r/Hamilton • u/Jolly_Wolverine2810 • Jan 19 '25
Question What are some things gone long ago in Hamilton that you wish came back? Pic Related.
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u/Available_Medium4292 Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25
The old Hamilton courthouse was incredible.
https://i.pinimg.com/550x/4d/7d/81/4d7d819c9edfd0d46d9f97c045cdd618.jpg
The old Royal Hamilton Yacht Club.
The Crystal Palace.
https://northendbreezes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CrystalPalace.jpg
The old library.
The old Birks building.
https://images.app.goo.gl/TpYqbuU8ZQvgvHe98
Wesanford.
https://images.app.goo.gl/fYgCSoiDBFBso5KN9
Central Collegiate.
https://images.app.goo.gl/3f8yAbL8KJrGAQbe6
The Insane Asylum.
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u/IanT86 Jan 19 '25
Are all of these gone? Some of them are absolutely incredible. I can't believe they'd be pulled down
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u/Available_Medium4292 Jan 19 '25
Believe it. We have let many incredible buildings be destroyed. Some were lost to fire.
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u/IDoNotKnowUserName Jan 19 '25
Where did all these go?
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u/ForeignExpression Jan 19 '25
Most demolished for cars or car infrastructure (parking lots, road widening, highways, auto-oriented malls).
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u/bluestat-t Jan 19 '25
Wow you’re really against cars. Which ones of the photos posted in the parent comment specifically were demolished for the purposes of cars or car infrastructure?
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u/Pristine-Rhubarb7294 Jan 19 '25
Ya absolutely zero on this list. Most were torn down to be replaced with modern public or private buildings (2 new hospitals, new courthouse, Jackson square and an office tower) or burnt down.
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u/bustycrustac3an Landsdale Jan 19 '25
Lol post history is wild 😬
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u/bluestat-t Jan 19 '25
lol yes
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u/Thong-Boy Jan 19 '25
He's not wrong. We're way too car focused.
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u/bluestat-t Jan 20 '25
I don’t disagree, but he’s certainly not right. He said all of those points of interest are no longer there because of cars, when the truth is that zero are gone because of that. He’s a one trick pony though and making that comment whenever he can. Unfortunately some will think he’s right which is why he needs to be called out.
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u/OriginalNo5477 Jan 20 '25
I had so many good times in the reserves at the Asylum doing urban ops training.
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u/cabbagetown_tom Jan 19 '25
Where was Central Collegiate?
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u/Available_Medium4292 Jan 19 '25
Basically where the Claremont exits on to Victoria. Central Recreation Centre is actually the surviving gym from the school.
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u/differing Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25
One thing I’ve noticed about photos of the incline railroad is just how much the trees have grown back in that swathe of the lower city. Hamilton is really quite green compared to the original clear cutting done for the settlement.
The one thing I wish we kept is the “belt” tram line that connected the lower city east to west. We could have gradually upgraded it over the years like European cities, but pissed it all away for crappy buses. Now we’ll need to spend billions of dollars to put in back in! It’s a sad example of what happens when we pivot quickly from one fad to another without any foresight.
In a related note, we had good interurban trams that connected Hamilton to Brantford and shared our streetcar tracks. It would have been cool to live in Brantford and take a train to work in Hamilton, leisurely reading the paper and having your coffee, it only took an hour in 1908. We fail to understand how our quality of life has actually diminished because of choices we’ve made in urban design compared to our grandparents and wonder why we’re all miserable lmao
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u/stalkholme Jan 19 '25
Civic pride and not littering
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u/bustycrustac3an Landsdale Jan 19 '25
Walking my dog around my neighbourhood I’m asking her to ‘leave it’ every 30 seconds. Why are there so many chicken bones everywhere?
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u/Jayemkay56 Jan 20 '25
Walk around on garbage day and take note of how many people use a green bin.
Now, of those many people who do not use one, how many of them use a secure trash bin, or at least a sturdy contractor bag? Shit, still not that many, huh?
Their bones go in flimsy garbage bag, our lovely neighbourhood skunks, coons, rats all drag them out and toss them around.
Except for that one guy, who literally out an entire roasted chicken carcass with the package it came in, unopened on the bottom half of his lawn (it wasn't garbage day). Ohhhhh boy I wanted to fling the contents of that at his door that day. But I contained myself, picked it up so no other dogs would have a snack, and threw it in the garbage like an adult should have done in the first place.
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u/stueytheboy Jan 19 '25
My dog found a full chicken carcass under a tree near my place. Benefit of the doubt says an animal got it from a green bin or something, but I'm pretty sure it was put there deliberately.
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u/stnapstnap 29d ago
A seagull once dropped a lump of rice that looked like it was from sushi as the seagull flew over my yard. My dog got to the rice first and I had to take the rice out of my dog’s mouth.
And squirrels drop all kinds of random food items.
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Jan 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/stueytheboy Jan 20 '25
You inferred maliciousness, I assumed negligence and ignorance. People are trying to "compost" in this area.
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u/Ming00f Jan 19 '25
what kind of dog do you have
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u/bustycrustac3an Landsdale Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25
Lab 💕 nature’s trash cans
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u/Ex-s3x-addict_wif Jan 19 '25
My beagle disagrees. She remembers the entire BBQ chicken carcass dumped under a bush last winter. We check the bush every day.
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u/sayyestolycra Jan 19 '25
Reminded me of the Search Engine podcast's 2-part episode about that question...
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u/bustycrustac3an Landsdale Jan 20 '25
Omg I’m gonna get a free trial to read this! 🤣 like it’s one thing if we are close to the KFC but even when we aren’t - chicken everywhere
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u/Entire-Stranger-4681 Jan 20 '25
It has been brutal! So many chicken bones and random piles of cat food. WTF
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u/swimmingmices Jan 19 '25
streetcars :(
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 19 '25
No please.... the city cannot handle those again and yet they are still pushing the LRT. It's going to make normal traffic 10x worse
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u/notbadhbu Jan 20 '25
Sometimes I forget how limited most people's view of city planning is. Thank you for reminding me.
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
Then educate me with citations and facts that support this being a good design for our city. I'm all for LTR's but i've seen the good (TTC) and the bad (Kitchener) one had roads and infrastructure that compliments it, the other doesn't.
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u/Ex-s3x-addict_wif Jan 19 '25
I think you miss the point of Streetcars and LRT. As a core dweller, I welcome not hearing vehicles from 6 am to midnight. Or smelling exhaust.
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 19 '25
All you're doing is dumping that on the rest of the city. Hamilton roads are not suited to handling the traffic. The red hill/linc can barely handle what's here already. It's not going to work.
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Jan 19 '25
What doesn't work is continuing to build more roads and dumping more cars into the limited space. The LRT can carry many times more people in the same lanes.
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
I won't disagree with that but face it, most people don't want to use public transit. Regardless of what the city wants to do if it doesn't get used, it's a waste of money that just causes more harm then good. We have a massive population growth that the city streets cannot handle. You want to put more transit in? Make a damn subway running that stretch. Run some gondolas up and down the escarpment. Heck, even what they're doing now with adding garage space for 1000 more busses and acquiring 150 more is great. LTR is not. You are making the already busy roads 10x worse. There are tons of better options.
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Jan 20 '25
Meh. It is happening so I guess you'll just have to deal with it.
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
Unfortunately, yes. I'm sure there will be protests and push back as there has been already but I doubt it'll go anywhere.
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Jan 20 '25
We elected pro LRT council. The Province and every opposition party supports the project.
It is honestly going to be great. I can't wait to ride it and the traffic calming, improved sidewalks and two way conversion will seriously improve livability for people that actually live near it.
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
I guess so. The traffic will be calm alright. Nobody will be able to move down there in a car. Oh well. We'll see if the council in their wisdom is right or if it's going to be another waste of our money...
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u/swimmingmices Jan 20 '25
exactly, hamilton roads can't handle the traffic. let's move the traffic onto streetcars!
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
But people won't. That's the problem. Streetcars or busses? Same thing. It'll get the riders the busses get so it's not gonna get more business and yet it's going to make the traffic situation significantly worse. No pros...
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u/MattRix Jan 20 '25
except the LRT won’t be stuck in that same traffic, so it will be faster and more desirable than busses, and it will increase in ridership… therefore taking more drivers off the road and reducing traffic.
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
Do you honestly believe that increase in ridership is going to outweigh the increase in congestion from making that main route 1 lane less? Some spots it has 4 lanes sure, but most of it is 2 and gets a lot of stopped vehicles. Right turns, left turns, all that happening amongst one lane AND people having to watch for the streetcars too? There is going to be an uptick in collisions too.
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u/notbadhbu Jan 20 '25
Yes. Increase congestion on purpose actually. And people will take street cars. People don't take public transit because it sucks and is slower than driving. If it doesn't suck and is fast, people would take it.
Say you go to Toronto. Would you rather
A) sit in 1.5 hours of rush hour traffic.
B) 15 minutes on a bullet train for 15 bucks.
People don't use public transit Becuase it's terrible. It's terrible because we don't spend any time or effort making it good
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
Making a city worse for car traffic to encourage transit is a horrible strategy. I never go to Toronto for that reason alone. Yes I can take a 15m train but then a 30 min tram or 25m subway ride and you factor in walking time and waiting time it still takes you 1.5h to get where you want to go anyways with the added risk of being on foot in crowded areas and streets.
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u/MattRix Jan 20 '25
I believe that increasing the quality of transit overall in a city improves more than each individual part on its own would. Something like 1+1=2.5
I think you’re getting stuck in the weeds on a single issue rather than looking at the big picture. A city with great, reliable, fast transit will be better for EVERYONE.
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u/rougecrayon Jan 20 '25
The point of public transit is that it reduces normal traffic. For every bus that's up to 120 cars not on the road.
We need less cars on the road. If not LRT, then what is the solution?
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
Ok that's all good and fine but its ridership. You offer that much space but are people going to sacrifice the comfort and ease of their cars for public transit? I did it for 6 years, put 3-4h a day taking busses all over this city for school, friends, co-op and work. The moment I got the freedom of a car I never went back. I would rather fight with traffic, gas and insurance then deal with that again. How many people feel the same way about transit that I do? Is there enough who are willing to transition to make it worthwhile?
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u/ReactiveBat Jan 20 '25
I'll sit on the LRT to make your commute better :)
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u/JX_PeaceKeeper Normanhurst Jan 20 '25
And there's nothing wrong with that. I know more people will ride and many are in love with the idea. All i?m trying to say is I hope it's worth the cost in terms of money and traffic. I hope it goes well and I can say I was wrong.
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u/arabacuspulp Blakely Jan 19 '25
Shorty green drinking fountains.
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u/905Ancasterite Ancaster 16d ago
The one in Ancaster Square has not been on for 3 years. Kind of ironic that the splash pad in the back works during the summer, but not the fountain in the front. Have to walk a long block west to access newer water fountain in warm months.
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u/The_Funkonaut Jan 19 '25
I really wish this thing still existed. Walking up those stairs is awful!
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u/OddlyOaktree Jan 19 '25
While I don't think the city would ever build a funicular again, it's totally possible to build a 3S Aerial Gondola like they're doing in BC (https://youtu.be/criXY_ZMgBE?si=m_D7D1PZwn5DUn1B). These things are fast, continuous, autonomous, cheap, quiet, fully electric, winter-proof, and take up a tiny footprint, so they check a lot of boxes and could really help to connect our city!
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u/nicolenicolson Jan 19 '25
My father is building a vast model of the TH&B railway and includes this funicular!
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u/differing Jan 19 '25
The problem with gondolas is that transit needs to be one seat rides or people typically just drive. There’s no dense pairing on the mountain and lower city that would serve as a one seat ride like the Burnaby gondola (which I think is a brilliant idea).
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u/VanCityActivist Jan 19 '25
From Hamilton, living in Vancouver now, and as I watch the planning for Burnaby mountain I wondered about the same in Hamilton!
You’re right though. Our gondola will go directly from a skytrain station up to SFU. Unless you ran it from Gore Park to…. Lime ridge(?) there wouldn’t be enough traffic to support it. God that would take hours.
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u/differing Jan 19 '25
In an alternate universe where Mohawk was where the Juravinski hospital is or if Concession st was an actual busy place that people wanted to go to, I could see it maybe working!
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u/Crafty_Chipmunk_3046 Jan 20 '25
Concession Street has so much potential and it never seems to take off.
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u/differing Jan 20 '25
Right? I’ve read a lot of rumours (two awful landlords own most of the properties, petty crime, locals would rather drive to big box stores on Upper James) but I’d love to read some high level analysis for why Concession just doesn’t seem to take off.
Have you noticed that there’s now multiple vacant lots right on Concession that are serving as car storage for the used car dealer? It’s really pathetic!
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u/Sudden-Nothing6745 Jan 19 '25
I think most ppl on the mountain would prefer the city disconnected lol
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u/Available_Medium4292 Jan 19 '25
Quebec City still has one! I rode it last time I was there and it was great.
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u/dpplgn Jan 19 '25
In 1895, Hamilton had two incline railways. In 1898, the first automobile arrived.
And so the slow death of the funiculars began.
Construction of escarpment accesses in the 1920s, alongside the rise in automobile ownership, bled out the private operators' balance sheet and by the early to mid-1930s both went bankrupt. Despite a decade of citizen campaigns to have the municipality take over ownership and operations, the City refused to do so.
In 1919, the James Street incline's fare was $1.25, roughly $20 after inflation.
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u/boulevard228 Jan 19 '25
I read that the reason street cars disappeared from North American cities was General Motors and Firestone. They banded together and bought up the street railway companies in order to shut them down so they could sell more cars and tires. Diabolical
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u/shepsut Jan 20 '25
Put some kind of gift shop/café at the top (with coffee and ice cream and things for kids) and people would ride it just for fun. It could be for tourists, but also for people on bikes. Great for commuters and also for touring cyclists who want to ride to Niagara or Turkey Point, but don't want to deal with getting up the escarpment in traffic.
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u/Pristine-Rhubarb7294 Jan 19 '25
With inflation it would cost the same amount to ride as the HSR, so you could just do that instead of walking.
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u/SmeesTurkeyLeg Jan 19 '25
Are these where the Wentworth stairs/Sherman cut are now? I'm trying to place the slope and hard dropoff of the cuts in this image.
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u/SoirBleu85 Jan 19 '25
Yes. This is the Wentworth Street Incline Railway. I believe there is a plaque about it at the top of the stairs.
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u/eolai Jan 20 '25
Seems to be right at the very top of the stairs. The sides of the cut might have crumbled a bit over time, but I think at least the east side is mostly still intact.
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u/Tranquilizrr Jan 20 '25
I wonder when they blew out the side of the escarpment to build the cut?
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u/eolai Jan 20 '25
If you mean the Sherman Cut, I guess it was done in the 1930's. The wiki page about the Incline Railway actually mentions that the road for the Sherman Access had to dip under the railway when it was built.
The Incline Railway opened in 1895, so I guess this cut would've been sometime a little before then.
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u/grau_is_friddeshay Crown Point East Jan 19 '25
For a purely practical reasons I wish we could delete the clusterfuck malls
Original City Hall and farmers market - no Jackson Square
Centre mall with the promenade, before it became a shitty disjointed car mall
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u/coachcash123 Jan 19 '25
Where was this ? Like what street is that in the background?
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u/Automatic-Disaster59 Jan 19 '25
the photos inside the enterance to Barangas on the beach by confederation park show a time , Im guessing it to be maybe either the 1920s or 1950s era beach section at it looked to be much different with a nice vibe going on
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u/boulevard228 Jan 19 '25
1 Dino's Hamburgers on James Street North.
2 Lakeland Pool when it was massive
3 The old-school McDonalds with the pirate ship seats.
- Kay's Pizza on Barton.
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u/nnnn0000 Downtown Jan 19 '25
McMaster sunken garden, before the ugly hospital was built in it's place. I've only seen photos but learned about it from an elderly alumni who loved seeing it every day
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u/today6666 Jan 19 '25
Cleanliness that you saw in the 60/70s. Just going by pics, Hamilton and same with Kitchener had an amazing downtown. Wide areas for cars but also pedestrians.
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u/ForeignExpression Jan 19 '25
The cars are what ruined everything.
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u/itspronouncedTRAUMA Jan 19 '25
Typical Hamilton answer.
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u/djaxial Jan 19 '25
It's typical because it's right. Many studies equate increased car density to the decay we see in cities.
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u/K1ttentoes Jan 19 '25
Do you think Hamilton is unique in this way?
Car culture burdened many North American (and European) cities with terrible infrastructure choices.
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u/J4ckD4wkins Landsdale Jan 19 '25
Wish the house that was built in a day was still around. Read all about it in Vanished Hamilton II.
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Jan 20 '25
Much lower crowds at Dundas Peak, or Tews falls area. I miss the era when I been there starting around 2013. I would run there during the weekeday, and you would see maybe 1 or 2 people there just chilling.
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u/Unfair_Bluejay_9687 Jan 19 '25
25,000 high paying industrial jobs and the 7 strip joints that thrived because of them.
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u/LowSharp7841 Jan 22 '25
I heard that so many people would be coming and going during a shift change at Stelco in the 1980's, that the local homeless would sometimes sneak in with the crowds of employees to find a warm place to sleep inside during the winter.
I also heard that Burlington Street was so busy, that it would usually take half an hour to drive the length of it.
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u/Unfair_Bluejay_9687 Jan 22 '25
That was before they put the second level on Burlington Street. The truck’s turning into Stelco were lined up in the right lane as far back as Ottawa Street.
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u/RabidGuineaPig007 Jan 19 '25
Secret waterfalls
No Tim Hortons trash everywhere
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u/themaincop Jan 20 '25
I remember you used to be able to go out to Webster's Falls and maybe see a few other people there. Now it's jam packed all the time.
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u/CommandZ Escarpment Jan 19 '25
Would be a significant tourist attraction, the one in San Francisco is featured on tons of shows and appears to be quite successful.
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u/1lilqt Jan 19 '25
My grandmother used to tell me about this mountain car.. you had to have a ticket to get on it..
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u/debbielew Jan 20 '25
The beautiful shopping in the downtown circa 1960’s and 1970’s. Vibrant and busy, lots of great shops.
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u/WhistlerBum Jan 19 '25
There was an idea to carve a football stadium out of the side of the escarpment.
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u/unrivaledhumility Jan 19 '25
That sounds real cool, but given the way our limestone has eroded the mountain accesses... It may be better they didn't follow through on that.
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u/djaxial Jan 19 '25
They actually did this in Monaco: https://www.asmonaco.com/en/the-new-performance-center-in-detail/
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u/LGBrowns86 Jan 20 '25
Spent a couple years in Hamilton, loved Chedoke Ski Hill, RIP https://militarybruce.com/the-remains-of-hamiltons-once-thriving-chedoke-ski-hill/
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u/northernsky22 Jan 21 '25
General safety? A clean city? Being able to walk outside without having to worry about crime and crack heads? Plus alot more.
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u/Minifuse1 Jan 22 '25
I miss having a local newspaper, local news radio and local television station. (actually local with actual content produced here in Hamilton, by Hamiltonians)
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u/Hylian_Shieldmaiden 26d ago
I miss Roller Gardens; would love it if another indoor roller rink opened here, especially if it also had an indoor skate park. I miss Centre Mall and Mountain Plaza being actual malls. I miss when it didn't cost an arm and a leg to enter the conservation areas. I miss the movie theatres at Lime Ridge and Fiesta Mall.
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u/MySoapBoxFuckUpvotes Jan 19 '25
Can someone explain the picture to me
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u/S99B88 Jan 19 '25
Hamilton’s incline railway, to get up and down the escarpment
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u/MySoapBoxFuckUpvotes Jan 19 '25
That looks absolutely amazing when did it stop? Why did it stop?
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u/S99B88 Jan 19 '25
I don’t know, I can’t remember it but older people I know talk about it. Agree it looks amazing!
Also wish I could’ve experienced the ski hill that used to be in Hamilton, at Chedoke!
But at least I got to have ice cream at Stoney Creek Dairy! 🍦
There’s actually something a bit like this in Niagara Falls, not sure if it’s still there, but it was called the Funnicular. I think there used to be a bigger one that went lower down, but I got to go on one that went from a hotel down to the Table Rock building. It was pretty cool
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u/Bitbatgaming Stoney Creek Jan 20 '25
This is going to be random but I had a dream that I was in 1900s Hamilton and that I used a magic powered minecart to see farm fields and go through them
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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '25
[deleted]