Hamilton 1946

[@haroldsmith45302]

HPL: Thank you for sharing this on-line. I was not aware that moving pictures of the Hamilton of years gone by existed. More like this please, if you can find them.

[@patriciareniewick4925]

Born in Hamilton in 1946 ...this is the beautiful city l grew up in..left in 62. Many great memories l am one of the lucky ones!!

[@mopsandmuscles7855]

So many people downtown

[@PaulRobinson-p2v]

Love the look of the old Piggott building,my great grandfather was a masonry foreman on that building, a little proud.

[@BunnyWatson-k1w]

Much of these building still stand today. At 2:50 is the old Birk's clock. It was restored and moved inside to the Farmer's Market.

[@mikedaley1968]

Great footage. I saw the last vestiges of this Hamilton when I first went there as a kid in the early 80s. The Kresges, the busy streets. I recognize every location.

[@jessefaw]

Many from this time refer to Hamilton as a ghetto now. The Character of these neighborhoods have changed,so have its people, as the jobs are warehouses of yesterday sit empty.

[@miriamaphillips1362]

We left Hamilton in 1970... noticed the Lake dying a few years earlier. It is sad to see now. However, my three old Schools are still remaining as so is the house I was raised in.

[@joen3992]

I commuted to Hamilton in the late 80s and saw the area in the video daily. Watch that area of Jackson's Square go to hell in the handbag. It is so sad to watch the video....

[@miltonbaptist4951]

I believe this was from 1949 or 1950 as there are Ford, Chev and Pontiac cars from those years. Great part of our history that should make us smile

[@arananation]

This is Hamilton?! Hamilton Ontario? Looks so clean and organized! The people look clean and dress good.

[@TheRodlodm]

wonderful

[@arawn10]

3:11 - MARKET SQUARE... a whole Other World (and yet it's Hamilton too).. :(

[@johnthompson4067]

This film, or portions thereof, was likely filmed between 1948 - 1950. There are no streetcar tracks shown on James south of King, and streetcars were removed from this section in 1947 (they ran out Aberdeen, terminating east of Longwood Road). It's wonderful to know that in a few years streetcars will again be passing Gore Park, as they did in this wonderful film.

[@arawn10]

1:04 - Light Rail Transit (LRT) Version 1.0

[@smokescreenFromThe6ix]

Some of those big buildings and the churches are still there. I notice there's no traffic lights.

[@Arkiasis]

It's disappointing how much was torn down in downtown and simply turned into parking lots.

[@ontariofirs7347]

Wow. I wished all these old buildings in downtown were not destroyed for the modernist, car-oriented, urban revitalization bs of the 1960s-80s (Im talking to you, Mayors Vic Copps and Lloyd Jackson). Look at what a failure it was for downtown Hamilton

[@DozleZabi]

Fuck that. The buildings along gore park are all infested with cockroaches because theyre 100 years old and rotting behind the walls (i know this because i work around there). I wish they would tear all that shit down. The problem is modern architectural design looks like dogshit so itd probably be replaced with generic glass/concrete building

[@joannohalloran9632]

I totally agree! It's a tragedy, forsure!

[@markstouth4549]

As our generation looks back, we see our veterans returning home to a peaceful life. This was their time.

[@darklittlepoet]

My god. What happened to this town.

[@tassosplatis2143]

Hamilton became a welfare state

[@HumbertoVidela]

Free Trade. Once the big factories could move down to the southern US and Mexico and pay their labor force less there was no need to stay in Hamilton.

[@Etaoinshrdlu69]

Mechanization. Hamilton still produces lots of steel but now with less people. Also the car. People had the opportunity to move to the suburbs (which are very nice).

[@ivobiancucci4528]

No one talking on their cell phones

[@ziparillomcmf1822]

The Hammer brings tears to My eyes the good old days everybody had jobs what a hub of commerce now just a waste land...

[@adawhyte4162]

So sad to see what our downtown has become😦😢 today

[@John-sk8cm]

@@adawhyte4162 I know. Having witnessed it's demise l finally moved away this summer. It's so sad what Hamilton has become. It really was one of the best places in the world to be a few decades ago. At one point there were 80 factories doing a booming business! Everyone who wanted a job had one, the streets were safe. Post WW2 it was a wonderful place to buy a home, start a family, save money and live well. The decline really hit around 2008 when the steel industry collapsed. I hung on as long as I could until I realized the whole 'revitalization of Hamilton' was a lie - it just meant massive rent and housing price hikes, tent encampments, fewer job opportunities, people using the street as a toilet, higher crime, then the 'sanctuary city' laws came in, then this so called Pandemic...l couldn't take it anymore.

[@Layla-in3fm]

And white

[@Etaoinshrdlu69]

Decline started in the early 90s with the end of the Cold War.

[@Etaoinshrdlu69]

@@John-sk8cm Hamilton is past its low point. Hamilton has a future as a suburb of Toronto.

[@StreetcarMuseum]

Hey there, do you have a higher resolution version of this video?

[@Hamilton-Public-Library]

Good question and thanks for watching! We'll do some digging and see what options we've got. - Team HPL

[@chrisbarker3965]

Hamilton was beautiful at one time what happened?

[@thatcanadian6698]

Politicians, that's what.

[@ryanmacc4709]

Looked like everyone had a job then but in hindsight when few had any real education to speak of once these great jobs ended or closed up everyone was stuck in a fast growing mess

[@tummytalk605]

So it was a real city at one time before city hall screwed it up

[@jacksonramsay1572]

What happened to Hamilton…

[@notlimey]

Too bad there's no sound

[@Hamilton-Public-Library]

It would be really nice with sound, but there isn't any on the original recording.

[@COFFEEKINGFAMILY]

Is this hamilton ohio?

[@RobertBOUSKILL]

This is at least 1952, not 1946.

[@user-tp3zf2qd5l]

What the hell happened? lol

[@liamaleman1761]

Right after WW2

[@mbogucki1]

A video record of what "Urban Renewal" destroyed.

[@barrykierans1473]

There's that statue of John A. now destroyed and erased. What barbarians!

[@fbtd2456]

What a shame. The city really pushed out businesses. NDP and Liberals keep paying welfare for lazy people that have been taught to have no ambition and no respect towards society. Drug dealers, mobsters and gangs replaced hardworking business entrepreneurs. Helping them pushes businesses out. Who wants to invest in a downtown with these kind of problems. Most people don't care including the councillors. Doing business with Hamilton and most cities in the GTA is truly an obsitical. Rents, Taxes, Insurance, building fees, credit card fees, construction permits are way too high for business owners to take a chance. Help businesses and then you will see results. Sorry if I have insulted anyone.

[@HumbertoVidela]

It was Brian Mulroney's Conservative Government that introduced Free Trade Agreement with the US in 1988, which in turn allowed a large number of factories to relocate south of the border killing the big industry, well remunerated jobs in Hamilton. Ensuring that people aren't destitute is hardly the cause of Hamilton's economic demise.

[@k.s.333]

And yet we keep getting preached that we live in a better progressive and inclusive society where everything in this video is bad--except the two streets.

[@stevena8719]

Ugh thank GOD we liberalized this city and made it more diverse, now its perfect!