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Gardens & Train Tracks

Woman sitting in lush garden of food and flowers.
Gardens for food and flowers popped up wherever good soil could be found, with most Brightside houses growing plants, shrubs, and trees for food, shade, and decoration. (Source: <em>Brightside Reunion</em>, pg.27)
Man with watering can tends fresh garden bed at 48 Lancaster in 1957.
Brightsiders planted gardens in back yards and green spaces throughout the neighbourhood, such as this 1957 plot at 48 Lancaster. (Courtesy of John Michaluk)
Four people stand near what remains of pear and apple trees planted by Brightside residents.
In the hydro line corridor behind Burlington Street near Birmingham one can still see some pear and apple trees planted by Brightsiders on commons land. (Photo by and Courtesy of Nancy Bouchier)

Many people cultivated small gardens for growing fruit and vegetables in their back yards. They also used the available green spaces of Brightside, for example along the streetcar and train tracks behind the houses on the south side of Burlington Street. Some of these fruit trees still stand today.  

Listen: Stealing Coal To Heat Houses. Click the play circle below.

Show/Hide Transcript

Speaker 1:    

Rob says, how did you heat your house, Ernie? Do you remember the heating days? 

How did you heat your house? 

Speaker 2:    

With, eh, coal… 

Furnace, coal furnace. 

Pretty well everybody had coal furnaces. 

Speaker 3:    

We had coal, right there. 

Speaker 2:    

And, um, on Main Street were on the railway tracks; they used to park the coal trucks, right in front, to go to [  ], eh, and we jump on the coal, the engine coal, we took it, and we’d shove the coal over into the grass and see the next day we’d come by and get the coal.  

We never bought it. 

Speaker 3:    

I remember that. 

But then you had no place but the start buying it from Acme, remember? The Acme Coal Company? 

He would deliver coal. 

I mean we used to steal a certain amount of coal… 

Speaker 5:    

So, for a while you could find ways of getting coal without having to pay… 

Speaker 3:    

Yeah. 

Speaker 5:    

… how much did it make a big difference? At home? 

Speaker 1:    

Oh yeah. 

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