THE MAGAZINE ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY BELLEVILLE
BELLEVILLE.CA
JULY 2017
BELLEVILLE Magazine Welcome
On behalf of my colleagues on City Council, Executive Management and all of the staff at the City of Belleville, it is my profound pleasure to welcome you to a special anniversary edition of the 2017 Summer BELLEVILLE magazine.
In this special edition, we are thrilled to showcase pictures of past dignitaries who have helped create and shape this great City we live in. The following pages emphasize important points in our history as we celebrate 200 years of the beginning of what we now call the City of Belleville.
During the summer months, the City of Belleville features many events and festivals that provide enjoyment for members of the entire family. This is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the many outdoor activities and community events we have to offer. This is the time of the year when our beautiful City comes to life!
Please enjoy this summer edition of the BELLEVILLE magazine and I kindly welcome your feedback and look forward to our continued work together in making the City of Belleville a great place to live, work and play.
Enjoy your summer!
Warm Regards,
Taso A. Christopher, Mayor
HISTORY AND ACCESSIBILITY
gracefully merge in newly renovated
CITY HALL FOYER
The City of Belleville was pleased to host an official reopening ceremony for the newly renovated front foyer of City Hall on March 30th. The construction work, which began in October 2016, is complete and the result is a beautiful transformation which has not only made the entryway compliant with accessibility requirements, but it has struck an esthetic balance which compliments the historical features of the building while aligning with the convenience of modern design.
The elevator now extends from the lobby to the fourth floor and height adjustable counter tops are installed in Finance and Corporate Service areas on the first floor. The foyer features displays of historical artifacts and video information for residents and tourists alike.
The public is encouraged to visit City Hall to see this beautiful new gateway.
“The result of this renovation is truly amazing. Residents and visitors now enter City Hall and are greeted with facilities which are welcoming and accessible to all. The ease of modern technology has been applied without compromising the historical integrity of this beautiful building.”
Mayor Taso Christopher
Belleville Shoreline
Then and Now
Once an industrial hub for shipping and receiving goods, Belleville’s waterfront has now been transformed into a beautiful recreational destination for residents and tourists alike. The broad, sheltered waters of the Bay of Quinte make Belleville one of the top destinations for boating, kayaking and windsurfing. The City’s waterfront trails are perfect for walking, cycling, running and rollerblading – the playground, plus benches to rest and enjoy the scenery, are a testament to the City’s commitment to creating a stunning oasis to be enjoyed by all.
take a trip down
MEMORY LANE
This beautiful section of waterfront at the south end of Foster Avenue is a tribute to the Belleville area Railway Workers and their families. We remember and honour the contributions and dedication of these individuals and encourage you to walk the trail, read the memorial bricks along the path, relax in the gazebo and take time to reflect on the important role they played in our community.
BELLEVILLE YARDMEN
raise funds for new arena
During the late 60s the Belleville Yardmen decided to raise money for a co-worker’s retirement party. They filled a wheelbarrel full of ‘beverages,” tied it up with a pretty bow and sold tickets. The Belleville Yardmen Benefit Fund was born.
The success of the fund prompted the group to hold a draw once a month. The first batch of tickets sold for 25 cents each and were bought amongst themselves and their families. This quickly escalated to $1.00 per ticket and the Yardmen soon realized they were limiting themselves - they had an amazing opportunity at their fingertips - they could sell their tickets anywhere the railway went. Their draw was now barreling full speed down the tracks. Packets of 100+ tickets were distributed up and down the line. Ticket prices increased to $100 and the demand continued to grow.
“When we realized we could sell the tickets anywhere the train went, we knew we were really on to something,” said Albert Lentini, one of the initial six Yardmen who started the lottery. “We had a ‘built in’ distribution system with contacts in other cities who often took hundreds of tickets at a time.”
As their profits grew, the Yardmen looked for ways to invest their funds in the community and the decision was made to build a new arena. The Provincial Government then started Wintario and its success led to them agreeing to match the funds raised by the Yardmen to build the arena. Each contributed approximately three million dollars. It could be said – the Belleville Yardmen were the Wintario founders and our community, with its wonderful new arena, a tribute to their success.
THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH ALBERT LENTINI.
our story is not complete without the
BELLEVILLE RAIL LINES
The Grand Trunk was incorporated in 1853 to run from Sarnia to Portland, Maine. Although it took over existing lines, new ones were also built, including sections of the Toronto to Montréal line completed in 1856. The Belleville station is representative of the larger stations erected for the Grand Trunk Railway. The station was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1973 and has been protected under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act since 1992, an enduring monument to early Canadian railway enterprise.
Belleville’s Grand Trunk Station is the oldest of multiple buildings which were once part of Belleville’s GTR station yard, which employed 100 people by 1864 and included one of the first four GTR locomotive shops. A new shop was built in 1867, which increased the capacity to 24 engines, followed in 1874 by another 22 engine shop. A new round house was built in 1912 to accommodate 42 engines, with a wheel shed and machine shop adjacent. The railway became Belleville’s largest local employer with over a thousand employees during its prime. As a major divisional point on the GTR line between Montréal and Toronto, the Belleville station was a prominent part of a system which improved overland transportation immensely and had a profound impact on the province’s economics. The railway was instrumental in the 19th century growth of the town of Belleville. In 1914, Canadian Pacific Railways came to Belleville, at first sharing a station and facilities with the Canadian Northern Railways crossing the city south of Dundas Street. That very busy line remains CP’s southern main line linking Montréal and Toronto.
A historical plaque commemorating Pinnacle Street Railway will be unveiled by the Hastings County Historical Society at the Belleville Club, 210 Pinnacle Street at 2 p.m. on August 23.
TRAVEL BACK IN TIME
to when the railway connected Belleville
TO THE REST OF THE COUNTRY
The railway was what linked our residents to the rest of Canada. It was a social network that carried families to see distant relatives, soldiers to head off to battle, newlyweds to their honeymoon destinations and sports teams to championship games. Today we hop in our cars and take to the road. In earlier times the railway was the primary mode of transportation, essential to that era’s way of life.
THE BIRTH OF BELLEVILLE
Researched and Written by Doug Knutson
Edited by Laurel Bishop
In association with the Hastings County Historical Society
A historical plaque commemorating Simpson’s Tavern will be unveiled by the
Hastings County Historical Society at the corner of Front and Dundas Streets at 2 p.m. on July 12.
In the BEGINNING
The first name for this community was Asaukhknosk – Ojibwe for place where the rushes end – an appropriate name for the shallow mouth of the river now named Moira. French explorer Samuel de Champlain traveled through this area in 1615 with a Huron war party on their way to attack the Iroquois in modern New York State. He noted that the Bay of Quinte area had previously been occupied by the Huron and then the Iroquois peoples. Quinte derives its name from a Cayuga village Kentio and subsequent French mission Kente. One possible location for this was the mouth of the Sagonaska or Saganaskion River – meaning choppy, or dancing water. In the early 1700s the Iroquois were supplanted by the Mississauga or Anishinabe people.
LOYALISTS
After the American Revolution, thousands of United Empire Loyalists were resettled along the St. Lawrence River and Bay of Quinte. The original planned settlements in 1784 did not extend this far up the Bay of Quinte. However, settlers soon began to trickle farther west in search of land. Around 1785, Captain George Singleton established a trading post at the mouth of the Sagonaska River and the Bay of Quinte. Others also settled here, and the fledgling community became known as Singleton’s Creek. In 1787, the land known as Nuitte Town was surveyed and named the Township of Thurlow, and Lot #4 was designated as a “Burying Ground for the Indians.” Therefore most settlers built close to the Bay but a few began to build on Lot #4 with permission of the Mississaugas.
MEYERS CREEK
Another Loyalist war veteran, Captain John Walden Meyers, bought the north half of Lot #5 from John Taylor around 1790. He built the area’s first dam and mills (grist and saw) the first mills west of Napanee. He also built stores, a brewery, a distillery, a brickyard and he built and operated batteaux. He kick-started the industrial growth of the community and he is often referred to as its founder. Captain Singleton died in 1788 and the community was now known as Meyers Creek – also Moira or Thurlow. Meyers claimed to have a 99-year lease with Mississaugas to allow a road from his mills to the Bay (present-day Front Street) and the construction of some buildings. Meyers repeatedly petitioned the government to officially buy Lot #4 but he was always denied. By 1811, the government determined that the land set aside for Indian burying ground was a preposterous quantity for said purpose, and the time was proper for a Town at the mouth of the now Moira River (named for the Earl of Moira, Sir Francis Rawdon-Hastings). The Surveyor-General made plans to purchase Lot #4 and survey the town site, but the plans were interrupted by war.
WAR OF 1812
Captain Meyers’ reputation suffered as a result of the War of 1812. In contrast to his role during the American Revolution as a most active and zealous partisan, his support of this war was seen as somewhat lacking. Meyers may have felt he had already sacrificed enough for King and Country. Meyers also faced stiff competition and rivalry from other prominent citizens – most notably James McNabb, a fellow Justice of the Peace, business competitor and now local Commissary Agent. A feud seems to have developed between these two men. Meyers took very obstinate – and from our standpoint, rather humorous – actions in response to orders from McNabb. He refused to sell his flour at the government’s deflated prices, he hid his sleigh, and he refused to furnish his horses, even threatening to shoot the Constable if he tried to take them. Finally, after being ordered to join a wagon train taking supplies to York (Toronto), Meyers got as far as Brighton where he unhitched his team and returned home leaving the wagon on the road. A vicious attack on his family and home by billeted British troops cemented his position on the war.
James McNabb failed to see any humour in Meyers’ wartime actions, and he proceeded to lay charges of disloyalty against Captain Meyers. This was not a trivial thing to do when the penalty for treason was hanging. However, McNabb’s purpose seems to have been to prevent, as far as possible, such undeserving characters from obtaining further marks of Royal Bounty. McNabb and others went further by pushing to have the Meyers’ name removed from the community.
PURCHASE
By 1816, there were roughly 150 people living here and plans to purchase and survey Lot #4 as a town site were revived. It is interesting to note that the final purchase of the land from the Mississaugas did not occur until three days after the decision to name the community. The land where downtown Belleville now sits was purchased for the yearly rent of one pepper corn.
NEGOTIATIONS FOR LOT #4 WERE NOT FINALIZED UNTIL 2010.
NEW TOWN
By April 1816, Surveyor Samuel Wilmot had surveyed the site and laid out a town plot. Now all it needed was a name.
According to Dr. William Canniff writing in 1869: The naming of Belleville took place in 1816. The circumstances attending it were as follows: There met one evening at Mrs. Simpson's tavern, Captain McMichael, the two McNabbs, Wallbridge, R. Leavens, and S. Nicholson.
These gentlemen, at the suggestion, it is said, of Captain McMichael, determined to invite Lieutenant-Governor Gore, to name the newly surveyed town. The request was complied with, by calling it after his wife Bella... We have it also, on the authority of Mr. Petrie, who could not be ignorant of the facts, that the name is after Lady Bella Gore.
(Alexander Oliphant Petrie came to Meyers Creek in 1809 and presumably relayed this story directly to Dr. Canniff.)