Written history dealing with the early years of Port Stanley is sparse, but postcards have proved an invaluable record of what life used to be like in our then little village.
This photograph is on page 40 of the Heritage Port Stanley book entitled, Port Stanley’s Pictorial Postcards, Volume One, 1906-1925, by Craig Cole and comes from the collection of the late Sam Vary. There is no postmark on this card which would allow us to establish an exact date, but the onrushing steam locomotive indicates that the photograph would have been taken prior to 1915, the year in which the London and Port Stanley Railway was electrified, and the garb of the waiting passengers suggests a pre-World War One time frame. Also note the wooden grain elevator in the background.
The role of the L&PS is a fascinating footnote to the early history of our village. In 1850 there were only 66 miles of railway track in all of British North America, so the laying of track from London to its busy port (Port Stanley) was a singular achievement. The London and Port Stanley Railway opened in 1856.
Ten years later, in1866, the rolling stoc Written history dealing with the early years of Port Stanley is sparse, but postcards have proved an invaluable record of what life used to be like in our then little village. This photograph is on page 40 of the Heritage Port Stanley book entitled, Port Stanley’s Pictorial Postcards, Volume One, 1906-1925, by Craig Cole and comes from the collection of the late Sam Vary. k consisted of two locomotives, three passenger cars, 42 freight cars and two baggage cars.
About 45,633 passengers were carried that year. In the Spring of 1868, two passenger trains a day were making the run from London to Port Stanley. In 1872 the railway was leased to the Great Western Railway, a line which was subsequently, in 1882, taken over by the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1888, the Canada Southern Railway received running rights over the London and Port Stanley branch of the Grand Trunk.
Subsequent railway lines which were involved were the Lake Erie and Detroit River Railway and, in 1903, the Pere Marquette Railway. The photograph of the Pere Marquette depot shown on this postcard would have been a black and white photograph which was hand coloured. Without knowing this you might think that all ladies of the era wore pale blue or pale pink dresses. The sky was always blue. If anyone can identify the substantial looking building south of the depot, please let us know.
As we say in our Heritage Port Stanley book, Port Stanley: The First Hundred Years, “The importance of the London and Port Stanley Railway to the little village in the 50 years from 1854 to 1904 is difficult to overestimate. The railway played a key role both in the early economic development of the village and in the subsequent development of Port Stanley as a leading summer resort on Lake Erie’s north shore.”
Other posts by Craig Cole.