The Inlets

Using the 1921 Tyrrell Map as a base, the location of Images 2-5 as they were taken from 100 Manchester Street are located. (Source: J.W. Tyrrell & Co. <em>Tyrrells Atlas of the City of Hamilton</em>, Canada. Hamilton, Ont. : J. W. Tyrrell & Co. Civil Engineers and Surveyors, 1921, Courtesy of LHA, HPL; Annotations by Simon Orpana)

A man and two children, north end of Manchester Street with Gasometer in back ground. — The family in these photos lived at the north end of Manchester Street in the early 1930s, near Lottridge Inlet. From their backyard, you can see the Gasometer (Courtesy of Derek Harmon and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook page)

A man and two children by the north end inlets in summer 1930 . — The family in these photos lived at the north end of Manchester Street in the early 1930s, near Lottridge Inlet. From their backyard, you can see the Inlet in the summer. (Courtesy of Derek Harmon and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook page)

Kids on toboggans near the frozen Manchester Street inlet in winter 1930. — From the family’s backyard at the north end of Manchester Street, you can see kids on toboggans and the frozen Inlet in the winter in the early 1930s.” (Courtesy of Derek Harmon and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook

A man, child, and car in front of 100 Manchester Street 1930. — A view of father, child, and car in front of 100 Manchester Street, early 1930s. (Courtesy of Derek Harmon and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook page.

Man with miniature boat at the Lottridge Inlet. — Lottridge Inlet, which lays behind this miniature boat enthusiast, initially lay in the backyards of Brightsiders who lived on the west side of Birmingham Street. That is, until Stelco filled it in with slag from its steel making process and covered it with land from city building developments to create new land for its industrial expansion. (Source: <em>Brightside Reunion</em>, pg. 25)

People and the Inlets

Brightside lay between two of the many Inlets (Lottridge and Stipes) that once flowed into Hamilton Harbour. There people in the neighbourhood fished, played, sailed, and rafted even as they witnessed industry transform the land’s natural wonders.

Listen: Making Rafts. Click the play circle below.

Speaker 1:

When I was about nine, we had a lot of fields eh, and and creeks so right here.

When they’d fix the tracks on the streetcar tracks; the logs they were softwood.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

And we’d take two or three of them and bang him to gather and build a raft eh.

Speaker 2:

Oh nice.

Speaker 1:

And we would take turns going up and down.

Speaker 2:

That sounds like fun.

Speaker 1:

You’d see some guy if they were hardwood, and they would sink.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

So, we made rafts and we dug holes.

When we were kids, we had a lot of fun.

We never went anywhere but we had enough.

The location of between Lottridge and Stipes Inlets. (Source: J.W. Tyrrell & Co. <em>Tyrrells Atlas of the City of Hamilton, Canada. Hamilton</em>, Ont. : J. W. Tyrrell & Co. Civil Engineers and Surveyors, 1921, Courtesy of LHA, HPL; Annotations by Simon Orpana)

An annotated photo of the waterfront and inlets looking west. — An early aerial photo of the bay front surrounding Brightside, looking west with annotations of various landmarks. (Source: Mrs. Fred Cloke, Courtesy of LHA HPL; Annotations by Simon Orpana)

1919 aerial photo looking east. — This 1919 aerial looking east shows the Sherman Inlet, already considerably filled in. Stelco and Brightside are visible beyond. (Source: AO, McCarthy Aero Services Ltd. Fonds, C285-I-0-0-277, Courtesy of AO)

Stelco Flashes February 1964 publication with two bulldozers pushing rubble during expansion. — Cover of Stelco Flashes showing the ‘progress’ of infilling on the waterfront using slag, a by-product of the steel-making process, to accommodate industrial expansion.” (Source: <em>Stelco Flashes</em>, Feb. 1964; Courtesy of <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook Page)

By 1955, much of the inlets and green space visible in the 1919 photo have been filled in by industry. (Source: Stelco, <em>Vintage Hamilton</em> FaceBook page; Photo annotations by Simon Orpana)

A truck carrying slag through the neighbourhood headed to infill sites. — Trucks carrying slag like this one frequently roared through the neighbourhood as they traveled infill sites. (Source: <em>Stelco Flashes</em>, 3 March 1957; Courtesy of <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook Page)

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Industry and the Inlets

Brightside lay between two of the many inlets (Lottridge and Stipes) that once flowed into Hamilton Harbour. Over the course of the twentieth century, Stelco and the City of Hamilton filled in the inlets for industrial expansion. Brightside itself ultimately became a casualty of these same encroachments.

Listen: Slag Trucks On Neighbouring Streets. Click the play circle below.

Speaker 1:

This is the Quigley Construction Company.

Speaker 2:

Yep.

Speaker 1:

The Quigley Construction Company had a beautiful contract.

And they had a deal with the Steel Company…

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

… to haul all the slag from the slag pits of Stelco.

And so those --’n trucks would go up and down…

Speaker 2:

Oh.

Speaker 1:

… and up and down…

Speaker 2:

All day long.

Speaker 1:

… on Burlington Street.

Speaker 2:

Oh.

Speaker 1:

Filled with steaming slag from Wilcox.

And they dumped it at the corner of the Windermere Basin…

Speaker 2:

Yep.

Speaker 1:

… filled in the Windermere Basin.

[nervous laugh]

[chatter]

They built a scrapyard there so that the scrap could be dumped there so that we could take the scrap and put it in the…

Speaker 2:

Pity.

Speaker 1:

… these trucks were so, they were there all the time …

[chatter]

The Inlets

People and the Inlets

Industry and the Inlets

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