Iroquois for "cat"

Erie Street was one of the original Canada Company streets and was shown on the early maps as running to the south bank of the Avon River. There was a proposed continuation in a straight line on the north side of the river, known as Wellesley Street, to line up with what is now Mornington Street, also called the Mornington Road. On at a map of Stratford today, Erie Street still lines up in a straight line with Mornington Street beyond the James Street intersection. The proposed Wellesley Street between there and the north side of the river was never built.

The part of Erie Street between the York Street apartments and Ontario Street was originally called Shakespeare Place. On April 23, 1864, the town fathers planted the Shakespeare Oak to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, on April 23, 1564. The tree was planted on the hillside, across from the retail property at what is now 54 Ontario St. In those days, that hillside was in Shakespeare Square, which has since been renamed Memorial Park. 

Shakespeare Place and the Shakespeare oak have long since disappeared. However, but there remains a photographic record of the planting of the oak. It is one of the oldest known photographs taken in Stratford, and features local dignitaries doing the honours, surrounded by townspeople standing on the hillside under umbrellas.

The name Erie first appears on the 1848 map of Stratford, drawn by Donald McDonald. It is marked Erie Road, and there are seven bridges crossing the Erie Creek between Cambria and St. Patrick streets. There is another bridge just beyond Cambria and two more farther out.

In the early days of Stratford, Erie Creek snaked back and forth across Erie Road to cause all sorts of problems for early travellers. The mud was sometimes knee deep. The creek was eventually straightened into a ditch along the east side of the road and it still flows there today but in an underground arch. It joins the Romeo Creek arch near the St. Patrick Street intersection, and the two underground streams flow through the collegiate arch (formerly the Sharman Creek) under the collegiate flats and into the Avon River. Today, on the site of the former collegiate, is the Stratford Intermediate School. 

Erie Street takes its name from Lake Erie because it leads in that general direction. Lake Erie took its name from the Iroquois word meaning "cat.” The name is thought to have come from the number of cats in the region. With notes from Stanford Dingman

Marvin reminisced about driving Miss Canada almost all the way to Cambria Street. When asked what made his car travel so much farther than the others, he said the secret was all in the wheels. His father built the car using a set of official soapbox derby wheels that he had won from the Optimist Club. But there were other secrets as well, he said. Source: Stratford-Perth Archives

In 1957, the derby was moved from Erie Street to Upper Queen’s Park on Snake Hill and was held on September 21st rather than on

Labour Day. James Delafranier was fortunate to win the official derby wheel category that year, and for several years afterwards. His

soap box was 6 feet long, made of metal, and resembled a torpedo. In 1958, the annual Labour Day celebrations, not including the soap box

derby, were sponsored by the Stratford & District Labour Council. For many years afterwards, the Optimist Club continued to sponsor

the annual soap box derbys, holding them on Victoria Day.

But such derbies are still going strong in many small towns in  Canada and the United States. Source: Paul Wilker   

 * For more pictures and description see Flashback: Soap Box Derby Races

The townhouses were home to many tenants who contributed to the early development of Stratford. Significant tenants include George A. Mills, a Stratford taxi driver; A. C. Jones, a dentist; and Alex Vivian, a furniture dealer.

In 1939, the third storey was removed and the building was converted from residential to commercial use. As a commercial space it was home to many different business and organizations including the Williams-Trow Knitting Co., which operated a glove-making department from 1943 into the 1950s, the Shakespearean Festival Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, Apcot Products, and Scott Real Estate Ltd in the 1960s. 

When the Stratford Festival wasa a tenant, early in its history, the front of the building held administration offices and the box office, while the rear was used for wardrobe and props. 

Since the 1960s, it has been used as a hotel.  All of the original hardwood flooring, high ceilings, and country elegance remains in the quaint 12 rooms now occupying the former Daly Terrace.

The property reflects the townhouse style of the late 19th century. It was constructed on a fieldstone foundation and made of solid-buff brick. Typical of the period in which it was built, the windows are slightly arched with double-hung sashes of six-over-six panes with decorative voussoirs and keystones. The original entry doors of the townhouses were surrounded by pilasters and headers complimentary to the windows. Also of note is the dentil decorating the roofline. Source: Canada's Historic

Footnote: One of the most colourful hotel and bar operators at this address was former Hell Driver Neal Lucky Lott. Dean Robinson

Williams-Trow then consolidated production at its main plant, at 125 Erie St., and stuck to gloves and mitts, albeit on a far smaller scale. In the 1950s, about 50 people still worked in the plant and another 40 were homeworkers. Women comprised about 60 percent of the workforce. ⁣

Williams-Trow became Kraven Knit sometime between 1965 and 1971. As the textile industry declined in Stratford, the original factory at 125 Erie St., was then demolished and replaced by a retail plaza.

⁣ Source: Stratford History, Stratford-Perth Archives - Trade and Railway, Report of the War Purchasing Commission Volume 2, 1917, various Vernon's city directories 

The gas works

Before the days of bottled liquid propane, and piped-in natural gas, most Stratford residents burned coal for heat. However, there were several homes, businesses, churches, etc., that burned gas that was manufactured here in Stratford. The Stratford Public Utility Commission had a gas works plant that stretch over both sides of Wellington Street, and extended back to the north block of Nelson Street (now called Cooper Street). 

The plant was created in 1875 by the Stratford Gas Co., which was incorporated in 1874. In January 1876, it showered the town with its first gas lights. The company was taken over by the PUC in 1926, and was shut down in 1953. This Beacon-Herald photo was taken in 1952, from the upper level of the Canadian National Railways locomotive repair shops, likely the erecting shop.

The fuel produced by the gas works was commonly called "coke gas," or  "coal gas," and its manufacture involved baking coal in a special oven, storing the resultant gas, and then piping it underground to users.  The numbered buildings are 1, the retort house where the coal was baked in ovens; 2, the scrubber room where the gas was partially cleaned; 3, the purifying house where the gas was completely cleaned (this building was retained and is now part of Festival Hydro); and 4, the gas house, where the gas was stored. The gas house was demolished in 1955 to make room for the new PUC building, whose construction was completed in 1959. After the gas was baked in the retort house, what was left was called "coke." If memory serves me correctly, one could buy the coke from the PUC, for burning in a household stove. The site is now occupied by the PUC administration building at 187 Erie St.  Source: Brian Wendy Reis . . . FB

* Hayden Bulbrook, in an article in the Stratford Times in October 2022, noted that in 1889, the Stratford Natural Gas Co. was incorporated with James Trow, member of Parliament, as president. The company began drilling in 1890, on "untamed land," but with no success. Drilling to a depth of 2,386 feet, resulted in only salt water. The site chosen was on the west side of Brunswick Street at College Street, near where Juliet Public School would be from 1913 to 2004.

On March 30, 1892, Dr. Robertson married Jane Anne Monteith in Downie Township. She had been born on March 21, 1858, in Downie, a daughter of Samuel and Annie Jane (Nelson) Monteith. She was the fifth of six children, a sister to Elizabeth, Francis, John (died in early childhood), Margaret (died in early childhood) and Samuel Jr. 

 Many are the fond memories of the good ol' days with horses, milk wagons and home delivery. Maxine Donaldson posted the above picture of the Avon Dairies delivery wagons and their horses and drivers lined up on the east side of Erie Street in front of the dairy in the early 1930s. The dairy was on Erie Street just north of St. David Street and the Canadian National Railways overpass, in the block south of St. Patrick Street. The circular roof on one of the Gas Works buildings is in the background, directly behind the word "Avon" on dairy sign. Apartments were available for rent on the second floor of the dairy.

Maxine Donaldson’s father, Joe Donaldson, worked for the dairies beginning in 1930. He is in the suit beside the second horse on the left. She says Avon Dairies kept their horses in stables behind the dairy. She thinks there were more than six wagons and horses in the delivery fleet.

“My dad worked there from when he came over to Canada from Scotland in 1930 until the mid 1960s," she recalled. Then he went to the Stratford arena, now the William Allman Arena (see Morenz Drive) until he retirement in 1976. He lived across the street from the dairies, where the gas station is now. Riehl Motors was there in the 1950s and '60s. Brothers Roy and Harold Riehl had a Morris dealership and Supertest gas. When my dad met my mom (Victoria), they bough a house at 60 Mowat St. Avon Dairies had a  had a great dairy bar, which served lunches and, of course, sodas and ice cream."

Larry Ladd remembered “as a child going to the snack bar at Avon Dairies and asking for day-old donuts. It always had lots of A and P (grocery store) employees there during their breaks and lunch.” 

Bob Meldrum’s Aunt Joan was the business manager for Avon Dairies. His father also worked there during the Depression, when the flood of 1937 destroyed the dam, washed away the pergola and caused great damage in Stratford. It's his father waving from the side of the Avon truck caught in the waters rising on Erie Street.

Home deliveries continued into the late 1960s and '70s, though vans gradually replaced the horses, by which time grocery stores with “special” prices on milk had made home delivery unprofitable.

But it was not over yet, at least not in Stratford. In the 1990s something remarkable happened. Avon Dairies resurrected home delivery with wagons and horses, a comeback that lasted until at least 2003.

Bob and Doris  (1935-2022) chose to use horses with bells, wagons, and glass bottles. Customers loved the glass and complained when they tried switching to cartons. They offered delivery six days a week. Many seniors appreciated the personal delivery and conversation, which reminded them of the old days. 

The Marrans even hung buckets from the wagons for . . .  guess what? If you guessed pooper-scoopers, you would be right. In year one they had 1,200 customers. By the next year, 1,800. The horses knew the routes well. They stopped and moved down the street from one house to the next without direction, as the milkmen made deliveries. Residents didn't mind waiting for a horse to move, but surely would complain if a truck blocked a driveway. 

It was great service and great fun. Some people still used the old milk boxes by the side or back door for the deliveries. Empty bottles were placed there with a note about what was needed and the delivery was made, and probably paid for once a week. All houses had milk boxes when they were built in the early 1900s, and many a child climbed through when a house key was forgotten. Kids loved to see the dairy's horses and sometimes shared a carrot or apple with them. Some even got a ride in the wagon. More than one lost child was returned home by horse and wagon.

Betty Brodhagen remembers it this way. “There were six kids in our family and when the milkman came to our door we would go out and ride in his wagon or on his horse to the end of the street. Ah, the good old days! Why did it end?  I always wondered, because I would absolutely love to see it come back. I suspect it wasn't sufficiently profitable? So how could we, as consumers, support it?"

Maxine Donaldson has a possible answer: “I think I heard that there was just too much traffic on the larger streets and not room for the wagons, and the horses were not impressed by the traffic! Runaways?  Probably some public health thing about unrefrigerated milk too, which is nonsense; they still keep their milk on the grocery shelves in Scotland.” Sources: Vernon's Stratford city directories Finding Aids and Digitized Collections - Perth County; If you grew up in Stratford . . .  FB;  Robert "Bob" Charles Marran | Obituary | Stratford Beacon Herald  Compiled by Gord Conroy

Ken Gee remembers that his parents made the Erie Bar-B-Q into a 35-seat dining room, with takeout as well. He also remembers the off-track betting shop that was their next-door neighbour to the south. And Lee Littel's Classic Art store to the north, near Ontario Street. Canadian Tire was directly across the street, and Riehl Motors was a block farther to the south on Erie Street. Also to the south were a few stores beyond the still-functional bank parking garage that belonged to Victoria and Grey. It's now owned by Scotiabank.

Ken says, the Genes truly had a  "mom and pop small business. My parents were the cooks. My brother Wayne and I were always there helping out by mostly washing dishes by hand, and maybe doing something with vegetables. I recall the opening weekend we had a promotion where the takeout customers got a free case of coke with their order. I think the coke was the larger glass bottles and maybe a case of four or six bottles. Anyway, I recall a big stack of cases of coke like you would see for a display at a supermarket. We had a busy opening weekend and those cases of cokes were all gone!"

Ken also remembers his parents hired a couple of waitresses at that time and soon hired a Chinese cook out of Toronto during the second or third year. The restaurant also expanded into the building that had housed the off-track betting shop..  The cook lived there, and at the same location Ken's mother grew her own bean sprouts. 

In 1975, Gene's Restaurant expanded to its present location at 81 Ontario St. That had been the location of the former Centre Restaurant that had a fire in the late 1960s, and before that was home to the Rankins, who were well known for their fine food, ice cream and candy. Source: Stratford and District Historical Society

In 1968, Wally Gaul became sole proprietor of the gas station, which by then was a BP outlet because of a nationwide corporate  buyout. He stayed with BP until 1981, when Petro Canada became the new owner of BP. Petro Canada put their own employees in place to operate its stations until 1994, when the company stepped back from retail sales.

The building here is still in use, now as a sales and distribution centre for Heritage Memorials of Perth County. Vince Gratton

The York Apartments building at 1 Erie St. was built in 1928, opposite what was known then as Victoria Park, above the boathouse. That park is now named Cenotaph Park and is home to the city's war memorial War Memorial. (see Cenotaph above).

The York Apartments face the parkland at the bottom of Cobourg Street and York Lane which runs behind the businesses on the north side of Ontario Street. They were built six years after the war memorial was unveiled at the junction of Erie and Ontario Streets, on Nov. 6, 1922. Officially, the apartments are at 1 Erie St., though many Stratford residents unofficially considered the road they were on to be the River Drive or Lakeside Drive (now Veterans Drive). 

They were not the first apartments in town. Most others were above stores. The Albion Apartments were at 117 Ontario St., and the Falstaff Apartments farther east at 294-296 Ontario St. The Avon Apartments were at 16 Wellington St. and the Mack Apartments at 6 Wellington St. The Majestic Apartments were at number 93 Downie St., and the Romeo Apartments at 195-197 Waterloo St. S. 

The York Apartments, however, were different. They were in a modern, new building, and they were upscale luxury apartments close to downtown amenities, right behind the rock gardens at the back of the post office (see Ontario Street) and beside the beautiful park system along the Avon. In 1929, there was a noteworthy addition to the park, a shell-shaped bandstand built on the south shore of the river, thanks to the efforts of R. Thomas Orr (see Cobourg Street and  Lakeside Drive). Concerts in the bandshell could be heard or accessed easily from the apartments. 

The new apartments represented what was modern and cosmopolitan. In 1928, architects were starting to design apartment buildings that were sophisticated and stylish. In the year the York Apartments  were constructed, almost one quarter of all residential construction costs in Canada were for new apartments. The York Apartments had elements of the art deco style, with the accent on simplicity and geometric repetition. They had a clean, streamlined look. They were not for everyone, but some appreciated the freedom to come and go independently, without the responsibilities of house ownership.

The York apartment complex cost $75,000 to build and contained 18 suites in its four storeys. Stratford's J. L. Youngs was the contractor for masonry and carpentry work. The design was by Baldwin and Greene of Toronto. Baldwin was an important but underrated architect who opened his own office in 1921. He can be credited with introducing innovative designs in the art deco style to more than 30 residential and commercial architecturally significant buildings in Toronto and throughout southern Ontario, among them the York Apartments in Stratford. This Baldwin-Greene firm was the result of a 1924 partnership between Lawrence Counsell Martin Baldwin (1891-1968) and Gerald E. D. Greene, an engineer.

At the time of their building, the apartments were considered luxurious. Vernon's Stratford City Directory for 1929 lists their residents as a cross-section of business managers, engineers, a pilot, a doctor, a single female normal school teacher and a widow. Thomas Webster Orr, son of R. Thomas Orr settled in the building in 1930. Through the years, several medical doctors and dentists lived in the building and also had their offices there. As well, the building attracted young married couple and single females living on their own or sharing an apartment.  

In some cities, such as Toronto, apartments attracted substantial criticism and anti-apartment bylaws were introduced as early as 1912. The apartment buildings were condemned as “unsanitary, anti-family, and a threat to established property values, undermining ‘cities of homes’ both morally and economically.”

It was even thought that the layout of individual apartments was morally suspect because “living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms were ‘promiscuously’ mixed together on the same level,” and with the higher density of people in multi-storey buildings, apartment living was regarded as "morally and sanitarily suspect.”

However, Dennis also noted the positive view that some people had of new apartment buildings. They were “evidence of modernity and cosmopolitan sophistication, praised for their efficiency and appropriateness for new types of households leading new lifestyles . . .  They offered scope for a modern lifestyle, less oriented around large families, less dependent on married women confined to domestic roles, more focused on consumption and recreation." 

Nancy J. White agreed. In her 2009 article in the Toronto Star, she pointed out how important apartments were to the growing social and economic independence of women and cites. Her piece included this, from Dennis: "In apartments, women could set themselves up as a household, with control over their own lives, not supervised by a boarding-house keeper or hostel manager. They were much more independent."

Sources: Dictionary of Architects, Richard Dennis, Urban History Review, abstract for “Apartment Housing in Canadian Cities, (1900-1940). Nancy J. White, “Freedom for women came with apartments.” Hayden Bulbrook, “Changing Perception of apartments through the years,” Stratford Times, June 2022; If you grew up in Stratford . . . FB; Vernon's Stratford city directories.

But what about the buggies and the wagons? Where were they put if the horses were housed in the stable? "The  customers  just left their buggies and wagons on both sides of the street. We didn't have any parking or traffic worries then," said Louis Eickmeier in 1967, by which time he was 86. "It wouldn't be possible now to leave a vehicle unattended on the traffic lane. "

During his time as proprietor, there was a "dry" vote, to decide the city's policies on the sale and consumption of alcohol.  "One day we were operating a bar," said Eickmeier, "and the next day we made it a restaurant (a booze-less restaurant)." 

The Ontario House was on the southwest corner of the intersection of the Erie and St. Patrick streets in the early to mid-1900s. Eventually, it was sold by owner Stewart McDonald to Henry G. Kalbfleisch in 1967. Kalbfleisch arranged for demolition of the building so the property could be used as a parking lot for the Kalbfleisch Bros.' Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler car dealership, which was on the north side of St. Patrick Street, at 114 Erie St.

From Brian Wendy Reis: "In case you might be thinking all our forefathers did was sit around drinking milk and eating bread from all those dairies and bakeries (see Ontario Street), in the photo above the Ontario House at the corner of Erie and St Patrick streets (128 Erie St.) undergoing a paint job early in the 1900s.

The photo was loaned to the Beacon-Herald by Mrs. Irene Schellenberger, whose husband Earl is the middle of the three men on the truck. E. G. Yousie is holding the horse's bridle  and the man next to him is the Ontario House owner, Louis Eickmeier. "After the Ontario House was sold in 1945, it was painted red," said Brian Wendy Reis. "Some in Stratford remember that very well. It was also a barbershop, a vacuum repair shop and a restaurant." John W. Bain remembered Charlie Halstead operating the barbershop. "I got my first haircut from him," he said. "He later moved down the street to a house near Erie Street and Cambria Street."

Patricia Cole Robinson remembered that, "Bill Ellison had his vacuum business there, and Charlie and Connie Trafagander had the little restaurant."  Helen Ellison remembered having her "first pizza in that building. It was the best pizza I have ever tasted. Connie's mom used to make them, and she sold them in the restaurant before anyone else in town had them." Source: If you grew up in Stratford . . . FB; also,  William Cole, photo below and London Free Press article, from March 1967, on If you grew up in Stratford . . . FB