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14 olet N WAGON white with mat- of room, plenty ight. Lic. 0000 matic transmis- wer brakes and miles, Finished trim. olet /ERTIBLE fully equipped. trim to match. dard transmis- in bronze with this for value, OSHAWA ELECTRIC LIGHT CO. WAS ORGANIZED BY THREE ENTERPRISING CITIZENS saga Of Electricity In Oshawa Started In 1887 | "The History of Electricity in Oshawa," was written by Lawrence T. Savery, former Oshawa school principal and former chairman of the Mc- Laughlin Public Library beard, for the Oshawa Pub- lic Utilities Commission. The history will be included in the 'Hall of Memory" -- a co-operative centennial pro- ject of the Ontario Municipal Electric Association, the As- sociation of Municipal Elec- trical Utilities and Onte@o Hydro, to be located in a uis- ply on their Adam Beck -- Niagara No. 1. generating station. The PUC says two men in particular provided a large part of the material: Charles U. Peeling, manager of the Oshawa Electric Light Company during 1911 to 1916, now of Mechanicsburg. Pen- nsylvania, U.S.A, and Thomas Bouckley of Oshawa' who placed his collection of pic- tures and other data on early Oshawa at the PUC's disposal. The year 1887 was an eventful one for persons of British ex- traction, throughout the world. It was the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee, the fiftieth an- niversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. During the summer, all the pageantry of the Empire blazed forth to honor the "Good Queen", the object of the affection and loy- alty of all her subjects. It was a year of special sig- nificance in Canada also, for, on May 23, 1887, the first trans- continental train steamed proud- ly into Vancouver. Sir John A. Macdonald's promise, made to British Columbia when it form- ally entered Confederation in 1871, had been fulfilled. Truly, it could now be said that. Can- ada stretched "from sea to sea". ELECTRICITY COMES The little town of Oshawa had its own good reasons for cele- bration in 1887, although it is doubtful if, at that time, many of its people realized it. In that year, three enterprising citizens, E. S. Edmondson, J. L. Guy, and K. L. Murton joined in or- ganizing the Oshawa Electric Light Co., to provide both light and power for those people of the town who were progressive enough to use this new form of energy. There is no record of the manner in which the an- nouncement of their plans was received. It is quite probable, though, that the majority of the townsfolk considered the pro- ject a fool-hardy one, which would soon go the way of all ill-conceived ventures. Mr. Edmondson, who seems to have been the senior mem- ber of the three-way partner- ship, owned and operated a flour-mill on the west side of St. Lawrence Street, just south of the Mill Street bridge. It was in this mill that the generator was installed, to produce elec- tricity. Water power to operate it was obtained from a dam on the Oshawa Creek. The remains of this dam can still be seen, about fifty feet north of the Mill Street bridge. Above it was a huge mill-pond, which, no doubt, was the source of great enjoy- ment for the young people of the day. Mrs. T. J. Short, who has lived in that area since childhood, and whose alertness belies her ninety years, remem- bers the throngs of skaters who gathered there on winter days before the turn of the century. Evidently the town fathers looked with some favor on the new type of lighting, for a few street lights were installed in the main part of the town. They were of the arc type, and oper- ated from dusk to midnight, ex- cept on moonlight nights. (One cannot help wondering who de- cided when the moon was suf- ficiently bright to leave street lights turned off. THE STARK ELECTRIC CO. In 1892, Mr. Edmondson's mill was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt minus the flour-mill, and shortly thereafter, sold to the Stark Electric Co. of Tor- onto. This company made one important change in the system. The arc lights were replaced by incandescent ones.' The plant now had a load capacity of 600 kilowatts, being a 52 volt, 133 cycle system, and serving about 400 customers. GROWING PAINS The first real test of the ef- ficiency of the new electrical system came with the building of the.Oshawa Railway in 1895. It had been decided that the cars should be operated by elec- trical power, produced by the Oshawa Electric Light Co. The first section of the line, from Alexandra Street to the Grand Trunk Railway depot at Bloor Street was opened on June 13 of that year. The whole popula- tion turned out to watch Car Number 12 trundle proudly down Simcoe Street on the first trip over the line, By August, the track had been extended to the Port on Lake Ontario. A large park was soon established there, and it provided the Oshawa Railway with a great deal of ex- cursion traffic during the sum- mer months. Also located there, were the steamship docks, where the passenger ships from Toronto and other places un- loaded their crowds of picnick- ers, who, naturally, made use of the cars to come up to visit the town. the; and embarrassing situation. The capacity of the electrical plant was insufficient to oper- ate the streetcars and the town- lights at the sa: time. The story is told that, on many oc- casions, when a load of passen- gers from the Toronto boats was aboard, the little street-cars of- ten stalled on the upgrade from the port. Horses had to be bor- rowed to pull the stranded cars for the rest of the trip. Because of this perplexing problem, the Oshawa Railway Co. decided to augment the pow- er it was now receiving from the Oshawa Electric Co. by building a plant of its own, In a publication of that year we read: "The Oshawa Railway has given the contract for the erec- tion of a powerhouse of 250 hp.* (* ELECTRICAL NEWS, OCTOBER, 1895 -- PAGE 179.) This powerhouse was a brick structure' on Mill Street, now forming part of the building oc- cupied by the Oshawa Laundry and Dry Cleaning Co. In a later issue of the same publication, progress on: this project is re- corded as follows: 'The new powerhouse for the Oshawa Electric Railway has been com- pleted. It is entirely of brick, and is equipped with Babcock and Wilson boilers and two 150 hp cross compound Rob-Arm- strong engines, connected with a 200 kw 6 pole Westinghouse generator. The installation was made by Ahearn and Soper of Ottawa, and makes a medel powerhouse"'.* As the above excerpt sug- gests, the generator was oper- ated by steam. Thus, for sev- jeral years, Oshawa was provid- jed with electricity, produced through the use of both water and steam power. SEYMOUR POWER In 1911, the Cshawa Electric Light Co. was purchased by the Seymour Power Co., and elec- tricity for both power and resi- dential customers was made available, for the first time, on a twenty-four hour basis. Dur- ing the years 1907 to 1916, this company purchased practically all of the electric light and pow- er companies within the Geor- gian Bay, Peterborough, Tren- ton triangle. It bought power sites on the Otonabee and Trent Rivers from Peterborough to Trenton, and built power plants and transmission lines through- out the area. RECOLLECTIONS The first manager of the Osh- awa Electric Light Co., after. it was purchased by the Seymour Power co., was Mr. C. U. Peel- ing, now living in retirement, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. |Ontario, This commission had pany. He has this to say regard- ing the part he played in its ex- pansion: "'My first employment | by the Seymour Power Co. was | early in 1910. At that time, I © which the Seymour Power Co. a "gumshoe job", wherein I walked the streets of jall those villages and towns, and observ- -- ed their émployment and use of | steam power that was in evi- | dence. I guessed at hew much power might be requiretl to op- erate the industries, so that the company could'get some idea mained with the Seymour Pow- er Co., and did various con- struction jobs in Madoc, Tweed, etc*Then I was sent to the Port Hope -- Oshawa area, where I, by horse-and-buggy, or on foot, covered every possible route for |chose the right-of-way, and the station, and followed this job un- til it was almost complete." The transmission line, men- tioned above by Mr. Peeling, was a continuation of the line from Trenton, carrying power from the plants constructed on the Trent River. The Oshawa substation to which he refers is the one on Prospect Street, still in operation. |HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER | COMMISSION OF ONTARIO In 1916 the Oshawa Electric Co. was purchased, along with many other systems, by the On- tario Government, and placed Cc under the control of the Hydro- Electric Power Commission of been set up in 1905, by the gov- ernment of the province, to ob- tain and provide electrical pow-|% er at cost to municipalities on a province-wide basis. During the years following the First World War, as Oshawa expand- ed to become a thriving indus- trial city, the demand for more light and power increased by leaps and bounds. UTILITIES COMMISSION In 1927, discussions began in Oshawa City Council regarding the advisability of purchasing |e: the local gas distribution sys- of Messrs. D. A. J. Swanson, J. Stacey, G. D. Conant, Wm. Bod- up to study the matter. The recommendation of mittee was that the City buy, During the first half of this cen- of who the power customers | might be, and their approximate © load at that time. After finish- © ing the "'gumshoe job". I re- © was directed to make a survey © of all the properties in this area, © did not control. This survey was 3 J $ usta eee nov cones the proposed transmission line © from Port Hope to Oshawa. I | [substation sites along it, includ- _ ing the land for the Oshawa sub- © FIRST OSHAWA TRANSFORMER STATION AT COURT, PROSPECTS STS. -- BUILT IN 1911 . . - Station Reduced Power Voltage Supplied From Trent River Plant cilities for the Transportation;producing Department, which was taken|cars per day in 1930; over by the Commission on Jan-| The Central Spring Company, uary Ist, 1960. HANGING RESPONSIBILITIES From 1930 to 1964 the rural area adjacent to Oshawa, from ; 4 A Courtice on the east, Pickering) making Safco a m the west, and north to ap- proximately the Reach Town Line, was operated by the Com- mission for the Ontario Hydro, as the Oshawa Rural District. A change of policy was instituted by throughout the Province, which led to the Oshawa Rural Power] District with other surrounding areas, and set up under the al Pow |carn eae manufacturers of iron Power Ontario Hydro being amalgamated ville and Markham Rural Pow- r Districts, on July Ist, 1964. However, the local Public Util-| " wave system. This was trans- tem from the Ontario Govern-|ities Commission has continued oe 130-240" iia ment. A committee, consisting|to function as a collection of- fice for Ontario Hydro. In 1951, the City of Oshawa dy, and S. Jackson Sr. was set|annexed the surrounding sub- pany Ltd., and be urban area on the west, east 1 this com-|and north, which approximately Ltd. quadrupled the area of the City, not only the gas, but the elec-/and added over 2,000 customers tric system as well. After two|to the Commission's electrical tury, he held positions of re-/years of negotiations, the pur-|system. This created a rather sediouslciliity in the latter com- OLD TRANSFORMER " appendix at the end of this ar- STRUCTURE & TRANSFORMER INSTALLATION « « - Note Line Crew and Their Mode of Transportation chase was finalized, the electri- cal distribution system costing $310,000, the gas $210,000. (The gas plant was subsequently sold to the Ontario Shore Gas Com- pany in 1931.) To operate the electrical dis- T tribution system, and other pub- licly owned services, the City Council passed a bylaw to es- tablish a Public Utilities Com- mission of five members, in- cluding the mayor (as an ex- officio member). The first elec- tion of members of this com- mission was held on January 6, 1930. Those elected were Mes- srs. F. L, Mason (Chairman), J. Stacey, G. D. Conant, W. H. Ross, and T. B. Mitchell (May- or). For the names of subse- quent commissioners, see the ticle. The newly-formed Commis- sion commenced operations, 1930, on January 1, in the Hydro's old location, at 26 King|196 Street West. These rented quar-|1916 1924 1930 of the first objectives of thel1940 to provide/1950 more suitable office headquar-|1960 1965 ters were, to say the least, somewhat inadequate, and one Commission was ters. The result was a fine new building erected at the north- E west corner of Metcalfe and COMMISSION SERVES 1957 at 824 Glencairn Street. In 1962, the first all-electric apart- ment building, '"'The Gover- nor's Mansion," a_ prestige building of 35 suites, was built on Park Road North. Two years later the Auto Workers' Credit Union erected the first commercial building with an electric heat-pump installation. In 1965, Rosslyn Heights, the first all-electric subdivision with a potential of 160 homes approximately 750 Ontario Steel Products, jnow of automobile |manufacturers | springs; | The W. E. Phillips Company, jnow Duplate (Canada) Limited, mirrors | The Robson Leather Company Ltd., now Robson-Lang Leath- ans ib sseage ee ee was commenced. The first resi- | A +. ,|dential heat-pump installation | The Skinner Manufacturing " M Company, now Houdaille Indus- has a Vs B esape bears in the tries Ltd., manufacturers of|>°3" alley subdivision. It autamobile bumpers etc: was placed on display in the P , summer of 1966. | . Fittings Ltd., manufacturers lof pipe-fittings, etc; LOAD GROWTH | The Ontario Malleable Iron! From the days of the Sey- {mour Power Company, power) castings; | was distributed throughout the The Pedlar People Lid., man-|City at 4,160 volts on a 3-phase met. customers made ample use of this new form of energy, local supply result that the areas of the City so that the|average cost per Kilowatt hour. electrical needs of future de-|A supply agreement dated 50 velopments would be adequately| years ago between a residential | customer In looking back over the prog-/ Power Company, indicates the ress of the system since elec- prevailing rate was 15c per kilo- tricity was first made available| Va'! sige htirrg, PhiaPantanin. y cost per kilowatt hour to a resi- in Oshawa, it is apparent the dential customer is 0.85c. and the Seymour While it is unlikely that suffi- as'cient additional uses of electri- new electric appliances and de-| city can be developed to con- vices were developed. Conse-\tinue with reductions in the quently the increasing demand|average cost per Kilowatt hour for power from year to yearjon this scale, nevertheless, the presented a challenge to the|large average use that has been authorities, with|established along with the effi- system grew/cient' generating. facilities now rapidly and the increasing use| being developed, should make it of power by the customers (over) possible to maintain a very reae 700 per cent in the last 35)sonable rate structure for the years) gradually lowered the' foreseeable future. verts, etc; formed to 120-240 volt single The Schofield Woolfen Com-|Phase and 600 volt three phase for residential and commercial use. pany, The Oriental Textiles Com- Las The first significant change in The Williams Piano Company General Motors was and con- tinues to be, by far, the largest electrical consumer, its load having reached a peak of over |37,000 K.W. in 1966. This is ap- the Oshawa Shopping Centre. business area where a gradual change to the new voltage is utilization voltages was the in- troduction of a 120-208 volt, 3- phase system in 1956, to supply This voltage was subsequently introduced into the downtown! power in 1930 were: electricity in Oshawa, the corre- lation between the electric load, and the increase in population is evident from the following table. under the Public Utilities Act Year Since the Public Utilities Com-|proximately equal to the de- mission was formed in 1930 it/mand for the entire City of Osh- has provided the Oshawa indus-|awa in 1954. trial firms with an ever-grow- ing supply of electrical power.|tremendous growth in the use The following table shows the taking|of electricity by representative industries, over the past 55 General Motors of Canada'years. INDUSTRIAL DEMANDS (KILOWATTS) Industries 1911 1935 General Motors of Canada Ltd. 111 4,403 Ontario Steel Products Co. Ltd. _ 80 Fittings Limited 40 442 Ontario Malleable Iron Company 67 182 Pedlar People Ltd. 100 156 Duplate (Canada) Ltd. _ 480 Robson-Lang Leathers od 232 960 Houdaille Industries Ltd. - 570 5,634 In tracing the development ofjownership of all Rental Heat- ers was transferred to the users. A new Rental Program was introduced in 1959 and ap- pears to gain a greater public acceptance each year. The Pop|number of rental units in serv- ice now exceeds 12,000. In addition there are 4,000 pri- vately owned installations. In 1966, a Water Heater Rental Termination Plan was introduced. Under this plan rental payments terminate after 7% years until the guar- he major industries 1965 37,335 648 2,020 1,986 1,105 6,204 Elec. Demands in Kilowatts 600 1,170 4,080 8,812 16,659 23,687 25,047 29,771 60,146 being accomplished. Up until 1953, no customers in the city were supplied with power at a higher potential than 4,160 volts. At that time con- struction was completed on the General Motors South Plant sub- station, which had been erected to enable them to take power at 44,000 volts. Subsequently 44 KV_ substations were erected by Duplate of Canada Ltd., Hou- daille Industries Ltd., Fittings Ltd., and General Motors of Canada Ltd. for their north plant. These privately owned} substations along with the 12 Commission owned stations, brought the total number ,of| stations in the City up to 17, se the overall installed capacity to 164,500 KVA in 1966. This could be compared to 1945 when 3 Stations with an overall capa- city of 21,000 KVA supplied the City. Peak load control of flat rate water heaters was installed in 1937, The large number of heat- ers in use at that time made this a valuable method of re- ducing the City's load peak. The equipment ,was manufat- tured by Canadian General 74,194 LECTRICAL MILEPOSTS The system has gone Simcoe Streets, near the Mem-|through a period of consider- orial Park. The foresight of the|apje etath aisce the Commis- Commission became evident in|<j later years in respect to both the strategic building, and the provision for on was established, not only in the miles of distribution sys- location of the/tem and customers added, but also in the scope of service pro- expansion which was included|yided in the plans. This office build- In 1933 the first Hydro Rent- ing, opened in 1931, has contin-|al Water Heater Program was ued to serve the Electric andlinstituted, which was in oper- Water Departments ever since,|ation until after World War II besides providing head-office fa-jended in 1945. At this time antee period of 10 years ex-|Electric and operated on the pires, or the tank fails, which-|basis of a 720 cycle signal im-| ever occurs later. 'posed over the distribution sys The Ontario Hydro began to| tem. promote electric heating of| During the winter of 1964-65 homes in 1957 and the Oshawa/concentrated electric heating Commission quickly followed/loads in certain areas of the suit. A Sales Department was/City created low voltage prob- established and plans were de-|lems which could not be allevi- veloped to obtain a_ substan-|ated satisfactorily using the ex- tial share of the heating mar-|isting 4,160 volt distribution sys- ket. jtem. Consequently on April 8, The first residential electric| 1965, the Commission authorized heating installation in the city|the installation of a 13.8 KV dis- was in a model home, built in' tribution system in the outlying She Times OSHAWA, ONTARIO, SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1967 was done to the Hillsdale Bar- becue Restaurant, 30314 Hills- dale Ave., in an early-morning fire today. D. C. Carmichael, owner of of the building, said that the Maurice Mantais, was the oper- ator of the restaurant. The alarm was sounded at 4:43 a.m. and, fire fighters bat- tled the blaze until 6:23 a.m. Cause of the blaze was un- determined, but a fire depart- ment spokesman said it may have started in a garbage pain. Damage to the building was estimated at $1,500 and to the restaurant equipment $1,000. Mr. Carmichael of 901 Regent Woman Injured In Two-Car Crash A 53-year-old Toronto woman was reported in satisfactory con- dition at Bowmanville Memor- ial Hospital today suffering from injuries received Friday in a two - car collision near Orono. Mrs. Ethel Gassien, passeng-} er in a car driven by her hus- band, "Leonard, was injured when the Gassien care was in collision with another driven by Wesley William Ulch of Lind- sav. Eleven - year - old James Ulch, son of Mr. Ulch, was tak- en to Lindsay hospital and re- leased. The accident, at about 4:10 p.m., was about six miles north of Orono on Highway 35. Early-morn Fire Damages Building Estimated damage of $2,500/St., praised the quick, accurate action of the fire department. "They were here five minutes after the call was made," he said. "The way they handled the fire was amazing -- they saved me thousands of dollars.' "It's an old building and could have gone up like a tinder box, but they were right there to see that it didn't," he said. "The only real damage was smoke and a bit of water and what was burned -- it could have been worse." George Ben, MPP Guest Speaker George Ben, MPP, Bracone dale, will be the guest speaker Monday night at a meeting of the Oshawa Riding Liberal As- sociation when a candidate will be named for the next provine cial election. The meeting will be held at 8 p.m, in the United Auto Work- ers Hall on Bond St. E. The NDP has already elected Clifford Pilkey, former city al- derman, as its candidate, and the PC's are expected to name Albert V. Walker, MPP, Osh- awa, as their standard-bearer again. GLASS AT EXPO Some 300 pieces of glass and crystal ware will be exhibited in the Czechoslovak pavilion at Expo 67. SEEDS OF DISEASE FEARED HERE ALSO- CHOLERA RAVAGED EUROPE While Europe was experienc- ing a wide-spread attack of cholera 100 years ago, Oshawa fown council that year had not appointed a health inspector. "Although there is no sign of its existence in America," the Oshawa Vindicator said, "there may be seeds of the disease lurking in.the filt and slums of some of its cities'. ; The paper said town council would probably appoint a health inspector soon "to see that thoughtless people take care of their own health". "Even if there is no danger from cholera, the removal of manure heaps, the cleaning of cellars and the deodorizing of back yards and cess pools will be amply repaid by the de The Oshawa Vindicator, a weekly newspaper preceeding the Oshawa Times, said a snow- storm, during the week of April 17-23, would hinder town progress. "Business is a month behind and farming operations two weeks behind last year," the paper said. "The roads have been very bad and the Nonquon Road is almost impossible in two places." While pot holes, ruts and broken stones were being re- paired in hopes that they would "be decent" in about a year, a homecomer was also experi- encing damage caused by mother nature. BORES HOLE During a Saturday morning snow storm, lightening struck John Sikes home, shattering his chimney and stove pipes and splitting a large section of the door. Boring a hole through the floor and breaking about seven panes of glass, the lightening stopped, leaving the occupants of the house, uninjured. "The flash was particularly fierce and vivid and was felt in several parts of the town and although two or three parties were stunned by it, no one was injured,"' the paper said. In early Oshawa, run-away horses was as common an ex- perience as today's car break- downs. A pair of horses, owned by "Mr. W. Brandon of Canning- ton'"" became frightened while at the railway station and tore down the track, crossing cattle guards without much injury to horses or wagon. After running a mile, the horses were stopped and the driver treated for a slight injury. An art showing of "Tableau of the Holy Land" by Howorth and Rathwell was exhibited in Oshawa to large audiences dur- ing a two-night stand. "These paintings are not only a magnificent exhibition of scenic art but also most in- structive entertainment," the Vindicator said. The Oshawa Vindicator mar- velled at the graduation of 84 young doctors from Victoria University. CONVOCATION CEREMONIES "Eighty-four M.D.'s turned MOH Was Sadly Needed In Oshawa In 1867 -- out for the convocation -cere- monies in Cobourg -- all grad- uates from one university in one year," the paper said. "If any- one intends to get sick, we sug- gest now is the time. Flour as $10 a barrel can't be much cheaper than pills and powders when such a host are in the bus- iness of manufacturing them." Cultivating muscle in the town of Oshawa was of prime impor- tance, the Oshawa paper felt. And it made a public plea for organizers to take the initiation and set up club operations. "'Al- most all the towns of the pro- vince have their baseball or cricket clubs and we want some means in the place for the culti- "vation of muscle," the Vindica- tor said. erease of fevers."