1914-03-28aa

“Waterdown is located in the township of East Flamboro, in the county of Wentworth, in the very heart of the best farming and farm section in America.”

         Hamilton Spectator. March 28, 1914.

         As part of its on-going series describing towns in area, the Hamilton Spectator on Saturday March 28, 1914 published a number of small articles describing the positive attributes of Waterdown under the bold headline, “Waterdown : Beautiful For its Situation.”

         The first article described ideal geographical situation of Waterdown as follows:

         “It stands 300 feet above the level of Lake Ontario, and from its high altitude one may see plainly with the naked eye on a clear day, the city of Hamilton with its thousands of tall chimneys, and even beyond to the historic battle fields and towering monument of Stoney Creek.

         “From its numerous vantage points, one get a glimpse of some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the world. Here, one may stand on the tracks of the C. P. R., or in front of one of the houses nearby, and look down into hundreds of feet of thickly wooded ravines. Here one may also see the wooden platform erected by Rev. C. W. Gordon (Ralph Connor) in which he produced the manuscript of his famous novel, the Prospector.”¹

              ¹ “Endowed By Nature With Lavish Hand : Situated Amid Scenery of Rare Picturesqueness : Altitude Is High and Soil Very Fertile.”

         Hamilton Spectator. March 28, 1914

         The full page coverage of the village of Waterdown as it stood in early 1914 was full references to the superlatives :

         “As a health resort, it would hard to find the equal of Waterdown. With its high altitude, one gets but the purest of air, and with every breath one feels its benefit and inspiration.

         Here one also finds rock springs water flowing in abundance from thousands of miniature springs and rivulets, all flowing into one transparent winding stream which flows through the town, pursuing its tortuous, swirling way until it reaches Lake Ontario.”¹

              Although seemingly remote, the town of Waterdown in 1914 was actually readily accessible:

         “Some idea may be gathered concerning the large amount of traffic between Waterdown and Hamilton over the new C.P.R. line when it is said that in one month recently six thousand passengers purchased tickets between these points, and every one of the nine daily trains is crowded with Hamilton or Waterdown citizens coming and going.

         “In the summer months, hundreds of Waterdown and Hamilton citizens travel back and forth between these places by the regular country roads. Here also one finds great causes for delight, as it is possibly one of the most picturesque natural regions in Canada. Throughout the entire drive of six miles, a series of magnificent scenes strike the eye.”¹

              The arrival of railway connection directly between Hamilton and Waterdown was extremely important to Waterdown’s advancement in the years immediately before World War One :

         “Every place, however large or small, has occasions to which its residents delight to look back. July 1, 1912 is one of those days in the history of Waterdown, and it will ever be remembered by the citizens as the most outstanding in the history of the beautiful suburb of Hamilton.

         “On the morning of that day, the pretty little town of Waterdown donned its best holiday attire. Flags floated most high from housetops, and throughout the town one could hear the glad voices of hundreds of men, women and children, the objective point of all being the new C.P.R. depot, nestling at the foot of a most picturesque ravine in the very heart of the business and residential district. And there good cause for the special enthusiasm, for within an hour, the first train over the new Hamilton-Guelph division of the C.P.R. would arrive, the first train to enter the previously isolated district.”²

              ² “Coming of Railway Marked New Epoch : July 1, 1912, Banner Day in Waterdown’s History : Has Grown Industrially Since That Time.”

         Hamilton Spectator.  March 28, 1914.

         Before the arrival of regular train service, Waterdown had been “a quiet country hamlet, with a population that never exceeded six or seven hundred.”²

The Spectator reporter claimed that the reason that Waterdown residents celebrated so enthusiastically on July 1, 1912, was that there was a general feeling “that their realization that it marked an epoch in the history of the place, that the line of demarcation between industrial failure and success had been crossed. The citizens realized that with coming of the railway, their little town with its great natural advantages, the gates of which had rusted on their hinges for almost a century, would be opened to industrial, residential and social progress, that Hamilton citizens and businessmen would turn their attention in that direction, that prosperity, which for years had remained dormant, would quickly advance, and for the first in its history, Waterdown would take on an air of prosperity and assured growth.”²

Indeed, the bold optimism seemed to have been justified. In the first two years since the arrival, Waterdown’s population had topped 1,000 in the spring of 1914, and another 1,000 people were predicted to make Waterdown their home in the following two years.