Port Colborne’s past in pictures
Museum photo exhibit shows how city developed over past 150 years
Port Colborne will come into focus next month through snapshots of its history at Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum.
Exposure 150: A Photographic History of Port Colborne will feature 150 photographs of the city, its residents and businesses to help commemorate Canada’s 150th birthday this year, says assistant museum curator Michelle Mason.
“I chose 150 photographs from our collection, everything from tintypes, glass plates to colour … a big range of photos,” says Mason.
She says many of the photos were chosen based on whether she could connect them, directly or indirectly, with artifacts in the museum’s archives and collection, to better tell or enhance a story.
“A lot are directly connected to the photographs. It was interesting, kind of like detective work
matching photos and artifacts. I learned a lot in the process.”
One of the displays inside the museum, which opens next Monday, features photos of tugs that were built in the city, says Mason. Also inside the case is a chest of tools handed down from Abraham Neff to his son Elihu. Elihu used those tools to build the tugs.
Around the corner from that display, is one featuring a dress worn by Florence Neff, Elihu’s granddaughter, who deeded her life collection of photographs and genealogy to the museum.
“We have a photo featuring her in the Queen’s dress, a replica of the dress worn in 1866 worn by the Queen (Victoria), in 1967 for Canada’s 100th ( birthday). There’s all kinds of little connections like that.”
Mason says one of the more extensive photo collections in the museum’s archives is that of John and Chester Wichmann, father and son furniture builders who were also photographers.
Their photographs, which number in the hundreds and take in glass plates to film negatives, range from the late 1800s to sometime in the 1920s.
“They documented a lot of events, day-to-day things like people on the beach or having picnics to parades. We just digitized 400 of Chester’s photos.”
Mason says there are photos that focus on how the Welland Canal changed Port Colborne throughout the years, and of former industries, such as Canada Cement and Canada Furnace, that no longer exist.
Photos from former INCO employee Jim Walters show life inside the nickel plant on the city’s east side.
“He gave us a lot of his collection,” says Mason, who says there are also photos showing life at the Foundation Co., which built the INCO plant.
The museum, at 280 King St., will be open May 1 until December, daily from noon to 5 p.m.