Industry crowds the Grand River in Galt
Picturesque and industrial: Except in the world of urban archaeologists, those two words generally don’t fit together too well. But they mesh nicely for Cambridge’s historic Galt riverscape. Indeed, in 1902, the Jaffray Brothers, publishers of the Galt Reporter, issued a boosterism booklet titled “Picturesque and Industrial Galt.” Photographs of burly machines and multi-storeyed factories jostled with idyllic parks and landscaped residential scenes. Flash from the Past began examining that contrast last week with two images from the 1880s capturing the early days of Galt’s industrialization along the scenic Grand River.
The main photo this week is from a Valentine and Sons postcard issued just before the First World War. In just 30 years the industrial and the picturesque have combined even more to produce an awesome (in the old sense of the word) panorama. At the risk of, but not with the intention of, giving offence to devotees of other area communities including my own Kitchener, I think this is by far the most stunning vista of all in Waterloo Region — picturesque and industrial.
The twin Presbyterian towers, of which there was just a single spire in the 1880 sketch, are now in place: Central on the river’s right bank and Knox’s farther right.
There are two substantive changes at the east (left) end of the Queen Street (Park Hill) bridge. The sloped-roof building of 1880 is no longer Dickson Mill. The interior was completely transformed in 1889 to become Galt’s first electricity-producing plant. Using the Grand River’s ceaseless flow, turbines and generators produced Galt’s electrical juice until July 1911 when power generated at Niagara Falls arrived. At the time of this photograph the plant has just ended its electrical life. To its left, what was the Wardlaw textile mill in 1880 has been taken over a decade later by Charles Turnbull. His C. Turnbull Company became famous across the land for its comfortable “CEETEE” underwear products. An 1897 fire destroyed the old factory and Turnbull rebuilt it as a four-storey structure. For the next half-century, Turnbull’s woollen mill established itself as one of Galt’s legendary businesses. Everyone knew someone who had worked there. In 1946, Turnbull sold out to Newlands and Company. Eventually Newlands became part of the huge Stauffer-Dobbie textile firm which at one time employed more than 1,400 workers. Galt and textile manufacturing became synonymous in the late 19th and most of the 20th century. “The Manchester of Canada” became an unofficial nickname reflecting that English city’s dominance of its country’s textile manufacturing. The old Turnbull site now contains Mill Race Park with some remnants of the factory remaining in situ.
What cannot be determined from this photograph is whether the new 290-foot Queen Street concrete dam was in place. In 1837, a timber and earth dam had been constructed to provide a backwater for Dickson Mill. That old dam was left in place when the 1913 structure was erected 30 feet downstream from the original. Several renovations and reconstructions have taken place since then and only what is now in 2017 called Park Hill dam remains. The lovely waterscapes created by those two dams during 180 years have masked a pair of disasters: in 1878, the Empress of India, a passenger steamer, floundered upstream and was swept over the old dam, killing 17 people. More recently, a twin tragedy — a boy and a police officer attempting his rescue — has added warning to the site’s beautiful dangers.
Looking downstream, Galt’s riverside industrial growth is evident in the factories and businesses lining the banks. To the left, Galt city hall’s tower and the spire of 1880’s Wesleyan Methodist church (now Wesley United), jockey with several industrial chimney stacks for dominance over the downtown. Along the arm of water at left edge is the plant of the Galt Robe Company which, in 1919 will become part of the Stauffer-Dobbie organization.
Next week, Flash from the Past reverses camera angle and heads for Galt in the second half of the 20th century.
To most easily find the past two years’ Flash from the Past columns, go to www.therecord.com and type my name into the newspaper’s search window.