Canadian skylines of the past

[SignalHillHiker]

A few pictures via Facebook of an interesting period, post-Confederation with Canada but prior to the construction of the Trans Canada Highway on the island. This is when most travel was still conducted by the coastal boats, although there were limited, unpaved "high roads" connecting communities as well - mostly on the Avalon Peninsula.

Such a different world then. Isolated accents were much stronger. Average incomes were still around a third of those in mainland Canada. Even the smallest villages had healthy demographic compositions.

A few pictures of a coastal boat run from Twillingate in Notre Dame Bay to St. John's.

July, 1960





A view from the coastal boat of a private ferry carrying shoppers from island communities to the "mainland" town of Lewisporte for shopping.







No, not 1930s rural Belarus. 1960s rural Newfoundland.



Arrival in St. John's.







And two older ones... barrels of rum on the Southside, and a musical.

[Acajack]

That's great stuff.

Always fascinating how people used to dress so nicely to go shopping.

[SignalHillHiker]

I just find it fascinating how different the world could be depending on where you lived. The flappers in 1920s St. John's would be alarmingly modern in some of those rural communities, even in the 1960s. You could actually be ignorant to the point of social handicap, far more than is even possible today.

And how long it took to get anywhere. My father told me when he was growing up it was a 13-hour drive to St. John's (it's 3.5 hours today, downtown to his childhood home). He'd only been to St. John's twice before he graduated high school. And Shannon Tweed grew up in a town that's now 45 minutes away from the city by road, and I remember in one interview about what's changed with NTV, she said what struck her most is how up-to-date everyone in her hometown is. The fashions are the same, they know what's going on the world, pop culture is the same. "When I was a girl, you'd go to the city maybe once a year for new school clothes, and that was it, you'd never see it again."

I've done lazy, casual weekend drives this summer that covered more distance than many of my ancestors probably saw in their lives. And did it much faster than they ever could. It's strange.

Wait until I discover flying.

[BIMBAM]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I just find it fascinating how different the world could be depending on where you lived. The flappers in 1920s St. John's would be alarmingly modern in some of those rural communities, even in the 1960s. You could actually be ignorant to the point of social handicap, far more than is even possible today.

And how long it took to get anywhere. My father told me when he was growing up it was a 13-hour drive to St. John's (it's 3.5 hours today, downtown to his childhood home). He'd only been to St. John's twice before he graduated high school. And Shannon Tweed grew up in a town that's now 45 minutes away from the city by road, and I remember in one interview about what's changed with NTV, she said what struck her most is how up-to-date everyone in her hometown is. The fashions are the same, they know what's going on the world, pop culture is the same. "When I was a girl, you'd go to the city maybe once a year for new school clothes, and that was it, you'd never see it again."

I've done lazy, casual weekend drives this summer that covered more distance than many of my ancestors probably saw in their lives. And did it much faster than they ever could. It's strange.

Wait until I discover flying.

What struck me most was how many women covered their heads with scarves. Was it to protect primped hair from the rain, or was it a modesty thing?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by BIMBAM

What struck me most was how many women covered their heads with scarves. Was it to protect primped hair from the rain, or was it a modesty thing?

My grandmother(s) used to do that. In their case, it was to protect their coiffed hair from the elements.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Monolith

CPR Vancouver 1930 by RCN News, on Flickr Uploaded on April 6, 2016

50 years before this picture was taken there was nothing there. It always amazes me how big Vancouver's skyline was even from the very inception of the city. Like, a Montrealer of Torontonian getting off the train at Granville street would of instantly understood this was a big city at the level of their hometown.

[wg_flamip]

Originally Posted by BIMBAM

What struck me most was how many women covered their heads with scarves. Was it to protect primped hair from the rain, or was it a modesty thing?

It was much more common for both men and women to cover their heads in public in the past, which, for poorer rural women, would often mean a head scarf or bonnet. I'm not sure it was a consciously for the sake of modesty anymore than, say, covering the shoulders in the office is recognized as a modesty thing today.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I just find it fascinating how different the world could be depending on where you lived. The flappers in 1920s St. John's would be alarmingly modern in some of those rural communities, even in the 1960s. You could actually be ignorant to the point of social handicap, far more than is even possible today.

And how long it took to get anywhere. My father told me when he was growing up it was a 13-hour drive to St. John's (it's 3.5 hours today, downtown to his childhood home). He'd only been to St. John's twice before he graduated high school. And Shannon Tweed grew up in a town that's now 45 minutes away from the city by road, and I remember in one interview about what's changed with NTV, she said what struck her most is how up-to-date everyone in her hometown is. The fashions are the same, they know what's going on the world, pop culture is the same. "When I was a girl, you'd go to the city maybe once a year for new school clothes, and that was it, you'd never see it again."

I've done lazy, casual weekend drives this summer that covered more distance than many of my ancestors probably saw in their lives. And did it much faster than they ever could. It's strange.

Wait until I discover flying.

It's fascinating how our world has changed on a "spatial" level.

The part of Gatineau where I live was once a small farming community called West Templeton. It's about 10-15 km from central Ottawa. You can see Ottawa from some of the higher points of the district. A century ago, I suppose most people living there would only rarely go to Ottawa, maybe not not for a year or years at a time. With how busy they were with their lives, a three-hour walk or a 2-hour horse and buggy ride to Ottawa wasn't really a priority unless they really needed to go.

Even more recently. When I was a kid going to Moncton for my relatives in NE New Brunswick was a major excursion. But I was recently shocked to hear relatives and friends in the same town say they're scooting down to Costco in Moncton to pick up stuff for a big family dinner that same night.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by BIMBAM

What struck me most was how many women covered their heads with scarves. Was it to protect primped hair from the rain, or was it a modesty thing?

A bit of both. It was in fashion at the time, something a respectable woman - especially post-puberty but pre-marriage - would wear. It was like how most women here (everywhere?) used to cut their hair short after getting married. It's just what was done.

But it's also just to protect from the weather. Old ladies here still routinely wear clear plastic ones, so people can see their blue-purple curls without getting them messed up by the wind.

It's also a class practice. You'd almost certainly see the same thing in urban slums or rural areas on the mainland at roughly the same time. Pictures from, say, Baltimore or Hamilton at that time are probably full of them.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by wg_flamip

It was much more common for both men and women to cover their heads in public in the past, which, for poorer rural women, would often mean a head scarf or bonnet. I'm not sure it was a consciously for the sake of modesty anymore than, say, covering the shoulders in the office is recognized as a modesty thing today.

Back in the day, freshly-baked hair required care and maintenance. For women, headscarves and (ugh) plastic rain bonnets protected against wind and rain.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

A bit of both. It was in fashion at the time, something a respectable woman - especially post-puberty but pre-marriage - would wear. It was like how most women here (everywhere?) used to cut their hair short after getting married. It's just what was done.

But it's also just to protect from the weather. Old ladies here still routinely wear clear plastic ones, so people can see their blue-purple curls without getting them messed up by the wind.

It's also a class practice. You'd almost certainly see the same thing in urban slums or rural areas on the mainland at roughly the same time. Pictures from, say, Baltimore or Hamilton at that time are probably full of them.

I would have said that, to the extent it was a custom, it would have died out in the mainstream in the 1920s with the advent of the "bob".

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Back in the day, freshly-baked hair required care and maintenance. For women, headscarves and (ugh) plastic rain bonnets protected against wind and rain.

EDIT: Found the one I really wanted. Starts at 16:45 (the one in the thumbnail).

• Video Link

[Acajack]

AFAIK, by the 60s it had been quite a while since the Catholic church had stopped requiring women to cover their heads at church.

Though women if they wanted to were still *allowed* to wear something on their heads in church, and men were not. In a way, this was seen as a privilege that women had, as they could wear nice hats and such.

[speedog]

This is a skyline thread, right?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by speedog

This is a skyline thread, right?

You need to learn to chill out.

[MolsonExport]

[MolsonExport]

skyscrapercity


mtlblog

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

AFAIK, by the 60s it had been quite a while since the Catholic church had stopped requiring women to cover their heads at church.

Though women if they wanted to were still *allowed* to wear something on their heads in church, and men were not. In a way, this was seen as a privilege that women had, as they could wear nice hats and such.

Women still wear hats in many black churches, although not for particularly religious reasons, afaik. I think head covering is also part of Orthodox worship. I was struck by the fact that women covered their heads to see the Tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, although that would have been mainly a crowd of Orthodox and devout Church of Rome adherents. Given the history of the clerics at that church, helmets might be more appropriate headgear!

[flipv]

It is customary to cover your head in the Pope's presence.

It is also customary (and enforced) to cover your legs, shoulders, and upper arms when in a church (at least the two I'm familiar with - Orthodox and Catholic).

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Fascinating. Must be right up before they built the New York Life Building in 1889.