A Notman picture of the Montreal Street Railway Powerhouse and chimney in 1894.
Captions reads as follows:
In 1894 the Montreal Street Railway built its own thermal power plant to generate electricity for its system. The system was expanding rapidly as electric streetcars were proving to be far more popular than their horse-drawn predecessors.
The electric streetcar had an impact in two distinct areas. First, in the city centre, where the main lines converged, carrying thousands of employees to work and back in the morning and late afternoon. And second, in the suburbs, where a streetcar line became an essential condition for the success of a real-estate development project.
In 1907 the Montreal Street Railway ensured it had a monopoly on public transit on the Island of Montreal when it took control of the Montreal Terminal Railway, which operated a streetcar service in the city's eastern suburbs. It had achieved the same goal earlier, in 1901, in the western part of the island when it acquired the Montreal Park & Island Railway.
The broker Louis-Joseph Forget (1853-1911) had served as chairman of the streetcar company since 1892. He stepped down in 1910 and was replaced by Edmund Arthur Robert (1864-?), who reorganized the company. The man who was pulling the strings behind the scene, however, was the financier Herbert Holt (1856-1941), chairman of the Royal Bank.
Besides wanting to clean up the City's financial situation and improve its services, the reformers took issue with the big public utility companies -- gas, electricity, streetcars and water (in the annexed neighbourhoods). Many Montrealers, with the support of certain newspapers, accused the companies of not providing adequate services to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and of charging exorbitant rates that earned them huge profits. These powerful companies, which belonged to Montreal's leading financiers, enjoyed the benefits of a monopoly. They were able to ward off attacks from their critics by making sure they had solid support on the municipal council and by making a few concessions.
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| Posted by nostra-YOUPPI! |
8/7/2005 5:43 AM | remove |
great gallery
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| Posted by Emperor Wang |
8/9/2005 11:49 AM | remove |
Thanks, dude. Don't forget to check out the panorama I made from these pics.
I know, I suck at Photoshop.
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| Posted by nel58 |
11/7/2005 4:24 PM | remove |
I love the circus poster !!!!!!!!
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| Posted by TaP |
11/11/2005 3:44 AM | remove |
i like the topless woman
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| Posted by nel58 |
9/24/2006 5:32 PM | remove |
Cook & Whitby's colossal english circus 1892-94
owned then by Col.Ben Wallace who will later own the "Great Wallace show" in 1895.He will buy another circus after that will become the :"Hagenbeck-Wallace circus " in the early 1900s.
Thanks to Giovanni Iuliani for the infos,as he is the guardian of such an incredible collection of archives and memorabilia on Circus.(He worked all his life in various famous Circus around the world)
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| Posted by Charlie_Dunver |
9/26/2006 2:24 AM | remove |
I wonder which chimney he was on for this one?
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| Posted by nel58 |
9/26/2006 2:42 AM | remove |
A tiny one similar to the one on the left roof !
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