Conundrum in Lawrencetown

[Ric]

This is most interesting. As I was wandering around the office today I was thinking about the photos I uploaded to the forum yesterday and especially about this one
http://www.dardpi.ca/Forum/download/fil ... &mode=view

Notice that the Lawrencetown station name is easily visible and the view is from the same end as this photo that I took of the old Lawrencetown station that I found a few years ago
http://www.novascotiarailwayheritage.co ... n1RHsh.jpg

which if you look at the building from the other end
http://www.novascotiarailwayheritage.co ... n3RHsh.jpg
You can see that this was indeed the Lawrencetown station.

Why the difference? Did one burn and it was rebuilt? Anyone know the era of the stations. The vehicles in the old photo and having engine 502 would indicate 20s or early 30's. That station is not the one that I found a couple years ago that is a spitting image of the one that was in Berwick. I have a photo of the Berwick station that indicates that design was present at least in teh early 30's if not sooner.

[stem]

Funny (strange) that you and I should be thinking the same thing as we're looking at this Lawrencetown photo.

I surmise that like most locations, there were either 2 or 3 stations. If it was part of the orginal 21 W&AR stations (http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Wolfville_Station), it would have been constructed in 1869 but would probably not have had the 3 gothic windows. The 3 gothic window treatment seemed to have been a mark of the D.A.R. before the C.P.R. leased them. Many additional stations were built during the period ~1894 to 1911 and I believe that this is when we see the distinct 3 gothic window treatment. After 1911, C.P.R. used their standardized engineering designs and most stations like the ones at Middleton (http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Middleton_Station), Wolfville and Windsor (http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Windsor_Station) to name a few show this heritage.

It is therefore my best guess that Lawrencetown didn't get a station until the railway became the D.A.R. This would be the shot you have of the 3 gothic window station. At some point, probably after 1911 due to increased traffic, they built another station most likely right beside the old one where is was used as a freight shed for years before being sold and moved off like they did at Windsor. It's hard to say. Maybe one day we'll get someone from the Lawrencetown area who remembers this stuff like Doug from Annapolis Royal remembered the tank car.

[Ric]

The derelict one I photographed in someones yard is a stones throw from where it was originally. Looking here you see the 1895 one I photographed at the top and the old freight shed used at the end of service built in 1935. Similar roof style to the one in the photo but the freight shed cannot be seen the old photo on here
http://www.novascotiarailwayheritage.co ... WRENCETOWN


Ohhhh the fog clears. Maybe I am dreaming that I heard this, I don't know but it seems to me the hip style roof one was the one that only partially burned and what remains as the last station used is what was left of the building. Any bells ringing for anyone?

[Dan Conlin]

I think I have some answers. The community history "A History of Lawrencetown" published the Lawrencetown Consolidated School in 1977 says Lawrencetown had three stations. The first one was replaced in the 1890s, turned into a storage shed and demolished in 1906. The book has a nice photo of the second station and says John James was the new station master. (This is the one with the Gothic windows now found in Walter Thompson's nearby farmyard.)
The third station was built in 1928 by Hicks Company of Bridgetown. It became largely inactive by 1967 and was moved across the tracks by the fire department in 1976.

So I think Ric is right, the surviving station is a cut down version of the 1928 station.

I also think Steve is right about the evolution of DAR stations, at least on the W & A divisions. Most towns got a very simple station in 1869. I imagine they looked pretty much like the old Grand Pre Station, a simple gable roofed building. Larger towns got what I think of as the classic DAR station an 1890s design with gothic windows on one end. Some towns had these replaced with standard CPR stations.

I think it is interesting to see how different contracotrs interpreted the standard 1890s design to different locations with variations on the Gothic window.

Hicks Company of Bridgetown built many of the valley apple warehouses.

Cheers,

Dan Conlin

[Ric]

The third station was built in 1928 by Hicks Company of Bridgetown. It became largely inactive by 1967 and was moved across the tracks by the fire department in 1976.

So I think Ric is right, the surviving station is a cut down version of the 1928 station.

Dan Conlin

This almost jives with another tidbit I unearthed. On the back of the artist print of the station it says


It would be a fairly new station in the photo. Dan, do you think the gentleman residing where the station is now is old enough to remember the moving of the station to his property? He didn't seem that old if my failing memory serves.

[stem]

This discussion on the wiki also discusses this subject: http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... wn_Station

According to Dan Conlin he quotes from the "A History of Lawrencetown" that the third station was built in 1928. There is a conflict with the information on the C.D. Harris print as it dates the station, clearly the third station, as circa 1924-26.

Should we tend to discard the artist's recollection and refer to the date given in the "A History of Lawrencetown"? Perhaps the artist is younger in this photo than his recollection.

Is there a historical society in Lawrencetown that can be contacted regarding the subject?

[Ric]

Should we tend to discard the artist's recollection and refer to the date given in the "A History of Lawrencetown"? Perhaps the artist is younger in this photo than his recollection.

Is there a historical society in Lawrencetown that can be contacted regarding the subject?

I know how my memory is and I am thinking that to write a book that you would have some definitive information to make a claim in a book. I would think it depends on the accuracy of other information included inthe book. If they are accurate in all other dates and facts, then their date is probably correct but if they have some facts wrong then their date is a suspect as the C.D. Harris one.

I know how the historical societies can be in towns. It is more of a 'best recollection' effort by the elders unless they were specifically involved and within a couple years is good for them

[Dan Conlin]

My instinct is to go with a published source, since it faces more scrutiny, but "The History of Lawrencetown" was written by junior high school teachers and students, sometimes not the most scholary of folks! (However, hats off to them - if they hadn't gone bugging people in the 1970s, we wouldn't even have those dates to chew over!)

The date ranges are not all that far apart 1924 to 1928.

If I can remember I will ask the curator at the Macdonald Museum in Middleton which is just down the road and covers most of Annapolis County. They have a good reputation as a well organized museum and may just have a newspaper clipping filed away somewhere celebrating the great new Lawrencetown Station in 192X.

I checked the Bytown Railway Society's "Canadian Railway Station Guide". They say it was built in circa 1934 but they also say it is a Canadian National station so I don't put too much stock in that!

Dan Conlin

[stem]

I'd agree that this begs a little more checking into alright. I think both sources may be hazy recollections.

I think Bytown only has the station at Lawrencetown, Halifax Co. and that's what you found.

It took over 6 months to settle the question of the station in Jim Taylor's photo. This might take as long!

Speaking of that photo, check the Apple warehouse out behind the Wolfville station Dan!
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... r0033a.jpg