In 1914, Westboro made an attempt to get on the map by constructing a major attraction. By 1914 standards, a toboggan park was a pretty big deal. But as you'll read, what started off as a good idea got mixed up in politics and profit, and eventually proved unsustainable. For one magic winter, however, the villagers of Westboro had an exciting recreation feature that brought everyone together for some fun and exercise.
The story begins at the start of winter in mid-December of 1913 when it was determined that children tobogganing down the sidewalks (and street) of Main Street (now Churchill Avenue) from the streetcar tracks (Byron Avenue) to Richmond Road were dangerous and a nuisance. The toboggans left the sidewalk in a slippery and unsafe condition for pedestrians, despite the spreading of sand and ashes on the ice. As well of course, there was danger to the kids in being run over by horses or the few early cars that were on Westboro streets.
The town council (Trustee Board) announced that tobogganing on Main would no longer be allowed, and that they would be installing placards to this effect. Trustee C.W. Ross stated "If the placards are disregarded, we will prosecute the offenders if necessary to stamp out the practice of sliding on Main street hill."
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| Ottawa Journal. December 12, 1913 |
The threats worked, as the kids moved off Churchill to Eden Avenue "Westboro's young element has shifted the scene of their exercise to a more secluded and safer thoroughfare and now do their "coasting" in the vicinity of Churchill avenue", wrote the Journal. If that sounds confusing, it is...ironically Eden Avenue was originally known as Churchill Avenue.
Over the following few days, one of the more popular topics within the village was tobogganing, and how could the activity be enabled in Westboro. The most popular tobogganing area in Ottawa was in Ottawa South off Sunnyside Avenue, on a spot called "Ray's Hill". (A little snippet about Ray's Hill can be found in this article posted at the Old Ottawa South website: https://www.oldottawasouth.ca/stories/item/5720-from-the-archives-recollections-by-th-brewer). That hill would have been accessible via a fairly long streetcar ride with a transfer at Bank Street, but surely was a rare trip for anyone in Westboro to make at best. There was also a slightly less popular toboggan park, called "Cliffside Slide" near Sussex in Ottawa. The publicity created by the Churchill Avenue closure made some residents dream of creating something similar in Westboro.
Tobogganing had become a craze around this time, and most stores in Ottawa were advertising them as a featured item. This ad from Charles Ogilvy shows a wide range of prices. (This was years before Ogilvy's store, and even Ogilvy himself moved to Westboro. His store was on Rideau Street at the time.)
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| Ottawa Journal - December 29, 1913 |
Here is an ad for Ketchum's also advertising toboggans (as well as very early hockey equipment and collectibles!):
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| Ottawa Journal - December 10, 1913 |
Back to the toboggan hill for Westboro... One well-supported idea was the concept of a full slide that could be built behind Westboro Public School (now the site of Churchill Alternative). That idea got a mention in the newspaper the following Monday morning, and by Christmas, construction was in full progress of a huge slide behind the school. Westboro residents David Latimer and J.A. Leech were behind the endeavour, but it was not just something they were doing for the community; the pair saw this as a money-making business venture. Their plan was to sell season passes for the slide, for $1 per family, which would allow for unlimited use for an entire winter.
The slide was twenty-five feet high, and at its peak had a run of over 1,000 feet. There was 225 feet of trestle work that had been built, to accommodate the fairly steep drop off the cliff behind Westboro School.
The slide had two sides to it: one that was strictly for toboggans and typically adults and older children; while the other side was for smaller children and/or for the use of sleighs. Electric lighting was installed for the park, and precautions were taken against injury, including "a railing around an iron pump, which was situated close to the runway." Latimer and Leech invested $200 total to constructing the toboggan park, and it was Latimer himself who was to manage the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the slide.
The grand opening was held on the evening of New Year's Eve, and over 150 Westboroians were in attendance. For the opening, Latimer had built the run up to a length of 400 feet, 300 of which was iced to ensure speed. "The introduction of the new source of amusement in Westboro will cause a big impetus to tobogganing in the village and will in all probability attract many city tobogganing enthusiasts", wrote the newspaper of the day.
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| January 2, 1914 |
I have never seen a photo of the toboggan run, but I bet one exists somewhere out there in old family photo albums! I did find a photo which I think shows very closely what the Westboro toboggan park would have looked like. It's also from 1914, from a park in Minneapolis. The hill is very similar to the one behind Churchill Alternative, and the trestles built in Westboro would have been very close to this too:
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| Lake Harriet in Minneapolis in 1914 (Source: www.historyapolis.com) |
Westboro-wise the closest I can come to at least situate readers on its location, is to use an aerial photograph from 1920, showing what the area generally looked like at the time:
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| Earliest aerial photo of Westboro - from 1920. Richmond Road at top, streetcar line cutting straight from left to right. Churchill at far right, with Westboro (Churchill) P.S. the larger building at corner. Byron Avenue did not exist at the time, the streetcar line is the visible line, with just dirt lanes in areas where Byron would one day exist. |
The toboggan run started behind Churchill Alternative, and ran all the way west down the hill and along what is now the newly renamed Lower Byron Avenue, through Roosevelt Avenue, and right to the Highland Park Lawn Bowling Club. The red line on the photo below shows roughly that route.
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| Google Earth view of where the toboggan run existed, crossing over what is now Roosevelt Avenue. |
Here is just a close-up view of that dead end of Lower Byron Avenue, where the toboggans ran 104 years ago!
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| Google Streetview of the dead end of Lower Byron Avenue, where the toboggans ran 104 years ago! |
A few days after opening, Latimer and Leech had second thoughts about charging for access, after being convinced by the Trustee Board. Instead they were considering allowing Westboro's residents free use of the park once they had recovered their investment. The newspaper wrote that "it would behoove the residents of Westboro to help the good case along and purchase family season tickets at $1 each as soon as possible." The board was unsure if they would allow non-Westboro residents to use the slide for free, if it was to be opened up, and perhaps season tickets would continue to be sold to non-residents, as a way to help cover maintenance costs.
The Trustees interest in seeing the slide opened for free was to help remove the kids from other streets in Westboro. "If we are successful in having the slide thrown open, free of charge to the public, all sliding will be stopped on the streets of the village...would be one of the best moves possible, as it would eliminate any risk of accidents occurring by sliding on the streets, and would tend to provide healthy exercise for both the old and young residents of the village."
However a day later, Leech and Latimer announced that it would actually take $300 to open it up for free, to which the Journal wondered whether the proprietors were "holding out" or simply had made an initial miscalculation. By January 8th, nearly 100 season tickets had been sold. The argument was also made that it might not be fair to existing ticket holders that the slide would be opened for free to everyone, with one resident stating that if the slide was opened to the public, then the money should be returned to ticket holders. But that wasn't logical either.
A push was on for civic-minded individuals who could afford it, to buy up season tickets so that the park could be free for all, as a benefit to Westboro in general. Stated one resident: "Is it worth the sum of one dollar for yourself and members of your family to use the slide for the entire winter? If it is, it does not matter whether or not the slide is operated by the trustee board or by private individuals.".
In mid-January the operators requested a permit from Westboro council to extend the slide even further, which would have required closing the end of a street (Roosevelt). This request was not granted. The council was playing politics with the operators, but at a meeting a few days later, a compromise was reached. The proprietors would allow people to slide during the day for no fee, but that there would be no supervision of the slide during that period, and tobogganers would be sliding at their own risk. Then as of 7 p.m., the slides would be for paid customers only.
By mid-February, the slide reached its peak length of nearly a quarter of a mile (well above 1,000 feet long), and had become very popular with locals and city visitors.
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| Cartoon from the kids page of the Ottawa Journal, just to represent the popularity of tobogganing at the time. From February 14, 1914. |
The Westboro Slide became the highlight of the village in the winter of 1914, with many parties, church social events and community events being held at the park.
Things seemingly were running smoothly well into late February. However, late in the month, David Latimer installed a chain across the bottom of the fast side of the slide during the daytime to attempt to keep kids from using it. However, this only appeared to add to the fun for the children, who would duck their head at the bottom of the slide to go under the chain. As you may have guessed, on February 25th, William Cummings, a 6-year old boy who lived on Cole Avenue, received a serious head injury when he attempted to duck, and the chain caught his head, opening a large six-inch gash. William was able to walk home on his own, but the Doctor was called in, and his serious cut was taken care of. He remained in bed for several days, recovering slowly. The story made the newspaper the following day, and became a larger story in the days following.
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| Headline from February 26, 1914 Journal |
The village trustee board was angry at Latimer's decision, and told him to remove the chain, or they would revoke his permission to have the slide extend across Roosevelt, which would therefore have removed at least a third or more of its length, and greatly affected its popularity.
Latimer contended he was within his rights to chain off the fast side, and just allow the children's side to be accessed (free) during the daytime. He claimed that when the agreement was made in January, that it was not stipulated how many runways of the slide would be operated during the day. Latimer was interviewed the afternoon before a town meeting in March, and stated that if both runways were open to the public during the day, that the toboggan (fast) runway would likely not be in good shape for the cash and season-ticket holders for after 7 p.m. Thus the chain was installed to keep people off of it. "The children knew that the chain was there, and that they were not to use the toboggan runway. If they get injured, are we to blame? If they could not swim, and went down to the river and jumped in, would they not expect to get drowned?", stated Latimer. "I do not feel that I have broken any agreement with the trustee board. The children were to get free sliding for a few hours each day. Instead of giving them only a few hours, I fixed up a good slide for them, and gave it to them free of charge for all the time. The slide has been a big advertisement for Westboro, and I cannot see why the residents of the community or the trustee board should be too hard on me,"
While the issue was being debated, Latimer removed the chain in good faith. At the council meeting on March 5th, the board ordered the chain permanently removed, to allow both sides of the slide to be open. Latimer defended why the injury to Cummings had occurred, claiming that the chain had been moved. "If the chain had been left in its original position then nothing but a toboggan would have hit it. To my mind some person longer headed than the injured boy raised the chain, and it was in a dangerous position when the accident occurred."
Likely frustrated with the whole political battle that he had waged all winter, a week later, Latimer decided to end the season, with the last paid slides coming on Thursday March 12th. The weather was beginning to warm up as well. To the end, Latimer claimed he did not remove the chain due to the council's order. "The orders of the trustee board would have been of no use if the slide had remained in operation. The trustees could not make me remove the chain, and if the slide had remained open, I would have shown them that they had no authority to order the removal of the chain." He claimed he removed the chain because the slide was "becoming useless owing to the mild weather". The slide was left open in an unmaintained state until its natural ending later in March due to the arrival of Spring.
In the end, barely $200 was raised by Latimer and his partner Leech, which did not cover the original construction costs and maintenance.
The following fall, Latimer opted not to reopen the toboggan run, not worth the hassle, and instead announced in December he was opening a new skating rink. Far easier to maintain, and less controversial! The rink was on Alexandria Avenue, today better known as Berkley Avenue.
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| December 10, 1914 |
And so ends the story of the exciting, but short-lived Westboro Toboggan park of 1914!
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| December 15, 1914 |
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