A new year is a time for resolutions and reflections, and it seems the old adage is true in some ways: the more things change, the more they stay the same. In 1916, Huntsville got new street lights (most of the current ones were recently replaced with LEDs), and officials were investigating building a new hospital after its two hospitals closed in years previous leaving the town without one (Huntsville’s current hospital woes are all too similar).
As the new year approaches, here’s a fun look back at what our town was like a century ago:
-Mayor W.J. Abraham was elected in 1916, replacing H.E. Rice.
-Hydro power arrived in Huntsville in 1916 and, with it, streetlights along Main Street.
-May 1-6, 1916 was Clean-Up Week, during which property owners were expected to clean up and beautify their property before the tourist season began. A team would be sent to collect garbage on one specified day only or owners could drop it off at the dump at their expense, but not later than May 15 so that it could be properly sanitized.
-The surface of Main Street was still dirt in 1916 – it was gravel topped in 1921 and paved from the swing bridge to the train station in 1922 – the sidewalks, however, were granolithic (a composite of cement and fine aggregate).
Children’s School Parade down Main Street Huntsville c. 1914-16
-Clifton Dyer and Betsy Brown honeymooned in Huntsville at a cabin on the Big East River in 1916. Forty years later, Clifton built the Dyer Memorial in Betsy’s memory after her death in 1956.
-World War I had been waged for two years. Canadian soldiers were paid $1 per day for their service.
-A broom cost 45 cents. Oranges cost 50 cents per dozen.
-A Ford Runabout cost $480 at J.E. Mosley’s on Main Street.
-The original two-storey Huntsville Train Station, built in 1886, was still standing in 1916. The building we know today was constructed in 1924.
Huntsville Train Station 1915
-Huntsville did not have a public hospital. Its two hospitals – run by Dr. Hart and Dr. Howland – had shut down in the previous decade. A new hospital wouldn’t be built until the 1940s – the building that is now Fairvern Nursing Home.
-Further afield, women were not allowed to vote in provincial elections until 1917 and federally until 1918. 1916 was also the year of the great fire on Parliament Hill.
What do you know about Huntsville as it was a century ago? Share your comments with us below!
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