The Niagara Railway Museum Ken Jones – President, Niagara Railway Museum Inc.
The Niagara Railway Museum’s mandate is preserving and promoting the railway heritage of the Niagara region and is located in the former Canadian National Fort Erie diesel shop built in the early 1950’s.
Began in 1994 with an assortment of railroad paper work and photographs, the museum acquired an ex-CP Rail track motorcar and 2 baggage carts in August 1996. The museum collection now includes 12 track motorcars, from the CNR, CP Rail, TH&B and the Chesapeake & Ohio, a small hand operated crane from CP built by Pyke, and 4 lorries used to carry tools and supplies behind the motorcars.
3 models representing the various railway bridges of Niagara Falls were added in 1998 and in April 2006, the museum acquired the last remaining steam locomotive from the Hydro Electric Power Commission’s Sir Adam Beck Generating Station.
Other acquisitions have followed, including railway track tools, various railway signs, lanterns, oilcans, and books on railways throughout the world.
This event is hosted by the Grimsby Historical Society.
The Niagara Investment in Culture program promotes culture in Niagara by funding a range of innovative and collaborative projects.
Applicants from the following two categories are eligible for the program:
- Any one of Niagara’s 12 municipalities
- Non-profit Niagara cultural organizations
Submit your completed application form by email or mail/drop-off to Bonnie Dewar at Niagara Region (1815 Sir Isaac Brock Way, Thorold).
Grimsby at War 1914-1918 Ev Page and Linda Bauman – Grimsby Historical Archives
For the past four years volunteers at the Grimsby Historical Society Archives have researched how life in Grimsby changed during the Great War. They have honoured those who served, those who contributed gifts for their comfort and those who kept the farms vibrant.
While many later residents served in the war, the project addressed mainly those who were born or lived in Grimsby prior to and during 1914-1918. One other added research branch focussed on the parents who lived in Grimsby at that time. By linking these criteria more than 400 men’s names were added to the project master sheet.
The presentation will address what life was like for the towns’ people and for those serving on the front line in France and Belgium. Members of the 62 Phantom Squadron Cadets will be the voices of local men as they read their letters from the trenches and hospitals overseas.
This event is hosted by the Grimsby Historical Society.
Frank Lloyd Wright Revisited Ken and Linda Bauman – Grimsby Historical Society
During a period of 15 years, Ken and Linda Bauman travelled across the United States to tour 40 houses, commercial and institutional structures designed by the American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright’s productive period spanned more than 70 years. His visionary creations were strongly influenced by the natural world and he emphasized craftsmanship while embracing technology’s ability to make design accessible to all.
Ken and Linda revisit some of Wright’s iconic buildings and we learn how many of his creative ideas are reflected in the interior design of our homes and in the architecture of new development in our community.
This event is hosted by the Grimsby Historical Society.
Richard Pierpoint: Donna Ford – President of Central Ontario Network for Black History
Donna is a researcher on early Black Settlers who as Runaway Slaves arrived during the Underground Railroad era and settled in St. Catharines and Niagara region.
Richard Pierpoint was a child slave brought from Senegal in West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. He became a soldier in the Revolutionary War in the United States and fought in the War of 1812 in Canada. In the latter stages of his life, he was a leader in the community.
Richard Pierpoint served a pioneer in John Butler’s rangers. By 1780 he was stationed with them in the Niagara region and was granted 200 acres of land on Twelve Mile Creek, in what later became Grantham Township.
In 1812 he enlisted in the Coloured or Black Corps and saw action at the battle of Queenston Heights on 13 October 1812 and was also involved in heavy fighting during the siege of Fort George (Niagara-on-the-Lake) on 27 May 1813.
He wished to return to the West African settlement he had left in the hold of a slave-ship some 60 years earlier but instead the old soldier received a location ticket for 100 acres of land in unsettled Garafraxa Township on the Grand River, near present-day Fergus.
In May 1825 Richard Pierpoint completed the settlement duties in clearing and fencing five acres and erecting a house. He probably died in late 1837 – an old African brought by the slave trade to the frontier of settlement in a land he never took for his own.
This event is hosted by the Grimsby Historical Society.
A History of Canada in Ten Maps Adam Shoalts – Author, Explorer, Archaeologist, Historian
Adam Shoalts has been called one of Canada’s greatest living explorers and in 2017 embarked on a 4000-kilometre solo journey across Canada’s Arctic.
Every map tells a story. And every map has a purpose – it invites us to go somewhere we’ve never been.
A History of Canada in Ten Maps conjures the world as it appeared to those who were called upon to map it. What would the new world look like to wandering Vikings who thought they had drifted into a land of mythical creatures? Or to Samuel de Champlain who had no idea of the vastness of the landmass just beyond the treeline?
Adam Shoalts, one of Canada’s foremost explorers, tells the stories behind these centuries-old maps and how they came to shape what became “Canada”.
This event is hosted by the Grimsby Historical Society.
GHS Trivia Challenge Peter Carr-Locke – GHS Programme Coordinator
The Grimsby Historical Society Trivia Challenge puts teams of members against each other to determine how much trivia they know and how much of the GHS topics they remember. A fun challenge to celebrate our 2019 Spring Season.
This event is hosted by the Grimsby Historical Society.
