Lord Nelson and his Immortal Memory
Emma Hamilton by George Romney, circa 1785
Horatio Nelson
Nelson Street was one of the early Canada Company streets in Stratford, and the name first appeared on the 1848 map. Many of the founders of Stratford who had come from Britain, still had a living memory of the life and death of Viscount Lord Nelson whose Immortal Memory was long toasted on the anniversary of Nelson's victory at Trafalgar. By Stanford Dingmam
Horatio Nelson (in full, Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe, or Sir Horatio Nelson, or Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe) was a British naval commander in the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. He won crucial battles, among them the Nile (1798) and Trafalgar (1805), where he was killed by enemy fire on the HMS Victory. In private life he was known for his extended love affair with Emma, Lady Hamilton, while both were married.
Nelson was born Sept. 29, 1758, in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England, and died at sea Oct. 21, 1805, off Cape Trafalgar, Spain. See full biography: Britannica
Stratford's second railway station, December 1856
The second Stratford station had no connection to the Grand Trunk Railway. It received its first locomotive late in 1856 after the Buffalo and Lake Huron Railway (B and LH) line reached Stratford in December of that year. The depot for that line was built the corner of St. David and Nelson streets.
The first train of the B and LH Railway rolled into Stratford on Dec. 8, 1856, about three months after the first train arrived at the GTR station in early September. (see Regent Street).
And who was on that December train, the first to the second station? The Hon. Edward B. Chandler of New Brunswick was among the special guests. About a decade later he became one of Canada's Fathers of Confederation.
For a while, it looked as if the predecessor to the B and LH, the Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway (BB and G), would beat the GTR in getting a train to Stratford. In 1853, three years earlier, the BB and G had turned the sod at the corner of Erie and St. David streets, to serve or its rail line into the city. The present-day overpass on Erie Street is close to where that station was to be built.
Three years later, BB and G lost the race by about three months, when the GTR brought a train to its Regent Street station on Sept. 3, 1856 (see Regent Street).
Despite shaky finances, the B and LH pressed on to Mitchell, and in 1858 it reached Goderich. Its success, however, was short lived. In a few years, that line was absorbed by the Grand Trunk Railway. The GTR then dominated rail transport for more than 40 years. Sources: Dean Robinson's book Railway Stratford Revisited; Edward Barron Chandler | The Canadian Encyclopedia
* Stratford has had six train stations during its history. See Stationstimeline
Edward Barron Chandler, a future Father of Confederation, was aboard the first train (B and LH Railway) to arrive at Stratford's second railway station, in December 1856.
Eva Munro: Avon River Painting. 1942. Donated by the family of Marjorie Eggert to the Stratford-Perth Archives.
Eva Munro, Stratford artist
This is an oil painting by Eva Evelyn Munro (188-1961) who painted during the first half of the twentieth century in and around Stratford. This painting, which might be called “Summer Days Ahead.” was painted in 1942 and shows the swans of Stratford near “The Island” which in 1977 would be rebuilt and named in honour of Stratford Festival founder, Tom Patterson. Before then, it was simply called “the Island.” The painting was donated to the Stratford Perth Archives by the family of Marjorie Eggert, herself a local painter who was a student of Eva Munro, and one of the founders of Art in the Park in 1972. (see Lakeside Drive)
The painting reflects some of our Stratford history of the bridge, the swans and the island itself. (see Evolution of the Avon River). The history of the scene in the painting follows before details of the life of Mrs. Munro.
The Bridge. In 1921, the walking bridge in the painting joining the mainland to the island was made possible by Harry Strudley, (1870-1961), a well-known Stratford businessman, who financed it privately, and built it at his factory, Imperial Rattan. (see Trinity Street). It was “rustic” in design and materials. The city provided the bridge abutments. The actual bridge was designed by Strudley’s son, Donald, (1901-1985), a student at the time whose design was chosen in a city-wide design competition. Donald also supervised the construction. This first bridge lasted for some 40 years until it was washed away in the spring Avon River floods and replaced. However, some vandalism before that date meant that the “rustic” bridge railings were replaced by machined boards in 1947 as these two photos from Stratford residents show.
The first photo, above, posted by Maxine Donaldson on If you grew up in Stratford...FB, shows her mother, Victoria, with blonde hair, and her mother’s sister, Wendy, in this 1930s photo taken on the island. We can see the rustic design of the railings in detail.
The second photo, to the right, provided by Vince Gratton shows members of his family in 1947 and the new “non rustic” standard machined railings. Vince is the young man in the centre; with older brother, Don, beside the railing. Their mother, Betty, stands behind, with her sister, Mary, and Vince’s cousin. We can also see that some repairs were needed to the boards that people walked on.
But how did the island get there in the first place? And how did Stratford get swans? And what did the view along the river look like before the bridge? Let's look at the history of what we see in Munro's painting from 1942.
Let’s start with the last question. The view without the bridge can be seen in the image on the left below. The date of the photo is not known though the willow trees on the island are well established so it must be after the end of WW1 in 1918 so close to the time of the first bridge building in 1921.
The island itself was the result of a number of decisions made to improve the parkland by the Parks Department which came into being in 1904. Betty Jo Belton in her article about the Munro painting being donated to the Stratford-Perth Archives mentioned an early Stratford Herald report in 1909: “Stratford citizens have the satisfaction of seeing their “island” daily growing larger. A part of the river improvement scheme is the building of imposing little islands a short distance east of Front Street. There has been for years a tiny little island at this point, an immense willow tree serving as its centre point. This island was utilized as the nucleus of a much larger one. Moreover, the channel on the south side of the island has been dredged out, thus making a double passageway for boats. The island now covers a considerable area, is high and dry and will be made a beauty spot.”
Until the walking bridge was built in 1921, the island was only for viewing or accessible by boat. This photo on the right below comes from the early 1920s provided by Norm Huggins, taken by his great-grandparent, on the island looking toward the south shore mainland.
The swans, shown in the Munro painting of 1942, had arrived in 1918, three years before the building of the bridge, a gift from Master Mechanic J. C. Garden who worked at the G.T.R. shops. He had seen mute swans on vacation in Florida before he came to Stratford and had a pair shipped to Battle Creek Michigan where he worked, and then, once he came to the Stratford shops, he arranged to have a pair of their offspring sent here. Every year the swans of Stratford are piped from their winter quarters beside the Allman Arena with great fanfare as a rite of spring. In 1976, Veronica Tennant, Canada’s prima ballerina, even led the swans as she “pirouetted her way down to the lake in full costume from Swan Lake.”
Munro House. 178 Nelson Street. Unchanged in 2024.
Mrs. Munro lived at 178 Nelson Street when I knew her. (see Addendum below). That was in the early 1950s. Before that, she had lived with her husband and family first at 89 Dufferin and later 136 Dufferin.
Eva Evelyn Cody was her maiden name, born in Zorra county. She married Adam David Munro, ( 1884-1944), also from there in 1922 when they were both in their 30s. They had three children late, a girl, Catherine Cody Munro Fraser (1923-1994), and two boys, Elmer Albert “Al” Munro (1923-2002), and Bruce Andrew Munro (1931-1989).
Their final home on Nelson Street during census taking was described as a full story red brick home on the west side of Nelson two north of West Gore Street. Mrs. Munro still loved there in 1953 as a widow with one son, Bruce, an electrical apprentice at the CNR, still at home.
Eva Evelyn Cody Munro was talented enough that she supplemented her income with her work and some teaching of art students privately. She may have had a pension from her husband who had been a stationary engineer at Whyte Packing except for his time served in WW1. Sources: Stratford-Perth Archives; Find a Grave, Stratford: Mary Jane Lennon, A Stratford Album; Vince Gratton, Stratford historian; Betty Jo Belton article, "Stratford's Swan and Artistic Heritage," Stratford Times, March 8, 2024.
Above are two additional works by Eva Evelyn Cody Munro. On the left, CNR Bridge St. Mary's Oil on board 9"H X 12"W Framed (Vintage Condition). At the time of painting, the bridge would have been the GTR bridge. The painting on the right was entitled Maybe Stratford Ontario on the internet where it was offered for sale in 2024. Oil on board 12"H X 22"W Framed (Vintage Condition). It was first thought it might have been Stratford with St. Joseph’s and St. James Churches in the background but there is no Avon River in the foreground. Vince Gratton, a Stratford historian and lifelong resident, looked at the paintings of the CNR Bridge in St. Mary’s and the one entitled Maybe Stratford and concluded that the locale is not Stratford but St. Mary’s, probably the north quarter. Vince concluded: “It was likely painted from the GTR track near the bridge. (Not Stratford). Then I looked at another of her paintings and it was St. Mary’s as well. Makes me think I may be right.”
Personal Addendum by Gord Conroy. From 1952-1954, I took art lessons on Saturday afternoons during the school year with Mrs. Munro as a boy of nine beginning in 1952 for two years. I attended with Carl Spackman, a year older, and a grade ahead, who lived behind me at 220 Cobourg Street. His father Keith Spackman was a pharmacist ...Spackman & Ross Pharmacy ... at 78 Ontario Street. The lessons cost $2.00 for the afternoon. We were usually there for a couple of hours minimum. Carl did watercolours; I did pastels and later some oil paintings. We entered through the side door at 178 Nelson Street into the kitchen. In good weather, we parked our bikes on the side porch. Mrs. Munro had easels set up in the living-room area in the middle of the house for four or five students...Carl and I were the only non-adults. There was a bed sitting room at the front ...the window to the left of the front porch...and then the living room where our classes were held with hidden pull doors between the two front rooms.
We brought our own art supplies. I had a small box of Rembrandt pastels in 1952 ...and later, in 1954, a small wooden case for oil painting supplies which were all purchased at Mr. Harry McMillan’s Framing shop, located first at 16 Ontario Street and later at 26 Erie Street beside Ed's Barbershop at 24 Erie Street run by Ed Kressler.