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Burlington St.

Streetcars and Buses

Although industry and infrastructure geographically isolated Brightside from other Hamilton neighbourhoods, public transit, such as the Burlington-Westdale Loop streetcar and the Bay Front bus, linked Brightsiders to the larger City, and led to some memorable encounters.  

Hamilton Street Railway car #503 heading east on Burlington Street towards Brightside neighbourhood.
Approaching Stelco’s Wilcox Gate HSR #503 is heading east on Burlington Street towards the Brightside neighbourhood. In the background is the Steel Company of Canada sign and a little farther down - the Brightside House. (Source: Lewis Swanson, Old Hamilton Canada Photos Facebook Page and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook Page)
Hamilton Street Railway bus routes map 1930.
Many Brightsiders used the HSR to get out and about in Hamilton. (Source: Adrian Gamble, Once Upon a Tram: The Hamilton Street Railway's 140-Year History in 'The Electric City' Skyrise Cities 3 June 2016; Hamilton Street Railway, 1930 Routes, archival map by Stuart Westland available online at https://skyrisecities.com/news/2016/06/once-upon-tram-hamilton-street-railways-140-year-history-electric-city)
HSR #526 Streetcar – going down the ‘Westdale Route’ and approaching the designated Car Stop along the Right of Way at Birmingham Street, 1948. (Source: <em>Hamilton Transit History</em> · Community FaceBook Page)
Bay Front bus heading south on Gage Avenue 1957.
This 1957 photo, which instructs motorists on how NOT to drive on Gage Avenue, shows the Bay Front bus travelling. In the background you can see Burlington Street and Markowski’s Variety Store at the corner to the right. (Source: <em>Stelco Flashes</em>, 3 March 1957; Courtesy of <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook Page)
During the 1946 strike, the streetcar stop at Burlington and Wilcox stood in the thick of the main picket line. (Source: PAC National Photography Collection PA 120521)
Two men sitting on porch steps.
Big John (left in photo) was a tall fellow with a talent for hijinks and running long distances barefoot. (Source: <em>Brightside Reunion</em>, pg. 27)

Listen: The Beltline Streetcar To Brightside. Click the play circle below.

Show/Hide Transcript

Speaker 1:    

Where did that streetcar come from? I know it went behind us on Burlington Street but where did it go? Did it go to Ottawa Street? 

Speaker 2:    

It went to the Beach. 

Speaker 1:    

It went to the Beach? 

Speaker 2:    

To the Beach. 

Speaker 1:    

Yeah. 

And then and then, how did it go, did it go up town, like the streetcar tracks… 

Speaker 3:    

The streetcar tracks, yeah, went all the way to James Street. And then they went down James Street up top, and they went to Westdale.  

Speaker 2:    

Yes. 

Speaker 3:    

And turned around… 

Speaker 2:    

Oh. 

[chatter] 

… and turned around. 

The Beltline.  

Yeah. 

Speaker 3:    

That streetcar turned up Kenilworth didn’t it… 

Speaker 2:    

Kenilworth, and then it went up to the mountain. 

… and to the lumberyard there. 

Listen: North End and Sports. Click the play circle below.

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Speaker 1:    

The other thing was that we knew a lot of kids from the North End. Because of the sports. 

That’s how you got out of this enclave here. 

Speaker 2:    

Yeah. Yeah. 

Speaker 1:    

You would be doing baseball or hockey, from the guy’s point of view, so I think we kind of knew the odd kid, like I knew a lot of kids from the North End, cause I… you know. 

Speaker 3:    

And Eastwood Park. 

Speaker 1:    

Eastwood Park.  

Speaker 3:    

It had a pool and a skating rink. We had neither of those, unless you went on to Laidlaw… 

Speaker 2:    

Yes. 

Speaker 3:    

So, and we would pass by, like they picked us up first. Bayfront came out along Beach Road, down Gage, and then along Burlington. 

And our stop was in front of __ place, in front of Kors… 

Speaker 1:    

Krzyzanowski. 

Speaker 3:    

… and then it kept going, along there, pick up people along the Sherman Avenue if there was someone there.  

And then along there. 

 

Listen: Big John's Feet. Click the play circle below.

Show/Hide Transcript

Speaker 1:    

What are your memories of Zeke, or Big John? 

Speaker 2:    

Big John is Zeke. 

Speaker 1:    

Yeah. 

Speaker 2:    

I remember him getting in the streetcar after me. 

And he sat in the seat behind me. 

And he took the socks off. 

[Laughs] 

And then he put his feet up over my shoulders. 

[Laughs] 

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