Before the PAC there was the NS&T
The Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto (NS&T) Street Railway had its remote origins in the St. Catharines Street Railway, a horsepowered service that commenced in late 1879. By the early 1880s this street car system had grown considerably, then reaching out to include Merritton and Thorold. In 1887 it was electrified, becoming one of the first electrified street railways in North America.
In 1893 the railway built itself a new building to house its administrative offices and its downtown terminal, from which tracks radiated out across the city. The Daily Standard, May 11, 1893, reported that “Mr. Ed. C. Nicholson this morning commenced the work of erecting the new street railway car sheds on the vacant lot next the Saw works, From the plans drawn it is gathered that quite a handsome structure is to be erected with a frontage of the Grecian style.”
Our old photo this week shows the new terminal sometime prior to 1907. It had been taken over in 1901, along with the rest of the assets of the original trolley system, by the new Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto (NS&T) Street Railway, the name of which can be seen across the building’s facade.
On the left of the building may be seen the entrance through which the arriving and departing trolley cars passed, while on the right side was a waiting room for the trolley riders. Elsewhere in the building were the line’s administrative offices. A rail siding next to the building provided some space for storing cars that were not in use.
Looming in the background on the left may be seen the old R.H. Smith Saw Works factory, a huge presence there on St. Paul Street since 1873.
In the photo we see a big “WELCOME” sign on the right side of the terminal, and several of the people standing in front are dressed in full Scottish regalia, kilts and all. I’d love to know what the occasion was — perhaps a small celebration at the time of the NS&T’s 1901 takeover of the building?
This building remained at the heart of the NS&T system until 1924, when it was replaced by a much larger brick terminal building on Geneva St. at Welland Avenue. The older terminal building remained standing for a few years before being demolished.
For the next several decades the site was left vacant, serving as a parking lot for patrons of the new Capitol Theatre, which occupied the old saw factory location from 1920 until 1971. After that a newly built commercial building occupied by a series of clothing stores stood there until early in this decade.
And then? Today the main entrance and lobby in the centre of St. Catharines’ new Performing Arts Centre occupy the space where the former NS&T St. Paul Street terminal once stood.
Dennis Gannon is a member of the Historical Society of St. Catharines. He may be reached at gannond2002@yahoo.com