Although I've entitled this blog and my layout 'Kingston's Hanley Spur', where did the name come from? (In both those contexts, I refer to the parallel CN and CP lines reaching our waterfront as the Hanley Spur, though that was only an official title of the CN 'branchline'.) The spur was named in honour of several men of the Hanley family. (I could use the terms eponyms or namesakes interchangeably.) The Hanley family the operated what we would today call a travel agency, namely the train/ship ticket office that was later known as Kingston's Inner Station, or the Hanley Station.
THE GTR BRANCHLINE COMPLETED
The Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) Montreal-Toronto mainline officially opened in October, 1856. Soon there were efforts underway locally to build a branchline to the waterfront. The GTR bought land bounded by William, Ontario and Johnson Streets on the waterfront in November, 1856. The branchline opened on November 2, 1860. The branchline was extended to the locomotive plant in September, 1864.
THE HANLEY TICKET AGENCY
With the completion of the branchline, Thomas Hanley and Frederick Bolger opened a ticket agency in 1871. It was located at the foot of Brock Street in the old Forsythe Building. Later, Thomas Hanley moved the ticket office into part of the Anglo-American Hotel, on the kitty-corner to the Inner Station. An 1882 Whig ad (below). Needing a more permanent presence, the Hanleys had a 43x45-foot ticket office built, known as the Grand Trunk Railway General Ticket Agency and GTR Passenger Depot (top photo, superimposed over today's condos!)
GTR’s 1886 Inner Station was designed by William Newlands as was the K&P’s station, just one block away, also on the south side of Ontario Street. Located at the prominent corner of Ontario and Johnson Streets, the GTR station was topped by a three-sided mansard roof. The sales office on the corner was flanked by waiting rooms along both streets.
Built of red brick, with yellow accents, hand-painted period advertising proclaimed the worldliness of this little GTR outpost. “Passenger Trains for All Directions Leave from Here”; “Short Line East-West”, “Allan Line-Royal Mail Steamship Office”; ”Tourist Tickets”; “Office Montreal and Dominion Telegraph” and “Remember This is the Only Line Running Pullman Class”. Names of distant cities were also spelled out: “St John[sic]-Halifax-Montreal-Boston-Detroit-Windsor”:
A letterhead proclaimed 'Hanley's General Ticket Agency for all Railways, Steamships and other Transportation Lines.' Thomas Hanley was General Manager, T.A. Hanley was Chief Clerk, J.P. Hanley was Secretary and Treasurer, and James Hanley as Outside Agent. The GTR operated a wharf and freight station at the same location.
An 1898 harvest excursion ad (above) albeit to the Midwestern U.S., not Canada. GTR then CN Suburban service linking the Inner and Outer Stations operated from 1885 until January 4, 1930. The end of the Suburban service meant that the Hanleys closed their Ontario and Johnson Street office, relocating to the CN-leased office at Princess and Bagot Streets in the Mowat Building on October 1, 1930. They were now CN's City Passenger and Ticket Agents. V.C. Hanley was Passenger Agent, J.S. Hanley was Ticket Agent, and Thomas Percy the Ticket Clerk. Interestingly, their telephone #99 remained the same as the first telephone installed in the Inner Station office over 30 years ago. A 1930 ad:
THEN A RESTAURANT...
CN sold its Ontario and Johnson Street property to the Canadian Locomotive Company in 1945, except for the former Inner Station site that was sold to Marion McNevin. It was leased to a variety of clients in the ensuing years: a motorcycle shop, ladies' hair boutique then restaurant.
The Hanley's Station Dining Room Restaurant operated in the former Inner Station circa 1983-88 (1984 Whig ad, above). Undergoing an interior redesign imder new ownership that began in September, 1985. In the winter of 1984-85, a new logo was designed by David Stone and Associates, a local graphic design firm. Ironically, it included a charging Canadian Pacific Selkirk steamer (below). Other eateries in the building included Joe College in 1988, Mexicali Rosa's, Frankie Pestos, Paddy J Murphy's, and others.
THE HANLEY FAMILY
Thomas Hanley and his wife Sarah McCauley had three sons: Cleary Vincent, Frank A. and James P. and three sisters. Joseph P. Hanley was born on March 2, 1863. he began his career at the GTR freight office in the Napanee station as Clerk, under his uncle J.P. Hanley. he transferred to the Kingston freight depot in 1882, joining his father Thomas at the GTR ticket agency in 1884, then succeeding his father upon his father's death in 1896. He married Katie Reid, daughter of the late James Reid in 1888, though she died in 1891. The couple had one son, James S. Hanley.
Joseph was known as a "most efficient and well-informed railway man" in the local press. Joseph P. Hanley died at his 67 Earl Street home on January 8, 1930.
Molly Aldridge called herself the sole surviving member of the Hanley Family in a 1985 Whig interview, a daughter of Cleary Hanley.
CONNECTIONS
I received a comment on my Trackside Treasure blog in 2015 from Laura (Hanley) Roobol, great-granddaughter of J.P. Hanley who didn't know that the spur was named after the Hanleys. She referred to the ticket office as Hanley Station. In 2016, also on Trackside Treasure, a comment from Joseph Peter Hanley of Ottawa, a great-grandson of J.P. Hanley. After publishing this post, Joseph Peter Hanley commented and emailed: "I grew up in Kingston and was always aware of the GTR connection, and of course, the location of the station as it was only a couple of blocks from where I was raised at 85 Wellington St. The Hanley home was at 67 Earl St. (at Wellington St) and is designated a historical building. The coal and sand docks where the Delta Hotel by Marriott is now located were also a part of the Hanley history as they owned the dock. The dock came into my sister and my hands briefly (inheritance) when my father, Joseph L Hanley passed away (car accident) in 1959. Prior to that, lakers tied up there for the winter."
RESOURCES
The late Gordon Smithson wrote an article 'The Hanleys of Kingston' in the January 1992, Volume 40 edition of the Kingston Historical Society's Historic Kingston.
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