I have appreciated the opportunity to contribute to a blog that recalls a time when I lived on another island with a deep-sea port that serves a different ocean. The thread with my comments is here Overview of Turcot Yards in Montreal. When I was young, the Turcot yards were about trains. As British Columbia builds grand infrastructure for the Olympics, it is interesting to see what becomes of of these proud (and expensive) monuments in only one generation. There is a fine quality to that blog. I think you will enjoy it.
Edit (2021 Feb. 18): When I wrote this one-paragraph blog post in 2007 I never imagined that it would start a thread of comments that now numbers over 180 contributions, and is still active. And contains so much history of Montreal West! When perusing this material, note the date of each comment and reply. A reply appears below the comment receiving the reply. That means that a new reply to an old comment may appear high up in the thread. You won’t see what is new just by looking at the bottom of the thread. The site should send you an email with every new comment if you subscribe to this post. Thank-you all for participating.
Technorati Tags: Canada, Montreal, Montreal West, nature, Network, Olympics, pictures, Turcot, walk
Salish Sea 
The Turcot roundhouse used to be directly below the CPR Glen/Westmount yards and was accessed by a path down the escarpment just East of where old Decarie is.
To access Turcot by road, you turned South on St Remi, then West on Pullman I think it was, to get to the rear of the roundhouse.
Fascinating place to be when steam locomotives were still in use.
We used to sit at the South end of Decarie and watch them service the engines.
As the engine arrived from a run, it dropped it’s fire into a water-filled pit between the rails where the fire was quenched, in a cloud of steam. A large overhead travelling crane with a clamshell bucket then moved the wet ashes to waiting gondolas for use as fill along the line.
The engine without a fire then moved East on it’s own steam into a wooden-walled Blow Down Pen where most of the hot water from the boiler was drained out.
This made a thunderous ROAR and a huge cloud of steam.
Minerals and treatment from the water collected so the rails were buried right up to their heads, looking like streetcar track.
The engine was then moved onto the turntable and into the roundhouse for maintenance, the rest of the water being drained inside.
There were other outbound engines getting coal and water.
The coal chute was to the West of the roundhouse was, in all, about 1/4 mile long, with a long-sloped trestle up which coal hoppers were shoved by a Yard Engine into the covered tower from the West end.
The coal was dumped into bins beneath the track in the tower, and engines on paralled tracks below took coal into their tenders from chutes on the bottom of each side of the tower.
In 1961 we spent the summer watching them scrap over 110 steam locomotives at Turcot. Sad, and never able to be forgotten.
We used to take the 106 bus along U L road and go down the STEEP road at the East side of Rose Bowl lanes to get into the Yards. A real thrill on a bike!
In winter the City of Montreal used to go down the same road with trucks of snow to dump once the tracks were lifted in 1960s.
Their Yard was almost right across the street.
LaSalle Coke used to quench coke, and each time a huge cloud of steam would rise for almost a mile in the air, especially in winter.
Until 1956 or so, all the gas used in the city was provided by LaSalle Coke and stored in the rising tanks once so prominent.
The Natrual Gas arrived by pipeline from the West, spelling the doom, ultimately, of LaSalle Coke.
I suspect byproducts from LaSalle Coke were used at Monsanto.
The crane still extantby the canal was emptied by small narrow-gauge coal cars on a cable which cirulated into the plant proper South of St. Patrick St. at CPR Power Jct.
When a canaller was being unloaded they wrapped the wheelhouse and aft quarters on the boat with canvas as coal would blow from the clamshell bucket and also rain down on your car if you stopped to watch the unloading.
If you had binoculars, you could watch the coal cars circulating from the foot of Decarie.
CNR changed from steam to electric or vice vera on passenger trains at Turcot East on Central Station Trains.
Montreal Tramways used to run along the South side of Turcot Yard thru to Lachine.
I too remember the explosion at Monsanto, and there was an apartment block in La Salle the exploded from Natrual Gas, killing 20 or so a few years earlier. We could see the smoke out our kitchen window.
Around 1962 a private house blew up on Beaconsfield Ave. just North of Sherbrooke.
We were coming in from Dorval and saw the houses on fire at Brock, and immediately rode our bikes down.
There used to be a single-track level crossing of the CNR which went by Consumers Glass in VSP, then around West of CPR Sortin Yard and thru to Vertu and thence to Jacques Cartier Jct. just South of Bordeaux Jail.
Old CNR at that time still passed thru Lachine to Dorval along side the Tramways out to Dixie.
It was 9 am on a Sunday morning in 1962 when the Haumont house on Beaconsfield was leveled by a propane gas explosion. I lived about 4 blocks away and it was the most astonishing sound…whummp..boom. Amazing how your mention of it brought that memory back so vividly..
I remember that explosion, as well as the one at Monsanto. In the latter case we were watching a football game at Trenholme Park when it happened. We visited the Haumont site soon after-the-fact since it was such a big deal.
Hi Ken, thanks for your comments here.
I wrote a little about the Monsanto explosion in Neath’s blog at: http://neath.wordpress.com/2007/01/05/an-ecoterritory/#comment-2179
I went to St. Paul’s Academy with Nicky Haumont. The explosion and loss of a good friend was so traumatic for all of us. It was our graduation from high school year.
Heather, your recollection of Nicky Haumont is sad and shocking. I do remember my family driving by the site (almost 58 years ago) and seeing fabric caught in the branches of the trees.
I’ve found this news account:
3 DEAD IN MONTREAL EXPLOSION.
Montreal (CP) — An explosion killed three persons and severely injured two others, all members of the same family, levelling their two-storey brick home in Montreal’s west-end Notre Dame de Grace district early Sunday.
Dead are MRS. ROLAND JEAN HAUMONT, 44, a native of St. John’s, Nfld., and her two daughters, NICOLE, 16, and LESLIE, 10.
MR. HAUMONT, 41, assistant professor of French at Harpur College, Birghampton, N.Y. and his son, MARC were in hospital severely injured.
All the victims were buried in the rubble and bits of clothing hung from nearby trees indicating the force of the explosion.
Firemen and police were on the scene minutes after the 8 a.m. blast rocked the quiet neighborhood.
Winnipeg Free Press Manitoba 1963-10-21
Cdnlococo, thank-you for the thoughtful comments. I sense that you and I saw west-end Montreal from a similar perspective… but your views seem more mature. I suspect you are 4 or 5 years older than me. We may have passed each other on our bikes or at the counter at Elmhurst Dairy.
Dear Robert,
Yes, I sense that I am just a bit older than you. I once went to Iona School over by Decarie, then to Rosedale School when part of the classes were still being held in the old Church Hall South of Terrebonne at Mariette.
The Old Hall was being demolished when JFK was shot.
If you go look at the house on the NW corner of Marriette and Terrebonne there used to be a white-on-blue enamel road sign on it’s bricks, which were rare even in the sixties.
I then went to Monklands High over on Benny/West Hill.
We had many a cone at the old Elmhurst Dairy, and, the joke always was the Bull and the Cow’s afterquarters were intact behind the billboard to the West of the dairy proper.
I once spent 1/2 an hour looking for AVON on a Service Order! Was I mad!
We haunted the train yards as kids, if not Turcot and it’s swamps, old Sortin Yard over at the end of Cote St Luc Rd.
Lots of steam engines still, and the Lachine Canal not yet replaced by the Seaway.
There were billboards overlooking 2/17 just down the hill from SKF and International Trucks and we could sit on them and view the whole scene of Turcot West, Canadian Car and Foundry and the Canal, once again with Lachine streetcars going back and forth.
Therw was a Trucker’s Hotle, Peg’s?? on the corner of U L Rd where the truck tractors had all sorts of licence plates from everywhere.
I don’t have time today, but once we walked the St. Pierre River from over by the CPR Hump near Blue Bonnets Raceway thru to CPR Sortin Yards at the Wentworth Golf Course.
It drained all the arable land once where Cote St Luc is now, along Kildare, etc.
Yes, we probably DID pass somewhere, maybe watching trains at Mtl West when seeing a DIESEL on a train was a novelty, and the Tramways used to turn up on Sherbrbrooke when thr Streetcars used to still turn at Elmhurst Loop.
They had a big revolving illuminated LaSalle Taxi sign there next to old Track 4 at the station.
Hmmm . . .
I can’t help but wonder who you fellows are. My friends and I haunted Montreal West in the years 1954 to 1958 or so. Watching trains. And, indeed, I recall wanting to see DIESELS!!! After all, steamers were commonplace, eh? In fact I have a couple of snaps of The Canadian at Montreal West and a steamer too. They can be seen by clicking the small thumbnails at the bottom of this web page http://danks.netfirms.com/locos.htm
And yes, when we could afford it out of our allowances, the cones at Elmhurst (although I had forgotten the name of the place) were a real treat.
Yup, on bicycles too.
I wonder if we knew each other all those years ago.
Terry, I’ve just been reviewing your web site. The photography is stunning! I see that you have also done some excellent astrophotography. My interest in astronomy began a few years after you left the Montreal West area… in 1963. In June of ’63 a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, Karl McNamara, visited a neighbour, and he brought his telescope. Long after everyone else had gone to bed he was showing me wonders of the night sky. He told me that he was organizing a train to go to to Grand-Mère in July to see an eclipse of the sun. The next day I announced that our family was going. We did. That train was the first in many years to stop in Grand-Mère, and the town had a band to greet us at the station. The eclipse was awesome. Karl was a member of the Montreal Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. I joined that group. It was a turning point in my life. I’ve worked in three of Canada’s largest planetariums over a period of 20 years. I’m still a member of the Montreal Centre.
Hi Terry, I was born in 1943, so I would have been riding my bike around Montreal West during the years that you were there. I was one of the Ballantyne family who lived on Ballantyne Avenue South. My cousin Ralph was like an older brother, and he lived on the Upper Lachine Road (Avon Road). I clearly remember us watching a diesel passing through the crossing at Westminster, and him saying to my amazement, “Someday all of the engines will be diesel.” Thanks for the link to the pictures.
Hi Robert Ballantyne,
I just happened upon the ” blog” that you take part in.
My name is Joanne Trenholme ( born in 1949) My grandfather was Wilfred Trenholme, who built and lived in that big old home at 150 Brock South. As a little girl, we used to go to Sunday dinner at my grandparents almost every week and I remember my father, Thomas Trenholme, pointing out his aunt, Ethel Ballantyne’s house, just across the street.
I have lived all my married life in the Eastern Townships and often go over to the small village, near Richmond Quebec, called Trenholme, where my great/great/great grandfather, William Trenholme settled, in 1819.
I am in frequent touch with most of the other members of our family: Prices, Clarksons, Kerrigans. My grandfather had six sisters, of which Ethel Ballantyne was one, so there are many cousins…. you, among them !!
I remember going to family Christmas parties, years ago, with Ballantyne cousins: Murray, Jimmy and a third brother.
Where, exactly, do you fit in ??
Hi Joanne,
My sister and I grew up at 140 Ballantyne Avenue in the house of my father, George Ballantyne. George is the son of James Ballantyne, who built the large house at 124 Ballantyne Ave. The street was named after Grandfather, who was mayor of Montreal West from (I think) 1912 to 1927.
I seem to remember reading a book by Murray Ballantyne about his conversion to Roman Catholicism.
James Ballantyne was the son of John, who emigrated from the Orkney Islands in Scotland. Great Grandfather John settled on a farm near Chester, Ontario. I believe he and his wife had about 16 children; 8 in Scotland, and 8 in Canada. I think I heard that one died during the crossing. The family legend is that as each of the children came of age, John would walk them to the King’s Highway (between Toronto and Montreal), give them one dollar and send them on their way announcing that this was, “the road of life.” The story is that they all did well. One became a Senator. My namesake was Uncle Bob, a Presbyterian minister. Aunt Liz was a beloved school teacher – the Elizabeth Ballantyne School was named for her. Grandfather ran a large plumbing and heating business, plumbing buildings as far away as the Manitoba Legislature.
I think I remember a young girl who visited ‘Wilfie’ Trenholme’s household, and was friends with the Gillespie family who lived across the street from my house. Could that be you?
Thanks for writing… Robert
I think I just bought your great grandfather’s home! It’s almost 200 acre residence in Chesterville ON and it was labelled Ballantyne residence. He was a senator in Ottawa. Do not know very much else about them except for reading small articles here and there.
A belated reply – I am the great grandson of Senator CC Ballantyne – his eldest son was also Charlie and was the father of my mother Rosalie. CC bought the farm because it was close to the farm where he grew up. My mother used to spend her summers there. I went to see the house with her about 30 years ago. It was then unchanged and my mother’s room was as it was when she was a girl.
Robert I used to stay occasionally with Uncle Jimmie’s widow, Hazel, at your house on Ballantyne Avenue when I travelled back and froth to the UK as a child. Before the Ballantyne’s bought it, it was the Paterson summer house. My Paterson Grandfather was a mad keen sailor. While the Paterson’s only lived there for a few years compared to the Ballantynes, they always joked with the B’s that it was really their house.
It’s confusing with all the James and Roberts on both sides of the family. The Trenholmes also married into the Ballantynes – My maternal grandfather Charlie had Trenholme as his middle name.
You are all close to Allancroft, the Allan’s west Island Summer home that they bought from the Drummonds before the first world war. The Allans also set up a dairy there. My Paterson grand father was a 2nd cousin of Sir Montagu Allan and also of his wife Marguerite née MacKenzie.
Uncle Murray married Frances Stephens who died aged 102 only a few years ago. Her baby brother John was drowned on the Lusitania with the his granny. They were on their way to the Uk to see his father and Frances. Her mother was also called Hazel. Granny Stephens’ body was found and sent back to Canada on the Allan ship Hesparian. It was sunk almost on top of the Lusitania by the same Boat and the same Captain – months later.
Don’t know if this is active or not. Think it was me, Lynda trenholme
Hi Lynda. Yes this site is quietly active. Following my foot injury last year, I’ve not been blogging much (the story of my foot is described in a blog entry April, 2018). Oddly this thread has comments going back to 2007. There is lots of wonderful Montreal West history recorded here. This is where I learned about the connection between the Ballantynes and the Trenholmes. Where, or how, do you fit into the picture?
Hi Robert,
I am revisiting this wonderful Salish Sea blog today and want to ask you to confirm the names of the three sons of Senator CC Ballantyne and his wife ( my great aunt, Ethel Trenholme )
I believe that the sons were :
Charles
Murray
James / Jimmy
I certainly met Murray and Jimmy as a young child, at various Family Christmas parties. Those boys were the oldest of all the 25 or so Trenholme cousins.
Who was Charlie married to ?
His daughter was Rosalie?
Other children !
Murray was married to France’s Stevens ( Mount Steven Club fame ?)
Who were their children ?
James/Jimmy was married to Hazel ( second wife ….. the daughter of Lord Shaughnessy ? )
I knew of an Elizabeth Ballantyne ( McNally )
I think that she now lives in Knowlton.
I have also met the artist, John Ballantyne , who lives in the Sutton area.
Who would have been their father’s ?
Thank you for any help that you could provide.
Joey Trenholme
Joey, I have few or no recollections of your side of the Ballantyne family. I knew about the large property in Dorval, but I don’t remember ever visiting there. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, I did read Murray’s book on converting to Catholicism, was it called, “All Or Nothing”? — but, was that a result of meeting and talking to him? It’s possible. And the names you mention were on my parents’ lips.
So, looking on the Internet, I found this reference to James Ross Ballantyne (1905–1970), the son of Charles Colquhoun “CC” Ballantyne (1867–1950) and his wife Ethel Maud Trenholme (1882–1970). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108988924/james-ross-ballantyne.
That reference reports that James Ross (“Jimmy” I guess) had three siblings: Charles Trenholme (1902-1966), Murray Gordon (b. 1909) and Linda Trenholme. So, if that account is true, there were 4 children, not 3.
On Feb. 5, 1930, James married Mary “Molly” Elizabeth Fletcher Meigs, daughter of Walter Meigs (b. 1874) and Louise Boulter (1879-1964). Molly’s mother and aunt, Mary Olive Boulter, were nurses serving in England and France during World War I.
James and Molly had two children: James Michael and Linda Trenholme (Mrs. Bruce Fleming). Following a divorce, James married Hazel Marion Shaughnessy (birth?–1976) on Oct. 3, 1938 in Montreal. Hazel was the daughter of Lord William James Shaughnessy and Marion Graham.They also had two children: Marion Graham and Willian Gordon.
Does all of this sound right to you? The reference to a “Linda Trenholme” in two generations may not be correct.
This is all very interesting ….. thank you.
Somehow, I recall that CC Ballantyne had three sons …… no daughter?
Linda shows up twice, but I think there is only one ….. Jame’s daughter.
Have you got similar information on son Charles and son Murray ?
Thanks, Robert
p.s. I had an interesting phone chat with David Watson yesterday. His computer is broken at the moment. We are going to meet in Montreal soon and share photos. He is the local Montreal West historian and I was inquiring about the new « Edgar Davies Park », created last year, at the corner of Sherbrooke and Westminster.
Interestingly enough, no one seems to know who the park is named after ?
Not even anyone at the Town Hall ??
Joey
Late reply – Charlie B was married to Rosalie Britain from Winnipeg – she had a brother Tim. They moved to St Andrews NB in 1950 – they had a house in Montreal on Redpath. Murray had many children of which Elizabeth who still lives near Knowlton as I do and we see each other quite often. John B a brother lives less than mile away from her
Looking over this blog again.
Could you confirm:
Your grandfather, Charlie Ballantyne was married to Rosalie Britain.
They had a daughter named Rosalie, as well, who was your mother.
What is your father’s name ?
Thx
p.s. lots of time to piece together family history. 😆
Fun too. My father was James Paterson. Known as Jim or Jimmie. He was the son of Col Alec Paterson and Anna Cowans. As a boy the Ballantyne house in Dorval was his father’s. He sold it to Uncle Jimmy. C C ‘ brother and later mayor of Dorval.
Alec lost most of his money in the depression and moved to Cartierville on the north shore in the mid 1930’s. My fathers brother was Robert Paterson who worked for the Royal Bank. He died 2 years ago aged 90. Dad died in 1981 aged 55. Mum died in 2014 on Valentine day. I have 2 younger sisters Diana who had just moved to Montreal and Cindy who lives in Turks and Caicos
My father is Harry Edgar Trenholme, son of Wilfred and WinnfredTrenholme. It was Dad’s grandfather Thomas that started the Elmhurst Dairy. ‘ all of dad’s siblings are deceased .
I now live in Knowlton where I believe Harry lived – I met him briefly years ago with my mum
My father, Harry lived in Montreal West and my uncle, Thomas , lived in Knowlton. His daughter, Joanne Marosi lives in North Hatley.
Thought i had answered this , sorry. My father is Harry Trenholme, son of Wilfred and Winifred Trenholme of the Elmhurst Dairy. I lived at 307 Strathern Ave in Montreal West and went to Elizabeth Ballantyne school. When my grandfather died we moved into 150 Brock S
I do not know how I got here, but you lived across the street from me. I was at 306. I was Alice Anne Johnston
Hi Alice, I am glad you somehow found your way here. Do I have the correct house http://bit.ly/306strathearnN ? Can you share some of your life in this neighbourhood?
Don’t know if this is recent. Did you live on house closest to Brock or Ballantyne?
I think Strathern is on the opposite side of Westminster to Brock and Ballantyne.
It is. She had said across from me, which is a very small street(can’t think of the name?. There were only 2 houses on that street, one on the Brock side, the other on the Ballantyne side.
You are right. I lived at 307 Strathern N and 150 Brock S. I assumed she meant Brock🤪
Hi, Lynda. Lived at 145 Percival from1952-7, attended MWHS 1952-1955. Worked for the Town from 1959-64. Many, many memories, but … alas, stuff is fading.
Nice touching bases with Montreal Westers , lol. Did you know my cousins, Ronnie and Randy Fyfe? Do you still live in Montreal West. Sad how things change and things like the Mike Stevens dances are gone.
Only knew Randy by sight, since we never had contact with anyone more than 1 grade below “us”. Live now between Lennoxville (Sherbrooke) and near Metis Beach in the Lower St. Lawrence. Does anyone then live in MW now?
Nope. I live in Hudson because I ride horses and Ronnie is in Ontario and I think, Randy is in Vancouver. Sad, I don’t like change lol
So, Peter, you were at Montreal West High from 52–55. I figure I was there from around 48–55. We may have experienced some of the same teachers, and you may remember some older children who were part of my cohort. Here is who comes to mind… I may have years and spellings wrong. Teachers: Miss Vibert, grade 5; Miss Rodgers, grade 4 or 6; Miss Reeves, Grade 2; Miss (Dora) Almond, Grade 1; Mrs. Driscoll, Kindergarten; Mr. Parsons, Principal. I’m struggling to remember the gym teacher, the art teacher (Mrs. Petrie?), and the music teacher (Mr. Ringwood?). Some students: Winston Castle, Jackie Bell, Wayne Wright, Richard Dilly, Billy Russell, Chip Gillespie, Julie Borne, Dorothy Ferguson, Trudy Bell, Lynn Kirby, Susan Harris, Mary Wynn.
Robert, only attended the high school part on MWHS, and Mr. Parsons was the Principal, Mr. White the vice-Principal and Mr. Norman was the gym teacher. Miss Tate taught algebra and was the daughter of the author of our intermediate algebra text. Given more time, others could probably be named. So much is slip-sliding away …
Oh, then Peter, you are several years ahead of me. Thanks for confirming Mr. Parsons as the principal, and for filling in the blank of Mr. Norman for P.E. It make me wonder for how long Automattic, Inc. will support the free version of WordPress.com (and this blog). Some, or even much of what is written in this thread might be the only written artifact of certain events, places and people during those years.
Robert,
Yes, I could not comment on the blog’s reply page, so sent it to your e-mail.
If a paid subscription is needed, depending on the individual cost, I would very much like to do so.
Peter, basic WordPress.com is free. The current signup process makes it very easy to think you have to pay. You don’t. You are offered the choice of a free blog or a free account. Technically they are the same thing. Register a unique subdomain, and you have that account forever. I have several. This one is https://howesound.wordpress.com. And so it this https://salishsea.wordpress.com. I have others. BTW, I don’t have an email from you.
You are right!!
Looking at the houses across from #306 Strathearn North, are a pair of 3-story semidetached houses in a grand style that reminds me of early Montreal West: #309 and #307. They are part of a series of almost identical buildings with some unique features. The main entrance of each is at the side of the house through a substantial vestibule. That vestibule would partially block the possibility of a driveway to a garage at the rear of the property except that the adjacent building is the mirror image, and there is room for a shared driveway between the vestibules. #309 is a double lot and therefore does not share the driveway. It is interesting that after all these years, #309 remains a double lot.
Sorry I was thinking of when I lived at 150 Brock S, not 307 Strathern. Do you remember Beth Bacon and the Bright family?
Just a sad note that my father, Harry Edgar Trenholme passed away march 28, 2020. Dad fell and broke his hip and died from complications after surgery. Very sad time and the last of Wilfred Trenholme’s children.
Lest We Forget
Lynda, I am so sorry to read about your father. The sadness never really leaves. Montreal West was a long time ago. I lived with my grandparents at 123 Ballantyne. Robbie and Nibby were my first friends.
Well so far all I do is remember and cry. Thank you for your kind words. Where are you living now? I am in Hudson
Lynda – belated condolences – did your father have a place in Knowlton too? I have a hazy memory of meeting him there
Hi Rob,
I can answer that. It is my father, Thomas C. Trenholme, who had a home in Knowlton , for over fifty years. As a young man, he had visited Knowlton , often, to see his cousins. Several children of T.A. Trenholme had homes in Knowlton : Elsie Trenholme Clarkson, Géraldine Trenholme Kerrigan, Marjorie Trenholme Price. Therefore, many of their children and grandchildren ended up with homes in the area …… a Trenholme enclave.
Lynda’s father, Harry Trenholme , was the last of his generation of approx. 23 grandchildren of T.A. Trenholme.
From this very large family, my brother, Thomas Gray Trenholme, is the only one to carry on the Trenholme name. Fortunately, he has two sons and four grandsons !!
How wonderful to hear from you so quickly. My mum, Rosalie Anne Ballantyne Charlie Trenholme Ballantyne’s daughter always had a bit of a crush on your dad. In an innocent way. She introduced me briefly I think on a visit here. But memory is so unreliable. I can’t be sure
So you are Charlie Ballantyne’s grandson. ; Rosalie Ballantyne’s son. What is your last name? How long have you lived in Knowlton ?
So Charlie Ballantyne and Thomas Trenholme ( my father) were 1st cousins.
Rosalie and I are 2nd cousins.
You and I are 2nd cousins once removed, indicating a generational difference.
Because the three Ballantyne boys were the first born cousins ( their mother, Ethel Trenholme being the oldest ; perhaps Harry Trenholme was THE oldest ) Charlie, Murray and Jimmy were the ‘ oldest ‘ cousins.
Hence, the age range in that generation .
My last name is Paterson. I have added more info in another reply
I work with Claire Kerrigan who is the founder of Tempo our local paper. She is 95 going on 50!
Thank you so much. It is a very sad time . Dad always was in my life.
No it was Dad’s brother, Thomas Trenholme married to Audrey Grey that had the place in Knowlton. His daughter, Joanne Maronite and is on this blog lives in North Hayley area, Lake Missiwippi(? Spelling). My father had a place at Tremblant. Where are you living now?
Just a few edits:
Audree Gray
Joanne Marosi
North Hatley
Lake Massawippi
Sorry Joey that was the auto correct. Lol.
I live in Knowlton
Hi again Robert,
Thanks Robert for your speedy reply. I am trying to sort out all this family history and your contributions were helpful.
When you mention your great-grandfather John ( from the Orkneys) and his sixteen children…. one of whom was a senator, that would be, I believe, Senator C.C. Ballantyne ( Charles), who would be my connection to your family.
I am Wilfred ( Wilfie) Trenholme’s granddaughter. Wilfred’s oldest sister, Ethel Trenholme married C.C. Ballantyne and they had three sons: James, Murray ( who, indeed, converted to Roman Catholicism and a third.) ( nor sure of his name )
My great grandfather , Thomas Anderson Trenholme, started Elmhurst’s Dairy and his two sons, Harry Trenholme and Wilfred ran the dairy. My father told me many wonderful stories of the dairy:visiting the large stable of horses which pulled the wagons and much more wonderful lore.
So Senator C.C. Ballantyne would have been your great uncle, ( brother of James ) and he was mine as well, through marriage. James and C.C
( Charles) must have lived next door to one another on Ballantyne South. I remember my father telling me about visiting the Ballantynes out at their country home in Dorval, as a little boy and eating strawberries from their garden the size of apples !
Interesting how inter-connected we all are.
cheers,
Joanne Trenholme Marosi
Hi Robert,
the property on Ballantyne Terasse in Dorval was the home of Hazel Ballantyne. She was the daughter of William James (second Baron Shaughnessy) and the 2nd wife of James Ross Ballantyne, a stockbroker with the firm of MacDougall, McTier. She was a Dorval alderman and
parks and playgrounds commissioner in the 50s.
The cousins would have a Christmas cocktail party there every year. There seemed to about 50 of us if not more. Happy Times
Hi Robert,
I have posted some info on the Ballantynes a few years back.
At this moment I am doing research on the Maison Jacques Lepage dit Roy, located on 2 Ballantyne Terrace in Dorval, for publication in our annual Héritage booklet from the Dorval Historical Society, of which I am a board member.
This house is one of the oldest still standing since 1790. C.C. Ballantyne bought this house in 1922, even though his main residence apparently was on 3484 Mountain St. in Montreal. I know that his son James (Jimmy) married Hazel Shaughnessy in 1938 and lived in the same house. Hazel was a Dorval Councillor from from 1953 to 1961 under the administration of Mayor John Pratt, She passed on September 24, 1976.
Would you know the date of marriage of C.C. Ballantyne with Ethel Trenholm?
Any info on this family will be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Dick
Dick, I apologize for the slow response to your comment — and thanks for your information about C.C. Ballantyne’s house in Dorval. While I have no information about the date of the marriage of Ethel Trenholme and C.C. Ballantyne, there are some members of the Trenholme family who have posted here, and they might have that information. We’ll watch for it.
Thanks for your reply, Robert. I’ll be checking the Trenholm postings. If any new info on the Ballantyne family becomes available, please let me know.
Ethel Trenholme Ballantyne ( note the E on Trenholme ) was my great aunt. Her brother, Wilfred Trenholme , was my grandfather, who lived at 150 Brock Ave. S. from the day he married, until the day he died.
I have much information on this family. I would be happy to share it.
Joanne Trenholme ( joeymarosi@gmail.com )
Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne and Ethel Maud Trenholme married 2 Oct 1901.
Thank-you Jane. That was the event that connected my family, the Ballantynes, with the Trenholmes, before my father was born. This is a connection I never knew about until this blog thread.
I have some info on Ethel Maud born March 22, 1882 and died Jan 14, 1970.believe the parents were Thomas Anderson Trenholme 1847-1917 and IsabellaDeborah Mathews 1851-1944.
Grand parents John Trenholme 1807-1888 and Jane Anderson 1805-1896
Hi Joanne:
I live on a house on Connaught Ave. I am the second owner and I have all the original title deeds. The deed for the land sale is from “The heirs of the estate of Thomas A. Trenholme to Camille Chevalier”, the architect and builder, dated Apr. 7, 1949. The presiding notary was Charles Wayland.
There are lots of names mentioned here, who are the parties of the first part, the heirs who are selling the land to Chevalier. They are present at Notary Wayland’s office. They are:
-Charles Trenholme Ballantyne, representing the late Miss Ellen Matilda Trenholme
-Dame Ethel Maude Trenholme wife of the honourable Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne,
-Dame Elsie Florence Trenholme, wife of Ross Clarkson,
-Dame Frederica Thorpe Trenholme, wife of William Alexander Fowler,
-Dame Geraldine Isobel Mathews Trenholme, wife of the late Victor Ernest Kerrigan, -Dame Marjorie Meredith Holden Trenholme, wife of Charles Basil Price,
-Wilfred Thomas Trenholme, “Dairyman”
-Dame Emma Merab Willard, widow of the late Henry Richard Trenholme
The purchaser, Chevalier, bought 420 ft. frontage on Connaught x 105 ft. depth, bordering on the Montreal West city line. The price was $9443.00, of which he paid a third with an agreement to pay the rest by Apr. 1st, 1950. He built 9 units, 8 of which are semidetached on the western side of Connaught.
The document is pristine, typed flawlessly on onion skin paper, names underlined in the red ink of the typewriter ribbon.
EDC
Joanne,
Grandfather and his brother, Great Uncle Charlie, acquired a plot in the Mt. Royal Cemetery, section F10. Charlie’s family are buried on the left side of the plot — and my grandparents, and all of my aunts and uncles (and parents), are on the right side. If you are in Montreal, you might visit and find out what relatives of yours are there.
I knew there was a Ballantyne in Dorval, but I don’t ever remember visiting. I recall my Dad mentioning the large property when we drove by. That has since been developed, and the street is called Terrasse Ballantyne.
I had no idea of the connection between the Trenholme family and Elmhurst Dairy. The dairy was a big part of our lives. People would come a long way to visit its ice cream parlour. I remember how unhappy Frank, the Milkman, was when the dairy took his horse and gave him a truck. His horse knew the route so well that Frank could be inside the wagon making up the next order, while the horse walked to the next house and stopped. I think I remember visiting the stables and the blacksmith shop that was out behind the main building of Elmhurst Dairy.
Your plot on Mont Royal is very close to ours
My name is Sheila Brooke (Perez) I was born in 1943. I lived at 4995 Connaught Ave. And I went to St Ignatius school and also church where I made my first communion. I had a best friend Adele Dunnigan. We used to walk and roller skate all over the neighborhood. We used to go to the candy store for penny candy I believe the owner was Mrs, Unsworth. My father was Charlie Brooke and mother Stella, brother Allan, sister Pat. I remember going to Elmhurst Dairy and Burks Drug store. We moved when I was nine years old in 1952 when my father died. I found this blog by accident looking up St ignatius. Does anyone remember me or my family? Other friends were Ann Colvey and Susan Wilson.
Sheila this is quite miraculous and I hope you get this message. Last week (August 22, 2018) I was in Montreal with Anne and Judy Colvey and Judy McGuirk on a nostalgic visit to all these haunts. I found this blog because we talked about you and Adele and I did a search. I am Jane Hanson — I have a photo of you in grade 2. If memory serves me correctly your birthday is in March as is mine. Anyway I am not going to write more til I hear back. I also think I have found the correct street address for you in Florida. I am in Toronto.
Just saw this. I was born in 1946. Unfortunately no one to ask
Well, I am a little surprised (disappointed?) that perhaps we did not actually know one another. I was born in ’44 so we are contemporaries. I lived on Coronation Avenue (1954-56) and then King Edward (1956-58) before moving to Pointe Claire. Rode the commuter trains to high school and college (Loyola) until finishing in 1965.
Elementary school was St. Ignatius (corner West Broadway and Terrebonne). My best friend Barry, a year or two older than I, went to Monklands which I also saw mentioned here.
My Dad drove me to Grande Mere for the eclipse in 1963 and I hauled my 4″ refractor along. I still remember the deep red of the prominences visible. Was thrilled at them! But it was such a short eclipse! I envy what the folks in Asia saw today.
I only stumbled on this site as a result of searching for photos of the Montreal West CPR station. Didn’t find any unfortunately.
What remains of it now?
Thanks for dropping by the web site, BTW.
I lived on King edward from 1952 to 1959 🙂 I was born in 1952 and went to rosedale school
The Montreal West train station still exists, Terry. It’s a little harder to reach these days from Sherbrooke Street because there are metal fences running all along beside the tracks to protect people from The Danger That Is Trains. (It’s a wonder we survived, eh?)
The Montreal West train station is easily explored on Google Street View starting here: Gare Montréal-Ouest
Was perusing the web looking for photos of NDG, and, was quite successful, finding a photo of Meldrum the Mover at Walkley and Sherbrooke when it was STILL a telephone exchange!
Found a companion photo of the ‘new’ BTCo exchange on Monkland, later HUnter, taken between 1952, when the West extension was added to the building, but, prior to 1956, when the 3A streetcar from Girouard to Walkley by Steinberg’s was removed.
Worked at HUnter for a while, amongst the Line Finders, Selectors and Connectors.
( Steinberg’s once had a tunnel with conveyors for groceries South beneath Somerled to their once-large parking lot on the East side of Walkley. )
We used to LIVE at Montreal West Station, and the 3 E8s 1800-02 were Diesel favorites, they occasionally operated two coupled.
Listening to the steam locomotive exhausts echoing off Slumhaven village apartments as they left for Westmount was lovely.
My father and I saw the eclipse in 1963, but, we went up by train. CP ran an ‘Eclipse Special’ the locomotives being CP 1800-8705, then an almost-rare GP9 in the East, a MLW stronghold.
We used to visit the stored to be scrapped steam locomotives at the CP St Luc roundhouse, then spent many a day watching the CNR cut them up at Turcot in ’61.
At one time, Hydro Quebec had a small substation on the North side of Somerled between Doherty and O’Bryan.
Used to listen to the steam engines, then the Diesels pull up the grade from LaSalle/Highland, South and North Jcts and then whistle for the crossing, back in the Fifties, at Cote St Luc road at West Broadway, before the shopping centre was built in ’56.
At night, on hot summer evenings you could hear the small air whistle at the CPR Hump over near Blue Bonnets, the air whistle indicating to the pin puller how many cars to cut off to let down to the retarders, then the clatter of the retarders applying to slow them down.
The whistles and horns of various yard engines around the area, and along St Patrick St. puctuated the nights.
A canaller in the Lachine Canal would whistle 3-long for the bascule bridge at St Pierre by the Tramways substation and Canadian Car and Foundry and for the CPR swing bridge upstream by Dominion Bridge.
LaSalle Coke would quench their name product resulting in an atomic-like cloud of steam hovering and expanding ominously.
Minto was the street that disappeared.
DExter was our phone No, then HUnter 4.
HUnter 2 was electronic and Touch Tone could be ordered.
All gone now.
Many changes.
The 105 is not what it used to be.
Thank You!
Don’t forget the Fifties Royal Bank branch on the NE corner of Grand and Monkland, now an apartment.
The Tramways used to Wye rush hour streetcars at Grand and Monkland, the original end of track before they extended to Walkley and Somerled.
The wye was there until the end of streetcars on that route in 1956, making a satisfyling clanking beneath the floor as cars turned left onto Monkland towards Girouard.
Yes, things have definitely changed in good old NDG.
Hi Cdnlococo, thanks for conjuring up those images and sounds of the Montreal that I remember… and left so long ago.
I have a very vague memory of an orchard where Westhaven Village appeared. I don’t recall the term Slumhaven being used.
So now I am curious to know who is behind the name, Cdnlococo. Isn’t it time for you to found your own blog or web site?
Yes, I’m also very curious to find out who’s behind the name, Cdnlocococo. You should definitely set up your own blog! I’ve come across your reminiscences a few times looking for old photos of NDG and find them so fascinating and well written. I can’t for the life of me find photos of what stood before the Decarie autoroute was built. But I did find out Minto disappeared, just as you mentioned.
I remember going over to visit a horse stable on Minto. I did find – using Lovell’s Montreal Directories on-line {http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/lovell/} – that Christie Brown & Co. was located there so the horses could have been for bread delivery.
Hi Ken, thank you for the info about Minto. Here’s a picture I finally found (oddly just as I got an email saying you responded to my post from 2011!) of what was there before the Expressway was built. Montreal archives released aerial photos of Montreal from 1947–49. I started at P10-25 in Westmount and got to P10-22 at Decarie: http://archivesdemontreal.com/greffe/vues-aeriennes-archives/jpeg/VM97-3_7P10-22.jpg
In case folks reading Ken’s and Lori’s comments are curious about the location of the area around Minto — a street that vanished in the Decarie construction, download this kmz file and open it with Google Earth. I’ve done a fairly sloppy job of creating an overlay of an historical picture of the area. I am delighted to be able to see where there were once 2 roundhouses. Westmount Roundhouses
Google Earth has a slider in the sidebar that will let you change the opacity of the overlay so you can compare the historical image with the more recent data.
Robert /Lori/Ken
I remember Minto Ave quite well. I lived on Oxford and Western and would ride my bike all around the Minto/Addington area. At the bottom of Minto were barns where they kept horses. We would roam around them in the evenings and hear them. There were also dogs in some of those barns and they’d bark at us when we were close. There were people whom my older sister told me were Beat Nics that hung around the vacant buildings. Probably living there.
It was kind of a fieldy area and half way up there was a four foot drop in the land that we would take a run at with our bicycles and sail through the air. Further up the street there were houses all the way to Sherbrooke.
On the other side of Sherbrooke was POM bakeries where we would through rocks at the pigeons in the rear of the building. A few doors over was TWA (I think they became canadian air lines) I remember there was this metal statue of an airplane right in front on the sidewalk. A block away was the Chalet BBQ which is still there today.
I remember watching them tear down those buildings and wandering if the horses would be ok. There were also houses on the east side of
addington that got demolished. Again I remember thinking that they were gonna tear down the Chalet BBQ (which was on the west side of addington) where we used to go get the best fries and a Coca Cola in a small green bottle.
I also watched them digging the biggest hole I ever saw which became the expressway.
Butch, Many thanks for the vivid description of life around Minto Avenue before the Décarie Expresssway appeared in Montreal. I loved the imagery of you catching some air-time on your bikes! BTW, I thought that the Pom Bakery was at The Glen and St Catherine.
I remember that somewhere around that part of Sherbrooke there was a pet shop with a mynah bird. I vaguely recall being there with my Mom. Yes, the bird could talk, but every now and then it would let out a shriek. We were told that it was imitating the sound of the old streetcars as they braked. Any idea where that store was?
Hi Robert.
It was a bakery for sure. I always remembered it as being POM. Perhaps it moved to the Glen after that part of Sherbrooke was demolished to make way for the Decarie expressway. There were thousands of pigeons in the rear of that building and as kids we were always trying to catch them. I remember flying through the alley way on our bikes into a crowd of pigeons of course they always heard us coming and flew away.
There were a lot of vacant lots in those days and plenty of places for us to explore. I remember when they built the sky scraper on the corner of girourd and Sherbrooke. Before that it was a vacant lot filled with tall bushes. I remember playing hide and go seek in them. We would also use the alley way there as a short cut on our way to school. Daniel O’ Connel.
I do remember a Mina bird. Just can’t place where. There was a comic store that we went to see the new Superman, Green Lantern and others. We were eventually chased off by the owner cause we didn’t ever buy one. There was a joke store. We’d get chased outta there to. There was a restaurant called F.D.R. Which stood for Jack De Rice. Of course there was and still is the NDG park filled with trees that we used to climb to get the chestnuts. We got chased off quite a few times by the park keepers. A friend of mine fell out of one of those trees and broke his arm. I remember flagging down a police car to take him to the hospital on Northcliffe ave.
That whole area was a cool place to grow up as a kid. We spent a lotta time riding our bikes there and down Decarie where you could get into Turcot yards. We would put pennies on the tracks and wait for the train to flatten them out. We would wave to the conductors and they would wave back. I remember watching the workers unhook trains and then seeing the locomotives go onto that part of the track that would spin them around the opposite way. I remember the roar they used to make when they dumped the hot ash into the water underneath the track. I remember the trains would go into that enormous sized building and they’d make this sound that was like a motor reving high that lasted a minute or so then quite.
We got caught a few times by the CNR police who would take us home to our parents cause we weren’t supposed to be there. We would go back of course. I must of been in that place a million times as a kid.
We would catch frogs in the swamps. Some of my friends actually went swimming in those green pools. My mom told me you could catch Polio from them. One summer a young kid drowned in one of them. There was plenty of places to set up bottles and throw rocks at them. Or hit them with our sling shots. We would see hobo’s there but they wouldn’t bother us.
If you explored enough you could make your way over to the canal where ships would be. You could see the green bridge lifting up into the air. We always thought it would be cool if we could be on the bridge as it was in the air. We never tried it. That was before Ville La Salle was even there.
Once in awhile when I’m driving through that area on the 20 and were stopped in traffic I look at the yards. I remember the days it was filled with trains.I remember the days that the trains became diesel and were so much faster and quiter. I remember the days we would catch frogs and through rocks at bottles. I remember thinking that the days were so long and we had all the time in the world.
Thank you so much for your reminiscences – your memory of the area is amazing!
Hi Lori.
Thanks for your comment.
Are you an NDG’er? If so do you remember the RagMan. He was an old man who rod around the lower parts of NDG in a horse drawn carriage yelling out “Rags for Sale” and picking up junk. He used to sharpen knives and sciccors on a hand operated grinding wheel on the rear of his buggy.
Us kids use to sneak up behind the carriage and jump on the lower bumper for a free buggy ride. If the old man knew we were there he’d turn around in his wooden seat and crack his long whip at us to scare us away.
I only moved to NDG in 1982 from the east end of Montreal. It’s funny, my mother, who grew up in the Plateau, remembers the rag man in the horse cart. And we still have Tony coming by in his truck sharpening knives out of the back of his truck.
Cdnlococo,
I was surfing the net to find some comments and notes about Rosedale School, when I discovered these postings on Montreal West & NDG. I attended Montreal West H.S. from 1957-1958 and lived across the street from the Elmhurst Dairy and down the hill from the train station. I was always fascinated by the steam locomotives that were still in service at that time and one of my most poignant memories was when I was the recepient of a roaring blast of steam from one of the engineers while busy looking at all of the pipes and gears. The Elmhurst Dairy was also a treat for many of us during the few days on the weekend that it was open to sell ice cream cones.
Montreal West H.S. was also an remarkable school. It held classes from kindergarten through high school, which was quite an interesting mix of age groups. I also recall the Christmas Concerts and how much time our classes would spend rehearsing their hymns.
Our family then moved to Rosedale St. and I was treated to life with Dorothea Pickel of the Rosedale School. Montreal was such a fascinating city in many ways. It was so easy to take the 102 or 105 bus to get downtown to the Atwater Station across from the Forum. From there if I recall correctly, we could take the 15 bus down St. Catherines to visit the movie theatres.
I live in Minnesota now, and have often told me friends here that I’m living in the 11th province, eh! I haven’t been back to Montreal since 1963, but hope to make the trip back again within the next few years. I imagine that the neighbourhoods have changed somewhat, but I don’t believe that Walkley St. is now the prime value real estate sector of NDG.
Best regards,
Bob Grindheim
Hi Robert:
I did not attend Mtl West High but I do recall going there many times during summer holidays to swim in their pool. My haunts were more around Coronation Park . . . now called Loyola Park . . . likely for political reasons?
Hello Terry,
Our family moved to Rosedale between Somerled & Fielding after living in Montreal West. I remember Coronation Park aka Loyola Park very well. I played in the football and hockey leagues at the park. I’ve read that they don’t have the outdoor rink league due to budget cuts. I also understand that the leagues are now at the Doug Harvey Arena. Doug Harvey was the honoured guest at our hockey banquets. We had approximately 600 kids in attendance and Doug Harvey would sign all of our patches. It did break our hearts when he left to coach and play for the Rangers.
I was able to do a tour of the area the other day via Google’s satellite and photo mapping. The house in which my family lived is gone and replaced with another duplex. I also discovered how many more apartment buildings have been erected on Fielding and Cote St. Luc.
Did you also attend Rosedale School or Sir Arthur Currie?
Best regards,
Robert
I was in Montreal earlier this week. It was the first time I’ve been in the city for a decade. The trip was very brief and there was no time for exploring. So my experience was walking the downtown in the vicinity of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. The taxi from and to Dorval did pass through Turcot Yards, and I could glimpse bits of my old neighbourhood. There is lots of construction going on in the Yards. I am interested to find that my perceptions of that whole area has been considerably influenced by reading Neath’s eloquent and moving blog: Walking Turcot Yards
Robert and Terry: I have found the street view images in Google Maps and Google Earth a wonderful way to explore my old haunts.
Hello Robert Ballantyne,
I’m glad that you’ve also discovered the wonders of the Google Maps and street views. I haven’t been back to Montreal since 1963 and I intend to do some more exploring via Google during the next several weeks. I expected to see some changes but was also pleasantly surprised to see how much has remained the same.
I’m also blessed with a photographic memory and that has enabled me to make those comparisons.
I also remember the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. It was quite impressive when it first opened and one of the elite centers of hospitality in the downtown area.
I do intend to return to visit Montreal within the next year or so. It would be a miracle if I encountered anyone that I knew from so long ago, but just walking through some of my old haunts would be a treat.
Thanks again for your follow-up comments and I will also make it a promise to try some of your Scotch Whiskey.
Best regards,
Robert Grindheim
“Did you also attend Rosedale School or Sir Arthur Currie?”
Hi Robert G.
No, neither. I was a Loyola brat. St Ignatiuis Loyola Elementary, Loyola High and Loyola College.
I did not know that there was an arena honouring Doug Harvey. I distinctly remember seeing the venerable defenceman one morning walking his dog while I was on my way to school as I was able to walk by his house. I do not recall precisely which street he lived on . . . the one that ran down past St. Catherine de Sienne Church? Or perhaps one over from that.
I don’t think I had the courage to say good morning to him as he seemed lost in thought and quite oblivious to the presence of a young boy walking past him.
Hello Terry Danks,
I played hockey with a few of your fellow alumni. The one I recall most vividly is Michael O’Reilly. Although he wasn’t the biggest player on my team, he was certainly the bravest. My Boy Scout Troop also attended several events during the summer days at the Loyola College Campus.
Doug Harvey was not well-treated by the NHL. His participation in the founding of the NHL Players Association was not well received by the Molson’s and it took the team much too long to finally retire his number.
I’ve seen some interesting photos of Loyola Park via Google satellite views and it has evolved from the days when we used to play baseball & football. One of the playgrounds where we would use the swings and slides is apparently gone. There are also soccer fields in place of the football fields.
I hope to visit the area in person in the near future.
Regards,
Robert G.
Wow. Stumbled on this blog looking for something else. I am a few years older than the previous commentors I came from “Down the hill ” in Ville St Pierre. Walked daily back and forth to St Ignatious School, until 1950.
Your blogs bring back all the sights and sounds of a great era. Thanks.l
My old Birhplace has lost it’s identity, the street has been renamed, and it looks like there is a barrier set up between VstP and Montreal West.
St. Ignatious School is finally getting some attention and money from the authorities to up-grade the interior and the old school yard. Last time I was in Montreal the school looked pretty run down.
Again thanks for the memories.
Gerry, thanks for commenting. Yes, I can see on Google Earth that some of the roads have changed. VstP was, of course, a large part of my world. Where else would kids in Montreal West go to buy fire crackers? I think a bylaw prevented their sale in Montreal West.
For some reason (probably a small feud) my parents didn’t buy their meat from the butcher in Montreal West… we always received our groceries from Paquin… that store might have been on the corner of St. Jaques and Ave. Ouellete. I can remember that when the son, Placid Paquin, bought a Thunderbird, he’d use it to deliver the groceries. Since he’d want his box back – and in those days our kitchen door was always unlocked – I’d hear the door open and he’d call out, “Placid!” then he’d store cans on the proper shelves in the pantry, and put cold items in the fridge and leave with his empty box.
Joe Kalen ran a gardening firm, and he planted the flower beds at our house. He had his house and a greenhouse below the high railway berm in VstP, probably somewhere along Rue Desrosiers.
Hi,
It’s been a real pleasure reading all your wonderful comments about Montreal West. I ran across this page while researching a Trenholme family member
I live on Ballantyne N., retired, and I write historical articles for the MW Informer. I live across from the Presbyterian Church on Nelson/Ballantyne.
I’m currently writing an article on Jimmy Darou, a wheelchair-bound former jockey, who ran a gas station from the 1930’s through the 1960’s, on the corner of Westminster/Sherbrooke, facing the train tracks.
Did anybody know Jimmy Darou, and have memories of him, or interesting anecdotes? I believe that Wilfred Trenholme of 150 Brock S.
gave Darou a racehorse as encouragement to keep going after the tragic accident that put him in the wheelchair.
I’d like to do some future articles on the Ballantyne and Trenholme family connections to Montreal West.
Harold, I certainly remember the gas station… and Jimmy Darou’s story was part of legend of Montreal West – but he was of an older generation, and I have no personal recollections of him.
One of the revelations of this blog thread – for me – is that there is a family connection between Trenholme family and the Ballantyne family. And I never heard that Wilfie Trenholme gave Jimmy a horse. It all sounds like a great story, and I’m delighted that you are researching it. I’ll see if I can find a connection with the Trenholme family for you. I’ll send you a private email.
I have a rare booklet published in 1938 on Jimmy Darou and I notice that there is some interest in him in this blog. I will be delighted to give it to someone. It was given to my mother many years ago by MJmmy when she wrote a column about him.
I notice lots of chat about the Ballantyne family too.I am a Dorval resident and remember Hazel Ballantyne with her trademark braided hairdo. She was a city councillor here for years and always an elegant presence.
Hi Judith,
Nice to hear from you. Thank you very much for the offer of the Jimmy Darou bookl. I’d be pleased to have it. Drop me a note at my email address (hrosenberg at videotron.ca) and I’ll arrange to get it from you.
I’m currently thinking about future MW articles. Haunted houses in MW seems like a great topic,except I don’t how the current residents of said houses would feel about learning this information.
Currently, I’m doing a piece on the first mayor (Lingley) of MW and his house on Brock N., built around 1895.
If anyone has any memories of MW or old photos contact me and I’ll see if I can turn them into an article for The Informer. Always looking for ideas for articles, my free contribution to life in MW.
Hi Harold
If you are going to do articles on haunted houses in Montreal West you could look into 10 Ballantyne South where I lived for the first 8 years of my life. My Mother would tell you nothing was wrong with that house but believe me there was. You couldn’t give that house to me now.
Would look forward to hearing about the other homes in Mtl West.
Kathleen
Thanks for the tip, Kathleen. I’ll look into it.
A while back I researched my own house, and wrote an article about it for The Informer. It can be viewed on P. 3 at:
Click to access April2011Informer.pdf
Hi Harold and Robert,
Following your blogs with great interest. I love it when someone wants to write some more history of Montreal West. I can add a little to the Jimmy Darou story. Growing up, my father ,Tom Trenholme, frequently mentioned what his own father, Wilfred Trenholme, had done to help Jimmy Darou. Apparently, Jimmy Darou was a jockey who rode my grandfather’s race horses. He had a serious riding accident, became wheel chair bound and my grandfather set him up with the gas station in Montreal West. He dropped in at the gas station often to chat and buy gas. Things did not go so well financially, for Darou, so my grandfather gave him a race horse. The horse’s winnings did much to help Darou out financially. Somewhere, in a box, in my home, I have a very yellowed and tattered Montreal Gazette article, written by ‘ Dink Carroll ‘ ( maybe) and entitled ” And he gave him a horse”….. You could likely find the article in the Gazette archives. I will come across it one of these days.
Please keep in touch. I am always interested in learning more about my family
Hi Joanne,
Thank you very much for your reply. It clears up some questions I had about the gift to Jimmy Darou.
I have a picture of Darou with a some race horses. There’s another gentleman in the pics. I’d like to use the pics with my article, especially if I can ID the other gentleman.
I’m not sure whether I can paste the picture in this blog. Could you send me a private email (hrosenberg at videotron.ca) please, and I’ll forward the pic to you? I’ll also forward you some of the Montreal West articles I’ve already done.
Thanks for the information, and your quick reply.
Harold sent me this picture (hmm, I cannot make this a thumbprint in the comment field, and the image is nice and large… so please right-click on to open it in a new window or tab to see the whole image):
Harold comments:
Dear Mr. Rosenberg,
This is all too surreal!
My name is Mary Bronwen (Prichard) Goouch, one of two nieces of Jimmy Darou. “Jimmy’s” sister, Marjorie Darou Prichard was my Mother.
Jimmy’s real name was Harold James Darou.
I knew Uncle Harold, as he was called within the family very well.
He died after I was married, so the memories are somewhat fresh.
My cousin, Don, Jimmy’s son,.kept up the station for a while.
The reason that I caught this website is because I am a terrific racehorse fan, especially at Triple Crown time.
Whenever I think about horses, I think about “Jimmy”.
“Jimmy” as I called him as an adult, would visit Toronto where we live, every year at the time of The Queen’s Plate, Canada’s premier horserace.
What do you want to know?
Jimmy’s accident was during a race when he was on a horse owned by the husband of his sister Evelyn. My Mother was present when they put him in the ambulance.
My Mother, Marjorie and her sister Doris were dancers in Montreal and took part in the Charity benefit at The Forum in Montreal following Jimmy’s accident.
A remarkable man in many ways!
Hi Mary,
What a pleasant and great surprise it is to meet you.
I occasionally write historical articles for The Informer, the Montreal West newsletter.
I decided to write a piece about Jimmy Darou, after I discovered some photos of him at the Quebec Archives. I researched him further and found some very interesting anecdotes about Mr. Darou.
He was truly a magnificent person.
His former Montreal West garage as Don knew it was demolished about a year ago. A Pharmaprix chain pharmacy is currently being constructed on that site.
Thank you for appearing on this blog. I’d love to chat with you further, and fill you in on my research.
For instance, while writing the article (which has not yet
appeared, I discovered that one of his Montreal West friends was so impressed by Mr. Darou and his courageous battle, he financed the private printing of a small book about it. Only 100 copies were printed.
Thanks, again.
Hi
I grew up in the town of MTL west from 1950-1989 My family started up Mtl west hardware and I lived at 10 Ballantyne S and 160 Westminster N What a great town
Kathleen, many thanks for commenting. I certainly remember “Otter’s.” My family was a regular customer. I see that with “Les Fleurs Kathleen” you are still a shopkeeper, now in the beautiful town of Milton, Ontario http://goo.gl/maps/6mRk. Best wishes.
Hi Harold
I don’t know anyone in the photo I was only 8yrs old.But I do remember the carnivals that were put on by the Town merchants over at Hodgson Field. The Davies Bros. used to bring in their ponies for the rides it was great fun.
I actually started off my life in Mtl West living at 345 Westminster N corner of Northview and Westminster just before the “Hump”. My grandparents liked to buy up property and that was one of them. The house was converted into a duplex and we lived upstairs. We then moved to 10 Ballantyne S. when I was maybe 2yrs. old. It was an old Victorian built I think in 1894 my Mom loved it I didn’t this may sound strange but it was haunted (how about doing an Informer article on haunted houses in Mtl. West).
I remember the Ballantyne mansion it was later converted into a nursing home and at Xmas we would go there sing carols pass out cookies and tea to the clients.
Oh well enough of that for today Lots of stories and memories to tell
Kathleen Otter
Hi Kathleen Otter. I’m very happy to meet you. I write occasional historical articles for The Informer, the Montreal West town newsletter. I’d love to talk to you more about your years in Montreal West. Do you have any photos from those early years of the hardware store? The Quebec Archives contains some of MW photographer Conrad Poirier’s photo archives. Here’s a Sept. 11, 1958 photo of some prizes awarded during a merchants’ assoc. carnival, taken in front of MW Hardware. Click on “voir les images” to view the picture.
http://pistard.banq.qc.ca/unite_chercheurs/description_fonds?p_anqsid=201207271909022270&p_centre=06M&p_classe=P&p_fonds=48&p_numunide=830306
All the best,
Harold–Montreal West
Hi Harold
Yes I do have photos one shows a horse and buggy in front of the store also other ones. David Watson has lots as well. He his the Town Historian and also a friend of mine. David probably has copies of all of mine.
I am a 4th generation Mtl wester and both my kids grew up there and we all went to EB and Mtl West High both my parents did as well. My Moms side of the family are the Norwoods they lived on Rennie and Curzon.My Mother lives with us here in Milton and she just turned 96. My dad Doug Otter passed away 2004.If I can answer questions for you fire away.
Kathleen Otter-Smith
Hi Kathleen,
I know David Watson very well. He has helped me a lot in researching my articles. I’ll check with him regarding the pictures you mentioned.
One of the people I recently wrote about was Conrad Poirier, a longtime Montreal West photographer. He lived his whole life in a house located two houses south of me. You can read about him at:
Click to access Informer_February2012.pdf
(see P. 17)
All the best,
Harold–Montreal West
Harold,
I hope you will see my earlier post but in case you don’t, i have a copy of the 1938 booklet , privately published about Jimmy Darou. You are welcome to it, if you’d like it.
Kathleen Otter’s name led to a website that no longer exists. This is what was captured by archive.org, it provides an address: http://web.archive.org/web/20110202091959/http://lesfleurskathleen.com/
I belive my grandfather Wilfred Trenholme bought him the gas station.
Just found this blog while researching other stuff.
Hi Lynda… I discovered from Joanne Trenholme (in this thread) that the Ballantyne’s and the Trenholmes are related through marriage. Yes, it was in this thread that I learned the story of Jimmy Darou. Are you and Joanne in contact with each other?
Yrs Joeyband I communicate. She is my first cousin
My grandfather bought Jimmy Darou the gas station on the corner of Sherbrooke and Westminister
I am also enjoying this blog. Robert, Paquin’s was were we bought our meat as well. I would also walk around the corner to Peacots, on the corner of 5th and Maple.
I lived on 4th ave, accross from DR Kirkland’s house. I knew Claire Kirkland as a young girl when she was in University.
Wal;king back and forth from VstP to St Ignatius school, I always admired the homes along Broughton Ave. I also delivered for Berks Pharmacy, I will never forget carrying those huge NY Times newpapers on Sunday.
Our neighbour down the street was Mr. Morgan who was either the Fire Chief or the Police Chief in Montreal West.
I came accross this blog attempting to connect with old friends from Ville St Pierre, alas without any luck. However I am enjoying following this one.
Thanks
Gerry, this thread has been growing slowly since 2007. If you’d like to provide some contact information here (your blog, website, or email) you are welcome to do that. Links to websites are a good idea, but spell out the (at) sign in an email address so it won’t be scraped by spammers.
Gerry, Dr. Charles Kirkland, and his daughter, Claire Kirkland-Casgrain, are mentioned on page 72 of this book:
Community besieged: the anglophone minority and the politics of Quebec – Garth Stevenson – Google Books – http://j.mp/AdkoZn
Gerry
Thanks for giving me such a vivid flash back!
I was born in Lachine in 1935 -delivered by Dr. Charles Kirkland
We moved to 11 4th avenue in 1940 and my parents remained there
until 1958.
Some names on 4th ave. that I knew Morgan Fell Jacoban Sherwood
Rose ( the trucker ) Enbleau Clark Heisler Gibbons
Morgan was the Police Chief of Montreal West
The Lachine Canal , the VSP dump , the field between 3rd and 4th ave ,
chasing that beautiful 1931 American Lafrance 12 cylinder fire engine
with is distinct sound to all the various fires and the 91 street car to movies in Lachine
My father was involved with Eastern Wood Pipe and Tank on Eastern ave near 1st Avenue !
I have one very vivid memory that has haunted me all my life :
On a bright sunny day in May of 1943 I saw a Ferry Command Mitchell B25 with American Insignia lose power and pass over Montreal West ,dropping auxiliary fuel tanks on a barn in the farm that was then situated across from the road to VSPin line with theMontreal West Town Hall
This resulted in a hug fire that resulted in fire trucks from VSP , Lachine
and several RCAF emergency trucks speeding along St Jacques street to this fire , thinking that this is where the plan crashed !
Not so it passed over the Lachine canal close to the lift bridge and crazed on the LeGros farm just at the top and left of Dollard Ave.
All 3 of the crew were killed. I do not know if this made the Montreal papers but I have never been able to find ant article about this event .
Have searched Ferry Command , RCAF etc with no results
I suspect that some how the new was censored as it may have been suspected to be the result of sabotage .
My friend , Charlie Jacoban was with me and remembers and John Legros my class mate gave me several plexiglass pieces that he found on the farm !
I like to conclude that I feel very priveliged to have grown up in VSP
with all its diversity and having the good teachers at William Trenholme (1 to 5 ) and Montreal West High School
I am still in Montreal and least walk around the ” Village “once a year to relive so many great memories!
Thank you all for starting this memory site
Robert:
I do not have a Web site yet, but I am working with a friend doing some research on Montreal and our experiences. When we are done we intend to put it together in a Web site.
My email is gerrydrowe@hotmail.com.
Thanks for the reference to Dr. Kirkland he was not only my Doctor but a great friend of the family, especially when my Father died , I was only nine then.
Again Thanks
Just came accross a web site http://www.n-d-g.ca/english/? that covers a number of Historical items for NDG including how many of the streets were named Treholme ave would be of interest to many.. Site also has a number of historical photos.
It is a small world. I grew up in NDG. In 1981 we bought a waterfront house in Queen Charlotte Heights on Bowen Island. The lawyer for the North Shore Credit Union turned out to be a neighbour who grew up across the street from me on Harvard Avenue in Montreal.
Haven’t been back to Bowen Island since we sold the house but I can spot it with binoculars from the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay.
Colin Paterson
I only lived in Mtl West til I was 3 years old, but my Grandparents were there til they died and my Dad grew up there (Last name Wickens) They had a lovely old house on Wolsley St…. I remember the Davies Bros used to deliver groceries to my Grandma, there was a lovely big Christmas tree near the train tracks all lit up every year and a VERY steep hill leading down towards the 2&20. My Grandma sold her house on Wolsely after Grandpa died – about 1972 – for $62K – and she moved to an apartment on Westminister. Now that old house is worth almost a half million. My Dad loved Mtl West, had a ton of friends there and I always get the ‘warm fuzzies’ remembering that lovely part of town.
Hi Deb
I think I remember the name Wickens from MTL West. The steep hill you are talking about is called devils hill its been there forever my Dad used toboggan down it when he was a kid.When we were kids we took our bikes down were we nuts or what.The christmas tree was on the north side of the train tracks where a small park used to be but long since gone.I too get the warm and fuzzies when I think of growing up in the town.
Kathleen Otter
Hi my name Joyce Martin Gosse I lived on Connaught near elmerst dairy I loved there maple walnut with a sugar cone.I also lived at 154 Westminster ave north across from the hair dresser and the candy store mrs Unsworth 0wned it she lived in back.I played tennis at the courts near ballentine school every day .Last year we visited and the courts are still the same even the little hut in the middle best years of my life.I also tobogganed down ashcan ally .In the winter we skated at the rinks baseball football with the boys and girls at mtl west high every day I was very busy girl love reading all the connents.
Hi Joyce. Wonderful comments! This is the first mention in this thread of Ashcan Alley. It reminded me of the summer day when I was riding down it on my bike, probably too fast. I don’t recall how it happened, probably a bump I didn’t see, but I went flying over the handlebars. This was long before anyone thought of mountain bicycles.
Hi Deb, thanks for commenting. I love my memories of Montreal West too.
I grew up on Wolseley, a few doors down from the park beside Elizabeth Ballantyne.
Ironically, I live on the Sunshine Coast now, not a skip and a hop from you, in Roberts Creek. Whenever I go to town, we zip by the north side of Bowen.
Photos of historic Montreal West are damned hard to find on the net.
Fred: A good blog to check out for Montreal-related historical articles and photos is: http://coolopolis.blogspot.ca/
Most of the recently posted vintage black and white photos are ones that I’ve come across in my research. Some have to do with Montreal West. The “comments” section of each posting is the best part. Lots of interesting comments from west-end Montreal “old-timers”.
Fred Mason, by any chance? My next door neighbour and friend from early sandbox days?? That would be amazing. Friend of Doug, Jacky
and Mary?
Fred Mason? My next door neighbour by any chance, from early sandbox days?
Hi Mary, thanks for your post. FredM has used his email address. Have you tried emailing him directly? I’d be interested to find that this blog thread united a couple of neighbours — and hear something of life on Wolseley when you both were there. Were you on Wolseley North, or South?
Early years I lived on Wolseley N., teen years moved 2 doors further south on Wolseley N., then spent many happily married years in 2 homes on Percival Ave., and now living on Bedbrook Ave. Have lived in this wonderful town all my life, attending E.B.S and Montreal West High,
along with my 3 sisters and my brother, Bob.
great memories,god bless montreal west
Hi David. Thanks for dropping by. Yes, I miss Montreal West. I do wander around the town as an old ghost in the virtual version provided by Google Earth.
I was born in ’41, lived in VStP, spent 7 yrs at St Ignatius, 1 at Loyola High School, then 2 at Montreal West High. Played in the Cote St Luc railway yards above and below. Frequented Birk’s had GFs in Mtl West. Hung out at a restaurant on Summerled. Dumped “Borrowed” cars in Westhaven Village.
Played at/on Ashcan Alley above Turcotte Yards, and swam in the filthy Lachine Canal.
Later years hung out at the corner of 4th, Windsor,7th, and 8th.
An aside to Gerald Rowe. Which side of Mitch Panciuk did you live, St James or Maple? LOL
In summation, I would have to say I was a general “Pain in the ass”, but Damn, I had a great time, and am still alive at 73, and wouldn’t have changed a thing.
PS: Who in hell was Boyer? Damned Lachine.
PPS: Ohh, there is so much more, and I also live on the coast of “The Coast Salish Sea.
Hi PTS, thanks for adding to this story. You swam in the Lachine Canal!
Is there a reason you are not identifying yourself? I’ve had this blog for years and I’ve never been concerned about revealing my name and places where I live or have lived. So far there’ve been no negative consequences, and sometime I’ve made new friends.
So, there’s more? Do tell.
I’m looking for some information about the Westminster Provision Store in Montreal West which my grandfather from Island Brook apparently supplied eggs to. Some old egg cartons turned up but no family members know anything about them.
The 1917 montreal west phone directory lists the provision store at #58 wastminster avenue.that store is today numbered # 52.the original phone number was Westmount 4400.I dont know how long the business was there.from David Watson.
David Watson — many thanks for your prompt and knowledgeable reply to this question. I don’t remember the Westminster Provision Store from my days in the town (40s, 50s, and 60s). Is this the location: http://j.mp/52westminster
Transportation to St Ignatius from V St P was 27 kids in a 7 passenger Limo/taxi. (Cadillac I think).
(Test. was not able to post for some reason)
Hi PTS, your comment is now visible. For most WordPress blogs, the first comment from someone is held for approval by the moderator. Now that this has been approved, your future comments should appear as soon as you post. The readers here would appreciate knowing a bit more about you, such as your name or your web page. You can fill that in when you post. Or, you could create your own free blog here at WordPress.com and post comments on this page when you are logged into your account.
Nice to read such interesting tales of the area which was my stomping grounds during the late sixties and through the seventies. Oh , the stories I have could cause your hair to stand on end. Daily I plied and practiced my skills as a serious delinquent whereas every day was a true experience fondly remembered!!!
Thanks Phillip. Well, now that you’ve intrigued all of us, how about sharing a couple of hair-raising stories?
I’ll go first. A buddy of mine loved chemistry, and for a while was into making explosive compounds. After we turned clay flower pots into flying shards, we were looking for bigger game. I had a book about trains and rail culture, and among the signalling systems was a code for leaving a series of explosive crackers on the track. We found a lonely stretch of rail south of the Décarie farm and planted our charges on the track. When the next freight train arrived, the wheels rolling over our compound produced a very satisfactory series of astonishingly loud blasts… and we were amazed and gratified to see the whole train come to a stop.
I’m sure you would remember Montreal West Automobiles on West Minister as they were quite popular.For quite some time it was a habit of mine to “borrow”cars from there as there was no gate nor security.Well one day I was driving along Somerled and went passed a motorcycle cop and upon seeing me he reconized my young age and right away took up chase.Knowing for sure I would be caught I jammed the brakes on ,slammed the car in park,opened the door and took off like a deer through Loyola park hearing the cop screaming STOP,STOP,STOP………as if.Thought I would start of slow in regards to hair raising!!!!!!!!!!
PTS
Just got back to reading this blog. I was closer to Maple Ave. did not know Mitch. Very familiar with kids who hung around 4 th Windsor, poolroom on St James in the 50 s. Boyer was. Counsellor who lost his job when amalgamation happened with Lachine.
Gerry, I not sure I’m understanding. Here is the the intersection of St James and Boyer Avenue… where was the pool hall? http://j.mp/1NIpreq. I don’t know when PTS will spot your post.
Robert
The Pool Hall was on St James between 4th (Boyer) and 5th aves. The building it was located in burnt down ( or was torn down ) some time ago.
I know hanging around a pool hall sounds bad, but know what, I never learned a bad thing during that time, as a matter of fact, I did learn how to conduct myself for fear of being barred from a place where all the Guys hung out. !!!!! I was young at the time, and when something was going down by some of the older guys, they would clear us younger ones out, Thats how things worked in the Village in those days, too bad things are not that way today.
Gerry
Just looked at the picture on St James and Boyer, the Pool Hall was on the left side of the picture, a few yard back. The building it was in is no longer there, or has been replaced by a new one.
Guess my last comment did not go through.
Gerry
Thank you to all for this amazing saga! If I may be of any assistance, let me know. Mom and Dad met at the corner of Westminster and Milner and we have many photos around town! Roy
Philip DesOrmeaux owned the grocery at the bottom of the back hill. Had 3 tables in the back and 2 pinball machines up front. He also owned the bowling alley kitty korner.
P
Gerald. Known to few was tha fact that George Couture’s Pool Room being described had a little secret.
Back “in the day” ,that, when he closed Saturday nights, those in the know would gather at Mike’s restaurant (yes a real restaurant between 4th and 5th) for the time it took for the others to disperse. Once clear, back to the pool room. Adjacent to the two pinball machines was a door leading down some stairs to an earth cellar, table and chairs and two bare lighbulbs.
Poker ’till sunrise, then back to Mike’s for Sunday morning breakfast.
Same block, chinese laundry, Moise the drunken barber, green grocer (starts w/P) A&P. Enuf for now.
The green grocer’s name was Peladeaux.
Philip Morris. Mtl West Town engineer lived across from the garage. only house in the Park. He drove a 56 Chevy with it’s key broke in the ignition. Took it 3 times. Dumped in lasalle once, Westhaven Village another, and west island. I wonder where he got his degree from.
PTS, many thanks for your contributions to this thread of comments. Ville Saint-Pierre was such a large part of our lives in those days! I think Ville Saint-Pierre experienced a greater impact from the road-building associated with Turcot Yards than Montreal West (the comment that started this thread).
The two towns, with their different cultures, and yet so much a part of each other, enrich in inform my memories of growing up.
I am counting on WordPress.com to maintain these blogs and comments. As we age and eventually vanish, some of these comments may become useful historical records.
PTS
You are correct, I do recall hearing about the ” Secret Poker Games ” below the pool room. I was never allowed to see it though.
Other Poker games I was aware of were in the upstairs Private room at the El Paso in Lachine. I worked there as a BUSBOY and had to clean ashtrays every once in a while up in that room.. I heard some big money went down at times. !!!!!
Boy those were the Days !!
Wow. I forgot about Philips store at the bottom of the back hill in VSP. Stopped in there many time on way home from St. ignatius school, especially in the winter to get warmed up.
Like many others, great to see a spot on everything in and around The Town of Montreal West. Lived on Percival Avenue from 1953-1972.
Robert, your tale of the explosive crackers immediately brought back many shennanigans, one of which was with a friend to set a track bomb (3 parts sulphur, potassium permanganate and (I think) salt wadded in cigarette foil (made sick smoking all those cigarettes to not waste them for just the wrap) at the Elmhurst MTC turn-around one late autumn Saturday night. Stuffed it between the sides of the tram tracks in the middle of the turn on Sherbrooke, retreated to the corner at Connaught waiting for the last No. 3 streetcar to arrive. It stopped in the middle of the street to change the rail to turn into the round, proceeded to cross the spot where the foil wrap was. We were disappointed when nothing happened when the first set of wheels rolled over the spot, but the second set brought a huge noise and smoke, and the car immediately stopped. Fantastic!! We ran like hell. Returned to the scene a little later, the car had gone, and no evidence remained, not even the expected smell.
In later years, was out of my mind over unrequited feelings for Louise Whitaker on Ballantyne S. Like the criminal behaviour above, left that for its memory.
Hi Peter, I loved reading about your shenanigans. It’s been years since I’ve heard the name, “Louise Whitaker.” She lived across the street and up a few houses. A bit older than me, I recall her as very friendly and yes, attractive. I have this image — I think it was in her basement — of a fairly large group of people dancing to music, then gradually Louise and her partner were dancing alone in the centre of the room surrounded by an appreciative audience. A special moment.
There was the evening my mother arrived home from a town meeting looking unhappy. She reported that at the meeting, Louise’s father stood up with a complaint about my family. He said, “Out back I have a box of expensive potting soil that is guaranteed to grow doorknobs. Every day the Ballantyne’s cat comes all the way over to my back yard to poop in my box of soil.”
Wow, Robert, you knew Louise … Last I saw of her was around 1966 where I bumped into her outside Steinberg’s at Cavendish and Sherbrooke. Made my heart go zing .. Yes, her Dad was intimidating, and what cat can avoid potting soil for its business. Made me laugh.
Thank you very much for this site!!! Bombs away …
Robert, my mind is very slow, but here is a correction as well as a couple of other recollections:
lived at 145 Percival from 1952-1961, lived in other areas of NDG and Mtl West from then until 1971 before teaching in Metis Beach on the Lower St. Lawrence.
Most importantly, went to MWHS from 53-55 and Graeme Ballantyne was in our graduating class. Relation?
Also worked for the town over a couple of summers in the late 50s and as a permanent worker (plumber’s assistant) in the very early 60s. At the foot of Brock South there was Glencoe and 2 or 3 other streets before they were demolished (I think in the late 50s) for Upper Lachine Rd extension. What was this area called and do you know the names of the other streets there?
As an aside, an old sewer line was converted back then to a water line (seems gross now), but all regulations were met before it was done. We’re still alive …
I never knew a Graeme Ballantyne. Maybe he’ll show up here sometime.
I didn’t know of a name for the neighbourhood at the foot of Brock. I do recall the amazing destruction of those houses, and I posted the story in the blog by neath, here: https://neath.wordpress.com/2007/01/05/an-ecoterritory/#comment-2153. You might enjoy reading some of the other comments in same thread at that blog.
At the Police station in Montreal West, the firefighters (police and volunteers) often referred to the deliberate fighting techniques from the burns down by Glencoe. George Booth of Booth Plumbing (on Westminster 2 doors closer to Milner from Berke’s) had exceptional knowledge and skills as a volunteer as well as a joke-teller: he fulfilled a promise to tell me a joke every day he saw me – for a whole year, and he never tried to avoid seeing me – it was me who ran from him “No, no, not another one … “. This one epitomizes that: A new member of a joke club was informed that no one actually shared jokes in it, they just shouted out a number, since everyone knew the stories and knew the numerical order. Each time a number was given, a roar of laughter ensued. One person shouted out “8976”, and no one laughed. The newcomer asked if that was a bad joke – the reply was “No, he just can’t tell stories”. George died from a heart attack while fighting a fire in 1972 (I think).
Robert, what a glorious last couple of days. People before me and, I’m sure after, have such stories to tell here – you started it all and keep it running. Thank you. And thank you for pointing out your other many interests. As an example, found Dr. Stanley Coren from your web site (what an interesting life you have – amazing – and I’ve barely uncovered your words ) – looking for help for our 4-year-old golden (completely black) retriever mix – you are truly a mine of disparate information. Again, thank you Robert.
Can anybody fill in more information about the 1965 stealing of the provincial exam papers from Mr. Shaffelberg’s office (Montreal West High)? One of the boys climbed up the face of the building to break in. The group got the exams, all right, but needed some of the better students to help them figure out the answers. The adults never found out.
I’ve been a Montreal Wester since 1956. Lived in one of the first houses built on the farm at the south end of Westminster—a farm which, I now gather, belonged to the Decarie sisters. My mother used my doll’s bottle to care for two of the farm’s new kittens when the mother cat was killed on the Blue Bonnets’ hill. The developer, Al Reno, went bankrupt, and we grew up playing in the half-finished houses, and the woods behind them.
All of your postings stir up happy memories. Thank you!
(PS. I remember my Dad telling me George Booth’s joke.)
Hi Barbara. I didn’t know Al Reno’s name… but reading it now, it sounds familiar. My family remembers the Decarie farm, and has always called that space ‘the new development.’ There were years when the work there created huge volumes of dust that collected on everything in our house. It was when Mom put curtains on the windows and Dad added big new locks to the doors. Were those kittens feral, or were the Decarie sisters still there? I hope we learn more about those exam papers!
Grew up on Mariette then on West Broadway (1939-1961) went to St. Ignatius,Loyola High and College. What a great place to grow up. Many great memories of Trenholme Park and exploring the fields of The Mtl Assoc for the blind.
Hi Brian. Thanks for mentioning Trenholme Park. I remember that it had some great play structures that, today, would be too dangerous for kids. I can recall the thrill of visiting there, but I’m unable to remember the specific toys. The park is still there http://j.mp/trenholmepark but it seems to be completely refurbished.
Brian
I also attended St Ignatius School ( 1947 – 1950 ) West Broadway basically ended at the school. North of that was an apple orchard. Funny how you tend to forget names of many people you meet, yet I can recall the names of most of my teachers from that era. Great time to grow up. Bullies were few and usually the tough guys would take care of them if they if they picked on someone who had not done anything to provoke it.. things sure have changed.
Boy, this Blog has a lot of good history about the area in the 40’s / 50’s and 60’s
Gerry
Hello Robert, Nibby and you were my first playmates … let’s get in touch..
Judy Perry
Wonderful to hear from you, Judy. I’ve sent you an email.
Didn’t get the email but I am so glad we connected. I am on the other ocean in the east.
I can remember going with my great grandfather to Lachine to watch the men and large horses out cutting ice on the lake for the ice houses..
Wow, this blog has been a journey through times. I lived on Prince of Wales in NDG, and went to Merton and then Sir Arthur Currie. At 12, we moved to Montreal West. We lived at 9 Ballantyne North right at the corner of Sherbrooke. I watched the trains constantly even recording the numbers on the cars that went through. It was fun to see how long they would take to come back again! I must have been crazy, but I loved the trains. My room overlooked the park, the tracks, the crossing and onto the top of Westminster. Always lots to see. I finished Montreal West High in 1965. I am married to an ex Montreal Wester who lived on Wolesley N. we were just there last week checking out our old haunts. Nice to see the Library Book store still there. The pizza store now under someone else played a part in Ricks life too. It has been so much fun to read all the comments. Someone mentioned Steinbergs on Somerled and Walkley. As we passed the other day, I discovered that they still have the same hand bars in front which I used to swing over waiting for my Mother to come out.
The 9 Ballantyne N. was sold less than a year ago. I knew the previous owners, I met them one day while walking my dog. Their son, who was raised in that house and who went to Royal West with my son, is the Globe and Mail theatre critic now. I live about 2 blocks north of your former house.
Nice town to live in. Westminster N. has not changed a lot since your days in Montreal West.Same buildings, different businesses. The garage on the corner of Sherbrooke/Westminster was demolished a few years ago, and replaced by a new building, housing a chain pharmacy.
It was fun going back last week. We still are in contact with some of our friends. Thanks for the update on the house. My mother is 94 now and I will share your comments with her.
Hello,
I am back reading this interesting blog, with much interest.
I came across a map of Montreal West a while ago and saw that there is an Edgar Davies Park, near Sherbrooke and Westminister. I believe that he was my great grandfather , whom I never knew. His daughter, Winnifred was married to my paternal grandfather, Wilfred Trenholme.
Does anyone have any information about Edgar Davies ? I think that the family lived on Brock S. and he had an upholstery business ??
Would love to know more about him.
Thank you
Hi Joanne. I’m not sure about this, but I sort-of recall that Edgar Davies was the butcher at Davies Bros grocery shop in Montreal west — I think it was at this location: http://j.mp/daviesbros-mw Maybe another reader here will have more certain information. It would be interesting to know the story of the naming of the park. It is a very recent decision of the town. There is this news story from last year: https://montreal-west.ca/en/edgar-davies-park-project-phase-2-summer-2018/ The Park seems to be the renamed Memorial Park, adjacent to the Town Hall, that includes the cenotaph. It is at this location: http://j.mp/cenotaph-mtlwest — and now may have some new amenities.
Remember the two brothers , Edgar and george. They had a farm , I believe, in ormstown. Dad use to play a game with the two whenever he shopped there. If he won free groceries . If he lost, he had to pay double.
No relation to Winifred Davies Trenholme. The brothers spelled the name Davis
This is really funny !
I assumed that the Edgar Davies Park was named after my great grandfather.
But, hey ! Maybe not !
I just spoke to David Watson, the Montreal West town historian.
He, too, thinks that the park is named for the butcher at Davies Bros.
But he is not sure.
Does anyone really know ?
How can I find out ?
Me again , Robert
Lynda Trenholme thinks that the name of the butcher shop on Westminister was ´ Davis ‘ …. not Davies.
What I find extraordinary is that no one , neither the Municipal Office nor David Watson, the town historian , whom I just spoke with, seem to know for whom the park was named.
And it was only created a year ago ??
Who can help with this ?
150 Brock was your grandmother and grandfather house. When Wilfred died , my dad, Harry moved into house. You were living on Sunnyside in Westmont
Lynda,
That is an odd reply.
Of course I know where our Trenholme grandparents lived ….. and that your family moved in after our grandfather died … and that I lived on Sunnyside ????
I was speaking of our OTHER grandparents .. the Davies …… who , I
believe , also lived on Brock , across the street .
Sorry😯oops misunderstood . Remember you told me you didn’t remember the cows so I jumped to the wrong conclusion .
Think you are right about the house but I believe it was our grandparents before he built 150. I will ask Dad tomorrow . Good question though😚
Interesting . I too lived on Prince of Wales and then moved to strathern. North in Montreal west. Then Brock south. You must remember the Elmhurst Dairy then and the cows.
I remember the cows and the green ice cream
The cow heads are now back on the wall at the former Elmhurst Dairy.
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/iconic-elmhurst-dairy-cow-heads-back-on-display-in-montreals-n-d-g-area
Yup, they had a nice “unveiling” for my family . I was the one that told the Gazette . They were suppose to have a huge reception with the mayors, gazette but it never happened
I remember the store being “Davies”. I am fascinated that when the boys were entranced by the trains I was fascinated by the Lachine Canal and the ships that went through when the bridge was raised. My mother said that my first word was “boat”. Now I live with a fantastic view of the Halifax Harbour.
I am in Halifax. I have an apartment overlooking the Royal Naval Dockyards.
Halifax a beautiful city. I envy your view. Stay safe
Wow…there is a lot to read…yet the mention of Minto and the Mynah bird on Sherbrooke…is a starter…so glad that some other people have the same memories as I do.
Hi Deborah, have you some of those memories you’d care to share?
A friend found an entry in The Quebec History Encyclopedia about my grandfather, James Ballantyne.
James Ballantyne
Of the Heating and Contracting Firm of James Ballantyne.
Montreal, Can.
JAMES BALLANTYNE, Mayor of the Town of Montreal West, and the holder of many civic positions, was born in Dundas County, Ontario, July 15th, 1865. His father, John Ballantyne, his mother, Christina (Gordon) Ballantyne. He was educated at the ordinary schools of the county and began his earnings in a minor position with Robert Mitchell & Co., in the heating and ventilating line, and to which business he has devoted his entire time and attention. In 1891, he started the present house of James Ballantyne in Montreal, of which he is the head and it is in all probability the most extensive heating, plumbing and ventilating concern in the Dominion, having installed systems in the Transportation Building; the Royal Insurance Building; the Windsor Hotel; the Central Y. M. C. A. and Macdonald Colleges; the Eastern Township Building; the Liverpool, London & Globe Building; the Dominion Express Company and the new General Post-Office, all in Montreal, also systems in Ottawa; Quebec; ; Winnipeg; Regina; Saskatoon; Saskatchewan and in many other cities in Canada. Mr. Ballantyne was elected Mayor of Montreal West, in 1911, and holds that office at present, 1913. He is president of the James Ballantyne Co. Ltd., of Winnipeg; past-president of the Builders’ Exchange of Montreal; is a life governor of the Montreal Western Hospital and of the Lachine General Hospital, and was chairman of the Road Committee at Montreal West for two years. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity and of the Engineers’ Club. Mr. Ballantyne was married to Georgina Loranger, at London, Ontario, November 1st, 1899 ; they are the parents of two sons and three daughters.
Source: Canadian History Makers. A Volume Containing Accurate and Concise Sketches of Men who have Done Things in The Dominion of Canada Past and Present Together with Photogravures Made from their Latest Photographs, Montreal, Canadian Publication Society, 1913, 159p., p. 87.
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/JamesBallantyne.html
The members of my father’s family were: boys, John and George, and girls, Ruth, Marjorie, and Barbara. My father was George Loranger Ballantyne.
Hi Robert, your family married into our family. Sent this to my cousin, Joey Trenholme Marosi, who is the historian of the family. She probably has already seen it.
Interesting history, thank you. Happy New Year and stay safe.
Lynda, I learned about the connection between our families in this blog thread. Also about the founders of Elmhurst Dairy, and the amazing story of Jimmy Darou. All the best for 2022.
Yes, Jimmy Darius involvement was interesting. He was a jockey and my grandfather had racehorses. I don’t think he rode any of my grandfather’s horses, though.
Are you living in BC now? Stay in touch, pls,. There was always a huge Christmas party at the Ballantyne’s in Dorval where all the cousins would get together. Sad that tradition is no longer there😔
I am living on Bowen Island in the mouth of Átl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound — North America’s most southerly fjord and a region that has just been designated a Biosphere. I am the author of this Salish Sea blog, and it is an exploration of my new-found world. It describes some of my adventures here. You might be interested in the article I wrote about this region for Quora.
That is wonderful, so no oil drilling. As much as I love nature, I think where you are extremely remote. Keep in touch, Lynda
I seem to remember that James’ sister referred to him as “my brother, the plumber”.
Judith, would you remember which of his sisters said that, and how you heard about it?
Well I was very little with big ears and I heard it from listening to a conversation between my elders. I think it was from Miss Ballantyne who lived down the street. I believe it was not a serious comment but ” My brother the plumber and my brother the senator”. Does that make sense? I was very young.
Hello Robert and others on this site:
I hope I am not an interloper here. ‘Came across this intriguing and captivating collection of personal histories as a result of an email from my old boarding school, BCS in Lennoxville, which in turn brought me to the website of a primary school I attended in the early ’60 established by Frances Ballantyne, “The Priory.”
I have very little Montreal West connection, my youth having been spent in T.M.R., starting in the late ’50s, though I can recall (thanks to this blog) the scent of POM Bakery, walking into Elmhurst Dairy, and the taste of ice cream licked close by if not under the cow heads. (Grateful for the photo above.)
I may however be related to you Robert and others through my grandmother.
My grandmother on my father’s side was born Elizabeth Ballantyne and married Eliot Sumpter Frosst. With her at his side, my grandfather and others built a once well-known multinational Canadian pharmaceutical company started by his father. Although I have very fond and rich memories of her gentle and gracious humour while with her in her grand Acadia apartments across from the Ritz Carleton when I was a child, I know very little about her history as my grandfather divorced her in the late ’50s (the cad!) a few years after I was born. Neither of my parents passed on many details about her life to me.
However, my mother (Rita Kehoe — proudly working-class Irish-Catholic, solidly Montreal West / NDG family, very much unlike my Upper Westmount Protestant father) did tell me (1) that the Frances Ballantyne who “ran” the Priory that I attended was a relation, I assumed through my grandmother, (2) my great-grandfather “did the plumbing” in the Windsor Hotel, and (3) a Senator was involved in the family somewhere, somehow. sometime in the distant past. As I said, not many details.
Finally, though this has nothing to do with a family relationship, I note that either Joanne or Lynda Trenholme may very well have known my father Eliot Ballantyne Frosst as he lived for some time in his youth on Sunnyside in Westmount with his mother and father.
If we are related, I would be grateful to hear from you Robert. Confirmation of our relationship (coupled with my newly acquired knowledge of Frances Ballantyne’s history) might help shed some light on a few questions I have regarding my parents’ own past.
In any event, please accept my appreciation for this wonderful blog and the many interesting personal historical vignettes offered illustrating Montreal West life in the ’50s and ’60s.
Regards
Myles
Hi Myles. If you mean The Priory at 3120 The Boulevard, I am sort-of familiar with it; not because of of Frances Ballantyne (a name that is new to me) but I attended St Georges School, which is next door to The Priory. I was at St G for 3 years, and the first year we were in three houses. The following year they constructed the building that is there today. I vaguely remember Eliot Frosst (and the Frosst boys). I certainly recall that everyone’s favourite pain-killer was Frosst 222s (AC&Cs). I thought the connection was through my Aunt Barbara (née Ballantyne). When my Aunt Marjorie (née Ballantyne) was a widow she moved from her house into the Ritz. Her sister, my Aunt Ruth was then living in the apartments across the street. So, the plumbing could have been done by my grandfather, James Ballantyne, and the senator could be CC Ballantyne — both mentioned in this thread of comments. Nevertheless, more digging will have to be done to confirm our relationship.
Hello Robert and Lynda:
Thank you both for the prompt response. Little did I suspect when I sat down before my laptop last night that I might be meeting family members over the internet at a time when I am trying to put together for my two children a written background on the family.
Yes, Robert, we are referring to the same primary school, the Priory, on the Boulevard in Westmount beside St George’s. My grandfather Frosst, I was told, was a strong supporter of St. Georges and helped in the construction of the building that opened in 1957. I did not know that my father (or uncles Jim and David) attended that school. My father only made reference to his time at Pickering College. Very much my mother’s style to choose for her children the next-door competitor to the school my grandfather helped build. (I believe I and my classmates would toss snowballs over the fence into your school’s yard.)
Lynda, I moved to Ottawa from Montréal in 1980 with my wife (Robin Wisener originally from Toronto; we met while at McGill.) And I have lived in the village of Manotick (part of the Ottawa metropolitan area) since 1990. Only two out of twenty or so of my high school friends and none of my university friends remain in Montréal. All went West or to the States, Asia Pacific, Europe. Only a couple of us ended up here in Ottawa. It’s a mobile world: my daughter teaches in Yellowknife; my son commutes between Toronto and San Francisco. But you know, I still feel, and I use this unusual term not in jest but with sincerity, “pure lain Montréalais.” When I walk the streets of Montréal, I feel as much at home as I do here in Manotick. While much has changed on the surface, not at heart. It is as if the spirits of the places that I knew in my youth and twenties are always there to greet me whenever I return to Montréal. I don’t get that sense downtown Ottawa.
I want to believe we are indeed cousins (at whatever distance), and so Lynda I appreciate your assurance although I am having difficulty clarifying the exact relationship. Robert, you have referred to your grandfather James Ballantyne; I am thinking of my grandmother Elizabeth Frosst’s (née Ballantyne) father James Ballantyne, my great-grandfather, who would have worked on the Windsor Hotel during the original construction 1876-78 or in1906 after the fire. Would the timing fit?
Now, regarding “Aunt Ruth.” My grandfather Frosst had three sisters, Stella, Jean and Ruth. “Aunt Ruth” as we referred to her, was married to Dougall Cushing who I never met. I do not recall her ever living in the Acadia Apartments, the building at 1227 Shrebrooke Street Ouest immediately across from the Ritz Carleton. Nor do I ever remember her joining the family for our regular weekend dinners with my grandmother Frosst at her place in the Acadia Apartments which, one would think, she would join if she shared the same building. However, I was young so I don’t necessarily recall all and, moreover, family dynamics play out in so many different ways. Maybe they met for tea or cocktails only, away from the rest of the family. Or just across the street in the lounge or Ritz Garden with the ducks.
The “Aunt Ruth” that I knew, and that is after her husband died, lived in a ground floor apartment on Sherbrooke Street further west, just past Atwater, around the corner from Atwater Club. I don’t recall the address but it was a relatively modern building for the area, built in the 60’s I suspect. In my early twenties one winter I drove Aunt Ruth to her club in central Florida, a journey that took seven days as we had so many overnight visits to make with friends and her husband’s family. The further south we traveled, the more I sensed I was entering a romantic world of Southern gentility that was more the stuff of American literature; all very foreign to this Laurentian young man who thought himself so worldly. And then, crossing into Florida, the snow began to fall. A memorable trip.
As for the senator, my interest in him has been heightened after reading tonight an essay published by the Canadian Nautical Research Society.
( https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol02/tnm_2_1_1-13.pdf ) Senator Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne was instrumental, as Minister of Public Works at the end of WWI, in public-private partnership for a Canadian shipbuilding programme. He had also been Minister of Marine and Fisheries and ex-officio of the Naval Service in Robert Borden’s Union Government. My career was spent finding common ground among public and private interests and I had, as an economist, an academic interest in public enterprise. Perhaps my calling was genetic.
I have gone on long enough and hope that I have not tried your patience. Again, thank you for your prompt reply.
Regards
Myles
Hi Myles, I will contact my cousin but I know that a Ballantyne and a Trenholme married. I will try to find out from my cousins.
I think it was CC as their son Charlie my grandfather second name was Trenholme
Thanks, sorry your name please. Can’t tell, lol?
Hi my name is Robert Paterson, my mother was Rosalie Ballantyne, daughter of C T Ballantyne, Charlie, Son of CT and brother of Jimmie and Murray. My uncle was “Tim” Ballantyne
I now live in Knowlton where I think Harry Trenholme lived and also aunt Francis B, wife of Murray before she moved to ON
No it was my uncle Thomas Trenholme that lived in Knowlton. Now my cousin, Joey Trenholme Marosi lives in North Hatley. My father, Harry Trenholme had a place at Tremblant.
I think we have been here before – sorry about repeating my error, I think it was because my mother thought “Uncle Harry” was a very attractive man and so he sticks in my memory too
I don’t mind. Dad was extremely handsome even up to 96 years of age. If you would like a picture you can email me🙏
Love one. Please send your email address to robert.paterson@gmail.com
Yours is Not working. Here is my email
Lyndatrenholme@gmail.com
The picture arrived
Great, going to send a picture of my father when he received the Legion of Honour from the French Government as Dad landed on Gold beach on D Day
Hello Myles,
I am Lynda Trenholme’s first cousin.
I am interested in reading about your branch of the family/ Frosst ?
We had a country home in Knowlton for fifty odd years, where we spent all our summers
( 1950-2010 )
There was a Frosst family just down the street on Lakeside.
The children were Martin and Sharon , who were my age.
Sharon lives in the Ayers Cliff area of the Eastern Townships.
I live in North Hatley. I see her occasionally.
Ethel Trenholme, my grandfather, Wilfred Trenholme’s oldest sister, married CC Ballantyne.
The Trenholme family lived in Montreal West and started Elmhurst Dairy.
Ethel and CC had three sons: Charles, James, known as Jimmy and Murray.
There are various Ballantyne family members scattered around the Townships: e.g. Sutton, Knowlton etc…
These three sons were my father’s ( Thomas Trenholme’s ) first cousins.
But, of course, the biggest treat of all is to visit the little hamlet of Trenholm. ( the E was added later , to make the name seem more sophisticated !! )
Trenholm is right near Richmond , Quebec on the St. Francis River, where my Trenholme relatives settled in 1819, having been given a land grant from the King of England.
I visit the village often. The Trenholm Methodist
Church still proudly stands, built by John Trenholm, my great, great grandfather and his brick farmhouse is across the street, still owned by family relatives, the Wintles.
I have passed on a chunk of info and would be happy to try and answer other questions, should you have any.
Fondly,
Joey Trenholme
Hi and welcome Myles, yes you are a relative, a cousin but it is my cousin Joey Trenholme Marosi and her brother, Thomas Trenholme that lived on Sunnyside. I live in the family home in Montreal West at 150 Brock. I will send this on to Joey. Let me know if she replies to you, please. Where are you living now? I am still in Quebec.
Glad you reached out. Stay safe.
Just met Michael B, son of Jimmie aged 90 a few weeks ago with his daughter Sarah who was visiting from BC. Michael lives in Montreal
Hello Joey,
I do not Sharon well, though we know of one another. I met her and Martin far fewer times than I would have liked. She is fortunate to call Ayers Cliff home; it is a lovely town, one that I am familiar with though I am much more familiar with North Hatley. While I was at boarding school, it was a haunt; while visiting my daughter as she studied at Bishops University, I would stay at one of the inns there; and now every couple of years I take a few days, usually in the autumn, to make North Hatley my base while revisiting the Eastern Townships. When feeling extravagant Hovey Manor; otherwise Auberge Le Coeur d’Or.
The Eastern Townships seem to be central to this quest. My sister Debbie has just informed me that “of course we have a cousin, John Ballantyne, who lives in Sutton. An artist.” Debbie, a sister by my father’s first marriage, ten years older than me, and who knew my grandmother Elizabeth Ballantyne far more than I did (she passed away when I was barely six), will turn out to be a great source. She too said that there are a number of Ballantynes scattered about the Townships.
Thanks to a distant relative (i.e. John E. Frost — one “s” as are all members of American side of the family, 1917 -1992) — a complete genealogical history of the Fros(s)t family, at least in a patriarchal lineage sense is available covering the period 1628/32 through to the mid 1970’s, that is to say the birth of my generation. In 1628/32 Nicholas Frost (one “s”) arrived from Tiverton, a town in Devon, England. John E. Frost tracked down all the male descendants on that family tree, including the members of the branch of my great-grandfather Charles E. Frosst, the one who immigrated from Richmond Virginia, north to Montréal in 1898/9. His father added an extra “s” to the family name.
My resolution for this year is to bring that study up to date. Time’s winged chariot and all that, and a sense of debt to John Frost. I am doing so for the benefit of my children. If I can include stories about or at least reference to the Ballantyne influence on their history …. ah, that would be sweet.
I have one of the few hard copies of John Frost’s text. A version of the scanned text is available courtesy of a library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. and held on the Internet Archive’s server.
( https://archive.org/details/nicholasfrostfam00fros/page/n23/mode/2up )
Trenholme-Ballantyne-Frosst: the mosaic is becoming clear. Thank you.
Regards
Myles
John Ballantyne’s sister Elizabeth also lives in Sutton
Thanks.
Moved to Montreal West about 6 months ago. Spotted 124 Ballantyne S while on one of my mid day summer strolls. I immediately googled it and fell on this blog. Spent the past 2 hours going down the rabbit hole and reading everyone’s fascinating personal stories and recollections. I’m craving more historical information on the city and my home which is at 143 Strathearn North. Would love to hear if anyone used to hang out on this part of the street and has any information! Thanks.
Lucky you. I grew up at 307 Strathearn North which is near Elizabeth Ballantyne school which I attended. We all knew one another on the street. My cousin lived on Parkside. Eventually we moved to 150 Brock south.
Sorry, my addled mind recalls nothing of 124 Strathern, other than it is just above Curzon, right. I lived at 145 Percival Avenue from 1952-1960. This blog is a living memory for many of us still here
I agree it is “scary”. Did you know the Fyfe’s on Perceval, Andy and Izzie, Ronnie and Randy. They were my Aunt and Uncle and of course , cousins
I think so, although I remember him as Randy . There was also Joanne Fyfe who was the daughter of Dr Fyfe on Percival Avenue north of Nelson St. My brother, Gordon, went to Elizabeth Ballantyne in the early 50’s, then to LCC for high school before graduating from McGill. I mention him in particular because he is better known for playing Adam Carrington on Dynasty in the early 80’s.
Yes Dr Fyfe and Andy Fyfe were brothers. Joanne is living in St Eugene. Yes his name is Randy, other brother Ronnie who just moved back to BC to be closer to his children. Randy as well lives in British Columbia.
So are you older or younger and WOW does your brother still act?
Lynda,
My goodness – Trenholme Avenue in NDG – anything to do with your family? Thank you for updating the Fyfe’s.
I am 7 years older than my brother, Gordon. No he is not working now. He keeps auditioning, and enjoys that process. He lives in LA with his partner Robert. I remember the fun we used to make of “fifi”s back in Montreal West, one of the things we have since discarded, so his life, except for aging, is good. It’s aging, Lynda, that brings no good after awhile. I think we also could do a better job of senior care. Oh my, a rant from a former Montreal Wester is about the only connection this screed has.
In addition, I worked for the Town of MW, as it was known back then, from 1960-1963, working as a plumber’s helper. The Booth Brothers, Dave and George, daily visited our workings, and one day I said if you guys are going to follow us around every day you need to tell us a different joke FOR A WHOLE YEAR. Son of a gun didn’t George do it.
Another time, not so good, we had parked a truck close to a manhole to read a water meter within its depth, parking to protect us from the traffic. There wasn’t any, but the manhole was on Easton Avenue at the Ville Saint Pierre road drop, and I had not put the emergency brake on tight enough. You guessed it, down the hill, until it crashed into a telephone pole, severing it. No one, I mean no one was hurt or anywhere near the trucks trajectory, so this accident made no news. Such good luck.
Many MW stories, as others have demonstrated here. Elmhurst Dairy – everyone seems to have a story. Coca-Cola hired summer students and I worked there as well.
Enough, Lynda, or I will be called a daft senior😎, which I proudly am.
Yes Trenholme Street, and Trenholme Park,as well as Elmhurst Dairy. Do you live in British Columbia as well?
No, unfortunately, still in Quebec. Or rather the recent language turbulence has made it unfortunate. Live in Lennoxville, suburb of Sherbrooke. My residence speciale is in Baie-des-Sables, on the south bank of the St.Lawrence River just before Matane. It is beautiful in the summer.
Where are you, Lynda?
Hudson, Quebec. I am into horses so place to be. Sounds like a wonderful place. I love the water. Why don’t you message me?
Lynda,
Sorry, I don’t text, and it is good to know that not all living-still old tyme Mtl Westers have gone to BC. If it were not so expensive, I think BC is the only other place I would consider. Yes, Quebec is home, politics never seems to be discussed much in BDS, although we did have a murder about 8 years ago here, and there is a fellow who was caught with $ 30 million in drugs on his yacht, and he is from Baie-desSables, and he was hired by the town to clean and water the outdoor rink. That is about it, and for those troubles BDS is notorious, not famous. Beautiful sunsets every single day, breaking through any rain and cold, the latter returning the next day only to have a spectacular sunset. Imagine, every single day.
My granddaughter, now living in Montebello, her mom and dad work for the Vipassana meditation centre there, takes weekly riding lessons and loves horses.
So Peter, you are not, in fact , related to Don McNaughton.
Correct ?
But you did grow up in Montreal West ?
Guess that I am thinking of the wrong person.
Joanne, sorry I’m not related to Don. Growing up in MW? H’mm. Our family moved around so much, but for 9 years, 1953-1962 MW was home and I consider that time my growing up time. In the following few years I worked for the town, so I got to know it and some of its people even better.
You don’t do emails? Lyndatrenholme@gmail.com
😔 Sorry, I took it to mean texting. Of course, email. Without you telling me, I will accept and respond as well as initiate par courriel. Allons y!
Politics anyone??
Again, sorry, Lynda – going back 70 years is much more enjoyable than going back 70 minutes to hear from M. Legault.
Peter…..
it does not sound like you enjoy living in Quebec….
Perhaps good ole’ Ontario looks better to you.
LOL
What do you think about all this kerfuffle, Joanne?
What particular kerfuffle are you referring to ?
We have had non stop kerfuffles in Quebec since the PQ were first elected in 1976 .
Most Quebecers are actually racist : anti-English, anti- Muslim, anti-Jewish ; all this borne of 200 years of isolation in the hinterland , after they lost that little battle on the Plains of Abraham.
Paranoia and resentment are strong emotions.
But, hey ! we just learn to roll with it !
Sorry, Joanne, I’ve had too much difficulty rolling with it on the large political scale. Added to all the anti-english diatribes is the complete brain-dead hypocrisy about the indigenous people’s suffering from French as well as English colonialists. My ex-wife has Métis heritage right back to Louis Riel, and the colonist shame has rarely entered the Quebecois flame of political discussion.
It has always been goernment that has stirred the pot, with Legault one of the most insidious leaders.
I have to stop, otherwise my heart attack-to-be will need Santé Québec’s services.
I agree, he is a closet separatist and so is his cabinet. Need to vote him out. Saw you spoke to my cousin. Sorry about your health. Can only keep “on trucking”🙏
Hi Peter,
I think that you and I were in touch a while ago, on this blog.
Are you not somehow related to Don McNaughton, who was such a good friend of Bob Brodrick. Lynne is an old friend of mine.
I live in North Hatley and have for 45 years.
Originally from Montreal.
Lynda Trenholme is my first cousin.
Joey Trenholme
Ah, Joey, no relatives in Estrie and none in Mtl W. Nice to know you are nearby in North Hatley. Too much like the Duke Ellington masterpiece, “Don’t get around much anymore”. Arthritis and prostate cancer have just grabbed on, and I’m going wherever these 2 go. Please don’t read this from pity, but as a reason a priori of not looking to meet in person. Reading the Turcot Yards blog, I am envious of all the newly found connections. Hope there a new ones still out there.
I lived across the Ballantyne Street at 123 with my parents, uncle and grand parents, the Macfarlanes. This was just after the war when housing was in short supply. The Ballantynes lived in three houses on the street.
Hi Judith. I certainly remember you, your parents and your grandparents, back in the 40s and 50s. Mr. Macfarlane was very friendly towards kids (like me) in his large garden and greenhouse. He had a double-lot property across the street from my grandparents. His garden filled the lot to the north, and there was a greenhouse at the back of the property. I remember him showing us his touch-me-not plants (mimosa pudica) in that greenhouse. Looking on Google Streetview, I see that the house is still there — a grand 3-story brick house. The property has been subdivided and there is a new house where there was the garden. Here is view of that side of the street. The Winn’s lived on the ground floor of the building at the corner of Ballantyne and Avon. They had a daughter who was younger than me, Mary. Across the lane to the south was the Bell’s house. Their son, Jackie, was a friend of mine during my elementary school days. Then there was the Macfarlane’s, and the Whitaker’s. (This is Streetview from 2009 which is taken in the autumn and your grandparents house is not hidden by foliage.)
I went to school with Mary Winn. I think she got pregnant and moved down the hill to a flat in Ville St Pierre.
So, I misspelled the Winn’s name. I’ll fix that, Thanks. I seem to recall that Mary had two children, and for a while the babies lived with Mrs. Winn (who was, I think, a social worker). I don’t know much about that story. I do recall that Mr. Winn must have liked my father’s car — a 1955 Bermuda Green Buick Special — so much that he bought an identical one. One day, when my father climbed into the car, he realized he was in the wrong vehicle. We discovered that not only did the cars look alike, they used the same key.
I remember that you had a skating rink in your back garden. The evening of a New Years Day all my family was skating with your family. My mother was wearing a large fur coat. I think that we left in quite a hurry. My brother was born a few hours later.
Today, for some reason, my thoughts harkened back to my much younger days at Montreal West High and, in particular, to Linda Wilson, who sat in front of me in Miss Vibert’s grade 5 class. Linda’s two best friends, Judy and Graham, also occupied the same row – Judy in front of Linda and Graham behind me. On the first day of class that year I wanted to sit in the middle row as I was always getting used to new lenses because my vision was constantly getting worse. Judy and Linda got the second and third seats and I got the forth. That is when I noticed Graham coming from the other side of the isle and standing beside me. I asked her if she wanted the place I had just taken and she said it was OK and she sat down behind me.
Doing the math, that was September of 1956. I was 9 years old and did not turn 10 until November. I had been allowed to start school before turning 6, and was the last one to do so, as the rules changed the next school year. I was always the youngest in my class every year all the way through high school, all at Montreal West. My cousin Brenda became the newest member of our class much later in the year, and, I now realize, because they had gotten to know me quite well, my 3 row-mates welcomed Brenda into their girl circle. They were the best, and my Aunt Maisie was so glad that my cousin had such good company to welcome her to her new school. Whereas, I thought this task would be left largely to me, I hardly ever saw my cousin except when she came home for supper. My aunt and cousin lived with me and my parents until my aunt could find her own place when all of the rental leases became available in May.
In regards to the many previous and very interesting posts above, we lived on Trenholme Avenue, which was the second street over from the boundary between NDG and the Town of Montreal West. My father worked for Foxboro on Dollard Avenue in Lachine and later also worked part-time at Elmhurst Dairy. He was one of the employees who served up the many ice cream cones that melted down your hand if you paused to talk too often on those hot and humid summer days for which Montreal was so well known. Ross was the dairy-bar supervisor and George was his full-time lieutenant in the distribution of all things cold and delicious to the west end public. Afternoon pitch and catch with my friend George, who lived just down the street, generally ended up at Elmhurst Dairy on the warmest days where Ross would give us broken popsicles for free because they would not sell them to the general public. Ross encouraged our baseball interests because he had played minor-league ball in Manitoba, as a pitcher, and he was happy that I had aspirations to pitch as well.
Of course, I’m wondering if “my” Linda Wilson is the original blogger here. I was never sure of where she or Judy lived in Montreal West or where they lived before coming to our school. I always knew where Graham lived and she was the last school chum that I spoke to before my father’s employer transferred him to Edmonton in October 1968. It’s great that there are others who might actually be interested to hear from people with memories like mine!
Want to apologize for my stupid comment. Being a Trenholme and my great grandfather founded the Elmhurst Dairy and with you living on Trenholme seemed off to me. I can’t even explain why , thought you were scamming . Sorry and I am glad you have nice memories of Montreal West. I sure do and I hope your father was treated well at the Dairy, LOL🙏
Hello Lynda:
Thank you for your apology; I understand – sometimes just a simple surprise can jar our day too much.
I was very pleased to find out the origin of the name of the street I lived on for so many years. After all, how many times did I write your family name in my new wallet or on an application form for a job or to enter university. It was with me for 17 years and will be in my memory forever! Our family address was 2092 Trenholme Avenue, Apt. 6, and in those days, Montreal, 28, Quebec.
I did not know the origins of the Dairy; it was simply the biggest building around for a 5 year old child, and then, the source of the best ice cream ever – the quality was tops. My dad would have liked to have known the history himself. It was kind of his thing and he liked meeting people. He only ever worked at the service counter, but, he did get to meet some of the people from the offices at the back, and I know that he got along with them very well, because, if I was around to walk him home and one of these gentlemen came through, he would introduce me to them. I always suspected that he had previous conversations that included me, and most likely, my mother.
While reading through the full blog, it kept occurring to me that I had gone through school with someone with your family’s name. The first name Robert, but more so, Bob, keeps coming to mind. It would have been someone in another class, and likely a different grade, as I still recall the names of all of my past classmates. I still have my school yearbooks around down in the basement and will have to now search them out.
I’ve never reconciled leaving Montreal. About 30 years ago, a younger friend who had just had a spat with her boyfriend phoned me up and asked if we could do something to take her mind off the recent argument. We ended up seeing a movie about kids going to summer camp. Unfortunately, I do not recall the title. The opening scene showed a clock tower that read twelve noon. I immediately recognized that it could the clock of Montreal West High. I furthered reasoned that there were likely very many buildings in existance that would have been build in the same architectural style. The camera began to pan downwards, and it occured to me that it could only be MWHS if the doors on the ground floor were made of aluminium.
When I was in grade 1 the school had massive front doors made of oak. It took all of the strength I could muster to open one of them. When I came back to school the next September, the oak doors had been replaced with aluminium ones. The explanation was that the oak doors were so heavy that they had to repair the support framing every summer and now it was beginning to effect the surrounding brickwork.
As the movie camera panned down, I didn’t see the large letters spelling out the name of the school, but, I did see the wide, shallow balcony and the expected flagpole. My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I saw the aluminium doors that were exactly as I remembered them! It had to be MWHS. I later learned that the large letters had been removed to be replaced for the school’s renaming.
I literally dreamed about my old school almost every night for the next six months. Classrooms, locker rooms, gyms, the balcony where we watched all of those National Film Board of Canada depictions of news and culture, and the main assembly room below where we watched band concerts and performed Christmas carols on stage. I moved downtown to attend SGWU when my parents took the train west. It was all very sudden and I never had time to visit Montreal West before I left for the west myself. About a month before my parents left, I ran into Graham Stewart in front of the drug store. She was recovering from a prolonged illness. She was my favourite female friend all through school, even though we never dated. Regrettably, I never saw her again and still often wonder how she is doing. The movie brought up all of these memories, and many others, for me. As our own Joanie Mitchell wrote: “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”.
Memories are so precious. Please be well. I will look for your picture too! I started grade 1 in 1952 and was at MWHS all the way to Grade 11. If you were there during any of that time frame, I’m sure our paths must have crossed. If I find your picture, then I will absolutely know who you were back then. That will be a gift!
Rick Bell
Thanks Rick. I unfortunately only went to Montreal West High for grade 8, and then for a very short time because I had come from a private school in Toronto and being in a co-Ed school was overwhelming .Before we left for Toronto, I went to Elizabeth Ballantyne up to Grade 6. Then my Dad was transferred toToronto, where I was there for 2 years before my father was transferred back. Even though an Anglo, lol, he loved Quebec and only wanted to live in Quebec.
During that time in Toronto my Grandfather passed away and we so when we moved back , we moved into his house at 150 Brock S.
Don’t know if you remember the cows that were on the dairy wall, Elsie and Elmer?
Where are you living now, if you don’t mind me asking.
Yes Montreal, especially Montreal West was a magical place. Did you ever have the opportunity to go to the Mike Steven’s dances on Friday night at St Philip’s church?
Hello Lynda:
Much of my time was spent on my bike exploring every nook and cranny of Montreal West. It was all so picturesque and devoid of traffic. This is where and when I learned to really appreciate trees. My mother taught me to appreciate autumn. I ventured north as far as Elizabeth Ballantyne School but once – a dedicated journey planned to finally see the school where so many students I came to know had spent their days at its desks. I was quite surprised at its size; although a lot smaller than Montreal West, it seemed quite substantial for a school that stopped at grade 6. I imagined it would not have any more than 2 classrooms for any one grade level. At MWHS we only had one class of students per grade – until grade 7 when we “imported” a new full set from the north end of town. They did not mix the two sets of students together as I suppose they thought the newer students had enough to cope with in a new location and didn’t need the further stress of perhaps losing their favourite classmate of the past 6 years being somewhere down the hall. I’m sure the dynamic of my class would have been greatly altered as well. The downside was that we didn’t really get to know the new students very well for quite a long time. As mentioned in an earlier posting, I do specifically remember Mary Bright with her bright blonde/white hair always pulled back in a pony-tail. She was one of the smartest/brightest students, with outstanding academic credentials and many scholarships awarded. That said, I can’t remember ever talking to her! Such were the groupings throughout school. I remember that she had a brother – older than her, I think.
I tended to keep my shorter biking excursions south of the train tracks to avoid traffic just before supper. For the same reason, I seldom ventured south of Upper Lachine Road – later renamed Avon. It didn’t take very long to be confronted by the sudden steep change in grade. I took a quick look on Google Maps to check your grandfather’ house. I do remember it and especially the incredible plot of land on which it stood. The only other house, that I feel comes close to it, is the Montgomery home on Easton Avenue, where Tommy, one grade lower, and Martha, one grade higher than me, lived with their parents. I came to really appreciate architecture on these 2 wheel outings, but, by the time I got to the end of your property, I hadn’t seen many other houses and it was a lot of leg work to get back up the hill. At that time, the view at the bottom of the hill was not exactly picturesque, and, that tended to keep me away as well. I was very pleased to see how the many trees towards the bottom of the hill have grown and filled in the view with their branches and leaves.
Oddly enough, very oddly in fact, on 2 separate visits to Brock South, I ran into Mary Wynn on her bicycle. She struggled quite a lot to keep going because, although she had a girl’s bike, it was a size 28″; most everyone else, including adults, rode a size 26″. Mary was a classmate for grades 6 & 7 only. She was very quiet and mostly kept to herself. I was surprised when she actually spoke with me and peddled around with me the first time I encountered her there. I think she was more comfortable with one-on-one situations. After these short trips, we never really talked at length in school. I do remember her conspicuous absence at the beginning of grade 7, along with that of 2 other girls who were the best of friends at school. So sadly, I’m referring to Anne Hungerford and Meg Fenton. All I found out was that we lost Meg in a swimming mishap. She possessed a constant smile which reflected the friendly and welcoming way she had with everyone she knew. Every year since, in late August, I always think of her and what a loss it was for us all. I’ve always imagined that the Hungerford’s moved away to spare Anne as much pain as they could. In grade 6, for about a month each term, Mr. Norman and Miss Fields had supervised our learning to square dance instead of taking our regular gym classes. A noble attempt to introduce us to more adult co-ed activities. Anne was my square dance partner.
I never did attend any of the dances at St. Philips, although I was made aware of them a number of times. They were referred to a “sock-hops”. This was driven home to me by Doug Goring, who having attended his first dance, later on the Monday, warned me that they made you take off your shoes and by the time you put them back on to go home, you had big holes in your socks! I always felt somewhat uncomfortable in dance or party situations because I was always the youngest, and so always younger than all of the girls. That said, I was usually very tired by the end of the school week. A few records and maybe watch “Rawhide” after supper. Even after starting to work, I would be really worn out by the end of the week. I would go to bed right after supper, about 7:00 pm, and sleep until noon on Saturday.
I do remember Elsie and Elmer and them being referred to as such, but as a lark. Was there ever a naming contest? The names are naturals. I was doing my bike trip, across the street from them, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Yikes!!! No one ever mentioned them to me specifically – I guess everyone thought that everyone else knew about them. Last one to know, eh? I jammed on my brakes and just starred for the longest time. Later, I crossed the road and got as close to them as I could with still seeing them when I looked upwards. I was afraid to stand under them. They were soooo big!!! I was about 4′-6″ at the time. I used to check up on them after particularly bad storms. It seems to me that they were re-furbished at one time – probably re-painted to protect and maintain them. Too bad that they and the dairy bar are gone. Memories that will never leave me!
I live approximately 40 km south of Edmonton and just south of the international airport. The area is called Leduc; about half way north to the city is the place where oil was first discovered in Alberta in 1949. In the early 1970’s, I used to ride the bus to university with one of the engineers, Zak George, from the Alberta Research Council who also attended McGill, and finalized the process to extract oil from the bitumen in the tar sands near Fort McMurray.
Hi Rick, okay where to start. Mary Bright was my first friend when we moved from Prince or Wales to 307 Strathern. I was in Grade 8B and she was in 8A. There was also Janet Karen, Gay Collis, Bonny Goad. Mary had 3 brothers, Peter younger than Mary, David (killed in a car accident) and an older brother, whose name escapes me right now. Unfortunately, Mary passed away about 4 years ago.
As to the cows, I really don’t know how they got their names.
Do you remember the Silvery Moon restaurant, or the gas station, Jimmy Daoust(probably not spelled correctly) think it was a Texaco or the pharmacy Ben? Where they had a restaurant?
If I may add…. Lynda
Think you are referring to Jimmy Darou , who owned the gas station on Westminister.
He was a jockey and rode for our grandfather, Wilfred Trenholme.
He had a terrible riding accident and was left paralyzed and in a wheel chair.
Fortunately, he was not riding one of our grandfather’s horses at the time.
Several Montreal West citizens got together and bought him the gas station.
But life was tough for Jimmy and he didn’t have much.
Our grandfather decided to give Jimmy a race horse.
It made all the difference to Jimmy’s morale and brought in some much needed money.
Nice story.
Jimmy Darou is mentioned several times in this comment thread. Just search for the name. There is also a good picture of Jimmy, in his wheel chair, with 2 race horses. WordPress automatically scales the image to fit the column, so if you right-click the image you may see the URL end with something like: .jpg?w=500. If that’s what you see, backspace over and delete ?w=500. That is instruction to limit the image to 500 pixels wide. Hit return and you should see the full-size image. You are welcome to download it.
Hi Robert, Did the story say Jimmy owned racehorse? Or just a picture with racehorses? Thanks
My grandfather J.H. Macfarlane contributed towards the gas station and later garaged his car there, besides being one of the old fellows who gathered to chew the fat there.
Interesting. Did he live in Montreal West?
123 Ballantyne Avenue South
Good article about Jimmy Darou
http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2012/12/montreals-king-of-courage.html
Was waiting to see if Rick knew any of this before the history.
Secondly I heard from my Dad , that the garage was bought by Pop , our grandfather. Jimmy never talked about any racehorse whenI would go there and talk to him .
Hi Lynda and Rick…..and everyone else on this thread,
First of all, I am not a Montreal Wester but came on this site years ago because of Jimmy Darou. My mother had interviewed him for a newspaper article and Jimmy had given her an autographed copy of his book….a limited edition autobiography. Through this site, we were able to locate a relative who was delighted to accept the book.
Rick, I love your memories…..so vivid. You are a great storyteller and raconteur. Thank you for sharing.
And just an Elsie the cow story…..my mother, the brilliant Halloween costume maker…..decided after a visit to the Elmhurst Dairy, that I should be Elsie. I believe that my horns were a paper headband being given to children at the Dairy at that time. Mum completed my outfit with a fancy cowgirl ensemble befitting of Miss Elsie. Guess what? I won first prize in the school costume contest.
Interesting piece of history. Loved the cow horn story. Thank you. Do you live in Quebec,still?
Judith:
Thank you for the comic relief! I can’t stop laughing over your venture into the land of the most locally recognizable. I’m now just recovering from the quest that was a dentist appointment in the city yesterday and have been somewhat burnt out. But presently, I feel much better and re-energized. Of course, you won first prize!!!
If I may, I’m reminded of a summer example when I was 7 years old. We rented a cottage in the Laurentians for the summer. Some of my older cousins came one long week-end with friends in tow. Their excitement soon turned into boredom as they realized where they actually were – Lac l’Achigan in 1954. Then they discovered there would be a dance and best-costume contest in the nearest town. They were able to arrange a ride and began working on costumes by trading clothes. My mother asked if they were all going as the” village idiot”, an expression going around the family at the time.
One of the friends found an old potato sack covering a table on the verandah. It had the company logo and advertizing written all over one side. She cut holes on each side at the bottom and climbed in. She got my mother to hand sew the top closed over each of her shoulders. Her black hair and black shoes matched the black printing, mostly by luck/accident, but, she also won first prize!
Saw the articles. Sent it to my cousin. Very informative. Didnt know how the money was raised , thought it was just my grandfather. Also didn’t know about my grandfather buying Jimmy the racehorses. My Dad either didn’t know or just shorten the facts. Thanks for putting me on to the articles. I didn’t even know he fell while riding my grandfather’s horses . No wonder my grandfather felt in a way responsible 🙏
Sorry meant not riding my grandfather’s horses but that he use to which was why my grandfather would feel partly responsible.
P.S. how do you edit these posts??😵💫😵💫😵💫
You don’t. As the site host, I can, but it is a huge nuisance. I recommend composing a post in a text editor on your computer and copying it here in the reply box when you are satisfied it is ready for publication.
Lynda, so sorry to hear of Mary Bright’s passing; her star shines on in our collective memory. While you and Mary were in grade 8B and 8A respectively that year, I was in 8D, Mr. Hastie’s home room. We were on the ground floor, the first room on the left as you walked in. The next classroom was a grade 9 class. The rest of the classrooms were on the third floor. The second floor was for elementary students. They were just finishing off the new wing for the new elementary classrooms and many of the classes were shifted over the Christmas holiday. Those ground floor classrooms were turned into the new metalwork shop.
Mr. Hastie was also our French teacher. I heard that that he eventually moved to Quebec City. French usually proved to be the most demanding subject for those dropped in from outside Quebec. Bonnie Goad was in my home room in Grade 9, again with Mr. Hastie. I have to start looking for those old yearbooks. Grade 8 would have been from September 1959 to June 1960.
I believe the restaurant was called The Blue Moon. It was on the north side of Sherbrooke close to the Bank of Commerce, just east of Elmhurst. At the time, there was also a very popular song on the hit parade called “Blue Moon” by The Marcels. The year before, Billy Vaughn came out with his instrumental, “Sail Along Silvery Moon”.
My memory, if you pressed me, was that the gas station at the corner of Sherbrooke and Westminster North was an Esso station. The story of the riding accident came to me many years after the fact. I understood his name to be Jimmy Darrow. It was a conversation I overheard at Elmhurst Dairy between Ross Mitchell and my dad while they were discussing the odds on an upcoming race. As Ross didn’t speak any French, that may have influenced his pronunciation and what I finally heard the name to be. I downloaded the picture of Jimmy with the two horses. Photography is an old hobby of mine and the photo also has incredible technical merit.
Budnig’s Pharmacy, I think I spelled it correctly, was where we had prescriptions filled after visiting Dr. Riley’s office, on the other side of Westminster and a few blocks further north. I guess it is his daughter who runs the pharmacy now. My Aunt Maisie worked as a waitress in the restaurant side. She overheard a lot and knew who the real troublemakers often were. Do you remember the dish of multicoloured candy speckles into which they would dip the ice cream cones before handing them over? My aunt worked the late shift on Thursday nights and would come over to visit us after she finished. She usually brought me a Cherry Coke in one of those waxed milk-shake containers, which could be folded closed and stapled to avoid spillage. They also had a punch-out hole at the top for a wide straw.
The jockey’s name, who had the riding accident and owned the gas station on Westminister, was Jimmy Darou
The jockey’s name, who had the riding accident and owned the service station on Westminister, was Jimmy Darou.
He was a francophone.
Good on you, Rick. You spelling and names of restaurant and drug store were better than mine, lol.
Okay do you remember the variety store run by the two women, or the Davis Bros and flower shop called Hall’s?
I think the variety store you referred to was called The Library. It was run by Miss Burns (who I think was the owner) and Olive. On the left as you entered was a glass case with candies (the round black jawbreakers were 2 for a penny), and on the right were the greeting cards. Farther back on the left was a section for toys. The lending library was on the right at the back. There was a season when I read most of the Hardy Boys series. Rental was only a couple of pennies per day and I could read a volume in one or two days. I believe that is the store now called Librairie Bonder, and is at 52 Westminster North.
You are good! That is right. I couldn’t remember the names🙃.
Okay did you know Mark Baker?