With Wiarton Willy, Punxsutawney Phil and Balzac Billy tucked back
into their dens for another six weeks, a new snowfall and the
annual Dunnville District Historical Association's Heritage Day
display only ten days away, I felt the need to rediscovery summer.
This was done by looking back to an early article I wrote for my
now retired historyletter The Grand Dispatch. The article
was originally written with the interest of the Beckley Beach
cottagers in mind. However, I believe it will be of interest to
anyone who has any knowledge of Port Maitland. It is rather long
and will require I show a number of photos, so it will take two
issues to tell the story. Part two will be published in the
Chronicle on March 10th.
Postcards in the late 1800s
and early 1900s, were a very important tool for remembering our
vacations while providing us and our friends with visual evidence
of our fun in the sun. Not only were they useful for the obvious
reasons, but many a love note was passed openly in the mail to the
sweet young thing we fell madly in love with during our summer
vacation.
You would not think there could be more than
five or six postcards of Port Maitland/Beckley Beach. Once I
collected ten, I knew there were no more! Then when I became the
proud owner of twenty-five, there was no doubt I had the corner on
these precious and very rare relics. Now I own one hundred plus.
When I combine my collection with that of a few friends, I believe
there are likely more than two hundred.
Sometimes there
are notes on the backs giving just a tiny bit of insight into what
was happening during a time now long forgotten. One such card,
sent home to Summit New Jersey, by Elizabeth who did not give her
last name reads in part "tell Arthur, we have a fine 1916
Franklin, it goes like a bird." I wonder what a 1916 Franklin
looked like! Many others show no more imagination then today's
vacationers possess when they write, weathers fine, having fun,
wish you were here. One card postmarked at Port Maitland in 1913,
to Mrs. Wm. Hardy, of 217 Robinson St. Tonawanda, NY. is from
Anna. It reads "Dear Mary, Am having a fine time."
Signed Anna.
Postcards tell where visitors came from.
Old postcards often tell you where visitors came from by
the addresses to which they sent the cards. Many Port Maitland
cards were addressed to Hamilton ON, and locations in the USA,
with Buffalo, Rochester, and Tonawanda NY, being the most popular
spots, however, Erie, PA and Detroit, MI. rank high on the
list.
Port Maitland, including both sides of the Grand
River, was a very popular vacation spot in the late part of the
19th century and the early part of the 20th. It was dotted with
numerous hotels, boarding houses and bed and breakfasts. A rough
estimate of rooms to be had in1900, is 130 plus.
Jesse
Taylor's, at Beckley Beach, was built by Charlie Ross and his sons
Frank and Charlie. It is sometimes remembered as The Club house.
Owned for years by Jesse Taylor, it was best known as Jesse
Taylor's. This is borne out by my postcard collection showing
numerous cards bearing this name. Taylor's was also known as The
Poplars. The Poplars was briefly owned by Harry Latta and lastly
by Dolly (Irmine) Gray.
The hotel succumbed to fire on
December 4, 1933. An article found in the Chronicle reads; About
four o'clock Monday morning The Poplars, a well-known summer
resort at Port Maitland run by Mrs. Dolly Gray, was completely
destroyed, together with its contents. The cause of the fire was
unknown at the time, as the house was untenanted at the time, one
part having been vacant for two weeks and the other since
September. Mrs. Gray is residing in Hamilton. The house is
situated on the Sherbrooke side of the river, and the fact the
ferry is not running stopped the Port Maitland Fire Department
from taking their equipment across. The members of the department
however together with other residents crossed in boats and kept a
strict watch on the adjoining property. The loss was about $5,
000, partly covered by insurance.
The property on
where Dolly's hotel was located is now occupied by two cottages
owned by Ed. Boyle, and Jack Curtis. Ed's cottage sits on the
original cement pad where the hotel stood. The cottage has a
sidewalk laid by Frank Carr, an interesting Port Maitland
character. He and Dolly took the time to scratch their names into
the wet cement. I wonder!
Not only do we unearth long
forgotten establishments that once dotted this community, we learn
some history about them. When we look across the river from Dolly
Gray's, we see the former Maitland Arms Hotel. We know the present
building as the Port Maitland Apartments. Before this one storey
block building, there was a three-storey wood-framed hotel,
originally known as the Martin's Hotel. Then in a postcard dated
April 18, 1912, we see a sign stretching the full length of the
building proclaiming Hotel Exchange - Ed Martin Propr.
Sometime,
possibly in the 1930's the name was changed to the Maitland Arms
Hotel, a name more familiar to many of us. If I could find a
postcard of this building dating in the mid 1950's, we would see
only two floors remained, as the top floor was severely damaged in
a fire and removed by then owner, LeRoy Kramer. My aunt and uncle,
Bill and Etta Reid had some investment in the hotel at that time
and their son Billy had an electric train set running from room to
room on the third floor. It is believed, somehow the train was to
blame for the fire.
The present block structure was
build by Frank and Eleanor Stouph and opened in the fall of 1963
after fire destroyed the former wood frame hotel in the spring of
1961.
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Cable operated ferry at Port Maitland
Cable
operated ferry TRANSIT at Port Maitland
Jesse
Taylor's Hotel Port Maitland. Also known as Ross's Clubhouse
Note
the sandy beach
Exchange
Hotel Port Maitland. Note it had three floors in those days. The
top floor would be burnt off in early 1950s
John
Brown, Mike Walker collection
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