From the arrival of the Iron Horse, to Winston Churchill’s go to and the debut of the ’Talkies,’ Ottawa has skilled some memorable Yuletime occasions. Take a tour by way of historical past with us.
Article content material
Many Ottawans spent Christmas Day 1923 on native golf programs and tennis courts, as a uncommon inexperienced Christmas — the primary within the reminiscence of most who lived within the space, the Ottawa Citizen contended — greeted residents. In truth, 17 of the primary 25 days of December that yr had been delicate and clear sufficient to encourage such out of doors actions, no less than in line with the then-20-year-old file guide.
Commercial 2
Article content material
100 years in the past, greater than 8,000 folks, together with Governor Normal Viscount Byng and Girl Byng, crowded into the downtown area often known as The Auditorium on Boxing Day to look at the defending Stanley Cup champion Ottawa Senators defeat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 in additional time.
Article content material
The retail adage, in the meantime, that “a inexperienced Christmas is a jeweller’s Christmas” — suggesting that the absence of snow and chilly is especially laborious on those that promote furs and woollens — proved unfaithful a century in the past, as retailers reported wonderful Christmas gross sales in all areas. In line with the Publish Workplace, Christmas parcel deliveries had been up 25 per cent from the earlier yr.
Judging by the newspaper adverts main as much as Christmas 1923, jewels and furs weren’t the one presents competing for house beneath Ottawa’s yuletide bushes. Pocket watches from $10 (girls’s) and $12.50 (males’s), candies, skates, fits, sweaters, cars, pianos and cigarettes (25 cents for 20) all made their pitches, as did such “electrical presents” because the made-in-Canada Hoover vacuum cleaner. “An Eternal Reward,” is how the Charles Ogilvy division retailer on Rideau Avenue described it. “Wouldn’t you want to provide ‘her’ one thing this Christmas that may endure all through her lifetime and frequently make her comfortable?”
Commercial 3
Article content material
With reference to happily-ever-after, Lois Sales space, granddaughter of Ottawa lumber baron J.R. Sales space, on Christmas Day 1923 introduced her engagement to Denmark’s Prince Erik, Depend of Rosenborg. Admittedly, the couple separated a decade after their nuptials, however allow us to hope that the homes of Sales space and Glücksburg had been comfortable ones on this Christmas Day a century in the past.
At the least as comfortable, that’s, as spirits at one other Ottawa home, the Nicholas Avenue jail, the place in 1923 the Girls’s Christian Temperance Group donated a goose; a bunch of Roman Catholic nuns despatched a big roast beef; and the Salvation Military Band confirmed up within the jail yard on Christmas morning to carry out for the three dozen inmates. In line with the Citizen, Christmas dinner on the jail that yr consisted of tea, milk, sugar, Irish stew, bread, butter, potatoes, nuts and sweet, whereas the eight feminine prisoners had been additionally served plum pudding.
(For the non-incarcerated, by the way, a full-course turkey dinner may very well be had on the Ontario Café on Rideau Avenue for simply 35 cents, the equal at this time of $6.)
Avoiding jail was presumably uppermost within the thoughts of 1 man. Whereas Gatineau Level Roman Catholic Church priest Rev. Father F.P. Beauchamp was officiating midnight mass on Christmas Eve, an unidentified burglar broke into the church’s presbytery by way of an attic window. Passers-by sounded the alarm, nevertheless, and the would-be thief escaped.
Commercial 4
Article content material
Social businesses and community-minded companies and teams plied their goodwill all through town. Santa Claus, within the corporeal type of Robinson’s Garments Store supervisor Charles Tanner, appeared at three Ottawa road corners on Christmas Eve at hand out “no less than 5,000 toys for little girls and boys.” And for individuals who couldn’t make it in individual, a Christmas handle by St. Nick was broadcast courtesy of the Ottawa Beginner Radio Affiliation. Santa reportedly arrived in Ottawa by airplane for that one, what with the absence of snow hindering his sleighing plans.
Choirs sang in hospitals and a band performed within the streets. 100 Boxing Days in the past, between 1,200 and 1,500 Ottawa orphans and underprivileged youngsters had been handled to free lollipops and flicks at Loew’s theatre (that includes Pollyanna, starring Mary Pickford). The kids sang “Barney Google” and “Sure, We Have No Bananas,” shouted “Lowe’s exhibits are good exhibits,” and watched a vaudeville efficiency of ladder stunts by The Breakaway Barlows.
“No measure of excellent cheer was missing the place need threatened final week,” the Citizen reported, “and it’s uncertain if there was a household within the metropolis that went with out some sort of Christmas consolation.”
Commercial 5
Article content material
There have been, nevertheless, a few Christmas Day fires, together with one on the Rideau Membership at Wellington and Metcalfe Streets that prompted between $3,000 and $4,000 in harm ($50,000 to $70,000 at this time), however all in all, the Citizen reported, 1923 was a reasonably quiet Christmas.
They’re not all so restful. Listed here are some vital Christmastime occasions that befell in Ottawa:
Dec. 25, 1854
The iron horse arrives in Ottawa
The primary practice, referred to as The Ottawa, reportedly arrived on the town on Christmas Day 1854, marking the completion of the 84-km Bytown & Prescott railway that ran from Prescott to Ottawa through Spencerville, Kemptville, Osgoode and Manotick. The rail line was used to ferry passengers, but additionally items, together with lumber from Ottawa to Prescott and the St. Lawrence. From the late 1850s to the mid 1860s, it carried stone, from Cleveland, used to assemble the Parliament Buildings. It could have been a piece practice that accomplished the run that Christmas day, ending on the Rideau River in New Edinburgh, the place Stanley Park is at this time. Common service on the road reportedly commenced 4 days later, on Dec. 29.
Commercial 6
Article content material
On New Yr’s Day, when Bytown modified its title to Ottawa, the railway firm additionally modified names, to the Ottawa & Prescott Railway. It will definitely went bankrupt and was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Dec. 24, 1896
A go to from St. Nick
Santa Claus’s pending go to was introduced in a front-page letter within the Dec. 22, 1896 Ottawa Journal, from the person himself: “I’ve organized to go to Ottawa on Thursday, the day earlier than Christmas, and need you’ll let all of the little kids know that I shall seem on the principal streets on Thursday afternoon on high of an electrical automobile,” learn the letter, dated Dec. 15. “I shall go by way of Sparks road and different streets three (or) 4 instances throughout the afternoon, and can disappear about half previous 4, and put together for the visits I intend to make that evening to the houses of all Ottawa kids who’re good. I’m simply beginning for Ottawa, and can telegraph you from daily throughout my journey.”
The Citizen acknowledged on the identical day that the go to was on no account related with any promoting scheme, “however is just the result of a want upon the a part of an Ottawa gentleman that the kids of town might even see Santa Claus in individual.”
Commercial 7
Article content material
True to his phrase, Santa (bearing a resemblance to Ottawa industrialist and Ottawa Electrical Railway co-owner Warren Soper) arrived on the nook of Elgin and Sparks Streets at 2:45 p.m. on Christmas Eve, atop a streetcar adorned for the season with a sleigh and reindeer, the place he was met, the Journal reported, by “a howling crowd of little of us.” White-whiskered and carrying a fur cap and coat, Santa handed out toys and three,500 oranges.
“And no wretched doubter,” the Citizen wrote in an editorial, “will ever once more have the ability to maintain his head in Ottawa and say that good, kindly Santy didn’t exist.”
Dec. 27, 1900
Churchill visits Ottawa
An Ottawa Journal headline dubbed Winston Churchill’s go to to Ottawa over Christmas 1900 the “EVENT OF THE SEASON,” though the Citizen’s overview following the 26-year-old British MP’s lecture on the Russell Theatre was as middling as they arrive, with, in line with the paper, the vast majority of the crowded home expressing “some disappointment in addition to an excessive amount of pleasure.”
Churchill — the longer term prime minister of Nice Britain — was in Ottawa as a part of a 50-city talking tour about his experiences as a battle correspondent within the Boer Struggle. His lecture was titled The Struggle As I Noticed It, however that hardly dissuaded a Citizen reporter from taking Churchill to job for leaning an excessive amount of into his experiences. “An excellent a part of Mr. Churchill’s remarks was taken up with an account of his seize by the Boers and escape from Pretoria,” the paper famous. “Dramatic options weren’t wanting on this recital, however the viewers would nearly have most popular to listen to rather less concerning the lecturer’s experiences in getting away from the clutches of the Boers, and an awesome deal extra about Normal Buller’s marketing campaign in Natal.”
Commercial 8
Article content material
The Journal additionally felt that there have been “quite a few options of the marketing campaign that may have stood elaboration,” and famous, with out elaboration, that “Churchill has been ridiculed for his alleged egotism and plenty of who heard him final night will agree that his critics weren’t with out some justification.”
Churchill made additional headlines when, citing exhaustion, he determined to remain an additional evening at Rideau Corridor, the place he was a visitor of Governor Normal Lord and Girl Minto, moderately than seem at his scheduled lecture the following night in Brantford. Though Churchill denied it on the time, the Citizen alleged that he and his supervisor, Main James B. Pond, whom Churchill as soon as described as a “vulgar Yankee impresario,” had “a distinction” over how a lot every was incomes for the lectures.
It’s additionally attainable that Churchill’s unscheduled layover was in some way related to the truth that Pamela Plowden, with whom Churchill had an early romantic attachment, was additionally a visitor of the Mintos. In line with the Worldwide Churchill Society, issues went swimmingly between Plowden and Churchill, with the latter writing his mom: “We had no painful discussions, however there isn’t any doubt in my thoughts that she is the one girl I might ever reside fortunately with.”
Commercial 9
Article content material
Dec. 26, 1928
The talkies come to Ottawa
“The movement image display broke its lengthy silence for the primary time in Ottawa final evening when earlier than a specifically invited viewers within the Regent theatre the preliminary ‘sound’ program introduced by that playhouse was projected,” introduced the Ottawa Citizen following the Dec. 26, 1928, arrival within the metropolis of “talkies.”
Avenue Angel, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, was the principle occasion on the 11 p.m. invitation-only screening on the Regent Theatre at Financial institution and Sparks Streets, following a pair of speaking newsreels and two shorts, all boasting sound. (Though the newsreels and shorts had been talkies, Avenue Angel itself was extra of a hybrid, with the brand new Movietone sound-on-film course of offering a musical rating performed by a 110-piece orchestra, in addition to singing and sound results, however no precise audible dialogue.)
“Speaking Films Make Debut for Ottawa Folks,” was the Citizen’s considerably understated headline, whereas the Ottawa Journal’s was additionally muted: “Premier Displaying Of Speaking Movie A Notable Occasion,” including that the screening “delighted and amazed” the spectators. “(T)listed below are instances when one finds problem in believing that the actors aren’t actually earlier than the display in individual,” it reported, “and when tones and inflections appear too totally good for mere replica.”
Commercial 10
Article content material
Dec. 27, 1942
The Almonte practice wreck
Tragedy marred the Christmas season of 1942, when Canadian Pacific Railway practice No. 550, a.ok.a. the Sunday Night Particular, was struck from behind by a particular troop practice as the previous began pulling out of the Almonte practice station. It stays one of many worst rail disasters in Canada’s historical past.
Many of the passengers aboard No. 550 had been returning to Ottawa after spending the vacations with their households within the Valley. It was snowy and icy that evening, making it much more tough for the rickety passenger practice to maintain to its schedule. As a result of it was wartime, the crew of the 550 didn’t know that the troop practice, on its approach from Pink Deer, Alta. to Halifax was shut behind. The crew of the troop practice, in the meantime, was properly conscious of the practice in entrance of them, and had directions to take care of a 20-minute hole between the 2, however the troop practice didn’t have a velocity gauge, making the duty unimaginable.
Thirty-three folks died within the crash, with three extra dying en path to the hospital. Three others died from accidents within the following days. Between 150 and 200 others had been injured, many critically.
Commercial 11
Article content material
Go to https://ottawacitizen.com/information/local-news/the-almonte-train-wreck-of-1942 for a full account of the incident.
Jan. 22, 1959
The Burning of the Greens
For some time within the Fifties, one very fashionable and public post-Christmas exercise in Ottawa was to go to the dump to look at what was described as the most important purposefully set bonfire in North America. For a half-dozen years, from 1954 to ’59, hundreds gathered yearly to witness tens of hundreds of discarded Christmas bushes set alight, accompanied some years by a festive environment that included meals distributors, fireworks and hit-parade tunes.
Whereas the custom of Christmas tree bonfires continued sporadically into the Nineteen Sixties, a few of the shine wore off once we nearly misplaced a mayor and hearth chief to the inferno.
In line with Dave Allston’s Kitchissippi Museum weblog, town didn’t actively start accumulating discarded Christmas bushes till the mid Forties, when the bushes had been merely buried on the dump. Quickly after, officers started burning them. A pair of images printed within the Jan. 20, 1953 Citizen exhibits the pile of 10,000 bushes earlier than and throughout the blaze. A lone teenager appears to be like on. “Only one small boy, remembering the cheer one in every of them introduced into his house not way back, stands by to look at the execution,” the caption learn.
Commercial 12
Article content material
A yr later, the general public was invited, with about 3,500 folks displaying as much as see Mayor Charlotte Whitton and different officers set torches to the 50-foot pile of 40,000 bushes. “The evening is yours,” Whitton introduced in a short speech. “The town is yours. Get pleasure from your self.”
And they also did, singing and dancing — CFRA radio station offered a truck with music — and getting a fireworks present to enhance the tree-burning. “Homosexual Throng Dances to 40,000 Flaming Bushes” learn the Citizen’s headline.
The occasion grew in reputation, and by 1959, the pile of bushes had grown to greater than 50,000. That yr, nevertheless, gaseous swimming pools from the varsol and oil used to soak the bushes prompted a “flashback explosion” when Mayor George Nelms and Hearth Chief Maynard Dolman lit the bushes. The mishap price Nelms his eyebrows and eyelashes, with the left aspect of his face blistered, his left eye swollen nearly shut, and his hat, overcoat and gloves burned. Dolman suffered related burns to his face. “All of it occurred so quick I used to be dazed,” Nelms reported the next day. “I do know now how immediately one could also be burned to loss of life in a flash hearth.”
Commercial 13
Article content material
Go to https://kitchissippimuseum.blogspot.com/search?q=Christmas for extra on the temporary custom.
In the meantime, the world in 2023 has been one thing of a bonfire itself. Let’s hope that this yr’s vacation season is a bit more like that of 1923 — minus the tried housebreaking. Be part of a choir. Donate meals or cash to somebody in want. Give away some toys. Announce your engagement.
Above all, no matter you do and nevertheless you do or don’t have fun the vacations, keep secure and keep heat. However not too heat.
***
Born in Fort William, Ont., a metropolis that not seems on maps, Bruce Deachman has referred to as Ottawa house for many of his life. As a columnist and reporter with the Citizen, he works at holding Ottawa on the map. You possibly can attain him at bdeachman@postmedia.com.
The Citizen newsroom is proud to report tales that matter to you. To assist Bruce Deachman’s work and our mission to share info that retains you plugged into life in Ottawa, think about buying a digital subscription. https://ottawacitizen.com/subscribe
Article content material