Heritage resurgence on track in Welland
For those who care about such matters, a resurgence of interest in heritage projects in Welland is underway. Think of it as a renaissance in the making.
At times I have a one-track mind about this. At times I feel like I am a heritage groupie. Following a hot story in local media about Central Station Education Initiative’s plan to save the heritage of Central Fire Station, then attending two heritage-significant events in the space of three days can do that to you. Now, going through a kind of withdrawal, it has me wanting for more.
A plaque unveiling engineered by the Niagara Division, Canadian Railroad Historical Association was rich in ties that bind. In case you missed it in the sun-splashed splendour of a glorious fall morning on Monday, this is a plaque commemorating the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto (NS&T) passenger railway station stop.
It was well known and fondly remembered by many as Stop 19, where a recreational trail now crosses Thorold Road near Prince Charles Drive.
The tracks, of course, are long gone and this stretch of real estate is now part of the picturesque, in places, trail. Its heyday is found in yesteryear when the NS&T and its Welland Division was one of Canada’s first electric interurban railways.
The NS&T started service in 1899 and ended in 1959, the same year Barbie the Teenage Fashion Model doll and the original Supremes singing group made their respective debuts. In context such as this, it wasn’t so long ago.
Regional transit and GO service are today’s buzzwords amongst politicians and others, but the NS&T did something similar all those years ago.
I liked Peter Boyce’s words spoken just before the plaque unveiling. Boyce, Welland’s parks manager, was the ranking city representative on scene. In a manner of speaking, he railed against modernity, saying: “This old railway line was way ahead of its time ... It’s amazing how something old is new again.”
Tammy Frakking, president of the railroad historical association’s Niagara Division, made clear the significance of Monday morning’s event. “If local history is not preserved, it is forgotten ... this plaque preserves information for the younger residents of Welland, and visitors to the Niagara region. It is a reminder of a bygone era; of how our parents and grandparents used to get around Niagara.”
That’s in full accord with what Welland Heritage Advisory Committee has to say: “Heritage is not just about the past. It is about the places, spaces and stories that we value today and saving and preserving them for tomorrow.”
The other event was Saturday’s tours of Welland Canal fallen worker gravesites in Woodlawn Cemetery and Holy Cross Cemetery. This experience was certainly rich in stories and poignantly memorable in places and spaces.
We live our lives day after day beside the waterway. Bridge 13, the Main Street Bridge, has probably become Welland’s most iconic heritage image largely because of its LED lighting magnificence. Has anything been photographed as much as this bridge in the past couple years?
But seldom, if ever, do we think about the toll the canal construction project had on human life. Well, perhaps until recently, with credit for this late-breaking development going to the Welland Canal Fallen Workers project. This is slowly becoming a high profile part of our heritage.
Interesting to note from Saturday’s tour was that the Welland section of construction was particularly dangerous – 22 of the 137 workers who died in building the Welland Ship Canal were killed on this section. They are buried at four cemeteries here, including one each at Japanese Martyrs Cemetery, Aqueduct and Church streets and Smith Street Anglican Cemetery, both of which were not on that emotion-laden tour led by the articulate manager/curator of Welland Museum, Penny Morningstar.
How dangerous was Welland section?
Well, one example is that of three workers killed during construction of our now beloved Main Street Bridge when a cofferdam collapsed. One of the three, Achille Bisson, is buried in Holy Cross and his gravesite was on Saturday’s tour. It should never be forgotten that this part of Welland’s heritage did not come without great suffering and loss of life.
All too often we hear heritage poo-pooed by unappreciative masses as dull and boring. So sad. It’s the essence of our community.
Life-long Welland resident Joe Barkovich has spent much of that time watching people. He continues to be amazed seeing the best and not so best in us, but that’s life. Get a glimpse of how Joe sees our part of the world in his weekly column. He can be reached at: whererailsandwatermeet@gmail.com