Romeo Street

Wherefore art thou

There is no mystery about the origin of the name Romeo.

 One of the longest streets in Stratford, it runs north and south from the Avon River. It ends at Vivian Line 37 (formerly Vivian Street) in the north and Lorne Avenue in the south. When first laid out in 1855 by Toronto developers John Arnold and James Lukin Robinson, Romeo Street was then called Main Street. The name Main was probably intended to lend importance to the large new subdivision. Initially, it ran only south of Ontario Street. In 1856-57, Stratford developers, Peter Ferguson and Peter Robinson Jarvis, extended Main Street north of Ontario Street to provide access to their survey in what is now the Devon Street area. Ferguson designed the first courthouse in 1853, and Jarvis (Jarvis Street) was the Stratford mayor from 1863 to 1867. Main Street appeared on both the 1857 and 1879 maps of Stratford, but the name was changed to Romeo Street at about the time Stratford became a city in 1885. 

In 1857, the village fathers divided Stratford into five wards, and gave all of them Shakespearean names: Avon, Falstaff, Hamlet, Romeo and Shakespeare That Romeo was one of those names, and that Romeo Public School was built in 1873, probably influenced the name change of Main Street to Romeo Street. Though Arnold and Robinson had good intentions in naming it Main Street, it wasn't really Stratford's main street, and that had led to confusion. By Stanford Dingman

Here is how that move unfolded. In 1915, Kroehler purchased two-thirds interest in the Kindel Bedding Co., which had factories in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Toronto, at a price of $600,000. The first two plants were sold, but the Canadian business continued until its transference, in 1917, from Toronto to a new factory in Stratford, Ont. Five years later the name Kindel Bed Co. Ltd. was changed to Kroehler Mfg. Co. Ltd. In 1927 it became a wholly owned subsidiary.

During the Second World War, all Kroehler plants were called upon to help the war effort. The company changed its facilities from crafting furniture to making wooden assemblies for airplanes, wings for target planes, army cots, quartermaster furniture, cable drums for the signal corps, artificial limbs, collapsible landing boats, knapsacks, folding chairs, filing cabinets, living room furniture for federal housing projects, life preserver cushions, and much more.  The Stratford plant was busy building wing spars and interior parts for Mosquito and Lancaster bombers during the Second World War. 

In 1966, a modern facility was constructed across Romeo Street, which left original expanded pump house vacant. There was a possibility that the buildings would be demolished. Instead, in 1967, as a celebration of Canada's Centennial, the pump house became an art gallery, first known as the Rothmans gallery, because of the financial support of Rothmans Pall Mall of Canada Ltd. In the 1970s the cigarette manufacturer phased out its funding, and there was a name change to Gallery Stratford.

The first section of the building was designed by London, Ont., architect George F. Durand and constructed in 1883. Durand also designed the Perth County Courthouse during 1885-1887. (see Huron Street). Durand, one of Ontario’s leading architects of the time, felt, very strongly, that architecture was an art, not an engineering project; his structures reflecting the combination of more than one style of design associated with the Queen Anne Style.   The original style of the pump house can be termed Municipal Gothic with notable Italianate tracery in the brickwork. The pointed windows were placed in pairs in inset panels with Moorish fanwort above them and patterned chevrons beneath them. The building is white brick with red accents. To meet increased water demands, sympathetic additions were later added to the original building and a garage built nearby. In 1985, Gallery Stratford’s unique architectural exterior was recognized by the City of Stratford, which designated it a heritage building. 

While the Gallery’s exterior appears cottage-like, the building was never designed for domestic living. In its original state, the pump room had 16 foot high walls decorated, in places, by a "wandering artist." It had a brick floor and an oiled hardwood ceiling. Two other men responsible for the construction of the Waterworks in Stratford were W. Perry, Jr., who was responsible for putting the pumping machines in place and William Roberts, who was the building contractor. Roberts was not only a builder, but was also a brick manufacturer and the pump house was built using his "celebrated superior white patent pressed brick."   Sources: Historical Places;  Gallery Stratford - Wikipedia compiled by Gord Conroy

Bob Ihrig had a career with the Stratford Festival that spanned four decades – as a dresser (1957), a prop maker (1958-1960), supervisor of exhibits (1961-1968), exhibits coordinator (1990-98), and exhibits archivist (1998-2004). During his time at the Festival, he supervised major exhibitions, such as Faces of Canada (1964), 100 Years of Theatre in Canada (1967), and the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Exhibition (1992). He was the founding director of the Rothmans Gallery (1967) and director of the Kitchener-Waterloo gallery (1972-1980). He was an instructor at Michigan State University, taught and did photography for the Stratford Chefs School, and was a founding member of PAL (Performing Arts Lodge) Stratford.  Source: Globe and Mail Obit

In 1956, he won the international Guggenheim award, Canadian section, and was part of the National Gallery of Canada’s Second Biennial of Canadian Painting in 1957. In 1977, he was awarded a Canada Council senior arts award to pursue his prime ministers project.

* His work was also shown in Stratford, at the Rothmans Art Gallery.  * For samples of his art click on painting   Source: Gallery Collection

Curling rinks were added to the club in 1959-60. Curlers had been active in Stratford since at least 1887, and played on ice at a number of locations, including the building on Lakeside Drive known as The (Avon) Casino, and was later the Third Stage for the Stratford Festival. That building was constructed as a curling rink but was also a summer dance hall, with one of the best dance floors in southwestern Ontario. As well, it was home for the Stratford Badminton Club for several decades. That building became part of the Kiwanis Community Centre, all of which was demolished in 2017 so the Stratford Festival could build a new Tom Patterson Theatre on the site. For a short time, before there was ice at the country club, the curlers spent winters in a small metal building at the Stratford fairgrounds. The squash courts at the SCC were added in the late 1970s. They were first owned and operated by a city squash club, before ownership was transferred to the country club in 1991. Source Stratford Country Club

At the end of the work day on August 23 Gamble invited one of his workers Adam Seneca to join him at the Dominion House for some cold beer. After a short walk alongside the railway tracks, they arrived and settled into enjoying some comradery. They where soon joined for drinks by two other local fellows know to Gamble, Caleb Poynar and Harry Cornfield. Later in the evening the four men decided to leave the hotel and head back to Gamble’s Hut for more merriment.

It was here that they drank themselves into a frenzied state and as a result a brawl broke out. Gamble received a serious blow to the head by a table leg swung by Seneca. At this point Seneca also hurt in the brawl and having knocked Gamble to the ground started to crawl back to his tribe’s encampment. For reasons that remained unknown he passed out while crossing the railway tracks and was run over by the late-night train leaving for Toronto. The engineer did not see the body and carried on as scheduled. The engineer of an early morning train did see the body but was unable to stop in time to avoid striking the body a second time. After getting the locomotive stopped he went back to find Seneca with both his legs cut off and his head badly mangled to a pulp.

At the inquest a few days later, Poynar after being arrested stated that Gamble and Seneca got into an argument over the beer and whiskey that was left. He stated that Seneca hit Gamble with a hard blow to the head. At this point Poynar himself quite drunk decided he had enough revelry and walked back to town. Cornfield then stated that he had passed out inside the hut after hitting his head on the door frame when he attempted to go outside. When Cornfield did awaken in the morning, he saw Gamble outside lying on the ground and realised that he was dead. It was then that he proceeded to town to report what he could remember of the situation.

The inquest was told by the investigating officers that it was a gruesome and disgusting scene both at the Gamble’s hut and at the death site at the railway tracks. It was decided that Seneca had died by being hit by an earlier train as his body was cold when the second engineer checked on him lying on the track in the early morning dawn. Without proper evidence or a reliable witness, the inquest ordered that Seneca’s body be returned to his tribe and that the murder be filed as unsolved and the case closed.  Source: Vince Gratton

Hamilton distributed coal and wood in his James Hamilton Teamster wagon. The company also carried passengers to and from the local train station.

James Hamilton married Annie Silver, (1883-1948), also from Scotland, and they had three children, all girls. The middle child, Helene, would marry Gordon E. Steed, and they would become the second generation of company owners.  But before that happened, there is more of the James Hamilton story to talk about. Hamilton served with the Perth Regiment during WW1 and delivered supplies between Stratford and Niagara Falls as part of the war effort. In 1920, just two years after the war ended, Hamilton bought a used, surplus army truck to expand the business and offer services including hauling gravel and household moves.

In 1927, in the same year prohibition ended, James Hamilton renamed the company Standard Transport. By that time, he and Annie and the family were living at 265 Norman Street. A year later he landed his first major contract with a busy local furniture factory, Kroehler Manufacturing Company.

In 1939, Hamilton invited his daughter, Helene (1911-1988), and her husband, Gordon E. Steed (1905-1970), to help work for the business. Gordon and Helene had married in 1931. James Hamilton’s client, Kroehler, was called upon to make wing and tail assemblies for warplanes, which added to the workload.

In 1945, when James Hamilton died, Gordon E. Steed and Helene Hamilton Steed became the second-generation owners of Standard Transport. By 1950, they are living at 45 Water Street which became the family home. In 1956, their son, Gordon J. Steed, joined the company as a truck driver. After 10 years, Gordon and his wife Elaine bought the company from his parents.

In 1966, the company was renamed Steed Standard Transport.

Gordon and Elaine’s son, James Steed began working for the company at an early age doing odd jobs. He later pursued an education in the administrative side of the business and gained valuable first-hand experience within the trucking industry. He began working with SST in 1990 as a driver.

In 2000, James became the fourth generation to purchase the company. Steed Standard Transport is situated at 603 Romeo St. South. Sources: A video of their history and more information can be found on their website.Steed Transport   / Stratford City Directories; Find a Grave, Stratford Ontario.