through truss at 100 ft. and 6 I-beam approach spans; (2) construction of concrete substructure for the above; (3) alternative tenders for a reinforced concrete bridge on same site. Plans, etc., from City Engineer. $5.00 deposit required for concrete bridge plans.

Option (1) seems much like the previous bridge, albeit with extra approaches and elevation on a concrete substructure. Option (2) was for a newer style featuring 100% reinforced concrete, perhaps reflecting a desire that the bridge might appear more "modern" than the earlier one.

Spoiler alert: A tender for option (2) was selected, from the company of Galbraith & Cate of Montreal. Construction seems to have begun in September and finished around November 1.

("Construction of the Heffernan Street Walking Bridge," 1913. Courtesy of Guelph Civic Museums, 2013.72.77.)

Naturally, the third Heffernan street footbridge featured in many postcards of the post-Great War era. Its graceful arches and interesting slope were too much for photographers to resist. Consider the view below, taken from Eramosa street bridge upstream.

("Speed River, Guelph, Ont." Published by the Bulman Bros., B. C. Lithography & Printing Ltd, Vancouver, BC, ca. 1925. From the author's collection.)

Another picture taken from downstream shows the same interest in the juxtaposition of the river and the slanting angle of the new bridge.

("Footbridge over the Speed River, Guelph, Ontario." Published by F.H. Leslie, Niagara Falls, ca. 1930. The perforations on the left margin show that this card was sold in a booklet along with other cards, which could be torn out individually for use. From the author's collection.)

The elegant concrete arches of the bridge's substructure invite closeups, as they appear almost like the path a stone might follow if skipped over the river.

("Foot Bridge over Speed River, Guelph, Ont." Published by the Heliotype Co. of Ottawa, ca. 1920. From the author's collection.)

Note the original lighting system featuring inverted-J poles.

Guelphites took to the new bridge as they had with the previous one. It soon became home to the same sorts of uses, such as serving as a "dressing room" for youth taking dips in the Speed (Mercury, 5 August 1926):

A number of citizens have been objecting to the practice of a number of boys dressing and undressing under the Heffernan Street bridge. They state that the practice has become very prevalent lately and, besides being a danger to the boys themselves, is offensive to passers-by. One of the objectors said that while passing over the bridge last night, with a lady, the lads were using extremely bad language and when he remonstrated with them they only redoubled their efforts.

Plus ca change!

A few unusual events were also reported occurring under the bridge. Consider the picture below, showing Guelphites waving to the crew of the HMCS Swansea, the only naval vessel to pass under the bridge (Mercury, 1 April 1953):

The ship, on her way back from battle manoeuvers in the Georgian Bay area, nosed her way slowly down the Speed River to the cheers of amazed and sleepy-eyed early risers.

If you are similarly amazed, then take note of the date of the picture's publication.

Of course, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since its construction, and it experienced a few close calls as it aged. In 1951, the bridge underwent repairs to fix up the cracking and spalling that concrete structures tend to suffer over time. It was closed for four weeks while cracks and holes were sealed with steel mesh and additional concrete (Mercury, 27 July 1951).

In 1971, when the bridge needed further repairs, the Guelph City Council made plans to tear it down. Despite the urgency that was broadly felt to make Canadian cities more modern and shed vestiges of the past, there was a public outcry at the news and the Council reversed its decision, opting for repairs instead.

(Photograph of the Heffernan street footbridge by Gordon Couling, 1982. Courtesy of the Wellington County Museum and Archives, A1985.110, ph. 9510).

In 1990, the Heffernan street footbridge was declared a heritage site and the City Council decided to return it to its original appearance. Thus, the bridge was demolished and rebuilt. As Troy Bridgeman remarked (Guelph Today, 10 December 2019), it remains today one of the most photographed city landmarks. It is also a monument to the vagaries of civic traffic patterns and the survival of old structures in growing cities.

("Repair of Heffernan Street Walking Bridge," 1990. Courtesy of Guelph Civic Museums, 2009.32.5402.)

("Heffernan street footbridge," 20 October 2019. Courtesy of Peter Burian via Wikimedia Commons.)

The Prison Farm and the Eramosa river

In June, 2019, the Guelph Innovation District was put on sale by the Province of Ontario. This bloc consists of about 330 acres and includes the old Turfgrass Institute and also conservation lands on the west bank of the Eramosa River. Who the new owners will be and what they will build on the land is up in the air.

Change was in the air in the early 20th Century as well. As noted in an earlier posting, the Eramosa River had become a focus for recreational boating for Guelphites in the 19th Century. As a result, the geography of the river was familiar in much detail to many locals. As the 20th Century began, the Eramosa remained popular for this purpose. The summer of 1911 was no exception (Evening Mercury, 24 July 1911):

Many canoeists out.

Canoeing is one of the most popular sports followed in Guelph and the river was fairly dotted with the graceful craft yesterday. The Speed River provides one of the best canoeing courses in this part of the country, and many took advantage of the fine day for a paddle.

However, the arrival of the Ontario Prison Farm the previous year had changed the character of the Eramosa significantly. No longer mainly recreational, the Eramosa River also flowed through the boundaries of an important institution.

I have previously outlined the development of the Prison Farm, so a quick recap will do here. In 1907, local M.P.P. Joseph Downey led a government committee that made recommendations for reform of short-term prisons in the province. Up to that point, prisoners sentenced to terms between a few months and two years were often incarcerated in the Central Prison, Toronto (administered by James Massie of Guelph for many years). The Central Prison sought to recoup the costs of incarceration by putting prisoners to work in several manufacturing trades, combined with a liberal application of corporal punishment. The arrangement was never truly successful, so the government was looking for alternatives.

(Wellington South M.P.P. Joseph P. Downey, Wellington County Historical Atlas, 1906.)

The Downey report suggested construction of a new prison facility in an agricultural setting, so that prisoners could enjoy the character-building features of farm work. Plus, the farm produce could offset the cost of incarceration. Also, the facility would employ a "minimum-security" approach, forgoing bars on windows, guards with dogs and guns, etc. In this way, the "boys" could learn employable skills and gain a sense of responsibility for their own conduct.

(Provincial Secretary William J. Hanna; courtesy of Dictionary of Canadian Biography.)

Set-up of the new "Prison Farm" was led by Provincial Secretary W.J. Hanna. Since the new prison was to be an agricultural operation, the Secretary sought the advice of one of the foremost authorities at the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) in Guelph, Professor Charles Zavitz (after whom Zavitz Hall is named). After a thorough search, Prof. Zavitz suggested the perfect locale—Guelph—as Mr. Hanna later explained in a speech on the subject to the Canadian Club of Guelph (Evening Mercury, 28 Oct. 1911):

“We asked for a land suitable for this purpose—easy of access to railways, and to some town—land suitable for agricultural purposes, with sand, gravel, stone and other materials also on the farm. There were many answers from Montreal to Winnipeg. We started out with the idea of putting the responsibility on some one else, and taking the credit to ourselves, so we went to the O.A.C., and got help there. After some investigations, Prof. Zavitz returned disappointed, for there was none suitable. Then he admitted, with great modesty, that the very thing was within sight of the O.A.C., and the city of Guelph. His modesty then was remarkable."

The land along the Eramosa certainly fulfilled these criteria, with two railways, a river, productive farmland, and surface deposit of quarry-ready stone all on site, not to mention proximity to the expertise available from the OAC itself.

(Professor Charles Zavitz; courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)

The Province began to acquire the land immediately, finishing with the purchase of Arthur McQuillian's farm in January 1910, making a total of more than 800 acres (Globe, 18 Jan. 1910). In April, Secretary Hanna, M.P.P. Downey, and other leaders in the project visited the site to settle their plans (Globe, 2 Apr. 1910). The first contingent of 14 prisoners were transferred from the Central Prison on 11 April (Globe, 12 Apr. 1910). These "boys" were referred to as "trusties," meaning that they were trusted to behave themselves, instead of being handcuffed, shackled, or made to wear prison uniforms. They were housed in a wooden lean-to, up against a small brick cottage left standing on the grounds, and employed in sowing wheat, oats, and barley under direction of "practical men and by students from the Agricultural College" (Toronto Star, 16 Apr. 1910).

Two large, temporary barracks were constructed for lodging while permanent buildings were being designed. These were completed in June, allowing for the transfer of up to 300 prisoners.

(Temporary barracks; Courtesy Guelph Civic Museums 2004.32.101.)

Workshops were also built to facilitate construction and farm work. Perhaps the most urgent of these efforts was construction of a lime kiln in order to make the quarry operational. A kiln and stone crusher were duly built by the river in the vicinity of The Rocks, thereafter known as The Quarry. A short railway was built to facilitate transportation of the aggregate and lime to the prison's workshops.

(Stone crusher and lime kiln; Courtesy Guelph Civic Museums 2004.32.101.)

These products were needed for construction of the remainder of the prison buildings and connections to the railway. In particular, since the quarry lay on the opposite side of the Eramosa river from the CPR line, some bridges were necessary. Two were constructed. One was a picturesque concrete bridge of three spans, made using material from the quarry and labor by the prisoners.

(Three-span, concrete bridge; Courtesy of Guelph Civic Museums 2004.32.101.)

The second bridge was more utilitarian: a small, wooden trestle bridge to carry a spur line from the CPR to the farm railway near the lime kiln.

(Trestle bridge today, author's photo, 2019.)

Since the bridges were built using prison labor, there are no contract tender records that state when they were built. However, the concrete bridge is mentioned in connection with a visit to the Prison Farm of the Parole Board (Globe, 17 Dec. 1910):

After the commissioners arrived at the Reformatory, they spent some time in going over the Reformatory property, visiting the various points of interest and inspecting the live stock, particularly the magnificent herd of Holsteins. They had luncheon at the Reformatory, and afterwards visited the stone quarries, the lime kilns, and the new bridge over the River Speed, recently constructed of reinforced concrete by the prisoners and over 160 feet in length.

So, the concrete bridge was apparently in service by December, 1910.

("Prison Farm"; Postcard by International Stationary Co., ca. 1915; author's collection.)

The postcard above shows a view of the concrete bridge and Prison Farm from the west side. Background left stands the administration building and dormitories, while the workshops stand on the right.

Officials seem to have been less proud of the trestle bridge, since there is no report of it being inspected by any bigwigs. However, the Railway Commissioners of Canada had to provide express permission for any modifications of the CPR line. An authorization for the Prison Farm spur line duly appears in the The Canadian Engineer (22 Dec. 1910; v. 19, n. 25, p. 787):

[Order no.] 12409—Nov 29—Authorizing the C.P.R. Co. to construct a spur for the Provincial Reformatory, Township of Guelph, County of Wellington, Ont.

Given the haste that authorities were in to export products of the Prison Farm, it seems safe to conclude that the trestle bridge and spur line were completed shortly after this authorization was given, in other words, late 1910 or early 1911.

Construction on the Prison Farm grounds was sufficiently advanced for Ontario Premier Sir James Whitney to ceremonially lay the cornerstone of the Administration Building on 25 September 1911. Over 200 dignitaries from near and far arrived for the show. They were treated to a display of the farm produce and, of course, the feats of building accomplished by the prisoners, including the new, concrete span (Evening Mercury):

A little dump railway ran through the grounds, in which the heavy material was transferred to points where it was needed, and the handsome concrete bridge across the river Speed, where it crosses the grounds, showed what could be done in an artistic way by men who have fallen under evil influences.

(Wielding the silver trowel, Premier Whitney officially lays the cornerstone; Globe, 7 Oct. 1911.)

In their inspection of the prisoners' sleeping quarters, notice was drawn their use of postcards, among other paraphernalia, to domesticate their rooms:

The dormitory especially proved a scene of interest, as a number of the prisoners, by means of picture post-cards, calendars and newspaper pictures had made a home-like effect of their surroundings.

After the cornerstone laying and inspection, the dignitaries were treated to luncheon, served by the prisoners and featuring the produce of the farm itself. Some amusement was evident at the sight of government officials and policemen rubbing elbows with convicts. Premier Whitney took the opportunity to remark on the rectitude of this aspect of the government's efforts, given that the purpose of the Prison Farm was not primarily retribution but rehabilitiation of "unfortunate" men who had, perhaps under the influence of drink, committed minor offenses:

“This project has no part with the antics of certain hysterical people, usually women, who make heroes of wrongdoers and place offerings before murderers,” quoth Sir James. “It is designed to prove that the public is prepared to extend a helping hand to its unfortunate friends who seek to regain lost ground. It is the ordinary consideration of the most elementary fair play to give the unfortunate an opportunity to redeem themselves in future.”

The Prison Farm embodied this new program, to reform the misguided and return them to society as productive citizens.

(Sir James Whitney; courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)

Unsurprisingly, the behavior of prisoners was the subject of much local interest. For the most part, people were positively impressed. Indeed, the prisoners behaved themselves notably better than did the students of the OAC on the occasion of Halloween in 1910 (Toronto Star, 3 Nov. 1910):

If the inmates of Guelph’s prison farm had broken loose on Hallowe’en and done as much damage as is charged against the students of Guelph’s Agricultural College, there would have been protests from all over the Province, and strong pressure would have been brought to bear on Mr. Hanna to relinquish his plans for the amelioration of convict life.

The students were credited with a number of misdeeds: delaying streetcar service by greasing tracks, pulling down a highboard fence, trying to paint a fountain, blocking a streetcar track with vans, blocking Macdonald Hall entrance with vehicles, and demolishing a college post-office by locking a steer in it.

These activities resulted in eight arrests, two lawsuits, and an investigation by OAC President Creelman. One wonders how President Creelman would have compared his job to that of the Prison Warden.

Of course, the main concern was about escapes. Some escapes were regarded with amusement (Globe, 14 Nov. 1910):

A city minister claims that the prison farm inmates will not attend Sunday services unless there is a band or special soloists present. When the Protestant minister goes out he finds that most of the men are professing Roman Catholics, and when the Roman Catholic priest goes out to speak to them he finds that a surprisingly large number of them are Protestants.

Escaping Sunday sermons was perhaps understandable to some locals.

Of course, not all prisoners could resist the urge to run off. The first was George Cowan, a 16-year-old English lad jailed for sneaking rides on railway cars. He snuck away from his dormitory one evening but left an easy-to-follow trail in the wet grass and was picked up quickly in Eden Mills (Globe, 1 Oct. 1910).

Another was Charles Anderson, a Hamiltonian serving an eight-month sentence for theft (Durham Chronicle, 29 May 1913). He stole away to a hideout in a swamp near the Prison Farm but was found buried in muck with only his eyes and mouth protruding. He was disinterred and taken to the County Jail.

Other escapes were harder to fathom (Evening Mercury, 21 Jul. 1911):

Boat stolen from prison.

A boat was stolen from the Prison Farm and on searching it was found on Mr. Macalister’s property near the waterworks. It had a chain on, held by staples driven into a tree.

This escapist boat slipped away once more only four days later:

Boat again stolen.

The boat, which was stolen from the Prison Farm some time ago again mysteriously disappeared and was found pulled up on the river bank some distance below the farm. The next time the boat is tampered with the guilty party, if found, will be prosecuted.

Would the guilty party, if prosecuted, be sent to the Prison Farm? Or, was the boat not stolen but instead possessed? Why did the Prison Farm have a boat, anyway? To my knowledge, these questions were never answered. No river gives up all its secrets and the Eramosa is no exception.

In any event, Guelphites' views of that region of the Eramosa River had begun to take on a different character. It was no longer their playground but a somewhat alien place, belonging to the government and inhabited by people they did not necessarily want to mingle with. Paradise had become a prison yard. The Rocks had become the Quarry. The new bridges over the river were also visible symbols of the reach of the new institution.

(Satellite image of Eramosa river by the Prison Farm; Courtesy of Google Maps.)

Now that the land around the Eramosa is set to change hands once more, Guelphites' perspectives on the river are likely to change again.

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I have not yet found any old photos of the trestle bridge. However, it remains in place although in somewhat dilapidated condition. The railway bed, minus the tracks, leading from the CPR line to the bridge still remains in place. A path leads through the brush to the deck, which is covered in grass.

(Author's photo; 2019.)

The concrete bridge was removed some years ago. However, the road bed leading from the CPR tracks to it remains in place. A path leads along its top to the river, though it is now more appreciated by geese than by people.

(Author's photo; 2019.)

Here is a picture of the Quarry being worked in its early days. Note the railway ties on the ground.

(Courtesy of Guelph Civic Museums 2004.14.18.)

Remnants of the Prison Farm railway at the Quarry can still be found in the form of ties embedded in the ground.

A 1911 booklet with a description of the Prison Farm and photos of its facilities—used above—can be found on the Guelph Civic Museums website (2004.32.101).

The arrival of Guelph Central Station, 1911

In the morning cool on 19 April 2017, Guelph dignitaries including M.P. Lloyd Longfield, M.P.P. Liz Sandals, Mayor Cam Guthrie, and members of City Council, cut a red ribbon at the entrance to Guelph's newly renovated Central Station. After about $2.1 million and a year of work, the station had been upgraded with several new conveniences. In addition, special efforts had been made to preserve its original features. These efforts were appropriate in view of the fact that the station had been designated as a heritage railway structure under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act in 1992.

Its calm and dignified appearance, though, belie the fact that, prior to its construction, most Guelphites did not want it. Among other reasons, the station was built on the last remaining piece the old Market Square, a space that John Galt had set aside as an open area in the centre of town for public use. For some residents of the Royal City, construction of a train station on the site meant the final destruction of that heritage. However, the Grand Trunk Railway demanded its sacrifice as a condition for playing its part in the Royal City's aspirations for the new century.

The Grand Trunk Railway (G.T.R.) was built through Guelph in 1855–56 (Keleher 1995). The route followed York Road to Allan's bridge and then passed west directly through the middle of the Market Square. The passenger station serving the G.T.R. was built on the north side of the tracks, on Canada Company lot 1029. It can be seen in the postcard below, printed for the Waters Bros around 1908 (courtesy of the John W. Keleher collection).

The old Bell Piano factory with its clock tower can be seen in behind, with the old City Hall and its clock tower in the distance to the left.

This railway and station brought the town convenience, prosperity, and status as the County seat. However, as Guelph grew in size, this station became ever less adequate. As early as 1887, deputations of Guelph bigwigs importuned the G.T.R. to get a new station built more in keeping with the growing magnitude and dignity of the Royal City. For a long while, the Railway replied by occasionally patching up the old station.

Around the turn of the 20th century, things changed. In January 1902, yet another deputation from the Guelph Board of Trade (predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce) went to see the grandees of the G.T.R. Their goal was to obtain faster and more frequent service between Guelph and Toronto. As part of this plea, they again nagged the G.T.R. to get on with replacing the antiquated passenger station in the middle of town. If not satisfied, they would threaten to send all their freight via the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.), the G.T.R.'s main competitor.

This notion may have set the cat among the pigeons at last. By that time, business among Canadian railways was picking up. In particular, plans to extend the Guelph Junction Railway to include a route to Goderich were openly discussed. Construction began shortly afterwards in 1904. In conjunction with these plans, the C.P.R. proposed to build a new and up-to-date train station on the line to replace the Priory.

If the C.P.R. was thinking of expanding its presence in Guelph, could the G.T.R. afford not to? This question may have been on the minds of G.T.R. senior officials who visited Guelph in August 1903 to take in the situation for themselves. General Manager F.H. McGuigan and other officials met with the Mayor and members of the City Council's Railway Committee and proposed that the G.T.R. would, at last, build a new passenger station in Guelph. However, rather than build the new station on the same site as the old one, he offered to build the new one on adjacent property, namely Jubilee Park, which the G.T.R. would purchase for $5,000.

The offer was not broadly welcomed. The idea of using Jubilee Park may have been suggested first by the Board of Trade itself. However, the figure they had in mind was $7,500, which they considered a good deal for this prime real estate (Mercury, 25 June 1904). So, the offer seemed underwhelming, and the fact that it was made only verbally made it appear that the G.T.R. did not take the City seriously. Also, it was well known that the G.T.R. could take the matter to the new Dominion Railways Commission (or Board of Railway Commissioners). The Commission was a federal body with a mandate to resolve disputes over railway operation and development. Since the Commission had powers of expropriation, Guelphites suspected that the G.T.R. would get the Park anyway through the Commissioners after some perfunctory negotiations with the City.

The City rebuffed the verbal offer. Sure enough, on 20 June 1904, the City of Guelph received notice from the Railway Commission that the G.T.R. had applied for authority to expropriate Jubilee Park for the site of a new station (Mercury, 21 June 1904). A heated debate ensued over how the City should reply.

As noted earlier, Jubilee Park was about the last remaining clear spot left over from Guelph's early Market Square. Originally, this Square was roughly a large triangle going from Allan's bridge at the Speed in the east, along what is now Carden Street to Wilson Street, south to Farquhar Street, and back to Allan's bridge. John Galt had plotted a place in the Square for the original St. Andrew's church, on the site of the present court building (or old City Hall), but the rest was left open. The space had been chopped up and filled in piecemeal over the years. In 1904, only two open spaces were left. One was the "fairgrounds" south of the tracks but this site was being considered for an armoury, which was eventually built there. The other was Jubilee Park, which was the site of a vegetable market that was cleared out in 1887 and named in honour of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, the fiftieth year of her reign. (Thus, the park was sometimes known as "Queen Victoria's Jubilee Park", or "Queen's Jubilee Park", or just "Victoria Park".)

Jubilee Park can be seen in the postcard below, printed for A.B. Petrie around 1910. Its triangular shape can be seen, bordered by Carden and Wyndham streets and the G.T.R. tracks in the foreground.

So, parks were becoming an endangered species in downtown Guelph and more than a few Guelphites resented it. For some, there was also a nostalgic attachment with the early Market Square, of which Jubilee Park, if it survived, would be the last vestige. Besides, many Guelphites thought that the new station could just be built on the site of the old one. The City Engineer argued that the old site could be made sufficient if the property were extended out into the street a little ways.

This dichotomy of proposals was illustrated by a map, probably drawn up by the City Engineer, showing how the old G.T.R. train station site could be enlarged (Mercury, 2 July 1904). I have superimposed this map on a Google map of the present area. See below.

The site of the old G.T.R. station is picked out as a rough rectangle in the upper right, roughly where the current bus station stands. Solid lines around its west side suggest where a larger station might be built. Dashed lines outside of that suggest how the property could be extended 15 feet into the roadway to accommodate the larger building. The site of Jubilee Park is picked out as a triangle in the lower left area, with the current Central Station marked out as a rectangle in dotted lines. Note also the "Fair Grounds" where the Armoury now stands. Note also that there were level crossings over the G.T.R. tracks at Wyndham Street and Neeve Street.

Each side mustered its arguments and arrayed them before the Commission in hearings conducted the following year. A Citizens' Committee led by Messrs. J.E. McElderry, James Hewer, A.B. Petrie, D.E. Rudd, E.R. Bollart, M.W. Peterson, and Alderman Penfold launched several objections (Mercury, 17 February 1905). For example, it had hired a consulting engineer, Mr. W.T. Jennings, who had surveyed the area and determined that the old site would suffice for a new station with some feasible modifications. Thus, there was no need for expropriation of the Park.

In addition, they argued that Jubilee Park, originally intended for market purposes, should be reserved for such uses in future. The Winter Fair building on the other side of the old City Hall (where the splash pad now stands) was growing crowded, so more market space could well be needed in future. This need could be met only through use of the Park. The vision of Guelph held by this group was essentially still that of a central hub in the regional agricultural scene, a vision that would be undermined by elimination of the city's last open, downtown market space.

Furthermore, a shift in the location of the G.T.R. station would change the business landscape of Guelph. The old site sat opposite Priory Square, where several business and hotels depended upon it. The City Hotel, on the current site of the Cooperators (see map above), relied on foot traffic generated by the train station. If the G.T.R. station were placed on Jubilee Park, the new location would favour businesses sited along Wyndham Street. Since resulting losses to businesses near the old site would not be compensated, the change was unfair.

The Mercury opposed the new station, and popular opinion was also against it, in the main. Mr. Donald Guthrie, K.C. and City Solicitor, referred to petitions of opposition signed by about 1200 citizens (Mercury, 20 April 1905). He also voiced the popular suspicion that the G.T.R. had an ulterior motive: They wished to expropriate Jubilee Park for a passenger station in order to use the old site for freight. A freight station would mean many sidings, sheds, and plenty of noise as engines shifted cars from one place to the next, day and night. At the time, the G.T.R. handled freight at the Junction Station across Edinburgh Road, well away from downtown. Guelphites, even proponents of the expropriation, were not keen on having a freight yard in the middle of the city.

When asked, the G.T.R. had notably failed to disown the idea. Apparently feeling the heat, they soon made a lateral move: The G.T.R. offered to buy the McTague property, the block bounded by Mont, Exhibition, London, and Woolwich streets beside Exhibition Park, for $5,000 (Mercury, 6 September 1905). They would then exchange this property for the fairgrounds, so that the city could put its planned Armoury on the McTague property while the G.T.R. could put its freight yards downtown.

The city declined the offer. (Guelphites may well ponder what the Exhibition Park neighbourhood would be like if it had accepted.)

Nevertheless, there were cogent reasons for having a new station on the Jubilee Park site. The G.T.R.'s engineer (and, eventually, the Railway Commission's own engineer) argued that the old site was not adequate and could not be feasibly adapted to serve for a new station. Over the years, steam engines had become more efficient and powerful and, as a result, trains had gotten longer and heavier. The engineers were convinced that a platform of suitable length and breadth was feasible only at the Park.

These longer trains also increasingly interfered with traffic. Trains stopped at the old station typically stretched across the level crossings at Neeve and Wyndham streets. There, they prevented Guelphites from passing from the Ward to downtown or the reverse, often for 40 minutes at a time. Of course, people could circumnavigate these trains by going around and under Allan's bridge or around by Gordon street. Still, in the days when people got around mostly by foot or horse power, such detours were most unwelcome.

The other main reason to adopt the Jubilee Park site was safety. The existing level crossings were a constant source of danger to life and limb. On 28 June 1904, Guelphites received a grisly reminder of this fact (Mercury, 29 June 1904). Mr. Arthur Trenerry, a young English plasterer working for the Mahoney Bros. on a job in the Ward, returned to his boarding house downtown over Allan's footbridge, around 6:15 in the evening. Apparently distracted or confused by the passage of the G.T.R. train No. 2 overhead, he failed to notice or hear the C.P.R. train approaching Macdonnell street from the south. He was struck by the engine and carried across the street on its cowcatcher while the engineer applied the brakes. Unfortunately, Trenerry's legs were drawn under the screaming engine's wheels, severing the left leg completely above the ankle and crushing the right leg irreparably in the same location. While receiving medical attention, Trenerry said he wished he had been killed outright and begged for anything to relieve the pain. He was given opiates and died about four hours later in Guelph General Hospital.

The jury of the Coroner's inquest found the engineer blameless as he had taken all the usual precautions such as moving slowly and blowing the engine's whistle repeatedly. However, the jury took issue with the design of the crossing and, indeed, with all level crossings in the area (Mercury, 30 June 1904):

The jury regard the crossing, where deceased met his death, as being a dangerous one, and would recommend that the C.P. Railway authorities be notified to at once to take steps to prevent similar accidents occurring by erecting gates, which we deem to be absolutely necessary now, and will be doubly so in view of the extension of the road to Goderich.
The jury, it is understood, were strongly in favor of having a gate placed along the whole length of the foot-path and roadway of the bridge, and also in favor of the G.T.R. having gates on all its crossings in the city, although this was irrelevant to the matter under consideration.

J.W. Lyon, a proponent of the expropriation of Jubilee Park, argued that it would be much easier for the G.T.R. to construct underpasses (then called "subways") to separate street traffic from train traffic altogether with a station at Jubilee Park (Mercury, 14 November 1904). Such separation would help to remove a danger that Guelphites well knew and feared. In the view of many business people like Lyon, in an ever busier Guelph, such safety features were ever more needed.

At the end of 1905, the Railway Commission ruled in favour of the G.T.R. and authorized expropriation of Jubilee Park, subject to a number of conditions (Mercury, 28 December 1905). Although many Guelphites did not approve of the decision, it was widely expected and there was relief that, at least, the Royal City would soon have a shiny new train station.

Yet, arrival of the new station was not so near. The Commission instructed both parties to negotiate a division of costs for the Park, the underpasses, and other expenses. Unsurprisingly, given their history, neither side was willing to concede much. As a result, negotiations dragged on. Finally, as explained in my discussion of the Wyndham street underpass, the city sued the G.T.R. in 1908 for maintaining a public nuisance, that being its old station and level crossings downtown. To make a long story short, a settlement of the whole dispute was not made until the end of 1910!

Once the location of the new station was—finally—settled, there remained the matter of its plan and appearance. During this whole process, Guelphites had taken note of the new station that the G.T.R. had built in Brantford in 1905 (Mercury, 10 May 1905). The Brantford station had a long profile joining an eclectic, towering passenger section with a simpler baggage structure down the platform. See the postcard below.

The card was printed by the Valentine & Sons' Publishing Co. Ltd around 1910.

Plans for a proposed station design were exhibited in the Royal City in June 1910. The Mercury thought the building "handsome" but noted that many Guelphites were unmoved (Mercury, 16 June 1910):

The G.T.R. plans have come in for considerable unfavorable comment, and a conversation similar to that below was overheard as two citizens conversed in front of the window of the G.T.R. ticket offices.
“So they’re the plans for the new station on Jubilee Park. Why, I thought the Grand Trunk promised a station like the one at Brantford.”
“So they did, but they explain that such a station requires too much heat in winter. In fact, the Brantford station is never heated right, for all the warmth goes up the high dome before the waiting room is heated at all. They are building no more like Brantford’s.”
“Well, that may be the reason; but my idea is that they mean ‘from motives of economy we’ll build the other one.’ It reminds one of an old-time log cabin, long and low.”

G.T.R. officials promised vaguely to "improve the plans if they could do so" (Mercury, 9 December 1910).

Guelph's fancy new log cabin opened officially on 22 November 1911. There was no ceremony—perhaps the combatants were too exhausted. However, several of the G.T.R.'s high rollers were on hand as the Number 20 train rolled to stop at the new station at 1 p.m.

A postcard of the new building shows some resemblance in layout to the Brantford station but—it has to be said—Guelph's structure does seem more dignified and less desperate for attention than the other. The postcard was printed for the International Stationary Company of Picton around 1914.

The Guelph Mercury summarized the result (22 November 1911):

The new G.T.R. station is a splendid structure, both from an architectural standpoint and from that of comfort for the travelers, who are passing through the city. Electrically lighted and steam heated, it is in great contrast to the old station with its stove and its poor gas lights. Everything about the building is the latest word in comfort, and Guelphites may well be proud of it, though it has taken ten years’ fighting and bickering to get it, and Jubilee Park had to be sacrificed as a site.

It was, and remains, a fine building. It is also a monument of a painful struggle to redefine the Royal City at the outset of a new century.

---

The Mercury (22 November 1911) provides the following description of the new station:

Coming along Wyndham street, the new sidewalk, which will do away with the necessity of wading through the mud as has had to be done for some years past, leads the traveler to the rear of the building. Here the entrance to the waiting room, under the tower, also serves as a place for a passenger to embark in a cab in stormy weather without being subjected to the elements. Entering the waiting room from the rear, about the first thing observed is the ticket office, which is ample for the greatest rush times, on holidays, or during the Winter Fair. The entire woodwork of the general scheme throughout. The floor is laid with Mosaic tile and the wainscoting, about five feet high, is of white tile, which is easily cleaned and always neat looking. Above the wainscoting the wall is tinted light blue, until the blue blends into white of the ceiling.

To the right on entering is the ladies’ waiting room, and conveniences, this being done in weather-bleached oak, with salmon tinted walls all in mission style. It will be comfortably fitted with mission furniture.

To the left on entering is the men’s smoking room and conveniences this being the only room in which smoking will be allowed in the building. The old question of urinals, which has been the cause of so much trouble in past years has been done away with in the new toilet arrangements, the closets being combination ones, with ample accommodation.

The lighting of the main waiting room is a new feature in station building. The electric lights are placed in the ceiling with a reflector above them, and they are then completely shaded with yellow amber shades, which do away with all shadows in the room, the light being evenly diffused. Gas can also be installed if necessary, though no fixtures have been put in.

Owing to the factory in Berlin not having the furniture manufactured, old mission furniture has been placed in that station temporarily, but the new furniture will be [in] place by the Winter Fair.

The station is a credit to the builders to the G.T.R. and the city of Guelph. The Grand Trunk did the greater part of the work under the immediate supervision of Bridges and Buildings Master Mitchell, with Mr. J. Chandler as master mason, who was on the job from start to finish. The T. Eaton Co. had the tile work, Mahoney Bros. the plumbing, and the Taylor-Forbes Co. the heating, which was installed by Fred Smith. The painting was done by Geo. Montgomery and G. Web.
...
Another improvement that would meet with the favor of the ticket men is to place a grating over the ticket office, as is done to the teller’s cage in the banks, to protect them from till tappers.

Beneath the splendor of the new station, stone from the old station had been re-used in the foundations of the new one and, so far as I know, remains there to this day.

The Priory—a sad ending

In his essential History of Guelph, Leo Johnson remarks that the Priory—the first house in Guelph—came to a sad ending (1977, p. 317). I have outlined the history of the Priory in an earlier post but it is worth revisiting this particular event in some detail: On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the city and the building, how was it that this historic structure was hauled away in pieces, never to be seen again?

The sad ending begins many years earlier, in 1887, when the Priory was sold to the Guelph Junction Railway (GJR). The GJR was a corporation formed in 1887 by local merchants and the city to create a transportation link to Guelph to compete with the Grand Trunk Railway, thus lowering shipping rates and costs for Guelphites and their businesses. The railway built a track from near Campbellville through the city itself. Instead of running the railway themselves, the corporation leased it to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).

There had been some discussion of using the existing Grand Trunk Station downtown as a depot, thus creating a Union Station. However, the GJR instead acquired the Priory, which had been a private residence owned by David Spence. The 99-year lease to the CPR gave them the right to modify the property as necessary for the purpose of operating a station. No thought was given to what would become of the Priory in the event that the CPR no longer wanted it. Although some citizens were concerned about the erosion of links to Guelph's past and its founder, John Galt, there was no sense that preservation of certain structures for posterity was a significant project or something that might be enshrined in the city's contractual relationships, much less public policy. That proved to be fateful for the Priory.

The Priory's previous owners had created quite a park around the structure. The grounds featured a variety of flower and vegetable gardens, with paths in between. In the gardens could be found gooseberries, apples and plums, including the "Glass seedling plum" developed by David Allan's gardener, Alex Glass (Mercury, 5 Feb. 1955). Iris, narcissus and tulips were grown beside the main path, and the greenhouse featured several rare plants, including Spanish grapes.

The Mercury records the suggestion that the grounds be maintained in order to beautify the station and gratify visitors to Guelph (4 July 1888):

The Priory Trees.—The attention of the directors of the Guelph junction might be called to the need of caring for the valuable trees on the Priory lot. Owing to the grove being completely open from the track, but secluded by the clothes fence, from the street, young vandals have taken advantage of this license and have stripped three white birch trees of their bark. No grove perhaps in the city for its size contains more valuable specimens of choice trees there being 15 varieties of evergreens alone. It is a beautiful spot and will make a very comfortable resting place for travelers, and if thrown open for the benefit of the public would give them a nice park also. A fence behind the station along the track, with footpath through and seats round would put it under the protection of every citizen, and all would feel a just pride in preserving the small but valuable park.

In the end, most of the gardens, paths, and other features were removed to accommodate the tracks, platform, and access to Priory Street. Although the CPR was not wantonly destructive, neither was it much interested in the maintenance of gardens or the provision a civic park. As a result, the Priory did not receive "the protection of every citizen."

During the "golden" age of postcards in the early 20th century, the Priory was one of the most popular postcard views of Guelph. One particular image, taken from the east where Macdonell Street meets the Speed, is likely the most common Guelph postcard ever made. Here is the version of this image as produced by the Pugh Manufacturing Co. of Toronto.

This view shows the building as it appeared around 1900. With its contrasting colors, it nicely picks up the details in the building, including the Virginia creeper growing over much of its exterior.

Although the caption on this card says only, "C.P.R. Station, Guelph", captions of many cards from other companies often note that it was also the first house in Guelph and once the home of John Galt. Messages on these cards often mention the Priory, as in the following example from a card printed by the A.L. Merrill Co. of Toronto, sent in 1908:

I know you like historic buildings. This is the first house that was built in Guelph. It is about one hundred years old now. The C.P.R. use it as a station on account of it being the first house. they are not allowed to pull it down. J. M.

(Courtesy of John Parkyn.) It is interesting that Joe Merlihan (J.M.) remarked on the possible demolition of the Priory, since that had already become an issue of much discussion.

Before proceeding with that matter, I want to put up an unusual postcard that shows the Priory from across the Speed. This postcard was printed in the format of a bookmark and thus provides a panoramic view of the building and its surroundings at another point in its career as a CPR station.

This card was published by Rumsey and Co. of Toronto, around 1910. The photo reveals the screen of trees behind the building that still separated it somewhat from the downtown behind it. Note also the locomotive on the tracks to the right.

It would also help to have a bird's eye view of the Priory and its surroundings. No postcard or other such image survives, that I know of. However, one can be concocted by taking a satellite view of the vicinity from Google Maps and overlaying an early survey of the Priory and neighboring lots done by Captain Strange (and copied in 1957 by Mr. Shoemaker, a surveyor; University of Guelph Archives XR1 MS A379094). The outline of the Priory is emphasized by a black box with its porch facing the Speed.

I adjusted the overlay by locating two fixed points: The first is the bend of Woolwich Street immediately east of Thorp Street (Woolwich used to bend south there instead of north); the second is the location of the bridge at Allan's Dam, where the railway bridge was later constructed. The result is a rough-and-ready map of the Priory. The bulk of the Priory's plan is now under Woolwich Street with the porch to the north of the sidewalk, facing the metal canoe in John Galt Park. The map helps to give a sense of the scale of the building and its grounds, the latter comprising all the lots between Priory Street and the Speed River on the map.

Progress soon made the Priory seem obsolete as a railway station. In 1904, the CPR began construction of the Guelph to Goderich Railway, at the behest of the GJR. It was proposed that Priory be razed and replaced by a larger and more modern building as a part of this project (Johnson 1977, p. 318). Although the cost of $40,000 proved prohibitive, the proposal brought the matter to a head. Many residents viewed the Priory as something of a relic, one that seemed increasingly shabby and out-of-place in modern Guelph. Others viewed it as a significant connection with the Royal City's past. Even the Mercury, normally a voice for progress, urged that the old place be preserved (Mercury, 4 June 1904):

And, by the way, now that C.P.R. extension is in the air and a new station is talked of, what is to become of the old Priory? If the citizens of Guelph have any respect at all for, and pride in, the city’s history, they will see that this historical building is preserved intact. Would it not be a good idea to place it on rollers and remove it to the Exhibition grounds, to be used as a museum, containing interesting relics of Guelph, and including such old pictures as are now available.

Since the CPR's lease seemed to give them a free hand, the obvious way to save the Priory was to move it to another site. Buildings were moved around regularly in that era, so the scheme raised no technical problems. However, the notion of a historic park where old buildings might be located was, so far as I know, a novelty. Would it attract much support?

One important supporter of preservation was brewer George Sleeman. In 1905, then-Mayor Sleeman received a letter from one Gilbert Campbell, a Scottish fan of John Galt. In the letter, Mr. Campbell asked for confirmation of a story that had reached his ear to the effect that Guelphites proposed to destroy Galt's old residence. He offered a photo of Galt's birthplace in exchange for a photo (perhaps a postcard?) of the Priory. The Mercury (16 Oct. 1905) printed the letter along with the following observation:

His worship the mayor is one of the many citizens who hope that the old landmark will not be disturbed. He will acquaint to Mr. Campbell of the present situation.

In 1908, the CPR agreed to deputations from Guelph City Council urging them to build a new, better station in the town (Johnson 1977, p. 318). Construction of the new station in Trafalgar Square by the Eramosa Road bridge began in 1910. Their plans for the Priory site no longer included the building. Instead, they had plans to construct a short spur line and some pens and storage sheds at that location.

The crisis point was reached in 1911, upon completion of the new station. A letter from Donald Guthrie, a local lawyer, addressed to the Board of the GJR explains the situation (8 July 1911; UoG Archives XR1 MS A801—box 16, file 10). He explains that, in his opinion, the Priory is the property of the GJR and the CPR's lease does not entitle them to demolish or sell the structure. He reports that Mr. Oborne, Superintendent of the CPR, did not agree and said that, notwithstanding this news, the Company would demolish the building if it were not removed within a week! Mr. Guthrie advised that while the GJR could sue the CPR, it might be more expedient for Sleeman to contact Oborne personally to discuss the matter, as Sleeman was a prominent local customer of theirs.

Sleeman and the other Parks Commissioners explored numerous options. One scheme was to transport the building to Riverside Park. However, the cost estimate of $500 was more than could be mustered without help from either the CPR or the City Council, both unlikely. Besides,the building might not even fit under the streetcar wires on Woolwich Street.

Another scheme was to move the Priory a short distance back into Priory Park (the current location of the Blacksmith Fountain). However, the City Board of Works would not issue a permit to allow the move, a decision that the police promised to enforce (Mercury, 19 July 1911).

The CPR refused another suggestion to allow the building to be moved to the empty southwest corner of their site.

The situation provoked much popular discussion, much of it negative. Consider the following reports in the Mercury (26 July 1911):

All kinds of opinions continue to be expressed regarding the old building. Mr. C.J. Eisle was of the opinion that if its disposition were referred to the people they would 99 out of every hundred vote for its destruction. Six or seven men passed him when the fire bell rang the other day, and for fun he told him the fire was at the old C.P.R. station. In each case they expressed the hope that it was. This was Mr. Eisle’s method of taking a plebiscite. These opinions are in accordance with that of a prominent manufacturer, said if the disposal of the building were left to him he would put a stick of dynamite under it and blow it up.

Another wag suggested that it be taken to St. George's Square, halved in size, and used as a comfort station for streetcar passengers there.

The City's Finance Committee recommended a grant of $500 for removal of the Priory to Riverside Park. However, this proposal was flatly rejected by City Council in a session that featured "fireworks" (Mercury, 19 Aug. 1911):

Ald. Penfold was not a bit backward in stating his objections to any grant, in fact he was very much opposed to it. “The idea,” said the alderman, “of spending that amount of money for the removal of a few rotten logs! Why the idea is preposterous, and not to be thought of at all.”

Others objected that the shabby building would discredit the city and its citizens if displayed prominently in a city park:

Aldermen Calvert came back with a remark that if it was erected on the Priory Park site it would look like a man with a black eye.

Finally, the controversy also revealed a division along class lines. Most of the advocates for relocation of the Priory were wealthy and prominent men. Many citizens found the whole scheme evidence of how misguided and out-of-touch their wealthy patricians could be:

Alderman Howard was decidedly opposed to the removal of the building to Riverside Park. ”It is ridiculous,” said the alderman. ”I have interviewed a great number of the ratepayers, and not a single man has said that he was in favor of the project. The majority of them had said to tear it down. Furthermore, the council has no right to be dictated to by a few people who have a lot of money.”

City Council refused the grant. So, the ball landed squarely in George Sleeman's court. Sleeman had in the meantime purchased the building from the GJR and spent $300 on preparations for its relocation. He now contacted Mr. Oborne again and convinced him to allow the Priory to be relocated at the back of their site. It was relocated behind the Priory Hotel, on a laneway from Woolwich Street (as it was then) to Priory Street, roughly where the Supreme Car Wash stands on Woolwich Street today. The CPR had no immediate plans for that particular part of the site. Their condition on this agreement was that the Priory would be removed within 30 days of the CPR notifying Mr. Sleeman at some future time (2 Sept. 1911; UoG Archives XR1 MS A801—box 16, file 10).

The Mercury heaved a sigh of relief. On 29 Sept. 1911, a headline read, "Fate of the old Priory at last determined." However, the old building had merely been granted a reprieve. Also, dismantling of the structure had begun. Oddly, George Sleeman had the two side wings of the Priory removed and taken to his property on Waterloo Avenue, there erected as an independent structure (Mercury, 28 Aug 1911). Is was only the remainder of the building that was moved to the rear of the CPR grounds. It is unclear why Sleeman made this move. Perhaps it was the only way for the building to fit into the space made available by the CPR. Perhaps, seeing that the Priory was not out of danger, he had removed as much of it as he could afford to. In any event, the signs were not good.

Without anyone to maintain it, the Priory fell into disrepair and increasingly became an eyesore. It acquired the bad habit of catching fire, which it did at least three times in 1922 (Mercury, 27 Sep. 1922). That same year, members the City Parks and Buildings Committee asked the Council for some money to purchase the Priory from Sleeman with a view to moving it to Riverside Park, apparently in connection with a dam to be constructed there to make a swimming pool. Once again, the money was not forthcoming.

In 1923, the Guelph law firm of Guthrie & Kerwin corresponded with the CPR, suggesting that the railway lease the land on which the Priory then sat to the city, so that they could make a small park around it (31 July 1923; UoG Archives XR1 MS A801—box 16, file 10). Although CPR Superintendent Rutter confirmed that the company had no plans for that location, they were not willing to lease it out. The building caught on fire once again (Mercury, 28 Sep. 1923). At that point, the Fire Chief Knighton expressed the view that the ruin had become a fire hazard to the other buildings around it.

In 1924, the City Council consulted with Wellington Thompson of Huntsville, an expert on log cabin construction, for his opinion on whether or not a memorial to the building could be built in Riverside Park with the salvageable logs from the Priory (Toronto Globe; 29 May 1924). He expressed the view that a small model of 18 by 22 feet might be erected. The work was never carried out but the incident shows that the Council had given up on the idea of saving the whole structure.

In 1926, George Scroggie, building inspector for the City's Public Works Committee, was instructed to assess the remains of the Priory (Mercury, 2 March 1926). He reported that it should be condemned:

I have examined the building as requested and found it to be in a very bad repair. The roof has fallen in, adding to the danger of complete collapse, as the pressure on some parts of the log walls is now outward. As there has been considerable talk about the restoring of this structure, I have hesitated up to this time to condemn it, but the time has come when something must be done, and I would urge that it be torn down as soon as possible.

The Mercury published the following photo of the old derelict (16 March 1926):

On 4 May 1926, the Priory was demolished (Toronto Globe, 5 May 1926). Salvaged logs were stored at Robert Stewart's Lumber Company on Cardigan Street (KW Record, 22 Feb. 1958), the idea being to use them to construct a model replica of the Priory in Riverside Park the next year for Guelph's Centennial celebrations (Mercury, 21 Dec. 1926). However, the scheme was not carried out. The Priory was then just a memory.

It is certainly curious that Guelph's oldest building, and one associated so closely with the city's founder, came to such a sad ending. It is especially poignant that it was demolished on the eve of its 100th anniversary, when there was to be a celebration of the city's history. To understand this outcome, it may help to compare the Priory to other buildings that have been preserved.

Consider Zavitz Hall on the University of Guelph campus. When slated for demolition, Zavitz Hall was occupied by the Fine Art Department, for which no other accommodation existed. By contrast, the Priory was an empty shell, and one slated for replacement by the CPR not long after the Railway occupied the building. Also, whereas Zavitz Hall contributed positively to the space of Branion Plaza, the Priory was widely seen as an isolated relic shorn of the gardens of its former residents.

Importantly, supporters of the Priory lost the political battle to save it. Prominent political figures such as George Sleeman worked to preserve the building but were unable to raise sufficient money to carry out their plans. Many of the Aldermen and much of the electorate saw the scheme as the pet project of an elite out of touch with the priorities on the man in the street.

This last point is perhaps crucial. In the case of Zavitz Hall, supporters could articulate a vision for the future of the University in which the building played an important part: in making Branion Plaza a pleasant space, in honoring the significance of Charles Zavitz, and in respecting the achievements of the Fine Art Department. By contrast, would-be saviors of the Priory had difficulty making a similar case for it. The Priory had become a "black eye" that evoked no sympathy. Its association with John Galt was of little moment because, I suspect, most Guelphites knew little of or cared very much for Galt and knew the Priory mainly as an inadequate railway building, recently deprived of even that function.

The concept of using the Priory as museum and a tourist attraction was perhaps ahead of its time. As Guelphites grew tired of the building, some out-of-town newspapers expressed admiration for it and its historical associations, suggesting that the scheme was not hopeless. However, it seemed to make little sense to citizens of the Royal City at the time. Things changed dramatically by the end of World War II, as evidenced by the development of the John McCrae Memorial Garden and house as tourist attractions at that time.

Indeed, the Priory was later resurrected in various ways for this purpose. However, that is a story for another time.

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Thanks to the folks at the University of Guelph Archives for help in locating documents for this post!