There are only a few signs of Quintland left in the landscape today [Nov. 2012]. The fence is still there, the nursery and a guardhouse. One of the souvenir shops is now a private home.
On 1 September 2006, Nipissing University acquired its first new property at the North Bay campus, the former Sisters of the Precious Blood monastery which is located just below the campus on the old Gormanville Road. Most of the evidence of its use as a monastery were already gone, but I decided to document the property as it looked that day for anyone later interested in making the comparison between the original property and the renovations and changes made later. Hopefully the beautiful surroundings and pond shown here will stay. The interior is of course already considerably modified.
| August 5th Monday. A Glorious hot August Day. Perfect for the first Big Day. Went to work early and got the parade arranged at least our part of it. Jack Fischer had our float to finish and we had the “Gutter Service Ambulance” to decorate. Had to get a car for the last Old Home Week Babies. I did all the lettering on the old cars and trucks. The first and opening parade was at 9:30 and we did some tall old hustling to get up there. The parade was splendid and the crowd was good too. Brought Marg, the kids down to see it. Took a bunch of pictures of the floats. PM. I was too busy to go down and see any of the sports. There was a full day of entertainment and everybody was in good spirits. At night everything was hilarity personified. Diary of Hartley Trussler, Courtesy of Paul Trussler |
Jacques Cartier. Photo by Hartley Trussler.
HMS Traveller. Photo by Harlty Trussler
The Old 1908 Auto Car. Photo by Hartley Trussler.
The grand opening parade of Old Home Week 1935 formed at the old Arena Rink on Main Street West and made its way to Amelia Park where Mayor Bullbrook with the help of several other dignitaries, declared OHW opened. Six bands participated. The grand parade on Monday was the most important event of the 1935 celebrations. It was viewed by an estimated 20,000 people and reported to be “one of the greatest in the history of the city.” A mile and a half in length, it took twenty minutes to pass a given point and included floats, veterans, dignitaries, comedians, and oddities. The veteran’s float reproduced a dugout with sandbags and a battle scene. The city’s float consisted of a historical panorama built on the firemen’s ladder truck which showed surveyors arriving in 1882 and a hunting and fishing scene. It also carried Miss North Bay, 1935, and the two children born during the 1925 Old Home Week. First prize for the floats went to the Cercle Canadien Français for a “tableau depicting the landing of Jacques Cartier on Canadian soil, planting of the cross, and welcome by the Indians.” The Travellers’ battleship float of “H.M.S. Traveller” directed by Pilot Paddy Petch looked so genuine it took second prize. (The Nugget, 5 Aug 1935)
| — Motor Club Day —- August 6th Tuesday. A beautiful hot day Just Perfect. Went to work early – I was busy as could be all forenoon getting things ready for the big Motor Club Parade It was at 1:30 PM. It was very good too but not nearly as large as yesterday’s. We had our float and two new cars in it. There was an interesting drill of the Copper Cliff Cadets down at the Park and then a couple baseball games and softball games. In the parade today was the old 1915 Buick Touring car which belonged to Harry Pedder when new and in which I had my first wonderful automobile ride. In those days it was a real adventure and something to talk about for the rest of the year. The Old car is still running good and I guess could make the same trip now in 12 hours which took us 21/2 days to make then. Margaret and I went down after dinner to see some of the sports and it was so uninteresting we went back home. Came back to see the Swim. Mar[vin] Nelson was here and swam in a relay race against four North Bay Boys. It was about as interesting as a stroll of ten year olds. We didn’t stay to see the finish. Worked until late. Diary of Hartley Trussler, Courtesy of Paul Trussler |
The Turgeon Family.
On Wednesday, French Canadian day, the parade themes were historical and allegorical. Floats were entered by the many French Canadian communities from the surrounding area that participated and featured figures from French Canada’s past such as Jacques Cartier, Champlain, and Louis Hebert as well more allegorical figures such as Evangeline, “The Angelus”, and a tableau of the “‘slaying of the Canadian Martyrs”. The most unusual float was that from Astorville and consisted of Mr. and Mrs. David Turgeon and their 21 children. The Nugget featured their photo under the headline: “ALL OF ONE ASTORVILLE HOUSEHOLD.” (The Nugget, 12 August 1935.)
Jacques Cartier Monument
In the afternoon the parade went to McMurchy Park where a monument to mark the 400th anniversary of Jacques Cartier’s arrival in Canada (1534) took place. Like French Canadian Day, the monument was sponsored by the FFCF and Le Cercle Canadien-Français. Judge J.A. Valin and E.M. Regimbal, the president of the Cercle presided. The monument was blessed by Very Rev. Dean J.A. Chapleau of St. Vincent de Paul Church, North Bay’s French parish. Speeches were made by Dr. J.R. Hurtubise of Sudbury, M.P. for Nipissing, and J. Harry Marceau, M.L.A. for Nipissing. According to the French program, Senator G. Lacasse was to have given the major speech, but he was unable to attend. Mayor Bullbrook spoke saying French Canadian “were carrying out the old French traditions inaugurated in Canada with the early settlement of their country by Jacques Cartier.” (The Nugget, 7 August 1935; The Globe, 8 August 1935.)
Thursday morning, a children’s parade made its way to Amelia Park where there were activities planned for the children. It included a lot of clowns. Thursday evening featured a “Monster Carnival Parade” with prizes for best costumes in several categories. Young and old were asked to join the Shredded Wheat Band from Niagara Falls, New York, to the carnival and street dance area and to enjoy the Old Home Week spirit.
Two parades featuring the Toronto Shriner’s 70-piece band were planned for Friday, Shriners’ Day.
Saturday, organized by the Associated Canadian Travellers, a monster street parade ended at Amelia Park where the Travellers’ softball team competed against National Hockey League players, one of the entertainment highlights of the week The week closed with a “shirt-tail” parade at 11:30 that night.
View more of Hartley Trussler’s 1935 OHW Parade images below:
Granting of the Charter at Memorial Park. Photo by Milton Adamson, Toronto
On Monday August 3rd, 1925, Old Home Week celebrations in North Bay opened with a grand pageant parade to Memorial Park where a special ceremony was held in which the charter of the City of North Bay was granted to Mayor McDonald by the Hon. Charles McCrea, Ontario Minister of Mines. The creation of the city was marked by the firing of a cannon There was a formal blessing by both Rev. J. Ferguson and Rev. J. Chapleau. Speeches were made by McCrea, McDonald, H. Morel, M.L.A., Senator Gordon, and John Ferguson. (“North Bay, Past and Present, Celebrates,” The Nugget, August 4, 1925.) A special panoramic photograph was taken of the crowd and the float that carried the OHW Queen. A copy of this photo hangs in the Branch 23 of the Canadian Legion building today. The Legion is located on part of the site where the crowd was gathered.
In 1925 the grand opening parade of OHW on Monday August 3rd was billed as a pageant parade. At the time, pageants were all the rage. Quebec City had put on a huge pageant to celebrate its 300th anniversary in 1908. In Ontario, many of the Old Home Week celebrations of the 1920s included a pageant but these required a large outdoor space to stage them and hundreds of volunteers to act in them and North Bay settled for a less ambitious pageant parade instead. Still, like pageants, this would allow the town to highlight its history as well as its recent progress for the visitors. The key pageant floats were designed by an “expert” and the costumes were also specially prepared for them.
Samuel de Champlain Pageant Float 1925. Photo by Hartley Trussler.
The organizers worked from the point of view that North Bay’s history began with Champlain’s travel through the area in 1615. A float portraying Champlain was therefore one of the key pageant floats. It created a stirring image of “Samuel de Champlain and his dauntless followers, bearing hard on their paddles, with their faces eagerly set forth in the direction of the new lands they were to explore…” This float was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Champlain, played by Chas. St. Germain, was portrayed as “the first of the party and was shown as gazing from the top of a hill over the surrounding country while his companions were landing the rest of the flotilla….”
Other pageants floats represented Jean Nicolet, the first white man to set foot in North Bay, Father Claude Pijart, the first priest to the Nipissing Indians, a band of coureurs de bois and fur traders, and the Rev. Father Le Caron and a band of frenchmen. The three railways present in North Bay, put considerable effort into their floats as well.
The Lucy Dalton. Photo by Hartley Trussler.
“The C.P.R. was represented by the Lucy Dalton, the first railway engine in Northern Ontario, drawing a miniature caboose with the conductor and the brakie in uniform on the steps. The engine was driven by a gasoline motor but nothing was lost to the realistic appearance as the engineer and firemen were in the cab, smoke issued forth and a whistle tooted incessantly.” “…Lottie Britton and Alex Gillie, employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the early days, piloted Lucy Dalton, the replica of the first engine used in the service along the streets. Wm. Dreany and Harry Hughes looked out from the tail end of the caboose as they did when North Bay was only a water tank and a few surrounding shacks.” [The Nugget, Aug 4 1925.]
T & N O Float. Photo by Harley Trussler.
The T. & N.O., in three sections, depicted Northern Ontario with the themes of farming, mining, and sport life. Designed by Russel Huntington, it was built in the railway shops in only two weeks. “The third section of the float pictured a sportmen’s camp with great realism. The Indian guide was not other than Frank Commando, chief of the Nipissing tribe, while the fish were brought fresh from the water of Lake Temagami.” [The Nugget, Aug. 7, 1925]
The parade included clowns, bands, soldiers, policemen and many floats by North Bay businesses. Few of them were described but pictures of the parade show some of them. Below: A.B. Gordon & Co. Ltd., a major lumber company in the area, the float from Beamish Stores and a float showing a model of the original post office.
The pageant parade formed at the west end of Main Street. Getting it going took some time as the parade streched for six city blocks and the marshals had to place each one. It marched down Main to Fisher before turning North and making its way to Memorial Park where a large crowd was waiting and the city of North Bay was granted its charter.
Hartley Trussler was working that day but he had his camera with him and took time to take pictures of several floats as they went by the North Bay Garage. For more photos from Trussler’s album see below.
| “The parade was about eleven and say it was great. It was really a wonderful spectacle and very much better than I ever thought possible. It was a fitting start to the week it ushered in and everything seemed to be on the move and in good spirits. There are about five times as many people on the street as generally and everybody is dressed up and in holiday mood. The town is full of flags and bunting and it is really pretty.” [Hartley Trussler’s Diary, 3 Aug. 1925. Courtesy of Paul Trussler.] |
![[Dog cart float]](https://faculty.nipissingu.ca/noel/wp-content/blogs.dir/14/files/trussler-ohw-1925/ohw1925_01.jpg "[Dog cart float]")
![[The A.B. Gordon Float]](https://faculty.nipissingu.ca/noel/wp-content/blogs.dir/14/files/trussler-ohw-1925/ohw1925_02.jpg "[The A.B. Gordon Float]")
![[Police Patrol Float]](https://faculty.nipissingu.ca/noel/wp-content/blogs.dir/14/files/trussler-ohw-1925/ohw1925_03.jpg "[Police Patrol Float]")
![[T&NO Float]](https://faculty.nipissingu.ca/noel/wp-content/blogs.dir/14/files/trussler-ohw-1925/ohw1925_05.jpg "[T&NO Float]")
![[Missionary float]](https://faculty.nipissingu.ca/noel/wp-content/blogs.dir/14/files/trussler-ohw-1925/ohw1925_06.jpg "[Missionary float]")
![[K&S Supreme Cord Balloons Float]](https://faculty.nipissingu.ca/noel/wp-content/blogs.dir/14/files/trussler-ohw-1925/ohw1925_09.jpg "[K&S Supreme Cord Balloons Float]")
![[Samuel de Champlain Float.]](https://faculty.nipissingu.ca/noel/wp-content/blogs.dir/14/files/trussler-ohw-1925/3_champlain-float.jpg "[Samuel de Champlain Float.]")
The original photograph of the Rinkey Dinks by Railton Photo in 1928 consisted of twelve individual images of the players and the two coaches, dry-mounted on a large mat with three rows of photographs with an image of hand-lettered text in the middle of the bottom row. The name and position of each player was lettered onto the mat below the image. It looked a lot like the restored image below.
This composite photograph was later dismantled. The individual photographs were torn apart, remaining attached to the mat. At some point they must have been stored in a damp place and the photographs began to deteriorate. They all looked more or less like the photo of Dot Gore shown here on the right.
Having done some photo restoration before, I thought it might be possible to restore these photographs at least to some extent. Once I had scanned them, I realized that the amount of work to be done was more than I had encountered before. I consulted photographer Mike de Moree and asked for advice as to how to best proceed. He worked on one image and showed me how it might be possible to make them look better although this would mean softening the focus considerably on the most damaged parts. Luckily the faces tended to be in better shape than the uniforms. After considerable effort and adding a sepia filter the images looked much better. The text, however, did not look great.
The next problem was how to lay these out. For this I consulted with my husband who is very good at puzzles. We looked at the patterns of discoloration on the backs of the images and tried to fit them together to match. The restored images were then laid out as they would have been originally together with the text image. In the end I decided not to use the original text under each photograph, but to type in the same information with a similar font.
For the final restored photograph a background colour was chosen similar to the original mat. A border was placed around it for viewing as a digital image. The final result is shown below.
Rinkey Dinks of North Bay 1928 Lady Softball Champions of Northern Ontario and Ontario Finalists for Intermediate Championship. Photo by Railton Photo. Restoration by F. Noël.
The original intention in undertaking this work (which took many hours) was to have a copy printed and placed in a public place like Memorial Gardens so that the Rinkey Dinks, the first team to bring home a provincial championship to North Bay (see previous post), be better remembered. A first attempt to do so failed because the file was too large. I believe that the new wide printer at Nipissing should be able to print this image full size and I am able to print a smaller version on my printer. Anyone wishing a print copy can therefore contact me. I would be particularly pleased to see it go up in a public venue.
The portraits of the individual players are 4 inches by 6.1 inches in size. The shield and text is 5.4 by 6.6 inches in size. The full image is 28.8 inches by 24 inches in size and the file size for the full colour image as above is 255.87 MB. A black and white version is only 85.3 MB in size.
The last living Rinkey Dink, Jean Wilson, died in North Bay in 2012. She is top left in this photo. She did not play in 1929 when they won the championship because she had left the team to go to Normal School. She taught several generations of North Bay students who remember her fondly. She was 105 years old.
Link to Jean Wilson’s obituary.
Link to an image of Jean Wilson when she celebrated her 104th birthday.