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  #1  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 4:57 PM
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Canadian cities and towns, 1910-1960

Views of cities in the age of neon signs and streetcars; before Modernist megalomania, zoning, parking restrictions, and traffic regulations ruined the centres of our cities and towns, or at least made them more boring.

In no order...

1. Brantford ON, 1926


2. Main Street Winnipeg, 1928


3. Calgary c.1957


4. Quebec City, n.d.


5. St. John's Newfoundland, n.d.


6. Peterborough ON, 1946


7. Barrie ON, c.1945


8. Lombard Ave, Winnipeg c.1945


9. Chicoutimi Quebec, 1925


10. Kenora ON, c.1945


11. Portage and Main, Winnipeg c.1953


12. Bloor and Yonge, Toronto, 1954


13. Mansfield St. Montreal, 1931


14. Montreal harbour, n.d.


15. Hastings St. Vancouver, c.1945


16. Vancouver harbour, c.1930


17. Edmonton, 1940


18. Dauphin MB, 1946


19. Guelph ON, 1950


20. St. Louis St. Quebec City, n.d.


21. Charlottetown, P.E.I., n.d.


22. First Ave, Calgary c.1940


23. St. Catherine St., Montreal c.1950


24. Jasper Ave., Edmonton c.1950


25. Sherridon MB, c.1950


26. Whitby ON, c.1950


27. Gore Park, Hamilton, c.1950


28. Regina, c.1950


29. Sydney Nova Scotia, 1955


30. St. Catherines St., 1955


31. Calgary, undergoing a building boom, c.1925


32. Halifax, 1936


33. Sous-le-Cap St., Quebec City, 1934


34. Ottawa c.1950


35. St. James St., Montreal c.1950


36. Hamilton c.1950


37. Edmonton 1944


38. Regina n.d.


39. Montreal 1946


40. Saskatoon SK, 1921


41. Portage and Main, Winnipeg c.1950


42. North Main St. Winnipeg, 1928


43. North Bay ON, c.1945


44. 21st St. Saskatoon, 1950


45. Quebec City, 1937


46. Hamilton, c.1945


47. Victoria, 1933


48. King St., c.1925


49. Port Arthur ON, c.1945


50. Brockville ON, 1950


51. 10th St., Brandon MB c.1950

Last edited by rgalston; Jan 20, 2007 at 6:16 PM.
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  #2  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 5:13 PM
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great photos, thanks...
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  #3  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 5:17 PM
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What a great thread. Awesome compilation.
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  #4  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 5:23 PM
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Those pictures are nice but depressing in a way.

Because even in our cities that have maintained vibrant downtowns, they still are not as vibrant as back then when they were even smaller centres. Like Peterborough for example.

It is a shame.
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  #5  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 5:31 PM
Le1000 Le1000 is offline
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Originally Posted by miketoronto View Post
Those pictures are nice but depressing in a way.

Because even in our cities that have maintained vibrant downtowns, they still are not as vibrant as back then when they were even smaller centres. Like Peterborough for example.

It is a shame.
I concur.
You can tell that cities were more family oriented back then. I guess that died when everyone ran away to the 'burbs.
Great thread!
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  #6  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 5:33 PM
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Smalll bit of nitpicking on my part: The pic that you labelled 'First Ave' in Calgary is actually 1st Street

Other than that, very nice job! These pictures are much larger than you can find in the online Glenbow Archives here.
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  #7  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 5:44 PM
MplsTodd MplsTodd is offline
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Thanks! That is an incredible collection. Those shots of Montreal, Winnipeg, and many, many other places show an impressive vibrancy.
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  #8  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 5:55 PM
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Nice collection.

Interesting to see the Brantford photo with streetcars and everything after having explored its now decrepit downtown a couple weeks ago. What a contrast.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 6:21 PM
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Originally Posted by rgalston View Post
Main Street Winnipeg, 1928

Hey, look at all of those jaywalkers! There are several thousand dollars worth of fines in that photograph!

Thanks for a great reminder of the days when cities were about living, not about bylaws to improve the flow of traffic. What happened? Where did all go wrong?
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  #10  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 6:26 PM
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i really like the ottawa 1950 pic with all the spires rising above town
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  #11  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 8:23 PM
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Great thread! I love seeing old photos like these.
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  #12  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 8:51 PM
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Thanks for posting!

Weird seeing Halifax from that angle without the bridges. Also, it's kind of funny that spots in that pic that weren't developed then still aren't today.
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  #13  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 8:57 PM
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Nice find! Brantford looked good in those days.
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  #14  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 8:59 PM
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More:
52. Oshawa ON, 1950


53. Place d'Armes Sq., Montreal, c.1925


54. Windsor, with Detroit looming in the distance, 1941


55. Douglas St., Victoria, c.1940


56. Moncton New Brunswick, c.1945


57. Bay St., Toronto c.1955


58. Vancouver, c.1957


59. Edmonton, c.1950

Last edited by rgalston; Jan 20, 2007 at 6:17 PM.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 9:09 PM
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Nice collection, keep 'em coming if you find more. Thanks for including my hometown too. That's the corner of Charlotte St and Prince St in that picture of Sydney, looking north down Charlotte St. It looks mostly the same today.
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Last edited by Smevo; Jan 20, 2007 at 6:53 PM.
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  #16  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 9:10 PM
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Awesome! I've never seen that particular North Bay pic before. If I may, I'd like to submit another pic of North Bay from the 50's (i think) thats shows the Main Street.

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  #17  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2007, 9:13 PM
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Pictures like these make me cry.

It's a kind of intellectual parlor game to consider a civilization's high point, or a variant thereof, the decade when a city was at its peak - Paris in the 20s, Vienna in the 1890s, Los Angeles in the 30s, New York in the 50s, etc. But to see such heartbreaking beauty makes me realize the terrible toll prosperity and modernism took on our cities. Canada always seemed to me the most civilized country in North America, but even here you see how foolish and wasteful we've been with our most sublime creations: cities.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2007, 4:16 PM
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rgalston rgalston is offline
Density and complexity
 
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60. Montcalm House, where the famous general died after the battle on the Plains of Abraham, c.1940


61. Barbershop in The Pas, MB, 1944


62. Station at Victoria Beach MB, summertime playground for Winnipeg's WASP citizenry, 1948


63. Union Station, Winnipeg, 1943


64. Toronto, 1942


65. Old City Hall, Toronto, c.1955


66. St. Sacrement Street, Montreal, 1946


67. Eighth Ave., Calgary, c.1930


68. Douglas St., Victoria, c.1945--apperently still very much a city for retireees...


69. ...Ah, there's some people under 60. Douglas St. again

Last edited by rgalston; Jan 20, 2007 at 6:18 PM.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2007, 4:37 PM
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beautiful. i used to dwell on the past and the bad choices that our cities made; now i'm in complete acceptance. it's less depressing that way.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2007, 5:58 PM
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Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.
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