What is short and green and uniquely Hamilton?
Shorty Green was the name of a fountain and a hockey player who changed history
Most people in Hamilton know about the popular little drinking fountains called ‘Shorty Greens’ that used to poke up from sidewalks around the city.
And some might make the mistake of thinking they were nothing more than a mildly clever use of municipal infrastructure.
But, there is more to a Shorty Green than a drink of water.
The little green bubblers — which were the first public drinking fountains in Canada when they were introduced in 1915 — tell us something about who we are as Hamiltonians. They are associated with one of the city’s greatest triumphs — abundant safe drinking water before most other communities could manage it.
Yet, there is also another connection, something that is remembered with bitter disappointment. Wilf ‘Shorty’ Green was the name of a hockey-playing legend who figured prominently in the 1925 Hamilton Tigers NHL team strike that led to the loss of the franchise to the U.S.
A good place to start in unpacking the Shorty Green story is with Glen Faulman. He’s a 47-year-old Stelco steelworker who co-owns the James Street North nightspot “This Ain’t Hollywood,” which is set to be passed on to new owners in August.
But more to the point, Glen is one of the city’s most impressive collectors of Hamilton memorabilia. He has hundreds of local antiques in boxes in his attic and runs a “Hamiltonia” Facebook page where he features items from his collection. He contacted me after I reached out to readers to send photos of their Hamilton keepsakes.
One of the gems in Glen’s collection is an actual Shorty Green fountain. Apparently someone picked it out of the garbage and the fountain ended up for sale at a place called the Weird Stuff Store several years ago.
“It was dumb luck, I just walked in and saw it,” says Glen. “The price tag said $90 but I would have paid a lot more than that.”
He doesn’t have water flowing through it because the fountain is in rough shape and there are complications connecting it to a water supply. But that’s OK. Glen’s more interested in the connection to the city’s history and his personal memories.
“I remember growing up with them. My parents would take me to Gage Park for walks and drinking out of the Shorty Green next to the greenhouse was one of the highlights. They had a little concrete step for kids to step onto,” he says.
As an adult, driving around with his wife, Jodie, he would sometimes lose his cool. “And my wife would say: ‘Do you need a drink?’ And I’d say ‘yeah, let’s go get a drink.’ And I would drive to the one fountain I knew was left. I would have a drink and I would feel a lot better.”
But, there is another item of note in the Faulman collection that was a lot more expensive than the fountain. It’s a 1920s hockey card for Shorty Green, the captain of the Hamilton Tigers hockey team.
The rare collectible was put out by Tuckett Tobacco of Hamilton nearly a century ago and Glen bought it on eBay for $300.
Green played for the Tigers in the last two seasons of the team’s fiveyear history. He led a strike for more money in the final season because the players were being expected to play additional games at the same salary.
Amid the conflict, the team forfeited an appearance in the finals and the Montreal Canadiens were declared league champions. From there, the Tigers’ owners moved the team to become the New York Americans.
An NHL franchise never returned to Hamilton, even with a huge stable of hockey-thirsty fans and after the city built Copps Coliseum in 1985, which was big enough to handle more than 17,000 people.
As for the Shorty Green fountains — which had been reduced to limited summer appearances in city parks in recent years — you won’t be seeing any this year.
“We have not been directed to put any new Shorty Green fountains into parks,” a city of Hamilton spokesperson said in an email. “The issue with them is that the water continually ran (not very environmentally friendly) and the costs were much higher: Our new standard allows for a bottle fill (to encourage the reduction of single use plastics) as well as a dog bowl at the base.”
So, what is the connection between the fountain and the hockey player? Was the fountain named after the player or is it simply a pithy moniker that someone coined out of the blue?
It’s the classic Hamilton chicken and egg question that has no definitive answer.
Yet, there is one more naming mystery that should be mentioned. Shorty had a brother named Red Green, who was also a star on the team.
Was he the inspiration for the Red Green character made famous by Steve Smith more than 60 years later? Does the grey-bearded comedic icon have a link to a long-gone Hamilton hockey player?
“Yeah, I’ve always wondered about that,” says Glen.
So, I reached out to Steve Smith to get to the bottom of it.
“I am aware of him. It’s a coincidence,” he said in an email. The character was modelled after Red Fisher, a Canadian sportsman television icon from the 1960s.
But maybe Red Green can inspire in a different way: If Glen ever decides to make his Shorty Green pump water again, he could try using some duct tape.