Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
Railway Station Report
Title: |
Former Canadian National Railways Station |
Source: |
Heritage Research Associates, Ottawa |
RSR-145
The former Canadian National Railways (CNR) station at Guelph, Ontario (Figures 1 and 2) was built in 1911 by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR). Its construction was actively encouraged by the city fathers of Guelph, as indeed had been the development of the GTR line itself. In fact, both the first class
nature and the site (Figure 3) of this station were a direct result of bargains made by Guelph's municipal government as it attempted to ensure the city's economic growth by ensuring access to rail transportation.
Although many Canadian municipalities played an active role in encouraging the development of rail facilities in their centres, few followed this practice as early or as assiduously as Guelph. The present station still forms an integral part of Guelph's core urban landscape. It continues to be valued as an important element of Guelph's history and as an active part of its transportation network. Today the Guelph station is still in use, providing a terminal for daily commuters using GO Transit and VIA Rail train service to Toronto.
As the only community in Canada ever to own its own railway,1 Guelph has a unique place in the history of the development of Canadian rail transportation. Its ambitious early citizens quickly realized that rail travel offered new horizons to a landlocked community like Guelph which had not prospered in an age of water transportation. Spurred by works like the Philosophy of Railroads published by T.C. Keefer in 1850, the Guelph Advertiser promoted rail as essential to Guelph's prosperity.2 Several half-hearted railway schemes were launched, but it was not until the neighbouring town of Galt entered into an agreement with the Great Western Railway that Guelph's business community entered the fray. They had no intention of letting Galtts merchants become prosperous while their city languished in an economic backwater.
A group of prominent Guelph businessmen took action to ensure that Guelph would be part of any future railway construction. Some of them, including Alexander Galt (son of John Galt), David Macpherson and Casimir Gzowski, had acquired rights to an 1836 charter to construct a wooden or iron railway from Toronto to Lake Huron
.3 Using this charter and its subsequent 1845 amendments, they joined with the newly incorporated Town of Guelph to form the Toronto and Guelph Railway Company in 1851. Construction of a railway line from Toronto to Guelph began the following year. Its objective was not so much to create an operating railway as to confirm the company's rights to its old charter, then use those rights as leverage.
At this time, the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) was successfully interesting investors in construction of a main line from Toronto to Chicago to tap the resources of the American mid-west. GTR efforts to secure the charter to build this line, however, were being blocked in the legislature by the Great Western Railway (GWR) which claimed that construction of such a line would duplicate the service offered by the GWR in southwestern Ontario. The Toronto and Guelph Railway Company, whose charter already included the right to construct a line to Sarnia, was of considerable interest to the GTR because it offered the opportunity to extend GTR facilities from Toronto to the Michigan state border.4
In 1853 the Toronto and Guelph Railway amalgamated with the GTR, establishing the GTR as a major railway with potential for a main trunk across the Canadas
.5 As part of the negotiations, the Town of Guelph sold its stock in the line in return for a commitment that Guelph would be the western terminus of the initial road, and that the town would always have a first class station.6 This agreement, with its implication that Guelph would be a centre of rail facilities, was to win Guelph prominence and prosperity during the railway age in the century that followed.
Construction of the first phase of the new GTR main line in western Ontario began in 1854 and reached Guelph on July 1, 1856. The previous month, a local company, the Toronto, Guelph and Berlin Railway had also completed a small line linking Berlin to the GTR main line, with Guelph as the central terminus.7 Guelph's town government had an investment in this railway too, indicating the town's active role in promoting itself as a nexus for railway travel in western Ontario (Figure 2).
In the years to come Guelph was to continue this pattern. In 1888, the city built 16 miles of track to provide a direct connection to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) main line. The CPR had built a branch line joining Guelph to its main line in Galt in 1887. According to railway historian Frank Wood, This stretch of line, known as the Guelph Junction Railway, is unique because rails, ties and legal right of way belong to Guelph—the only railway of its kind owned entirely by a Canadian city
.8 After its construction, the Guelph Junction Railway was leased to the CPR. Until recently it operated from a separate station (Figure 4).
Guelph's aggressive early association with the GTR put it on the main line of major Canadian and Canadian-American transportation routes run by that company. Ironically, its actions also won Guelph early access to the routes of its major rival, the CPR. The result was that Guelph merchants had access to the full range of markets reached by major Canadian railways through the entire railway period.
While it was an early and active participant in Canadian railway history, Guelph's impact on the construction of Canada's major railway lines was restricted to its role as a major facilitator in the westward expansion of the GTR. In an overview of the history of railway development in Canada, however, Guelph is an exceptional example of the interaction between civic boosterism and railway development—a critical characteristic of the railway age. Guelph's government was one of the first to recognize the importance of railways and fund their development to facilitate the growth of its local economy. It did so repeatedly, significantly, and with successful results. Moreover, Guelph was the only municipal government in the country to actually push its faith in municipal intervention to the extent of building and owning its own railway line.
Guelph thrived as a result of its relationship with the railways. The town (Figure 5) had been founded in 1827 by John Galt, superintendent of the Canada Company.9 Galt's mission was to establish settlements on portions of the Huron Tract acquired by this company of British land speculators in the backwoods of Upper Canada. He chose the name Guelph as the name of its first town, to honour the antecedents of the British royal family.
Guelph was rapidly settled by immigrants from the British Isles. By 1840 it had become the capital of Wellington County and the centre of a prosperous mixed farming area. Like most such centres, its early businesses included flour mills, a furniture factory, a tannery and a lumber mill. Guelph was unusual only in the quality of its early citizens. These included several wellborn British and European immigrants attracted by the town's connection with the Canada Company. They were not only well informed, they also had resources to invest. They proved to be Guelph s major asset.
These settlers were the men who recognized the importance of railway transport to the community's development. They encouraged Guelph to incorporate as a town in 1851 to permit municipal investment in railways. They were also the men who bought the original Toronto and Lake Huron Railway charter to attract the GTR. In doing so, they established the basis for Guelph's future.
Guelph's first GTR station (Figure 6) was built next to the Market Square in 1855. Not surprisingly, the land adjacent to the station and its track immediately became expensive. In 1855, at the peak of land speculation in Guelph, lots on the Market Square fetched 20 pounds per foot frontage, exclusive of the buildings.10 Among the first businesses to locate nearby were a drug store, general store, post office and liquor store.11
In the years that followed, Guelph grew steadily. Its population increased from 5,141 in 186112 just after construction of the GTR, to almost 8,584 15 years later.13 By 1875, its commerce and industry were substantially diversified. Guelph had become a significant agricultural centre shipping flour and produce through Canada and the United States. Its manufactures included boilers, sewing machines, carpets, pianos and agricultural implements.14 When Guelph became a city in 1879 its economy was already both well established and broadly based.
Once the CPR transcontinental line was completed in the late 1880s, access to the greater markets of western Canada intensified this trend. The Guelph Junction Railway was built by the town in 18-87 to provide better access to CPR facilities and improve access to this market. When the Brantford Expositor published a special industrial edition in 1903, it described Guelph as a thriving centre of 11,000 with a remarkably stratified economy. Notable among its exports were produce, limestone and a vast array of manufactured goods.15 Indeed, a recent survey of surviving early industrial establishments in Canada shows that many of the factories built during this period in Guelph remain today.16
The GTR terminal in Guelph handled both freight and passenger traffic, and by the late 19th century it was clear the volume of activity was placing some strain on the existing facility. Construction of a new passenger station was proposed in 1881, plans were drawn up in 1896 (Figure 7), and negotiations were conducted again in 1904.17 Tired of complaining to the GTR without result,18 the Guelph Board of Trade looked for means to provide supplementary encouragement. In 1904, the Railway Commission of Canada conducted an investigation of the Guelph station in 1904 and concluded that:
The accommodation for passenger traffic is utterly inadequate: a larger station and platform should be built at as early a date as possible.19
The same year, an independent Grand Jury investigation found that conditions at Guelph's apology for a depot
(the GTR station) were deplorable, and that serious accidents have not occurred before is a matter of congratulation
.20
During this time, GTR officials were preoccupied with securing the investment and authority to build the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR), the company's main line extension to western Canada. The powerful CPR attempted to block construction of this line, and by the end of the first decade in the 20th century it had become evident that no permission for a western extension would be granted unless the GTR demonstrated it was providing adequate service under the charters it already held21. As a result, the GTR made a string of improvements to key stations on its main line to Sarnia. After considerable debate with the local council on the size and type of station required, the present station at Guelph (Figure 8) was built in 1911 as part of this upgrading.
Since 1911, Guelph has continued to enjoy a diverse economy. The distinctive blend of agriculture, manufacturing and retail enterprises developed during the late 19th and early 20th century has continued, supplemented by the expanding campus of the University of Guelph.
After the CNR acquired the GTR in 1922, Guelph remained an active rail centre for passengers and freight. Both aspects of rail service continue even today although passenger service is much restricted and kept alive by travel linked to Toronto. The GO commuter train stops at the Guelph station, and VIA Rail provides a daily connector service to Toronto for long distance rail travellers.
The design for the new station built in Guelph in 1911 embodies a curious stand-off between the city's insistence it have a first class station
and the GTR's refusal to build a facility larger than railway activities required.
The GTR's side of the story can be traced through a series of plans it presented in 1896 (Figure 9), 1904, February (Figures 10-13) and June-July (Figures 14/15) of 1911. All of these plans were prepared by the GTR's Bridges and Buildings Department: the 1896 one is signed by J.M. Bearbrook, and both sets of 1911 plans are signed by L.M. Watts. Each set of plans shows essentially the same single storey main station with an express building attached by a long covered platform.
In form the main station is horizontally sub-divided in two. The upper portion is composed of a recessed centrally gabled hipped roof whose basic eave line and pitch is extended on a smaller scale to comprise the platform cover and express building roof. All roofs are decorated by an ornamented central ridge. The lower portion of the main building is horizontally subdivided by a wainscott on the lower third, and vertically defined as six equal bays by balanced openings. The presence of each opening is articulated by a curved extension of a horizontal band that runs around the lower half of the building at two-thirds its height. On the track side, a telegrapher's bay comprises the middle bay on the east end. It is flanked by two doors, one in each of the bays that side it. On the town side, the main entrance of the station enhanced by an extended porte-cochère occupies the centre bay on the west side. All of the remaining bays contain windows, some large and some small.
These features are common to all of the plans presented by the GTR in 1896 and 1911, and all of them are incorporated into the station built at Guelph in 1911. Evidently the GTR considered the fundamental plan prepared for its station in Guelph in 1896 to be appropriate to the railway's requirements in the city.
Guelph's Council, on the other hand, considered it too modest to be the first class station
that was the city's due, and refused to permit its construction. Guelph residents were evidently looking at stations built by the GTR in the United States to establish a model for their requirements. The new GTR stations at Portland, Maine (Figure 16) and Lansing, Michigan were both dominated by massive towers and prominent porte-cochères. Indeed, the GTR's new Brantford station built in 1907 (Figure 17, RSR 5) also displayed the same features. All of these stations were much larger than the one in Guelph because they housed a broader range of railway facilities. Guelph's citizens would have welcomed greater rail facilities in their city and made it clear they did not regard a lack of them to be a consideration. Guelph was not about to appear less important than Brantford in the eyes of railway travellers. Its citizens insisted on a higher profile for their station.
The station that was built in 1911 represented a compromise in which the GTR enhanced the image rather than the fundamental nature of its facility. This was accomplished through a series of sleight of hand tricks, the most evident of which was a prominent highly stylized tower over the main entrance. The symbolic importance of this tower can be readily traced in the evolution of plans for the station. In 1896, the main entrance of the station is covered by a simple peaked roof which extends over the porte-cochère and duplicates the major features of the main roof of the station. In February of 1911 this was supplemented by a modest tower that extended as high as the building's chimney and echoed other elements in the design of the station. Plans drawn in June-July 1911 show a tower that has grown again, this time to become a prominent Italianate gesture.
Other, more minor, adjustments were also made. The overall dimensions of the structure were increased slightly. To balance the increased height below the roof line, the arches over the windows were made more rounded. The location of some large and small openings also changed, essentially for the same purpose. The utility of the porte-cochère was compromised too, as it was adapted to serve as tower support. When it was completed in 1911 (Figure 7), an article in The Railway and Marine World described Guelph's new station as having a very pleasing appearance from the main streets of the city
.22
This article provides a record of the station at the time of its construction. The exterior of both the main and the express building are described as being
constructed on concrete foundations, of Bryants Pond grey granite, from foundation to window-sill, with pressed buff brick for walls, trimmed with granite jamb linings and belt courses for all buildings. The entire roof is covered with dull green tile.23
With the exception that its roof is now covered with asbestos tile, the main station building retains its original appearance today (Figures 18-25). Its express wing and accompanying platform, however, were demolished in 1971.
The station constructed at Guelph in 1911 had a frontage of 123½ ft. and a depth of 43 ft
.24 This contrasted with the dimensions of the 1896 plan which were 100 ft. by 33 ft. (Figure 8). The increased space was used to provide an extra bank of benches (Figures 7 and 11), and to generally enhance the proportions and spaciousness of the central waiting room.
There is ample evidence that an effort was made to emphasize quality and size in the public space inside the station. The floor in public areas was finished in an ornate ceramic pattern (Figures 25 and 26) that extended to the exterior steps of the main entrance under the porte-cochère (Figure 23). The high ceilings and ample window space in the main rooms created a light, airy space which remains today (Figure 26). Originally, the public rooms of the station are described as being wainscotted and finished with quarter cut oak trims, doors and sash, granulated plaster walls and ceilings, decorated in suitable tints
.25 Today most of these have been covered with gyproc, although some evidence of walls covered with siding still remains in areas that have been removed from public use (Figure 27). Although the original ticket wicket has long been gone, surviving plans (Figure 28) show it was an ornate five sided wooden enclosure directly across from the main entrance. Changes made to station plans between 1896 and 1911 increased the number of wickets from one to two.
In general, the facilities contained in the Guelph station when it was built were those appropriate to its time and size (Figure 11). They included separate ladies' parlour and men's smoking rooms as well as a general waiting room. Its service areas were limited to the ticket and telegraph office, baggage room and baggage and parcel office. The latter were originally finished in pressed brick
because they were out of the public eye.
The grouping of facilities in the Guelph station suggests that it was designed for both commuter and long distance travellers. As an article on The Problem of the Modern Terminal written in 1912 recognized, The needs of through and suburban passengers
are widely different
.26 The private waiting rooms and baggage areas at Guelph were situated together in one building for the convenience of travellers, yet moved to the edges to isolate long distance passengers from main traffic areas. The ticket office, on the other hand, was located directly across from the main entrance of the station and flanked by doors to the train platform to expedite short distance travel. According to the article, railway architects felt the commuter was satisfied when he has an ample concourse through which he can race
.27 This design, the long covered platform between the station together with the freight building, was intended to facilitate quick short distance travel. Separate freight facilities signified extensive traffic in both passengers and freight. In all, the station at Guelph was well planned to maximize its functionality.
This layout has been little altered today. The major subdivisions inside the station still remain, although renovations are currently underway to move the ticket office into the washrooms of the ladies' parlour area (Figure 27). The men's smoking and former baggage and parcel rooms are now offices. The baggage room has become a utility area. Electrical wiring in the station was renewed in 1956.28
The present CN railway station in Guelph is located on Carden St., just beside the site of its predecessor (Figure 3). Both are situated in the city centre near the town hall, just off the Market Square. The present CNR station was built on Jubilee Park, the park Guelph had created to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.29
With Guelph's tradition of using municipal resources to further community interests with the railroads, its City Fathers did not hesitate to use a municipal park as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the GTR for a better station. In 1904, the City of Guelph agreed to sell Jubilee Park to the GTR for a modest $5,000.30 Jublilee Park was located beside the City Hall: it was the major open space remaining of what was once the Market Square. Sale of this park to the GTR had a major effect on the layout of the centre of the city because it erased the outlines of John Galt's square, which once defined the central core of the city.
It is worth noting that this was not the first time Guelph's urban pattern had been sacrificed to the purposes of the railway. City fathers had readily emitted John Galt's original fan shaped design (Figure 5)31 to be destroyed in 1854 because the GTR's Chief Engineer Walter Shanley favoured a direct route into the centre of the City. His suggestion that
... the direction in which we cross the River, carries us into the Market Square, an open roomy space, well adapted for all purposes of a Railway Station ...32
was both well received and acted upon despite the fact that it critically obscured the outlines of one of Canada's earliest and most unique attempts at town planning.
GTR designers shaped this prominent site to enhance the image of the station. When the new track was built behind the station it was elevated above the existing ground level. The station site was then landscaped on an incline to meet the track, making the building sit higher and therefore appear to be larger than it was. A circular drive was then built from the street to the porte-cochère to provide a formal entrance. This drive swept up to the door of the station, emphasizing its height and consequence (Figures 1 and 8).
When it took over the site of the present station, the GTR laid additional sidings on its former station site in the city centre. It also built two subways and a footpath around them to permit municipal life to continue.33 One of these subways is a continuation of Guelph's main street. It was built to retain the main street access to the Amouries built by the Government of Canada between the years 1904 and 1907,34 behind Guelph's City Hall. Prominent and visible from both the station and the City Hall (Figure 31), the Armoury forms the third corner of a triangle of heritage buildings that establishes the tone of the city core and is well supported by surrounding turn of the century commercial and industrial construction.
This subway still exists today, separating the railway station from the impressive classical Town (now City) Hall designed by William Thomas in 1856-57.35 The two stand together overlooking the main street of the shopping district. Each acts as the arm of a T, while the main street makes up the stem, providing a visual termination point to the city centre (Figures 29, 30 and 31).
Evidence of the close and long standing tie between Guelph and its station is nowhere more evident than in the garden of the station site. While a few trees from Jubilee Park continue to grow along the perimeter of the street as remnants of the landscaped station grounds, most of the grounds have become a parking lot (Figure 32). There is, however, a small grassed area between the station and the subway that still recalls the circular drive. Today, this small garden corner houses Guelph's civic memorial to the dead of two World Wars. Indeed, this monument, in the form of a cross (Figure 33), serves as a focus to visually link the Armoury, the City Hall and the station.
Guelph's CNR station is still highly valued by its community. The city has an active LACAC, and residents are serious about preserving their heritage. The former CNR station is regarded as an important component of the downtown area.36
The building has found a new use as a VIA Rail station, and its heritage value seems to be acknowledged and appreciated by VIA Rail planners. Local commuters use this heritage property daily, and while the exposure may be enjoyable, there is a danger heavy traffic will destroy its special character through over use.
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