Presentation looks back on P.E.I.’s automobile ban

Heritage Week across Canada begins Feb. 19 with the theme “Heritage Stands the Test of Time.” Culture Summerside’s MacNaught History Centre is marking the occasion by looking back 100 years to when the people of P.E.I. were divided on whether or not to accept the “horseless carriage” otherwise known as the internal combustion, engine-powered automobile.

While the automobile has so far stood the test of time, the power train that it replaced was the horse. On P.E.I. in 1911 there were 36,000 horses – roughly one for every three Islanders. They were found on 14,000 farms of about 100 acres each. And many farm families felt threatened by this ‘public nuisance’ – the automobile. Their political representatives heard the outcry, and in a 28-0 vote, banned the automobile altogether beginning in 1908. Culture Summerside will present a 2018 Heritage Week talk at Lefurgey Cultural Centre on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 12 noon. Author and antique auto enthusiast, Rudy Croken, will speak on the ban the automobile era and how it was received in Summerside between 1908 and 1919. Using excerpts from his new book “Ban the Automobile: Instrument of Death,” Croken will talk about who welcomed the automobile with open arms and which residents of East Prince wanted nothing to do with it.

Back in the day a horse and buggy could get you home while you slept off the effects of an evening of partying. Imagine, today we think “driverless” or “self-driving” is something new in transportation.

The talk will be about 45 minutes.