When Peterborough Was Peterboro & Peterboro'

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Ever noticed the spelling "Peterboro" and "Peterboro'" on old postcards and letters and such?

We reached out to local historian Elwood Jones at Trent Valley Archives, who tells PTBOCanada the spelling has offically been Peterborough since 1825, though there was some ambiguity after that. "Newspapers sometimes used the shorter spelling, particularly in the period from the 1880s to the 1910s. Also, the railways preferred the shorter form on timetables and the signs when approaching the city limits or railway station."

Photo courtesy Niki AllDay

Jones collaborated with Healther Aiton Landry at Trent Valley Archives to provide this sampling below to PTBOCanada of how the spellings were often used interchangeably over the decades.

The mixed use of Peterborough and Peterboro in 1863 is caught in the 1863 Peterborough Examiner below. The Port Hope and Peterborough Railway posted the times for trains to and from Peterboro. The American Hotel is in Peterborough, but the small ads (all on the front page then) give their address as Peterboro or Peterborough.

Still in the 1860s, notice Port Hope & Peterboro’ Railway with the apostrophe added below. The newspaper, on the other hand, was sticking to the proper spelling of the time, "Peterborough".

Also, check out The Peterboro’ Review below and notice the mixed uses in the column to the left of the Review ad. Confusing, yes!

This sample from 1864 below shows the County using Peterboro’ officially, but it is still Peterborough Street in Norwood. Notice that Alex McNeil has his auction rooms in the Town of Peterboro’ and is selling property adjacent to park lots in the Town of Peterboro’, and in the County of Peterboro’, but one lot is “fronting on the old Peterborough Road.”

In the early 1900s, "Peterboro" was popular on postcards, and the local post office even used Peterboro seen here in 1909...

Curiously, Peterborough is used in the title for this postcard circa 1905, and for the Roy Studio logo, but the spelling on the train station is PETERBORO.

However, in this postcard below, Roy is signing as from Peterboro (see far left), and the Lift Lock is described as being in Peterboro (far right).

Even in this fairly recent photo from the 1970s, the Railway station has a new sign but is spelling Peterboro...

The newspapers and postcards in this post are from collections at the Trent Valley Archives.

The long and the short: Next time you spell Peterborough "Peterboro", just tell your friends you're going all old school cool. 

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PTBOCANADA


Iconic Hi Tops Restaurant Sign Lives On (Again), Now At Hot Belly Mama's Restaurant

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Remember the old Hi Tops Chinese restaurant that was a fixture in downtown Peterborough? You couldn't miss the iconic sign when you were driving down George Street and at night, it was even more of a focal point with its neon lights.

Indeed, the sign was one of the landmarks in the downtown core since the '60s...

The Old Hi Tops restaurant

When the sign came down in 2013 after it was announced Hi Tops was closing after about 100 years in business, everyone wondered what would become of it. Surely this rich part of Peterborough's history wouldn't end up in landfill.

Well the sign was saved by artist Bill Kimball after the Hi Tops owner agreed to give it to him, and a portion of the sign (it comes in two parts) found a home right across the street at The Spill coffee bar for many years...

The sign hanging at The Spill

When The Spill owner Dave Tobey closed the establishment last fall, people were wondering again, What would now become of the Hi Tops sign? Would it be saved again?

Indeed it would, thanks to another downtown business owner: "When I heard The Spill was closing, I reached out to Dave Tobey about the sign and he put me in touch with Bill Kimball the caretaker of the sign," Hot Belly Mama's owner Travis Smith tells PTBOCanada. "I said I would be happy to display it at The Belly as it would definitely fit in with my atmosphere there. He agreed."

Now the entire sign hangs proudly at The Belly...

The sign at Hot Belly Mama's

"I feel like the sign is a piece that needs to be on display as a big part of Peterborough's history," Smith tells PTBOCanada, adding that this whole process of getting the sign and installing it came together over the past couple months with Kimball and an amazing group of people in town.

Kudos to Smith for showcasing this important piece of Peterborough history in his restaurant. Go check it out next time you're in!

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Sears Opened In Peterborough 1954, Closes For Good This Weekend (Take Trip Down Memory Lane)

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What began on August 26th, 1954 in Peterborough ends this Sunday (January 14th), as Sears closes for good in town.

Sears had an amazing 64 year run here, and everyone knows someone who worked there or shopped there at one time. And who could forget the excitement of receiving the Sears Catalogue and Sears Wish Book in the mail.

The Sears location in Peterborough is among the last locations to close across Canada, marking the end of the official end of the chain’s historic retail reign in the country.

Take a trip down memory lane at Sears from its Opening Day in Peterborough with these photos below courtesy of Scott Cisco from his parent's slide collection...

Photo courtesy Scott Cisco

Photo courtesy Scott Cisco

Photo courtesy Scott Cisco

Photo courtesy Scott Cisco

And here's a photo of the construction...

Photo courtesy Scott Cisco

Share your fond memories of Sears Peterborough on our Facebook page.

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Blast From The Past: Old Boat Motors Designed At Outboard Marine On Display At Little Lake

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Outboard Marine, which once employed about 2,000 employees in Peterborough before closing in the Nineties, was famous for, among many other things, producing Johnson and Evinrude engines.

Classic boat show, Little Lake

Some of those were on display on Saturday (September 16th) on the shores of Little Lake at a classic boat display.

Classic boat show, Little Lake

All the motor logo designs pictured throughout the post were done by George Elliott, the renowned local artist and illustrator who worked at Outboard Marine as a graphic designer in the '60s, '70s and '80s before leaving to commit himself full time to his art vocation. (George is the father of our Brand Strategist, Aaron Elliott.)

George was featured (see below, bottom left) in an old dealer publicaton called Pioneer Chips.

Many of our readers may recall these classic old designs, and perhaps might even be using these motors now.

"To see my Dad's designs still around and being cherished after decades is incredible to witness," Aaron says. "It's neat to see they live on."

Classic boat show, Little Lake

Classic boat show, Little Lake

Here is a picture of Outboard Marine back in the day (where the Canadian Canoe Museum is now located)...

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The Peterborough Connection: Time Zones

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Everywhere you go, there always seems to be a connection back to Peterborough—from people who once lived here, to our Sister City, to travelling in Northern Ontario.

When travelling along Highway 17 about an hour East of the Manitoba border, you will see a sign alerting you of the time change depending on the direction you are travelling. The imaginary line that separates Eastern Standard Time and Central Standard Time was created by Sir Sandford Fleming, who had great ties to Peterborough (see No. 18 here in our "Fun Facts about Peterborough").

There are two markers commemorating his work and even mention Peterborough by name.

—by Evan Holt

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PTBOCANADA


The Lift Lock Was Once Featured In The Saturday Evening Post

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The iconic Saturday Evening Post is an American magazine that (aside from folding for two years before relaunching in 1971) has been running since 1821!

The magazine contains general human-interest type articles, and in the September 1958 issue Peterborough was featured. In an article entitled "Wonderful Waterways", the author describes his visit to our magnificent Lift Lock.

This is how the article described it...

"At Peterborough, Ontario, the author's boat enters one of the world's highest hydraulic lift locks. Like a huge chemist's scale, the lock raises and lowers vessels in 'pans' of water."

Norman Rockwell’s famous painting The Runaway, was the cover of this issue that featured the Lift Lock.

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PTBOCANADA


328 Paddlecraft Just Filled Both Tubs At Trent Severn National Historic Site In Epic Display

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Last year, 138 paddlecraft were jammed into one of the ginormous "tubs" at the Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site in Peterborough on Lock n' Paddle day, breaking the previous record of 101. 

This is what it looked like at Lock 21 during last summer's Lock 'N Paddle...

June 26th, 2016

This year, Lock 'N Paddle upped their game even more, filling both tubs on a beautiful Saturday (June 24th) with more than 150 canoes and kayaks each (to mark Canada's 150 birthday) and lifting them 65 feet.

It was one heck of a jigsaw puzzle for organizers and Lockmaster Ed, seen in this video below...

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But they did it. Look at this picture we took from mission control...

Photo by Neil Morton, PTBOCanada

Here is the view from the front Trent-Severn Waterway tweeted out...

Here is the view from above photographed from a drone by Justen Soule for Parks Canada...

And once the lock chambers were at an equal elevation, the Lock Master halted the lockage and participants and visitors raised their paddles and sang both O Canada and Happy Birthday in celebration of 150 years of Confederation.

Have a listen of the Happy Birthday...

Here is the moment the chambers aligned...

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Here's a closeup of the East chamber tub filled...

PHoto by Neil Morton, PTBOCanada

And here's a closeup of the West chamber tub filled...

Photo by Neil Morton, PTBOCanada

360 panorama by Evan Holt, PtboCanada

UPDATE: Here is video our Evan Holt filmed from inside a canoe...

Well done Lock 21, well done Peterborough!

Photo by Neil Morton, PTBOCanada

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Here's 1960s Pictures From Peterborough's Riverview Park & Zoo

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Thanks to Riverview Park & Zoo's Manager/Curator Jim Moloney for digging through the archives and sending us these '60s pictures from the zoo.

[Related: 1970s zoo pics; 1980s zoo pics]

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PTBOCANADA


Peterborough's Neat Connections & History With Its Sister City Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Our sister city Ann Arbor is about a six hour (575 km) drive from us and is located in Michigan. It has been our sister city since 1983.

“It lets people have an excuse for getting to know each other in ways they never would otherwise,” said former Ann Arbor Mayor Edward Pierce. We found this to be very true when we visited the city recently. When shop owners asked where we were from, we would say “Your sister city, Peterborough” with a slight grin. While most residents didn’t recall the link at first, it was certainly an ice-breaker which lead to further conversation.

Below is more of the backstory and the connections to Ann Arbor...

ARBOROUGH GAMES

The Arborough Games—a cute play on words combining Arbor and Peterborough—started in 1982 and was a biennial event that took turns being hosted between Ann Arbor and Peterborough. Sadly, the games ended after the year 2000 due to lack of volunteers and youth participation.

JUMPER MOVIE

The movie Jumper (starring Canadian actor, Hayden Christensen) was filmed primarily in Ann Arbor. Two back-to-back scenes at around the 3:50 minute mark of the movie were filmed in Peterborough, however.

A scene within the Peterborough Library at 345 Alymer Street North (also shown in the trailer above) shows the main character teleporting into the library, then opening a book to reveil an Ann Arbor Library book stamp (but we know better!).

Ann Arbor doesn’t have a water tower, and Peterborough was used as a stand-in. Our water tower (and view of Kenneth Avenue, filmed from Sherbrooke Street) with the "Ann Arbor" name digitally added to our water tower was briefly shown after the Library scene.

A Fairy Door at TeaHaus located at 204 N 4th Ave, Ann Arbor, MI

FAIRY DOORS

Fairy doors have been another connection between Peterborough and Ann Arbor with there being numerous tiny doors appearing in both cities.

Keep your eyes pealed around our city, you never know where you might find one!

-->> Share your connections with our sister city on our Facebook page post.

—Written and Photographed by Evan Holt

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Evan Holt


Neat Facts About Little Lake

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Thanks to our friends at Parks Canada, below are some interesting facts about Little Lake...

1. Adam Scott built a sawmill and grist-mill in 1818 on the south edge of Little Lake and the settlement of Scott’s Plains would eventually become Peterborough. Lock 19 in Peterborough is named after Adam Scott (Scott's Mills).

R.B. Rogers, pictured in the dark jacket near the centre, with his team.

2. Richard Birdsall Rogers—the designer of the Peterborough Lift Lock and former superintendent of the Trent Canal—is buried in the Little Lake Cemetery, and his gravestone faces the Lift Lock.

3. The 6 kilometre stretch between Little Lake and Nassau Mills (Lock 22) is a man-made canal, constructed along with the Peterborough Lift Lock from 1896 to 1904.

4. The Trent Canal and the Otonabee River run parallel to each other, encircling East City and making it a small island. The two rivers meet in Little lake and at Trent University.

Centennial Fountain construction

5. Centennial Fountain, built in 1967 to celebrate Canada’s 100th anniversary, shoots water 76 meters (250 feet) into the air on Little Lake. It is the highest jet fountain in Canada.

Musicfest

6. Peterborough Musicfest, held at Del Crary Park on Little Lake, is a Top 100 festival in Ontario.

7. Up until 2004, each night of Peterborough Summer Festival of Lights (what is now known as Musicfest) included fireworks and a boat light show.

8. The Otonabee River drops 144 feet between Little Lake and Lake Katchewanooka in Lakefield.

9. Historians believe that while travelling with the Hurons, Samuel de Champlain would have put his canoe in and launched from Little Lake, accessing Huronia via Rice Lake and the Trent River.

10. Recreational fishermen can catch bass, walleye, perch, and Muskie in Little Lake.

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