Authors dig into history of ‘local treasure’ Port Dalhousie
Christine Aloian-robertson and David Serafino published a colourful history of the lakeside community
Shipbuilders. Gangsters and rum runners. A dance hall that jumped to the best big bands of its day.
And a lot of colourful locals, one of whom would go on to be possibly the greatest drummer in rock history.
“I had never even heard of Port Dalhousie until Iwas 21 years old,” says David Serafino, who just helped write a history of the community.
“I grew up in Niagara Falls. My wife’s grandfather was telling me about Port Dalhousie — this wonderful place with the rides and the beach and the dance hall.
“I thought he was talking about Crystal Beach.” Now 73, he has had time to catch up on the local history since moving to Port Dalhousie in 1977. He calls it “a local treasure.”
He and Christine Aloian-robertson have published “Port Dalhousie: An Intimate History,” which chronicles the times of the community from the days of the first land grants in 1796 to amalgamation with the city of St. Catharines in 1961.
At 220 pages, it includes 140 enhanced photos taken through the years. While Serafino provided a bit of the writing, he said he was mostly the editor and publisher.
The rest is written by Aloian-robertson, who published an earlier history back in the 1970s.
The two are partners in work going back to the late 1970s when they met through the Port Dalhousie Quorum community group.
Her role was to write a history of Port Dalhousie the group could pass out in a pamphlet; instead, it turned into a book.
From 1997 to about 2010, Serafino published the monthly magazine Dalhousie Piers and Aloian-robertson contributed work for many of its 150-odd issues.
They also previously published a book on Lakeside Park, called “A Nickel A Ride.”
There are a million stories in the old
community, Serafino says.
In its heyday from the 1920s to its heights during the 1940s and ’50s and its decline after that, “it’s a more diverse history. It’s not just an amusement area,” he says.
“We put a lot of emphasis on Lakeside Park, but it started out as an industrial town with the building of the first Welland Canal that opened in 1829, and shipbuilding followed right behind it.”
Three canals ended up passing through Port Dalhousie before the current one that was directed instead through Port Weller.
And of course, the world-famous Henley Regatta and Lakeside Park with its big dance hall, midway rides and the ferry service connecting Port Dalhousie with Toronto and other places.
From those days only the carousel remains, with rides still costing only five cents apiece.
Like every community, Port Dalhousie had its ups and downs. The opening of the new canal might have been a sign of things to come, Serafino says, although the harbour was still active and Muir Dry Docks was still in business.
Then the ferry service ended in the early 1950s, but the real decline, he believes, was the slow fade of the midway amusement park at Lakeside Park until it was closed around 1970.
Through it all, though, the Henley Regatta thrived, attracting thousands of rowing fans, and rowers, each year.
“That is a huge thing in Port Dalhousie,” Serafino says. “A lot of people don’t realize this is
“My wife’s grandfather was telling me about Port Dalhousie — this wonderful place with the rides and the beach and the dance hall.”
DAVID SARAFINO CO-AUTHOR
where female rowing started, in Port Dalhousie in 1947 I think it was.”
And through the years, there were the colourful characters of Port Dalhousie: ‘Chief’ Smiley, the former vaudeville
sharpshooter; Sid Brookson, who owned the amusement park in its best days; Neil Peart, the great drummer for Rush.
“It was a community,” says Serafino. “Everybody knew everybody, everybody spoke to everybody, everybody helped everybody out.
“There was a lot of community spirit here.”
“Port Dalhousie: An Intimate History,” is available at several Port Dalhousie locations for $29.99: at the Avondale at 359 Main St.; Glitzy Jools and Antiques, 50 Lakeport Rd; Forget Me Not Gifts, at 33 Lakeshore Rd.; or at Lulu.com as a book or ebook.