32 Ontario Street

So read the neatly-written photo caption listing in the Hazelgrove Fonds of the Queen's University Archives. But the slide showed something much more exciting.

Check out the shipyard-to-street gantries that allowed large pieces of equipment to be transferred from the very end of CN's Hanley Spur into the sprawling complex. So much for property values. Now, folks living near the side of the former Kingston Shipyards might complain about the number of storeys, massing or other details of developments along the waterfront.

But in the early-60's, I wonder if these residents of Ontario Street complained about having this very industrial, very gritty operation in front of their front yards. CN drop-end gondola! I can scarce believe that this happened! There are at least three apartment buildings on this site today.

In the late 1950's, this building housed apartments which were heated by coal-fired steam radiators from across Ontario Street. A large pile of coal was kept on the dock, and radiator pressure at the apartments was 125 psi! When R.W. Sutton became superintendent, he reduced the use of coal by putting the yard cranes 'on air' thus 24/7 coal burning was not required, saving money for the struggling yard. 

If I hadn't seen the photo taken from street-level, I wouldn't have believe it nearly as much!