A Canadian Family

Genealogy, Family History & Vintage Postcards

Windsor Station – Traditional Transportation Making A Comeback?

In an article today by Andy Riga I learned of an exciting new project that would see Montreal’s venerable Windsor Station “reborn as a major transportation hub, welcoming trains, buses and tramways”‎. I have to admit that I rarely get such heartening news over my morning coffee and Montreal Gazette!

This proposed resurrection of Windsor Station heartens me because it’s one of Montreal’s grandest and most historic secular buildings, so anything that brings it back to its former glory is “a good thing”.  Moreover  this eco-friendly project fits in perfectly with today’s spirit of the times. Public transportation then-and-now – something to celebrate!

Windsor Station Montreal. Transportation, trains, historic image. A Canadian Family Vintage Postcard Collection

Vintage Postcard

This is the first of a series of historic views of Windsor Station, Dominion Square and Windsor Hotel that I will be publishing over the next few weeks. The one I’m sharing today is from the early twentieth century, and in fact the faded postmark seems to read May ’08.

Reverse of Private Postcard

Windsor Station back

Further Reading:

Paging Lord Mount Stephen – will statue return to Windsor Station?

November 12, 2009 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Expo 67 | Vintage View-Master

Expo67Viewfinder

This set of View-Master stereo pictures dates from over 40 years ago when Montreal held its wildly successful Expo 67 to celebrate Canada’s centennial. Anyone who was alive in Montreal that year (I was 13)has never forgotten how exciting it was to greet the millions of visitors who came to the city – and also to be part of the cultural change that swept over the city. In fact, 1967 is seen as the year that Montreal began to change into the more modern and cosmopolitan city that it is today.

This cover is quintessentially Canadian with its RCMP officer on horseback and the brand-new Canadian flag snapping in the wind. The only thing missing is the Canadian beaver!

I’m not sure whether View-Master slides are popular anymore but in my childhood all my friends loved them. They were collected by adults as travel souvenirs, whereas we children collected different themes such as fairy tales, dinosaurs and Disney cartoons..

Nowadays children are immersed in many forms of vibrant, colourful media but in my early 1950s childhood, our family photographs and television were still in b/w and books did not have as many illustrations as nowadays, so the View-Master probably had more appeal than they would to today’s child.

Coincidentally, the first View-Master was presented at an earlier World’s Fair – that of New York’s in 1939.

expocircle

Related Posts:

St-Helen’s Island (L’Ile Ste-Helene) Montreal, Quebec

Vintage Postcard: Montreal from St-Helen’s Island (pre-Expo 67)

Further Reading:

Expo 67: Montreal Welcomes the World at the CBC Digital Archives

November 12, 2009 Posted by | . | , , , | 15 Comments

   

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