1890s Hamilton

      Late on Friday afternoon, July 28, 1895, all three Hamilton daily newspapers had special editions printed and newsboys were shouting about the shooting that had earlier in the day. As reporters rushed to get as much information about the incident, some of the details provided would prove to be slightly inaccurate as the days passed but, basically, gunfire had broken out in a Stuart Street West Hotel, the Tremont House. The neighbourhood along Stuart street from the Grand Trunk Railway station to the area of Bay Street North was rough, and was generally referred to as the Bowery. Among the denizens of the Bowery was a gang called the Whitecaps. The Herald carried the following headline which carried most of information that was known just a few hours the incident: “Third Edition : Murder! : James Neelon Shot By Jimmy Wall : The Victim Not Likely to Recover : Shotting Affray In the Tremont House : A Row which May End Fatally : The Victim a Young Man Who Resided With H...

  During the fall of 1891 on Hamilton’s Victoria Avenue North, at Evans street, a new church had recently opened. Called the Victoria Avenue Baptist Mission. Across the street and a bit north at Barton street corner lived one of the city’s most prominent characters. Prof. Jesse Gant was a barber by profession as well as serving as the self-proclaimed spokesman for the city’s black community. Jess Gant was a loquacious, articulate man known as a singer, dancer, boxer and a frequent writer of letters to the editors of the various Hamilton daily newspapers. On October 14, 1891, the following Prof. Gant letter appeared in the Spectator: “TO THE EDITOR : Several months ago I was invited by (to my mind) some kind-hearted and Christian persons to visit them at their place of worship, a little Baptist mission not many yards from where I now live, and feeling that I would be welcome and satisfied anywhere among God’s children, I accepted their invitation and attended their meetings at d...

Just four days before June was about to turn into July, on June 26, 1895, both the Hamilton Herald and the Hamilton Spectator carried extensive articles about the Hamilton Beach Strip. When the month of July arrived in 1895, the attention of most Hamiltonians turned towards the strip of land which divided Lake Ontario and Hamilton Bay. Already before 1895, the Beach had numerous camping areas, cottages and summer residences, hotels etc. on the Beach Strip as well as a small collection of year round residences. The spectator article focused on the changes which the Beach had undergone since the previous summer: “People who have grown used to the beach as it was last year, and for many years past, will be surprised at the change the removal of the old frame shanties opposite the Lakeside House has worked. The opening of six avenues through to the lake, and the planting of trees on each side of them is another vast improvement, and the additional park property secured adds further charm. ...

  When the advertisements for the April 26 th , 1895 event to be held at the Grand Opera House first appeared in the Hamilton newspapers, it was clearly advertised as a “Grand Athletic Tournament.” It would not just be another boxing presentation. To make it more respectable, the bill would include an exhibition of bag punching and a “Tug-of-War between crack teams of the Hamilton and Toronto Police.” However, a representative of the Hamilton Police Department’s Tug-of-War was quick to contact the press to say that the team would definitely not participate in the Grand Athletic Tournament. The claim was made that the police were not even informed that such a contest had been arranged and that the men would need some time to prepare for such a contest and should have been informed much earlier. Besides the advertisements in their newspapers, the Times, the Spectator and the Herald strongly promoted the event elsewhere in their editions. An example of that appeared in the April 2...

 On March 20, 1895, a hastily scheduled meeting was held at the church on Victoria Avenue North at Evans street.  A matter that has arisen which had to be shared witth the congregation as soon as possible : “There was a large turnout of the members of the Victoria Avenue Baptist Church last night, the regular prayer meeting being followed by a business meeting, the result of which was looked forward to by the older members with considerable anxiety. The cause of this worry was the fact that the pastor, Rev. Fred Tapscott, had sent in his resignation." Hamilton Times March 21, 1895. Reporters from all three Hamilton daily newspapers had heard about the meeting and they all made an appearance at the church: "The presence of a reporter seemed to cause anxiety to some church members, and it was moved that the reporters be requested to withdraw. In making the motion, Mr. Pocok said that he, for one, did not want to see the church exposed, or run the risk of being misrepresented by...

                      A week after a public meeting protesting immorality in some of Hamilton’s theatres, Reverend R. G. Boville, of the James Street Baptist Church, created a sensation when he secretly attended a performance at the Star Theatre. Rev. Boville, not wishing to be recognized, wore a disguise:         “His make-up was that of a well-to-do businessman out for a lark. He wore a black, fedora hat, and an ordinary suit of clothes, with a mourning coat and, carelessly hung over his shoulder, a tweed ulster. Having a walk more characteristic of a businessman than of a preacher, he was not taken by the management of the Star for a clergyman, nor would he have been by anyone who did not know him.” 1             1 Herald. May 19 1895         “Seated in a box ...

  As described by a Times reporter who was present for the big debate. From the Hamilton Times.     February 27, 1895.Image 393 “There is not a hat in the city that Prof. Williams, barber, preacher, and debater, can get his head into today. The professor is a probationary minister, and it must not be inferred that the cause of his big head is that which is usually assigned for a cranium being in a swelled condition. The reason of it that he was gloriously victorious in the debate on ‘Women and Money,’ last night with the heretofore invincible debater, ‘Prof.’ Grant. “The victorious professor, it is said, spent the greater part of last night and this morning shaking hands with himself, his friends, his enemies and the clock – but chiefly with himself. “And the victorious debater is now waiting for telegrams from some of his illustrious brothers in the south, and cablegrams from crowned heads of Europe, congratulating him upon his success. While there can be no d...