old news for young minds!
Let’s look at our homes today and long ago. Families live in many kinds
of houses. Some are old, some are new, some are big and some are
small but all homes are special places for families. These houses are all
over 100 years old.
By Carolyn McCann
Pictures from The City of Hamilton, Hamilton’s Herit age Volume 5
1 Griffin 1828
2 Hopkins 1810’3
3 Lochner 1844
4 Doctor 1830’s
5 apartments
1875
6 Spera 1874
1. The first settlers built log cabins on land in the Hamilton
area. You can visit inside the Griffin family cabin in
Ancaster.
2 & 3. Later, settlers built better homes of stone, wood or
brick like the Hopkins house and Lochner Cottage in
Flamborough. At first, homes had no indoor bathrooms,
electricity or water taps. Homes improved when these were
invented.
4 & 5. Sometimes, the downstairs was a business and the
family lived upstairs. Visit this doctor’s office and home at
the Dundas Historical Society Museum. Some family
apartments were above stores like these in Dundas.
6 &7. As families and farms grew, they needed bigger
houses. Farm houses, like the Spera house in Stoney
Creek and Shaver house in Ancaster were larger than most
of the homes in villages and towns.
8 & 9. Many people lived in smaller homes. Look at the
Bastion house and its neighbours on Bay Street in Hamilton
and the Kyle house in Dundas.
10 & 11. Houses could be attached ‘twin’ houses like the
two on George St. or built in a row like Sandyford Place on
Duke St. in Hamilton. Row houses are also called terrace
or town houses.
12. The Pasedena Apartment Building on Bold St. in
Hamilton was one of the first to be built here. Now these
buildings are bigger and usually have elevators and
balconies.
7 Shaver 1863
Winter 2011
Volume 4 , Issue 1
8. Bastion 1885
9 Kyle 1848
10 Moodie twin
houses 1870
11 Sandyford 1856
12 Pasadena
1914
Some old homes are now museums. Battlefield House, The Children’s Museum, Dundurn Castle,
Erland Lee, Fieldcote, and Whithern all began as family homes. Today, there are over a half
million people living in Hamilton. What kind of home do you live in? When was your home built?
Do your grandparents and cousins live in the same kind of house as you do? Take a walk
around your neighbourhood and look at the builidings. Is your home part of a big building or town
house complex? What other kinds of buildings are near your home? There’s lots to learn about
homes in Hamilton!.
Hamilton Historical Board
c/o Heritage Presentation Coordinator
Culture Division, City of Hamilton
77 James St. North, Suite 305, Hamilton, ON L8R 2K3
email: [email protected]
Winter 2011
The McQUESTENS
a true story
of tragedy and
triumph in
Hamilton
Presented by the
Volume 4 , Issue 1
Thoughts from the HHB Chair
A
s I may have previously mentioned, the
mission of the Hamilton Historical Board
involves the appreciation, presentation, and
celebration of Hamilton’s history and heritage.
In that context, I often think of the City of Hamilton
as the custodians of a museum. This museum houses
thousands upon thousands of heritage artefacts including
our communities, parks, waterfalls, monuments, trails,
infrastructures, properties and buildings. Our city fathers
and mothers are the trustees of this museum, and they in
turn administer a municipal staff who oversee the museum’s
operation. We are also fortunate to own several civic
museums that I think of as galleries in the museum I call
Hamilton.
The image and operation of museums have changed over
the years. When I was a child, museums were often dim, dusty
places that displayed neglected and dead artefacts in cracked
glass and wood cases. This is the image of a museum, which I
grew up with.
Join the celebration of the McQuesten
family’s contributions to Hamilton
Events to include:
• Art Show at the Art
Gallery of Hamilton
• Music at Whitehern
• Bus Tours
• Walks & Talks
• Illustrated Lectures
And much more!
For more information, visit
www.hamiltonhistoricalboard.ca
or email [email protected]
Editorial guidelines can be found on our website www.hamiltonhistoricalboard.ca We assume no responsibility for unsolicited material.
©2011
By Hamilton Historical Board
All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.
historiCITY was founded by the Hamilton Historical Board in 2008. The HHB is committed to the education and preservation of Hamilton`s history and heritage.
Fortunately, museums today have added a living dimension
to those tired old exhibits. Museums foster interactivity
between artefacts and visitors. Museums promote recognition
that their artefacts were created and used for real purposes
by real people leading real lives. Most museums foster the
recognition that artefacts tell the stories that form an integral
part of our heritage. All this is done through eye-catching
didactics, and by museum interpreters / guides / docents.
As I look upon Hamilton as being a museum, to what extent
are these factors in its operation? Moreover, is the image of
the museum a positive one that visitors will take away and
encourage them to return? Let’s consider for a moment the
image of the historic heart of our city -- downtown. I liken the
downtown core to a museum’s central hall, the place most
museum visitors enter first and where they get their first
impression of the museum. What image does our downtown
present? Apparently, according to all media accounts our
central hall deters many Hamiltonians and visitors alike from
‘ever’ venturing there. Let’s make a visit there to find out why.
Given Hamilton’s one-way street system, the main entrance
to downtown from the west is appropriately called Main
Street West. Most users of this speedway, which I walk daily,
are busy texting, downing a Timmie’s double-double, or trying
to time the green lights (aka beating the red lights). However,
if they were to force themselves to concentrate, when they
pass the corner of Main and Caroline streets they cannot but
notice the erstwhile federal building.
call Hamilton. It is its central hall. There the visitor can gaze
in wonder at the spectacle of artefacts as similarly neglected
as the federal building. These artefacts include many of the
heritage properties surrounding Gore Park, for example
Treble Hall on John Street North, the Royal Connaught Hotel
at King and John Streets, and hidden away in a far corner, an
empty showcase that once displayed the Lyric Theatre.
On the brighter side, there are also the TH&B and CN rail
stations, artefacts that have been saved and put on display. In
the case of LIUNA Station, the conservators have taken some
pains to invite the visitor to share some of the stories of the
people who historically created and used this artefact.
Other significant downtown artefacts that have been
preserved include the Dominion and Watkin’s buildings, and
more recently Victoria Hall and the Lister Building. But, like
most of the heritage properties downtown, their stories are
not displayed for the visitor to read and relate to. There are
few didactics or interpreters available in the great hall of the
museum I call Hamilton.
Leading into the museum’s core, a renaissance hallway
is also quietly undergoing construction along James Street
North, although so many of the surviving artefacts in the
hallway remain in a deplorable state of neglect. Recently,
there has been increasing interest in providing the stories of
this street.
An upgrading of the museum great hall atrium garden
is also on the books. However, it is unfortunate that the
Gore Park Master Plan does not include revitalization of the
historic properties surrounding this heritage green space.
These peripheral artefacts will continue to languish behind
ugly commercial facades. And so goes the image...
One of the most exciting restoration projects underway in
the museum I call Hamilton is happening up on the second
floor. I am referring to Auchmar, which like our civic museums
can be likened to a gallery in the museum. As you read this
edition of historiCITY, you will discover Auchmar and its
stories. I urge you to become personally involved in Auchmar
by taking advantage of ‘hands-on’ opportunities that will soon
be offered to aid in its renaissance.
This museum I call Hamilton also comprises a number
of annexes, for example the Ancaster, Stoney Creek, and
Dundas annexes. Each museum annex displays its own
unique artefacts, some beautifully preserved, some being
restored, but others ignored. Again, too often, the stories of
the artefacts in the annexes are not displayed or available.
I could push the museum metaphor further, but space
prevents me from doing so.
This forlorn artefact is surrounded by extensive grey fields,
which comprise the tattered remnants of our once-bustling
south downtown. If perhaps a red light on Main forces them
to stop and they take the time to truly see, they can also spot
some really nifty, albeit crumbling, heritage artwork around
the front entrance of the decaying edifice. For too many years
now, this property has presented an increasingly negative
image -- one akin to a dim and dusty place exhibiting a
neglected and dead thing encased in cracked glass and wood.
It is culturally criminal to allow our heritage to be neglected
and disappear. Nor is it enough to merely restore our
artefacts. It is critical that, with their preservation, we provide
opportunities for everyone to interact with them and learn
their stories. To that end I urge all of you to join HHB in being
an active part of the museum metaphor by raising awareness
of Hamilton’s history and heritage, and by encouraging young
and old to visit, to explore, and to interact with the artefacts
in the museum and its extensive halls, galleries, and annexes.
When the stoplight finally changes and they venture further
into the depths of Hamilton’s downtown, what other images
might they encounter?
This is the last time that I, as HHB Chair, will have the
opportunity to reflect on Hamilton’s rich history and heritage in
historiCITY. I am grateful for having had the privilege to do so.
The Gore constitutes the historic centre of the museum I
Cheers, Bill Manson, Chair, HHB
1
Winter 2011
Volume 4 , Issue 1
Plaquing News
By Robert J. Williamson, Chair, Joint Plaquing Subcommittee, HHB
Two commemorative HHB plaques were presented to the public during September 2010.
JOCKEY CLUB PLAQUE
THE FIRST ROYAL VISIT TO HAMILTON
T
O
he last of the bronze metal plaques, “The Jockey
Club”, which has been in storage since 2007, awaiting
completion of Centre Mall renovations, has finally been
temporarily installed in a new food pavilion that opened
at the mall recently. It is attached to a wall inside the bright
two-storey glass building near the corner of Kenilworth and
Barton Streets. The interior of the pavilion is decorated with
heritage photos of the old mall and race track. The plaque has
been placed in an alcove with an architect’s elevation drawing
of the original Jockey Club. The heritage setting is appropriate
and the metal plaque will be safe from vandalism and theft.
An official unveiling may be planned as part of the opening of
the new mall in the future.
n Sunday, September 19, 2010, almost 150 years to
the day, a facsimile of a plaque recognizing the “First
Royal Visit to Hamilton”, was unveiled at Victoria Park at
a sesquicentennial celebration hosted by the Strathcona
Community Council and the City of Hamilton. The following
is the text as it appears on the plaque:
Photo by Robin McKee, HHB
Postcards, Local History and Archives HPL
2
When Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII,
made the first official state visit of British royalty to Canada,
Hamilton was the last stop on the tour. The Prince arrived in
the afternoon of September 18th, 1860 and was welcomed by
thousands of Hamiltonians with a 21 gun salute at the Great
Western Railway station on Stuart Street. A procession through
the city took the Prince to the head of John Street, where he
resided at Arkledun the estate of hardware merchant Richard
Juson. The rest of his entourage occupied nearby Oakbank,
the home of grocery merchant William P. McLaren. During the
morning of September 19th, Prince Edward visited Hamilton’s
innovative Central School on Hunter Street West. This was
followed by a luncheon and later, a ball, held at the Royal
Hotel on James Street North. The highlight of the day was the
ceremonial inauguration of the Hamilton Waterworks. Adam
Brown, Chairman of the Water Commissioners addressed
the crowd and the Prince turned a steam valve to start the
pump house engines, which were a crowning engineering
achievement. The following day, His Royal Highness opened the
15th season of the Agricultural Association of Upper Canada
at the new, unique Crystal Palace Exhibition Hall, in today’s
Victoria Park. In the afternoon, the Prince had lunch with Sir
Allan MacNab at Dundurn Castle. History came full circle on
November 5th, 2009 when Edward’s descendent, Charles, Prince
of Wales and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, great-greatgreat-granddaughter of Sir Allan MacNab, included Dundurn
National Historic Site on their royal tour of Canada.
Winter 2011
The Jewel on the Mountain:
The Architecture of Auchmar
By Bill King
T
he creation of Claremont Park began in the spring of
1852 and required more than two years to complete. In
a remarkable achievement requiring much time, attention
and money, 86 acres of middling pasturage on the mountain
above Hamilton, speeckled with a few frame houses and
barns, was transformed into a Scottish country estate in the
wilds of Upper Canada.
The Canadian Auchmar bore little resemblance to its
namesake on the shores of Loch Lomond, where Isaac
Buchanan’s father had reclaimed a share of his clan’s ancient
grandeur with the purchase of a country retreat. The
connection between the Canadian and Scottish Auchmars
was mostly sentimental. Isaac Buchanan might have used
his mountain land to build a cut-stone fortress with a
manufactured magnificence that defied neighbours and
landscape alike. Instead, he created a country estate like
those he had come to know so well in the partridge hunts of
his youth, designed in a variant of the domestic Gothic know
as Picturesque.
Architecturally, the Gothic Revival was less a school of
building science than a built manifestation of literature and
romance. Apostles of Greco-Roman harmony dismissed the
new style as the untutored vanity of the newly enriched and
to be sure, could underscore their argument by pointing to
buildings which were famously hideous. Yet it may fairly be
said that in the hands of a gifted compositor, the Revival could
inspire new heights of creativity if not originality. Resplendent
in their medieval associations, such buildings enchanted the
few who could build and the many who could only admire.
The Picturesque, as its name suggests, strove for a ‘painterly’
effect. Buildings and landscape were considered together. Like
the artists from whom they drew inspiration, architects of the
Picturesque sought to weave diverse elements into a dramatic
and dynamic vista. The aesthetic called for steep vertical
lines, intimate spaces and a complexity (even idiosyncracy) of
design, producing bold profiles and varied silhouettes. Light,
shade and shadow drew the eye and the picture even seemed
to change with the movement of the sun.
The sensitive employment of the Picturesque Gothic
at Claremont Park produced a highly successful result, a
manor with a gentle complexion which beckons rather than
intimidates. Yet if an architect was engaged, no record of
his participation has been found among the voluminous
documents preserved in the Buchanan family papers. More
likely, Isaac sought the assistance of a master builder and
adapted a design from a pattern book such as Loudon’s
Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm and Villa Architecture. The
Encyclopaedia featured several examples of the form adopted
at Auchmar: a low, broad house anchored by a pair of
prominent gabled pavilions, an inheritance from the days of
the Tudors. The original concept called for identical recessed
wings extending from either end of the main house on the
south side. This design further enlivened the garden façade.
Auchmar House was built at the head of a long lane which
originated beside a Gatekeeper’s Lodge on the mountain brow.
Volume 4 , Issue 1
Flanked by trees, the lane passed through the old orchard and
curved as Auchmar House came into view, its tall chimneys,
clusters and steep gables seeming to rise on the horizon.
The earliest known depiction of Auchmar House is a sketch
of the fancifully trimmed manor and a landscaped garden
drawn in 1859. The exterior walls were of brick surfaced with
roughcast stucco. Eleanor Buchanan, who visited in the early
1900s, recalled walls painted a deep cream colour which, she
thought, must have reminded her great-grandfather of the
budding gorse which blanketed the Scottish countryside in
the colour of springtime.
The Gothic requirement for cloistered spaces and
ecclesiastical overtones found expression in a hall which ran
the length of the main house with a sweeping staircase at
each end. At the west end, a smaller hall bisected the main
hall, providing access to large rooms reserved for formal
entertaining in the evenings.
The drawing room was in the northwest corner, its bow
window overlooking sloping lawns and gardens. A French
door led to a glazed terrace along the garden side of the
house. Eleanor Buchanan recalled windows set in well-carved
arches, a white marble fireplace surmounted by a portrait of
Queen Victoria, and a colour scheme of white and gold. The
adjoining west wing contained rooms for billiards and cards.
The wing was a private, almost secret place, accessible only
by way of a tiny Gothic door tucked under the landing of
the west staircase. It was conveniently out of reach to those
who restricted pleasures to those of the redemptive variety,
content to while away the evening listening to father read a
three-hour sermon. Unfortunately, however, the position of
the Games Wing prevented a window on the west wall of the
drawing room which was therefore bathed in shadows once
the sun passed over the house. For this reason, it seems that
later owners retained the brightening colour scheme of white
and gold.
East of the drawing room there are presently several smaller
rooms. It is said that at one time Agnes Buchanan used
two of them as a bedroom and dressing room and indeed,
the fact that Agnes was so often pregnant during her years
at Auchmar House would recommend a bedroom on the
ground floor. It has recently been discovered, however, that
the original plan was quite different. Craig Sims, a nationallyknown restoration technologist who has studied Auchmar
House for the City of Hamilton, discovered that the two rooms
east of the drawing room were originally one, a large formal
dining room much like the one at Dundurn. On its south wall
were twin fireplaces and cabinetry set in an elliptical arch.
Opposite, three French windows opened onto the terrace.
The cabinetry at Auchmar was the work of George Murison,
whose installations in the dining room and library melded
seamlessly with mouldings and standing trim. Murison was
a master of his craft. Doors and trim were fashioned from
eastern white pine and their surfaces grained to suggest
white oak. (Genuine oak was reserved for the balustrades.)
The liberal use of wood in Auchmar House provided a sense
of warmth which increased with time as it was coaxed with
beeswax to a rich glow.
Murison also built a portico at the working entrance, facing
Fennel Avenue at the east end of the house. This entrance
was beside Isaac’s library, where a window offered a discreet
3
Winter 2011
The Jewel on the Mountain:
The Architecture of Auchmar
Cont... By Bill King
glimpse of visitors. Unlike the formal chambers at the west
end of the house, the library, an intimate room with built-in
bookcases, a bow window, and a chimney piece of bluish grey
marble, was the only one of its kind remaining at Auchmar.
Other rooms in this part of the house have been identified as
morning room, family dining room, and office. The adjoining
east wing, proximate to the stable yard, accommodated a
kitchen and rooms for servants.
Upstairs there were fourteen rooms which varied greatly
in size. The larger, in the pavilions, provided accommodation
for adult Buchanans and their guests. The smaller could be
consigned to Nursie and her growing number of charges.
Volume 4 , Issue 1
the electors of Wentworth assembled on the south lawn. It
was at this time that major changes were made at Auchmar.
In 1862, the room in the southwest corner was extended
with a rounded bay to become a ‘dancing room’ which could
also accommodate a large table for banquets. A new ceiling
was garlanded by plasterwork depicting grapes and vines. It
was likely also at this time that the east wing was enlarged
to accommodate an improved kitchen and service areas,
assuming the long rectangular shape which may be seen
today. When Isaac was profiled in Celebrated Canadians in
1863, he was attempting to sell portions of his park for villa
lots but unfortunately, economic conditions in the year of
the American Civil War were such that there is no record of a
single lot being sold.
Later years would bring further changes. The Games Wing
was removed in the late 1800s by Captain Trigge, probably due
to foundation defects which have caused persistent cracks
in the walls in this part of the house. When Elsie Buchanan
reclaimed Auchmar in 1901, further upgrades and design
alterations were made under the supervision of architect
Charles Mills. The house has also served as a hospital and a
convent, and parted with much of its acreage for residential
development. Yet the basic features of Claremont Park may
still be seen.
That an estate of such extent and sophistication should have
appeared in the woods of Upper Canada is a truly remarkable
event, but more remarkable still is the fact that the essential
features of Auchmar House and its park have survived 158
years so well that they would be readily recognizable to Isaac
and Agnes Buchanan if they were to return today. The creation
of Claremont Park was a rich legacy to the people of Hamilton.
Ten years ago, the estate was of interest mostly to rapacious
developers. Now, as restoration begins, it attracts appreciation
admirers far and wide who watch as a Picturesque landscape
hidden for generations begins to re-emerge.
Drawing room, www.hauntedhamilton.com
Claremont may have been the secluded retreat of a
moneyed merchant, but it was also a working estate which
was required to provide sustenance to several human families
and a menagerie of lower creatures. The varied buildings and
structures of the estate may have been integral components
of the Picturesque but they served more functional purposes
as well. Equally necessary was the vast cellar beneath
Auchmar House itself, a back-breaking feat of excavation with
ceilings ten feet high. The cellar was cavernous and dim, its
tiny windows set high in the wall and crossed by iron bars.
It accommodated a maze of rooms for storage of fruits and
vegetables, preserved meat and fowl, and delicacies and
liquors imported by the Buchanan firm. There were beer and
wine cellars with stone shelves.
By the summer of 1853 the Buchanans had moved into
Auchmar, even as construction continued around them.
The family of seven was accompanied by a liberal retinue of
servants including nurse, tutor, and houseman. In the next
decade, five more children would arrive.
By the early 1860s, Isaac Buchanan had achieved a
controversial reputation as railway magnate, economist,
and M.P. for Hamilton. He was a supporter of the ministries
of John A. Macdonald and would serve (albeit briefly) in the
cabinet. Macdonald was often a guest at Auchmar, addressing
4
Auchmar Challenge Fund
Heritage Hamilton Foundation, founded in 1977 with a mandate
to encourage the preservation of Hamilton’s built heritage, has
long recognized the significance of the Auchmar Estate a prime
heritage feature of which Hamiltonians are justly proud. The
house and grounds, in addition to their historical importance,
are outstanding examples of mid-nineteenth century architecture
and landscape, and fully deserve to be restored as a resource for
Hamiltonians.
The Foundation has accordingly set aside $25,000.00 in an
AUCHMAR CHALLENGE FUND. Donations from the public up
to a total of $25,000.00 will be matched dollar for dollar and will
be directed toward the restoration of the main entry of the manor
house. Donations in any amount are welcome; income tax receipts
will be issued for amounts of $20.00 and above. Cheques should
be made out to Heritage Hamilton Foundation and mailed to:
Heritage Hamilton Foundation
P.O. Box 89016, Westdale Postal Outlet
Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4R5
This is a hugely exciting opportunity for the community
to be involved in restoring Auchmar. Overwhelm us!
For more information, call 905-527-4503
Winter 2011
Volume 4 , Issue 1
Sir Isaac Buchanan
& William Lyon Mackenzie:
The Rebellion of Upper Canada:
1837-1838 By Dr. Mary Anderson, HHB
I
saac Buchanan (1810-1883) was the owner of the Auchmar
estate on the Hamilton Mountain at the corner of today’s
Fennel Avenue and West 5th. He was a wealthy wholesaler
and retailer with establishments in Scotland, Toronto and
Hamilton. He was one of the most influential men in Upper
Canada at the time of William Lyon Mackenzie’s Rebellion
in 1837-38. Buchanan and Mackenzie had some of the same
reform goals; however, Buchanan did not advocate violent
rebellion. They were both critical of the Upper Canada
government because of the anti-democratic and corrupt form
of government that they observed in the “Family Compact”
monopoly.
William Lyon Mackenzie (1795-1861) had a fiery
temperament and grew impatient with any slower movement
toward reform. He owned a newspaper and wrote many
articles objecting to the government and demanding a reform
of government on republican lines, similar to the United
States. When his written protests came to no avail, he decided
that open rebellion would be necessary. On December 7,
1837, Mackenzie gathered some Reform supporters together
at Montgomery’s Tavern in Toronto and decided to march
down Yonge Street to attempt to overthrow the government.
Unfortunately for Mackenzie, his reformers were poorly
organized and he hesitated too long while he wrote yet
another treatise to fire up his men. In the delay, Colonel Allan
MacNab and his government supporters were able to organize
to suppress the rebellion. During this time, Isaac Buchanan
accepted a commission in the local militia and served in
Toronto and on the Niagara frontier.
Mackenzie and his men were forced to flee. Those who
escaped were scattered and fled for their lives. Those who
were captured were hanged. Mackenzie, the leader, escaped
and fled to the United States. Along the way, he hid in a cave
on the Sydenham Hill above Dundas, and he was assisted by
supporters who supplied him with new horses in his flight.
Mackenzie was tried in absentia and was exiled with other
reformers. In the US he became a citizen but was finally tried
and jailed for anti-neutrality activities. He served a sentence
for a year but was soured on the US system thereafter.
As Mackenzie languished in exile, he desired to return to
Canada.
Isaac Buchanan had continued to agitate toward reform
by peaceful means. He warned that another rebellion was
imminent unless more equitable changes were made in
government. Reform did finally occur in 1848 when Upper and
Lower Canada formed a new democratic parliament of the
Province of Canada, and received responsible government. In
the elections for the 3rd Parliament of the Province of Canada,
the Reformers won, and enacted sweeping reforms, which
included an amnesty act for the rebels of 1837. It passed the
Assembly in February 1849, and Mackenzie asked influential
Reformers such as Isaac Buchanan and others to lobby for
amnesty for himself, even though he was now a US citizen.
The new government and its supporters such as Buchanan
came to realize that those who had fomented the Rebellion
had actually been instrumental in bringing about responsible
government in Canada.
Isaac Buchanan eventually
determined that those who had
caused the Rebellion should
be granted amnesty and he
lobbied for Mackenzie’s freedom.
Mackenzie had already grown
disenchanted with the US
republican form of government.
He was an inveterate reformer,
and eventually found that any
form of government that he
encountered, needed reforming.
He continued to print protests.
When Mackenzie returned to
Canada, he had many supporters and resumed his career
in politics. In 1851 he won the election for a seat in the
Parliament of the Province of Canada. For the next seven
years, Mackenzie was the loudest advocate in the Assembly for
the cause of “true reform.” He continued to expose corruption
wherever he found it and even the highest offices were not
safe from his scrutiny. Colonel Allan Napier MacNab and
Isaac Buchanan were both knighted for their role in quelling
the Rebellion.
The Early Life of Isaac Buchanan
By Bill King, HHB
I
saac Buchanan was born on July 21, 1810. During the
Napoleonic Wars, his father settled the family in Glasgow
where he prospered in the textile trade and acquired part of
the ancient lands of the Clan Buchanan on Loch Lomond,
including a retreat called Auchmar.
Isaac had an academic bent and prepared to attend the
Glasgow College, but for whatever reason, he abandoned
this plan at the age of fifteen in favour of a position with
the trading firm of William Guild. In 1830, the firm sent
Isaac to Montreal where he helped to establish a branch
store. Though often lonely and ill in Canada, Isaac found
conditions promising. However, he concurred with his elder
brother, Peter, that the future lay to the west and in 1832 they
invested the proceeds of their father’s estate in a wholesale
dry-goods firm based in Toronto. Peter was proving a shrewd
businessman and a source of steady advice to his younger
brother, not all of which was appreciated. In particular, Isaac
consistently ignored his brother’s demands that he stay away
from politics.
Isaac found Upper Canada dominated by “The Family
Compact” which, he became convinced, would lead the
province to ruin. He befriended William Lyon Mackenzie but
when rebellion came he remained loyal and served in the
militia. After a short time in Britain following the defeat of
Mackenzie, he returned to Canada and opened a dry goods
store in Hamilton in 1840. In the election of 1841, Isaac
proved a fiery candidate for the Reform Party. But although
successful his passion waned. He returned to Scotland, and in
1843 married seventeen-year-old Agnes Jarvie, a graduate of
Anderson’s Ladies Academy and mistress of several languages
including Hebrew. But Isaac still viewed Canada as the best
hope for his family’s prosperity. Later he and Agnes set sail
for Canada and with their baby son Peter, set up home in
Hamilton in a house on Henry Street.
The Buchanans did not decide to settle in Canada
permanently until 1851. Shortly thereafter, plans for the
Canadian Auchmar were under way.
5
Winter 2011
Volume 4 , Issue 1
Postscripts to History
The Gatekeeper’s Lodge Watches & Waits
T
I
By Mary Anderson, PhD
homas Baker McQuesten (1882-1948)
was an avid student of history and in
his family’s collection of letters he read
about the Rebellion and about the threat to his own family at
that time. On January 7, 1837 (the very date of the Rebellion)
John Fisher in Hamilton wrote in great fear to his cousin Dr.
Calvin McQuesten in New York: “We are in the beginning of a
Civil War.” They had suffered hostility, had sent their children
back to the US, and they feared for their own safety (see www.
whitehern.ca; W-MCP4-6.193). In 1937-38 approximately 100
years after the Rebellion, the Hon. Thomas B. McQuesten, as
Chair of the Niagara Parks Commission, approached Prime
Minster William Lyon Mackenzie King (Mackenzie’s grandson)
to participate in a plan to build a Memorial Arch at Niagara
in commemoration of Mackenzie and his role in bringing
responsible democratic government to Canada.
In the building of the Memorial Arch at Niagara, McQuesten
and his architect, William Lyon Somerville, decided to
celebrate all of the reformers in the art work on the Arch
including both the “patriots” and the “traitors.” At the unveiling,
Prime Minister King objected to the celebration of both on the
Memorial Arch, as he wished to celebrate only Mackenzie’s
men. He preferred to view the others as criminals; however,
McQuesten had a more comprehensive view of history, and so
included the names of the “traitors” in bas-relief on the Arch.
The Arch had been designed mainly for a walking public and
when traffic became too heavy, the road was widened and the
arch was destroyed in 1968. Fortunately, one of the scavengers
of historical memorabilia managed to retrieve the bas-relief
sculptures from the scrap-yard and they are currently on
display in the side-yard of the Mackenzie House and in other
locations in Toronto. For instance, Tom craftily included a
sculpture medallion of HMS St. Lawrence on the arch and
it now stands near the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. It
was the ship on which his grandfather, Thomas Baker, had
served during the War of 1812 and it was the ship that was a
significant factor in winning the war of 1812 on Lake Ontario
which served to bring peace between the US and Canada. The
Rainbow Bridge at Niagara which was built by McQuesten,
and which is jointly owned by the US and Canada. It stands
today as a symbol of that peace between these two nations..
At Niagara, the Mackenzie House and Printery was also
restored by Hon. Thomas B. McQuesten during his campaign
to restore the forts and other historical locations in Ontario.
At Niagara, the Mackenzie House and Printery contains
one of the oldest printing presses in Canada. It stands
today to commemorate both the political reformer and the
transformative power of the printed word.
6
Winter 2011
no longer resist the inevitable. A post-war world brought not
only post-war dreams, but the technology to transform them
into reality. With a car now within reach of the ordinary man
and woman, the mountain would finally have a population.
The subdivision which had eluded the ambitions of previous
generations quickly took shape, spanning the old orchard wall
and the mountain brow. Claremont Heights was centered on
two main avenues with large building lots. Arcade followed
the old lane from the Gatekeeper’s Lodge to Auchmar House.
Some of Isaac Buchanan’s chestnut trees were even preserved
in a park half way along. Each avenue terminated in a cul-desac with large lots backing onto the remaining nine acres of
grounds around Auchmar House. The new subdivision was a
model of good planning and, equally important, successfully
managed to preserve the essential features of Claremont
Park.
By Martha Ronalds
saac Buchanan’s Gatekeeper’s Lodge may not be the oldest
building on Claremont Drive, but it is the most intriguing,
the most historic and undoubtedly the most patient.
Even before Isaac Buchanan commenced building his
Claremont Park estate in 1852, there were several humble
dwellings on the mountain’s edge and a few lavish ones
including Chedoke, which has been preserved and deeded to
the people of Ontario, and Bellvue, demolished a decade ago
by an owner who achieved his goal by allowing it to crumble.
The Gatekeeper’s Lodge joined this historic group about
1853 when it appeared beside a green gate at the foot of a lane,
nearby a black walnut tree said to be 250 years old. Buchanan’s
Gatekeeper’s lodge was Auchmar House in miniature, as
charming as it was tiny, its steep gables bedecked with
gingerbread trim. It stood guard at the entrance to the great
park of Claremont, a quaint miniature of the manor house a
quarter-mile distant. It contained a mere four rooms, with
a central stove and an outside entrance to the cellar. The
Gatekeeper’s Lodge would have a long life and would see much
change.
It undoubtedly shed a tear in 1875, when Isaac Buchanan lost
Claremont Park to creditors. And it tremored a little in 1890
when Watson Walton, investment banker and ice merchant,
built a stately mansion next door, so large that it seemed to
elbow the Lodge out of the way.
Walton Watson was one of the lesser-known eccentrics
in a neighborhood with a plentiful supply. With deep angles
and a squat round turret, Walton’s new home echoed the
architectural severity which was descending on the city below
but it was probably the only residence of its kind to appear on
the mountain.
Watson was an enthusiast of the latest thing. When he
discovered that his electric car (the first in Hamilton) couldn’t
operate in reverse, he installed a turntable in his garage. He
even dreamt of replicating the city’s humble eastern quarter
on the mountain, buying land and plotting with his neighbour,
Colonel Chisholm, to transform Buchanan’s ancient park into
a teeming network of narrow houses and narrower alleys.
And when he realized that the plan might be hampered by the
difficulty of access for working men with no vehicle at all, he
devised a solution for that problem too.
The Hamilton & Barton Incline Railway was an instant
success. Visitors ascended the mountain in droves. They came
for ice cream, for amusements at the Mountain View Hotel and
for summer theatre. But above all, they came to admire a view
of unrivalled magnificence. Ambling along Claremont Drive
they gazed north and saw the future in a pastiche of steeples,
smokestacks and towers arrayed under low sulphurous clouds.
But like their fathers, they also saw the blue sky, the turquoise
lake and the verdant hills which rolled beyond the horizon, a
setting which imparted a special quality to the Head-of-theLake.
Volume 4 , Issue 1
But having taken in these heady pleasures, the visitors to
Mount Hamilton did the one thing Walton Watson did not
intend: they went back home. The anticipated subdivision
came to naught. For years to come the mountain would remain
‘Barton Township’, a rustic and neglected appendage to the
bustling city below. And the Gatekeeper’s Lodge continued to
watch and wonder.
At the Gatekeeper’s Lodge, the Embelton family was
succeeded by the Kools, who had sought refuge from Holland
during the war. John Kool began life in Canada as gardener for
the Youngs. He and his resolute wife kept their tiny home in
pristine condition, planting flowers and extending a proud
welcome to curious visitors. In 1970, they opened their doors
to Mayor Vic Copps and an entourage of dignitaries for the
unveiling of an historical plaque which reminded neighbours
that their little house occupied a surprisingly large place in
history. So proud were Mr. and Mrs. Kool of the plaque that
they put it in their garage for safekeeping.
It breathed a sigh of relief when the Liquor Commission put
an end to the fantastic goings-on at Mountain View Hotel, and
it beamed with pride in 1901, when Elsie Buchanan returned
to Claremont in grand style. It looked on nervously during
the Great War, when the Hotel opened its doors to recruits
awaiting dispatch to the trenches of France. And it shed a tear
in 1926 when Elsie, reduced to poverty, was forced to abandon
Auchmar.
By this time, Claremont Drive had become fully populated
by a diverse line of large homes. Next door, a steel executive
purchased the old home of Walton Watson and rebuilt it as
an authentic replica of a Norman chateau. The Gatekeeper’s
Lodge was proud to have neighbours of such distinction, but
like them, was mightily annoyed in 1968 when the Claremont
Access overshot the mountain and reduced the broad avenue
to a perilously narrow strip of concrete.
The remaining portion of Claremont Park was purchased
from Elsie by a young Hamilton businessman named Allan
Vernon Young. Auchmar’s new master had become the local
king of cotton at an early age but his wife Edna reserved her
passion for the sport of kings and Claremont Park was recalled
delightfully to life. There were steeplechases and the children
learned to ride and jump. From the stables near Auchmar
house, horses galloped through open fields to the brow.
Handsome Larkspur showed at the Winter Fair. The Youngs’
stable-master, Harry Embelton, settled into the Gatekeeper’s
Lodge with his wife and four young children. It was a tight fit to
be sure, with two girls in the second bedroom and two boys on
the landing. The Embeltons ambled about the neighbourhood
in their 1929 Ford, happy to see a single passerby.
It is now more than 150 years since the appearance of the
Gatekeeper’s Lodge. It has looked on quietly as a world grew
up around it, a place out of time. Sadly, subsequent owners
have not shared the appreciation of the Embeltons and
the Kools, assaulting the Lodge with awkward alterations
and begrudging even modest repairs. At a time when the
restoration of Auchmar House is becoming a reality, it is sadly
ironic that the future of one of the most important elements of
the Buchanan estate has grown increasingly uncertain.
When war came again, the Youngs loaned Auchmar to the
Air Force for use as a convalescent hospital. They intended
to return but after a thorough inspection during which Edna
looked with memorable dismay at the acres of linoleum which
now covered her hardwood floors, they changed their minds.
Auchmar was sold to an order of nuns as a place of repose, but
if the manor house was in retreat, the Claremont estate could
7
Winter 2011
Volume 4 , Issue 1
What`s in a Name?
The origin of familiar names in Hamilton
Written and Edited by Bill Manson, HHB
Buchanan (“house of the cannon?”) is a
clan name of territorial origin referring to
lands in Stirlingshire in Scotland bordering
Loch Lomond. Prior to the adoption of
the name Buchanan, the clan was known
as MacAuslane, claiming descent from the King of Ulster in
Ireland. When the MacAuslane Clan helped King Malcolm
II to repel the Danes, they received the lands of Buchanan,
and eventually adopted the territorial name as their clan
name. The Buchanan lands, lying to the east of Loch Lomond,
remained in the family for almost seven centuries, and it can
be argued that the Buchanans have the oldest established
clan society in Scotland.
Auchmar refers today not only to Sir Isaac Buchanan’s estate
here in Hamilton, but also to a retreat on the ancient lands of
the Clan Buchanan on Loch Lomond, in Scotland. However,
Auchmar was not originally a place name, but the name of a
family that married into the mainline Buchanan Clan around
1560. When the mainline Buchanan Clan became extinct
around 1682, the chieftainship passed to the Auchmar branch
of the Buchanans. In turn when the Auchmar Buchanan
line became extinct, their lands were sold to the Marquess
of Montrose in 1816 and the remnants of the clan became
dispersed.
Claremont (“clear mountain” Fr.) is the name Isaac Buchanan
used to refer to the lands around his estate, Auchmar. The
name remains today in the Claremont Access and Claremont
Drive.
Henry Street was the name of today’s Cannon Street East
between James and John streets when Isaac Buchanan arrived
in Hamilton. The origin of the street name is unknown
(Christian? or surname?).
The Family Compact
“Compact governments” or “compacts” were conservative
cliques that ruled colonies, particularly in British North
America prior to the granting of responsible government.
The best-known one was the “Family Compact” a group
of powerful men who held power through the legislative
assembly, the executive council, senior bureaucratic positions,
and the judiciary in the Province of Upper Canada. The group
emerged after John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada’s first
lieutenant-governor, attempted to create a local aristocracy
by appointing his Loyalist friends to government posts and
granting them land. Their power grew after the end of the war
of 1812, and they managed to hold power until around 1848
when responsible government was final granted. The term
“family” was a derogatory one coined by opponents to the
group.
Winter 2011
At Home with the Buchanans
Emancipation Day Picnic
By Margaret Houghton
A
I
saac Buchanan had made his first visit to
Canada in 1830 and returned to Scotland
in 1841, and it was during this same time that
he successfully courted Agnes Jenny Jarvie, second daughter of
Robert Jarvie of Glasgow. She had been born January 12, 1826
and educated at Anderson’s Ladies’ Academy in Edinburgh, a
school quite famous in its time. Isaac and Jenny were married
in Glasgow, Scotland on January 27, 1843. The groom was 32
years of age and the bride had just turned 17, thus being just
shy of half his age. Buchanan and his young bride sailed for
Canada the same year as the wedding and arrived in Toronto
in November of 1843.
Their first child, Peter, was born in Toronto and, in 1844 while
he was still an infant, the young family moved to Hamilton.
The Buchanans went on to have a total of 11 children:
Volume 4 , Issue 1
engraving of the ceremony was published in the Canadian
Illustrated News of September 12, 1863.
On the front page of that same issue is an engraving of Agnes
Buchanan whom they refer to as
Peter Toronto Buchanan (1844-1898), Jane Milligan
Buchanan (1846-1937), Robert Andrew Washington
Buchanan (1848-1852), Margaret Douglas Buchanan
(1850-1910), Harris Buchanan (1851-1903), Isaac Robert
Buchanan (1852-1884), James Isaac Buchanan (18531931?), Agnes Evelyn Buchanan (1856-1882), Robert Jarvie
Buchanan (1858-1940), Douglas Buchanan (1860-1928),
Helen Elizabeth Jamieson Buchanan (1865-1951)
uchmar, located on the mountain brow on the 86 acres
of land Buchanan called Claremont Park, was built
between 1852 and 1854. The house became known as a focus
for entertaining their guests ranging from quiet visits from
Governors’ General and politicians to the hosting of the local
black community for an Emancipation Day picnic on August
1, 1859. This latter event was attended by an estimated 600
people. This was the 25th anniversary of the emancipation
of the slaves by Britain. Those in attendance were served
a sumptuous feast that included roast beef, fowl, pies and
pastries of all kinds, as well as boxes of oranges and barrels of
lemonade. Buchanan called for a “co-operative scheme with the
south for the abolition of slavery by 1900.” After the festivities,
those in attendance gave “three cheers for Mr. Buchanan,
whose kindness had procured for them a day of unalloyed
pleasure. The cheers were heartily given and followed by three
deafening ones for Mrs. Buchanan.”
When hard times fell on the Buchanans in the 1870s,
Auchmar was sold and they moved into rented quarters at 95
James Street South. It was at this address that Isaac Buchanan
died on October 1, 1883, aged 73. Agnes Buchanan died
thirteen years later on May 7, 1896 aged 71, while living at 163
James Street South. They are both buried in the Buchanan plot
in Hamilton Cemetery.
Isaac and Agnes immediately felt at home in Hamilton and
enthusiastically joined in the many activities available for
business men and their wives.
Both Isaac and Agnes Buchanan believed whole heartedly
that those with the money should support “good works” in
their community and they donated money and time to most
of the charities extant in Hamilton during this time. They
were particularly interested in education and donated prizes
to schools both in Hamilton and Toronto. They also believed
in education for the masses and actively supported the
Hamilton & Gore Mechanics’ Institute that offered educational
opportunities to the working men of Hamilton.
One of the accomplishments that he was
most proud of was the establishment
of the first permanent militia unit
to be formed in Hamilton: the 13th
Battalion Volunteer Militia
Infantry. He helped to found
it in 1862 and in February of
1863 was named LieutenantColonel of the regiment. On
September 1, 1863, according
to Semper Paratus the
history of the battalion:
The battalion paraded to Christ’s Church Cathedral to witness the
consecration of the colours by the Rev. J. Campbell [sic Gamble]
Geddes. A few days later the Colours were formally presented to
the Battalion by Mrs. Buchanan, wife of the commanding officer.
The Buchanan family plot in Hamilton Cemetery. Photo by Robin McKee
“One of the most notable ladies of Upper Canada, identified as
she has been with many religious and philanthropic enterprises
of the Province… Mrs. Buchanan is a lady of fine mental culture,
and possessed of originality of thought, a clear perception of
ideas with pleasing conversational powers. She is courteous and
hospitable in her nature, and munificent in her charities… Mrs.
Buchanan is accomplished as a linguist, and excels in painting
and music, particularly in the latter, to the frequent delight of the
many guests of “Auchmar House.””
The ceremony was covered by the local media and a full page
8
9
Winter 2011
Volume 4 , Issue 1
AUCHMAR - The War Story
I took the film to Jon Soyka, President of the Hamilton
Video-Film Makers and he converted it from 8 mm to VHS
video tape and then to a digital file in a computer. The three
films had to be synchronised so the story they told would
flow easily and a script should be written to explain the
medical treatments and the patients’ vigourous activities. Jon
tweaked it a little bit and suggested we interview any former
patients. Two former airmen who were patients, Warrant
Officers Dean Taylor and Bill Carey and a local woman named
June Cooper who, as a teenager, went to Auchmar on dance
nights or to write letters for the patients were interviewed on
film to give their memories of that time and what it was like
living in or visiting Auchmar during the war years. Jon also
made a number of suggestions to improve the story line and
to eliminate the odd blurred or dark areas on the film.
By Stewart Leslie
P
eople often ask me how the story of Auchmar in the war
years came about. It began when the Alan Young family
went north to their summer property on Lake Muskoka
which was nearby BEAUMARIS, the summer home of another
Hamiltonian, Francis Farwell and his family. The Farwells
had leased their property to the Military for use as RCAF
Convalescent Hospital No. 1. The Alan Young Family was
influenced by the sight of badly burned aviators at Beaumaris
and thus, on August 15th, 1943, they leased their home,
Auchmar, to the RCAF for the duration of the war. On October 9th, 1943 seven badly burn patients were
transferred from Beaumaris to the new RCAF Convalescent
Hospital No. 2 at Auchmar in Hamilton. They were
accompanied by Nursing Sister Hazel Hughes a specialist in
burn therapy and Corporal Alice Vousden, the boys favourite
cook. F/ L. Philip A. Voelker, M.D. later Squadron Leader, was
in charge of the rehabilitation of the injured airmen. Winter 2011
One of the founders of the Hamilton Mountain Heritage
Society, the Rev. T. Melville Bailey suggested at a director’s
meeting that the Millennium year, 2000 was approaching and
it would be an appropriate time for the society to publish
a pictorial history of “Hamilton Mountain.” We borrowed
photographs, stories and memorabilia from people who lived
or had grown up in the area and the book has been a huge
success and currently is in its fourth printing. When one of
the team, Doug Embleton, who had grown up on the Auchmar
Estate where his father Hank was the stable master and
trainer of the Young’s hunting and jumping horses, returned
two photographs he had borrowed from Mrs. Viva Voelker in
Waterloo, she asked him if the society would be interested
in three rolls of colour film that her husband had shot at
Auchmar in 1943. At that time, Hollywood had only released
two coloured films,”Gone With The Wind” and “The Wizard
of Oz “ both in 1943 so it was a mystery how Dr. Voelker had
managed to get the film and a camera. Volume 4 , Issue 1
I was interviewed by Dan McLean on CHCH TV in 1985
when the pictorial history book “Hamilton Then and Now”
was published by the Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society.
It was a fun interview and when I later told him about the
Auchmar film, he was anxious to preview it also. However,
the new film was 29 minutes long which did not leave any
time for commercials on a half hour segment. He asked if a
commentary about Auchmar which was not well known at
that time, could be added to bring it up to 47 minutes which
would leave 13 minutes for commercials. Jon Soyka took the
scenes that introduce the film and other photos of the interior
and exterior of the house and grounds used as a backdrop
for the historic importance of Auchmar by Nina Chapple, a
former City of Hamilton Heritage Planner. The manager of
CHCH phoned me and inquired about the film. He rejected it
for their use because the original material had been filmed by
an amateur photographer! He had not even seen the film!
Pianist Paul Benton was given a copy of the new tape which
had no sound and he figured out the music that the band was
playing on dance nights and suggested music popular at that
time for the background. George Hall a former RCAF / RAF
pilot and a retired CHML radio announcer felt a strong bond
with the airmen in the film and agreed to read the script.
Photos courtesy of Mrs. Voelker appear on page 53 of
Mountain Memories show the original front of the building
and the ninth green of the airmen’s golf course. The photo on
page 123 shows the “Service Entrance” to the Auchmar estate
on Fennel Avenue West with the wooden Carriage House
beside the stone Stables to the east of the gate.
The film shows the patients putting in a Victory garden,
which their in-house newsletter Auchmar Tonic dated April
29, 1944; cutting down dead trees and chopping the wood for
the ten fireplaces in Auchmar house; cycling; golfing on a nine
hole course the patients created themselves; skiing; curling;
bowling and a host of other activities. The doctor’s primary
aim was to show the variety of the rehabilitation programme.
10
Doug brought the film back to Hamilton and phoned me to
ask what to do with this film. I suggested that it was 55 years
old, an acetate film and would turn to dust any minute. Could
he take it over to FotoVideo on Upper Ottawa Street and
have them make a copy on stable film. At the next executive
meeting of the Society we were all overwhelmed by the “silent
film” and agreed that the Historical Society must add a sound
track appropriate commentary and music to the VHS version
of the film.
Books by Bill Manson
-available at local bookstores-
Getting Around Hamilton
the history of Hamilton’s unique transportation systems
Footsteps in Time, Volumes 1&2
the history of Hamilton’s oldest neighbourhoods
Beasley, Central, Corktown, Durand, and North-End
11
Winter 2011
The Women of Auchmar
By Dr. Mary Anderson
T
he Women of Auchmar can be divided generally, into two
categories: The Buchanan family who built Auchmar and
owned it from 1855 to 1872 and again from 1900 to 1926; and
the Sisters of Social Service who owned Auchmar from 1946
to 1999.
What is interesting about these two prominent owners is
that in both cases Auchmar was seen and used as a place of
healing, and became a kind of missionary and social service
establishment.
Auchmar House is a Gothic Revival mansion completed
by Sir Isaac Buchanan (1810-1883) in 1855 on 35 hectares
(86 acres) on the Hamilton Mountain at Fennel Ave and
W5th Street. It was built as a summer residence in the
healthy environment of the Mountain away from the dirt,
heat, swamps, and pollution of the city. At that time many of
the streets were still muddy and the heating in the city was
supplied mainly by burning wood and coal. So, right from
the beginning, Auchmar held the salubrious connotation
of a spa or a retreat. Isaac Buchanan believed in the healing
properties of the sun and fresh air so he built sun rooms the
length of the house both at the front and the back. The home
was surrounded by acres of trees, formal and natural gardens,
orchards and vegetable tracts. The Buchanan family found
this home so healthful and invigorating that they decided to
live there year round.
Agnes (Jarvie) Buchanan (1826-1896) was the chatelaine of
Auchmar and she had eleven children, 7 sons and 4 daughters.
She had her last child in her 40th year. That child was Helen
Elizabeth Jamison Buchanan, known as ELSIE (1865-1951)
and Elsie is the prominent woman in our story today. Agnes
Buchanan, the mother, was a charming hostess with a
beautiful singing voice, and the Buchanans gave many lavish
parties for many celebrities, such as Sir John A. Macdonald
and the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII. Agnes and the
family entertained in the immense dining hall and the music
room that was lined with cane to enhance the acoustics. They
had many servants who were treated very fairly in keeping
with the Buchanan’s enlightened concern for education and
emancipation. The Buchanans were devout Presbyterians and members
of the MacNab Street Presbyterian Church. Mary Baker
McQuesten of Whitehern, describes their position in the
church: “In the gallery, facing the pulpit, in the front seat,
sat the Hon. Isaac and Mrs. Buchanan. The front seat of the
gallery was the seat of honor in the Scottish Churches. They
were great up-holders of the Church, not only this Church,
but many Churches throughout the Country. Mr. Buchanan
gave $250 to every Church that would take the name of Knox
so that Knox’s name should never be forgotten in Canada.
Mrs. Buchanan was a distinguished lady with a beautiful face
and fine executive ability. “
Isaac was a philanthropist, and several Presbyterian
churches in Hamilton and Ontario accepted his generosity,
and adhered to the Scottish Presbyterian tradition of Knox
and the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment, which included
a strong social conscience.
12
Volume 4 , Issue 1
Mrs. Buchanan’s “executive ability” shone in the many
social endeavours within their church and throughout the
city. For instance the family was committed to education,
and assisted many of the charities, the Mechanics Institute
and the early libraries. The women were particularly active
in the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS) and
Agnes and her daughter Elsie were charter members of the
auxiliary in Hamilton in 1887. The records show that Mary
Baker McQuesten of “Whitehern” was the secretary then
and became president in 1894, at which time Elsie Buchanan
became secretary. The Whitehern archive contains minutes of
the meetings written in their own hand and displaying their
signatures. They report on the missionary work abroad, along
with the notation at each meeting of the collection of dues at
5 cents per person. At the 1894 meeting the balance on hand
was $285.88.
This missionary work became a strong social obligation for
the women who worked hard and donated as much as they
could to support the work of women missionaries abroad in
India, China, Japan, etc. Elsie gave several lectures at these
meetings. These organized women were gaining strength
and experience, and the women missionaries overseas
were becoming trained as doctors in order to minister to
the women who were confined to harems where the male
missionaries could not reach them. Soon “gender conflict”
began to emerge as the men resisted allowing the women
to train as doctors, and they refused to allow the women to
practice medicine at home.
Also, “gender conflict” broke out at home. The men of the
church decided that the large amounts of money that the
women were so good at collecting, should be used for the
broader missionary society at home, mainly in the west. The
women had raised a total income of more than half a million
dollars over the life of their organization while the male body
had perennial budget problems. The women eventually
capitulated but felt that they had been “coerced” into forming
the Home Missionary Society (WHMS). Management and
money then reverted to the governing body which was male.
At this point Elsie Buchanan and Mary McQuesten became
disillusioned and began to lose interest in the missionary
society work, and decided to do their own personal missionary
efforts. Elsie began to take young girls into Auchmar to
educate and to train them. Thus Auchmar became a haven
and a retreat for many young women who passed through
its welcoming doors. Mary McQuesten turned her efforts to
help the new immigrants and she worked tirelessly to teach
them, and to find them jobs. Mary and Elsie supported the
newly-formed YWCA around the turn of the century, and that
institution gradually took over some of the work. Mary died in
1935 and Elsie died in 1951.
In 1926 Elsie Buchanan sold Auchmar to A.V. Young who, in
turn, rented it to the RCAF during and after the Second World
War. Auchmar continued as a healing and convalescent
centre when it was converted to a retreat for servicemen who
had been damaged in both mind and body. It is difficult to
say how many were healed at Auchmar, but the surroundings
continued to be conducive to recovery.
Winter 2011
Volume 4 , Issue 1
The Sisters of Social Service
at Auchmar
By Dr. Christine Lei, HHB
A
t 11 a.m. on June 23, 1946, the Sisters of
Social Service (SSS) officially opened
Holy Spirit Home (on the former Auchmar estate) with
an outdoor Mass. This was followed by a Corpus Christi
procession between four booths set up in the beautiful
garden. At 1:00 in the afternoon, everyone sat down to a long
Hungarian dinner until 3 o’clock when the Diocesan Retreat
House was blessed by Bishop Joseph Ryan. At this time,
information was distributed to the guests about retreats in
Hungarian separately for women, men and youth. The Sisters
defined the purpose of a retreat as “a resting with the Lord
Jesus after which we return refreshed in body and soul to our
work and our home.”
Who are the Sisters of Social Service?
The Sisters of Social Service is a religious organization of
social workers, founded in Hungary as the Social Mission
Society in 1908 and adapted in its present form in 1923 under
the guidance of Sister Margaret Slachta. The Sisters wore
a simply grey uniform and an emblem which represents the
Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. The order is inspired by
the Holy Spirit and rooted in social mission and charism.
Its spirituality is Benedictine in nature: a listening heart,
peacefulness, simplicity, hospitality, harmony and balance in
daily living and ongoing conversion.
How did the name Auchmar come to be changed to Mount
Cenacle?
The Sisters first named the site HOLY SPIRIT HOME to
reflect their charism and devotion to the Holy Spirit. As the
retreat movement grew, though, it became necessary to find
another name. A contest was announced by Bishop Ryan. 56
people responded. The prize was $25.00. The winner was a
Cathedral High School student named Paul Kovacs. Here is a
copy of his entry:
Dear Father:
I would suggest as a name for the Retreat House conducted by
the Sisters of Social Service “Mount Cenacle”.
My reasons:
1.Cenacle means Upper Room, where the Blessed Virgin and
the Apostles were waiting for the coming of the Holy Ghost (the
Sisters are dedicated to the Holy Ghost)
2.The Retreat House is also a place where those who make (a)
the retreat are waiting for the coming of the Holy Ghost to
bring them abundance of graces (Retreat House)
3.God’s graces bring true peace to the souls. PAX is the motto of
St. Benedict (the Sisters follow the Rule of St. Benedict)
I remain, sincerely yours, Paul Kovacs
By the early 1980’s, activities at the site were changing,
and so the Sisters decided to rename Mount Cenacle Retreat
House to Holy Spirit Centre. In a letter dated November 30,
1982, the Sisters gave the following reasons for the renaming:
confusion with the Cenacle Sisters in Toronto, the new name
reflects the community’s devotion to the Holy Spirit, and the
word “retreat” was taken out of name and gave Sisters more
scope for programming and providing a variety of community
services on the grounds.
Why were the SSS invited to Hamilton?
Bishop Ryan had been planning to establish a permanent
retreat house in the Hamilton diocese, and so he turned to
the SSS to open one. The Sisters accepted because of their
dedication to the Holy Spirit and to the Pentecost, when
the Sisters take and renew their vows. For the next several
months, Bishop Ryan looked around for a suitable site for
the retreat house. It was November, 1945 and the Second
World War had just ended. For the past five years Auchmar
had been used as a semi-convalescent home for soldiers
who were receiving their treatments by the doctors of the
Ontario Hospital located on the west side of the future Mount
Cenacle. One Sister recalls how the servicemen used to come
over from the Hospital to assist the Sisters with grounds
keeping and handiwork. The property at the time consisted of
the main building with 26 rooms including the stable where
horses were kept on a property of 9.8 acres. The final cost was
$32,500 when the Sisters bought the former Auchmar estate
in November 1945. When the Sisters took over the property
in January 1946, military officers from Ottawa came to greet
them and told them that the air force has used it for 5 years,
the rent was $1 per year, and $80,000 of repairs had been done
to the main building as part of the government contract;
this included plastering, flooring, and installing water main,
sewers, electricity and gas. Fruit trees had also been planted.
In 1945, there was an additional 20 acres of land that spread
to the Mountain Brow just north of the estate and it was for
sale for $20,000. The Sisters, though, had to “forget about it”
since they did not have the money at the time.
In her memoirs, Sister Mary Schwarz notes that the north
side of Fennell Avenue was Hamilton and the south side
Bartonville. She recalls people from across the street coming
over for their water supplies. Sister Mary gives us a glimpse
into the early days of the Sisters at Mount Cenacle:
In January 1946, we moved in, which I may be mistaken in
saying because at the time there were only two Sisters there,
Sister Mary and Sister Columbetta, and we were in a large 26
room house without furniture and equipment. Although we asked
for the stove, it was not given to us. The furnace had a problem
and it was not working. I think that the two of us will never forget
that January 23. But God blessed the trust we had in Him. Pieces
of equipment came in one after another... we ordered beds and
bed sheets... we painted the whole house... And we didn’t have a
cent with which to do it. The Bishop gave several donations while
we were equipping the place and Monsignor Santha loaned all
his savings to us interest free... We paid store and factories as
we could, paying monthly 10 – 5 – 25 dollar payments on debts
of several thousand dollars. Not one of them pressed us but just
13
Winter 2011
The Sisters of Social Service at Auchmar
Cont... By Dr. Christine Lei, HHB
waited even for two or three years until we paid them what we
owed. In the midst of the hardships of our beginnings, we cannot
forget the help of Mrs. Coughlin, the president of the Women’s
Auxiliary in Montreal. She was with us for six weeks that spring.
She helped us materially as the dishes and silverware are from
her. She froze with us, scrubbed, painted and sewed... She gave
financial help to the Hungarians.”
Although the Sisters had much experience in working and
helping communities for both young and old alike, running
a retreat centre was another matter altogether. It was the
Men’s Retreat Association, operated by Mr. Ed Ford and a
Women’s Retreat Auxiliary, whose president was Miss Reding.
These two groups were in charge of organizing the occasional
retreat, until the Sisters were ready to take over.
On September 1, 1946 the Sisters were ready for their first
retreat. The main house had 36 rooms. The furnishings had
been bought on credit or from second-hand stores, or from
the armed forces who were selling “surplus goods” – blankets
- $2 each, benches $1, chairs 50 cents, dining room tables $10,
garden tables $2. Space was tight. For the first two years, the
Sisters rolled out their beddings in the morning and hid them
away and then rolled them out again when the retreatants
when to bed. Some Sisters slept on the floor while others slept
on chesterfields, and there was no seating for Sisters during
the day.
The number of retreats and retreatants grew steadily
throughout the 1940’s. In 1946 there were 12 retreats in
which there were 249 participants; in 1947 there were 41
retreats and 929 participants; in 1948 there were 30 retreats
with 703 participants; in 1949 there were 37 retreats with 981
participants and as Sister Mary writes in her work report
“much better income.” The Sisters did not hold retreats in the
summer but took in summer guests who were on vacation.
In the beginning, most of the retreatants were Hungarian.
The retreats were directed by Jesuits, Redemptorists,
Resurrectionists, Paulists and by diocesan priests. The average
attendance was 20 in 1946, 22 in 1947, 23 in 1948 and 24.3 in
1949.
With soaring attendance and limited sleeping and eating
facilities, the need for expansion was evident by the Sisters’
second year at Holy Spirit Centre. In a letter dated March 26,
1947, Sister Mary requests a loan from Bishop Ryan to make
alterations on the stable in order to transform into a novitiate.
She writes:
“The work is absolutely necessary if we want to build up our
Community in Canada. Up to now we had our vocations from
Hungarians only. We also feel the training of Social Sisters,
whose field of actions is the centre of life, is very hard on the
Prairies in the West. We have to come out, make our Community
known, and try to get vocations from more general sources.”
Mr. Thomas Cochrane, a frequent retreatant, gave a
14
Volume 4 , Issue 1
special rate for alterations to the stable (in fact, the previous
owner’s, Mrs. Young, racing horses were still in the stable). By
November 1947, alterations were made to the former coach
house to serve as the Novitiate for the Community in Eastern
Canada. In the United States girls were entering from all
ethnic groups; Sister Mary believed that this new novitiate
in Hamilton would attract the same in Canada. The Sisters
had also planned to use a few of the rooms in this building for
the elderly and retired, at a cost of $60 per month for single
room and board. Sixteen windows were put in, including
four bay-windows in the place of doors. It took five months
to complete. There were eight rooms on the first floor and 12
bedrooms on the second. The Sisters occupied the 2nd floor
and the 1st floor rooms were rented to elderly persons as an
additional means of income for the Sisters. The loans were
paid for from the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery Fund and from St.
Mary’s Church in Brantford. The total cost was $25,000.
Throughout the 1950’s, the retreat movement at Mount
Cenacle continued to soar. In 1961, it was decided that a new
wing with private bedrooms and washrooms be added. The
result was an entire retreat house with 44 bedrooms, semiprivate bathrooms, a separate chapel seating 80, a dining
room for 60, a Retreat Master’s and a visiting priest’s suite
and a new kitchen adjoining the service area of the original
building. A future mayor of Hamilton (Victor Copps) vicechaired the first advisory board. The cost of the new retreat
wing was $260,000. On March 10, 1963, Mount Cenacle Retreat
House held its Dedication Day.
The first retreatants were men (until 1955 when the Men’s
Retreat House in Oakville was opened by the Jesuits) and
women, special groups of Hungarian men, married couples,
and groups arranged according to parishes. There were also
retreats for special groups such as business girls, teachers,
Sisters, priests (4 times a year), housekeepers, high school
girls, -recollection days for grade 8 boys and girls to serve as
vocational guidance, Twilight Retreat for Public High School
students, sponsored by the Hamilton Serra Club. Mount
Cenacle averaged about 2,000 retreatants per year. One very
special guest arrived with a delegation of Polish priests –
Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyla, the future John Paul II.
The significance of the Sisters’ work to the history of
Hamilton is expansive. From Mount Cenacle, many Hamilton
parishes were formed. In the 1940’s, many priests were
organizing their respective parishes in the Diocese and
needed a place to stay – at the Holy Spirit Centre. Parishioners
would come to the convent chapel at Mount Cenacle to hear
mass by their own pastor. In fact, nine Hamilton parishes had
their roots at Mount Cenacle. Thousands of people, young
and old, men and women, religious and secular, have used
the Auchmar grounds as a place of spiritual rejuvenation. The
Sisters have also preserved vital documents and photographs
that give us a glimpse into another aspect of Hamilton’s
broad and vibrant history. They have contributed to the
preservation of Hamilton’s history and heritage through
the careful preservation of the grounds and buildings at 88
Fennell Avenue West. The first teachers in Sts. Peter and Paul
school were three Sisters of Social Service.
Winter 2011
Volume 4 , Issue 1
After 52 years of operation, the Sisters held their closing
Mass on October 24, 1998 at Sts. Peter and Paul Church. It is
important to understand the demographics within the SSS
order (and other religious communities as well) so that we
may fully comprehend why the Sisters left. With fewer and
fewer postulants and novices entering the order and current
members aging the Sisters felt that it was time to retire.
In 1998, there were plans to sell the property to Ray Bucci
Developers for a nursing/retirement home and a project of
town houses. This was unsuccessful. In 1999, the SSS sold
Holy Spirit Centre for 2 million dollars to A. Desantis and
V&R Investments. This plan also failed due to objection by
a neighbourhood group and the local historical board. On
October 22, 1999, the City of Hamilton became the new owner
of Auchmar Estate by exchanging another land and planned
to restore it as a heritage property.
Hutton. This partnership would last until Mills effectively
withdrew from day-to-day practice by 1915. Concurrently,
Mills’ and his extensive family were involved in land
development as well as commercial development. The latter
in the form of the Mills Hardware Co. Ltd stores. These stores
were designed by Charles Mills, and dotted across the city.
In addition to operating the retreat centre, it is important to
remember that the Sisters also worked in parishes, the CYO,
Camp Marydale and in chaplaincy at the Ontario psychiatric
hospital and St. Joseph’s hospital. There are still two Sisters
serving in the diocese, one of whom has just retired from
Annunciation parish.
The Life and Work of Charles
Mills, Architect
By Robert Hamilton, HHB
b: 1 June 1860 in Hamilton, Ontario; m:
Cynthia Allen, 8 September 1882 ; issue:
1880 son, Nelson E, 1884 daughter, Jean Louise, 1885 son,
Lyman Dwight, 1886 daughter, Olive Elizabeth,1888 daughter,
Ruby Rosalin, 1889 daughter, Mona Victoria, 1892 daughter ,
Flora Marjories, 1894 son, Frederick J., 1895 daughter, Winona
Georgina, 1896 son, Wilfred Laurier; d: 28 February 1934.
Member Centenary United Church
Charles Mills, son of James Nelson and Cynthia Elizabeth
(Gage) Mills, was educated in Hamilton, and is believed to
have travelled to Chicago for his architectural training. Mills
was an entrepreneur throughout his working life. He was both
an architect and a land developer when he helped open up
a portion of the new Nelson Survey West of Queen Street in
1882 with realtor John Waldie. Mills would later be granted
building permits to erect 10 brick dwellings in 1885. As an
entrepreneurial architect, Mills was unique. His architectural
firm is the only one known to have consistently advertised in
Hamilton, through a series which appeared in the Hamilton
Spectator from 1898 through 1905 frequently accompanied
by illustrations of floor plans and elevations for commercial,
religious and residential structures. Mills actively participated
in the management of Landed Banking and Loan once he was
elected as a Board of Director for the company starting in
1903.
Mills’ architectural practice was a thriving concern and
sufficient in size to support a number of apprentices over the
years, one of whom was Gordon Johnston Hutton (1881-1942).
Hutton became a full partner in 1908 in the firm of Mills &
One of the Mills’ influential industrial designs was for the
1906 Eagle Spinning Mill Company Limited, Mill No.2. This
mill is considered to be one of the earliest known uses of the
American “Kahn System” for reinforced concrete construction
in the City of Hamilton. This system and its subsequent
derivatives were soon in world-wide use, and its descendents
are still in use to this day. Possibly, the most striking building
still extant, undertaken by Charles Mills was for the Landed
Banking and Loan Company. Mills’ Classical Revival design
inspiration relied heavily upon the 1904 bank branch for the
Knickerbocker Trust Company, in New York City, designed by
the internationally recognised architectural firm of McKim
Mead & White. The Terminal Station for Cataract Power,
Light & Traction Company, was also a Classical Revival
design, and served as the terminus for a series of Radial
Railway lines stretching out from Hamilton. The building’s
exterior was a mixture of Indiana limestone, masonry and
architectural terra cotta. Sadly, the railway systems failed
completely by 1931, having been replaced by buses. The
station continued to operate as the city bus station until the
move to a new purpose built station in 1955. The station was
demolished in 1959. Mills’ firm had several commissions for
branch banks for the Bank of Hamilton in BC, SK, MB and
ON. Mills’ is best remembered for the following architectural
commissions:
15
Winter 2011
The Life and Work of Charles Mills,
Architect Cont... By Robert Hamilton, HHB
1885 Ten new residences on Nelson (renamed Herkimer)
West of Queen Street, Hamilton
1891-1892 Zion Tabernacle Sunday School, Hamilton
1892 Christ’s Church Cathedral Sunday School alterations,
Hamilton
1892-1893 Hamilton Pottery addition, Hamilton
1895 Charles Mills Summer Residence, “Thayendanegea”,
northeast corner of Water Street and Brant Avenue (now
Lakeshore Road and Brock Street), Burlington
1901 Church of the Ascension (Anglican), John Street South
at Maria Street, a Sunday School
1905 Charles Mills personal residence 36 Robinson Street,
Hamilton
1905 Bank of Hamilton branch, Milton
1906 Gospel Tabernacle Church [Christian Worker’s Church,
later still P.W. Philpott Memorial], Parke and Merrick, along
with 1909 addition
1906 Eagle Spinning Mill Company Limited, Mill No.2,
Wilson Street at Sanford Avenue, Hamilton
1906 George W. Robinson residence, [#2] Ravenscliffe
Avenue, Hamilton
1906 Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.), Main
Street West, Hamilton
1906 Mills Hardware Co. store, 95 King Street East, Hamilton
1906-1907 Terminal Station – Cataract Power, Light &
Traction Company, King Street East, Hamilton
1907 Westinghouse of Canada two-storey addition, Hamilton
1907 Canada Screw Works alterations, Wellington Street
North, Hamilton
1907 Bank of British North America branch, Barton Street
near Fullerton Avenue, Hamilton
1907-1908 Landed Banking and Loan building James Street
South at Main Street East, Hamilton
1908 McLaughlin Carriage Company, Bay Street South,
Hamilton
1909 Dominion Bank Building, King Street West at MacNab
Street, Hamilton
1909 Otis-Fensom Elevator Company plant, Victoria Avenue,
Hamilton
Volume 4 , Issue 1
Christ Church Cathedral
By W. A. Seville
I
n 1885, Rev.Theo Heise, Curate of Christ Church Cathedral,
held the first service for German speaking Lutherans. In
that same year, a missionary journey to Canada was made by
a representative of the Pittsburgh Synod, Rev. Beckemeyer. It
was he who was instrumental in arranging for Lutherans in
Hamilton and area to worship together at various locales. Rev.
W. Rechenberg from Toronto, journeyed to Hamilton every
four weeks for a period of two years to hold these services for
the German speaking people.
In 1862, the Rev. A. Boetteger was called to be the Minister
of this congregation and in 1864, a church building on the
corner of Market Street and Bay was erected. In that same
year, the congregation was admitted as a mission into the
Canada Synod until in 1874 it became self-supporting. The
current church building was bought from the former
Primitive Methodist congregation in 1884 for the cost of
$8,000, which included the parsonage. This debt was wiped
out in 1906. To this day, the name above the door reads
St. Paul’s which was the name given to it by its original
Methodist Congregation. The German language was used
from 1858 until 1920 when the first English language service
was held in the evenings. In 1939, the war brought about the
use of English in the main service and once a month German
services were held at 4 p.m.
There were three distinct periods in the life of St. Paul’s
where immigration from Europe swelled the congregation:
1889-1900, 1928-1931 and after World War II. The first
“d i s p l a c e d ”
persons ( Latvians, Estonians and
Lithuanians)
arrived in Hamilton in 1947. The majority
of them
became members of St. Paul’s which
caused
some problems as to the language to be
used in
the services.
In order to solve this problem,
Pastor Mueller, the then pastor of the
church, located Rev. A. Gaudins in a
Hydro camp in Petawawa. He held the
first Latvian service in Canada in St.
Paul’s
in 1949. Pastor K. Raudsepp
did the
same for the Estonians.
Th ere i s a lon g
history involved
w i t h
t h i s
c hu rc h
and
1909 Y.M.C.A., James Street South at Jackson Street East,
Hamilton
1909 Hamilton Cotton Company, Main Street East, Hamilton
1910-1911 Bank of Hamilton branch, Lonsdale Avenue, City
of North Vancouver
Photo by Herbert Fodor
16
Winter 2011
its many people from Europe with several languages being
spoken. There is not enough room in this article to go into
that.
Pastor Philipp Weingartner was called to be its first
minister. After his retirement, Pastor Rolf Ruppenthal
accepted the call in November 1974 and served faithfully until
April 2008. Pastors Joachim Probst, David Wunderlich and
Colin Cameron served the English speaking congregation
until Pastor Cameron’s departure. During that period of time,
Pastor Doug Schweyer was the Interim English pastor. On
June 1, 2008, Rev. Dr. Frank Bahr, who speaks both German
and English, arrived to serve at St. John’s
This is a very brief history of this fascinating congregation
where many of its people came as refugees to find a more
peaceful life in this great country of Canada. St. John’s is
blessed to have over its altar, the work of a wonderful artist
called Otilie Palm which was painted in 1908. It is well worth
a visit to this friendly church where strangers are always
welcomed. It is located at Hughson and Wilson in downtown
Hamilton.
I
Then & Now
n the last issue, Volume 3, issue 1, we introduced this
Column indicating that in it we would review the changes
over time of our public institutions including hospitals,
schools and government offices. We began with a brief
overview of the governance of our hospitals so in this issue we
shall continue the process with a description of the history of
the “First Hamilton Hospital.”
Hamilton’s First Municipal Hospital
By Bill Manson for First Here, Margaret Houghton ed. 2008
W
ith the opening of the Burlington Canal in 1823,
shiploads of immigrants began arriving in Port
Hamilton. In 1832, they brought cholera with them. Because
there was no hospital in Hamilton, barracks built on
Burlington Heights during the War of 1812 were turned into a
makeshift hospital, solely for the treatment of the immigrants.
Those who died were buried in the town cemetery, which was
conveniently located just next door.
The next year, the Police Board, which was established to
govern the newly-incorporated Town of Hamilton, erected a
municipal warehouse on the northeast corner of Catharine
and Guise streets in Port Hamilton, which was also used to
treat cholera victims during outbreaks over the next 17 years.
In 1846, the City of Hamilton was incorporated. Two
years later, the City established the first Board of Health,
and appointed Henry John Williams Hamilton’s first Health
Officer. Directed to establish a hospital for the new city,
Williams selected two acres of City-owned land on the
southern outskirts of Hamilton. The site was situated at
the southern end of Cherry Street (Ferguson Avenue) at the
corner of Aurora Street, and directly below a stone quarry up
on the Escarpment.
Volume 4 , Issue 1
In 1849, amid the orchards, a two-storey white frame
building was erected to serve both as a municipal hospital
and as a home for the destitute. It was officially named
“The House of Industry”, but became popularly known as
the “Aurora Street Hospital”. The City also built an animal
impound and a powder magazine on the hospital site in 1850.
The hospital superintendent was responsible not only for the
ailing patients and the destitute in the hospital, but also for
the livestock in the pound.
By 1853, after several “incidents”, it was clear that the
quarry above the hospital posed a threat, and the Board
of Health sought a new location for the hospital. The City
purchased a brick and cut-stone hotel which stood atop the
hillside on the southeast corner of John and Guise Streets.
It was fronted by a two-storey wooden verandah, which
commanded an uninterrupted view of the Port Hamilton
waterfront, and the tall ships and steamers out on the bay.
The imposing hotel, the first built in Port Hamilton, had been
erected circa 1830 by Nathaniel Hughson, on speculation that
a railway would soon be coming to Hamilton. However, the
Great Western Railway was destined not to arrive for another
two decades, and without the railway there was not enough
maritime business to support Hughson’s hotel. The failing
enterprise, known as “Hughson’s Folly”, shut down, and the
building was subsequently used to billet soldiers during the
Rebellion of 1837, and later as a custom house.
The City converted ”The Folly” into a 70-bed municipal
hospital, appropriately (albeit “uncreatively”) named “City
Hospital”. With a staff of 6 physicians and one surgeon, it
served as Hamilton’s only hospital for 30 years. However,
despite two expansions, a larger, up-to-date facility was
desperately needed, and the patients of City Hospital were
transferred to the new “General Hospital” on Barton Street in
1882.
City Hospital was subsequently reopened as “The House
of Refuge for Aged Indigent Women”. When men were also
admitted to the facility, its name was shortened to “The
House of Refuge”. Unfortunately, the old building was in bad
repair, and was proving to be too small to house the growing
number of elderly patients. In 1895, the City razed “Hughson’s
Folly to make way for a new “House of Refuge” erected on the
site just east of the original structure. This modern residence
was specifically designed to accommodate the elderly, and
housed upwards of 150 residents and staff.
In 1920 the “House of Refuge” was renamed “Home for
the Aged and Infirm”, and in 1949 again renamed “Macassa
Lodge” (macassa meaning “beautiful waters”, so-called by the
Mississaugas who had fished and hunted on the bay nearby).
Seven years later, “Macassa” was razed after the residents had
been moved to a new “Macassa Lodge” on Upper Sherman
Avenue. North-End residential high-rises now occupy the site
of City Hospital.
17