Another 'Dear Photograph' Tour of the Waterfront

Was it really a year ago? The day that I wandered the waterfront snapping archival photos in today's context in the style of Dear Photograph. Last week, having just come from Kingston's PumpHouse Steam Museum, my first stop to the east was the dry dock along Ontario Street. Holding some photo prints of images from the Queen's University Archives, it was neat to position each photo (taken in the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s) to fit today's scene. My first stop was the Ontario Street dry dock. The Wolfe Islander, 1951 (above) and HALCO's Cove Transport, 1964 (below):

                                        Motor yacht Chanticleer in the dry dock, 1967:

The former Canadian Locomotive Company office building sat at the corner of Ontario and William Streets, now the site of parking behind Empire Life:

This row of buildings has been occupied by a variety of tenants over the decades, but it's no longer a Meat Market like it was in 1950, and its annex is no longer standing.

At the foot of Brock Street, I had several images of The Way Things Used To Be, which in Kingston sometimes means The Way Things Still Are Today. Not in all cases though, and these historic grain merchants are long gone, replaced by the hotel on this site. A central waterfront location, once desired for easy grain-handling to and from ships, now used to house tourists.

Looking up to Brock Street over the 'cobblestones' to City Hall (above). CN and CP reached the locomotive plant and shippers in the vicinity of City Hall. Their tracks headed north at the foot of Brock Street, where the angled backs of buildings belie the tracks' former location:

It was soon time to return to my parking spot at the PumpHouse. I managed to keep myself and the photos dry! The former Kingston & Pembroke station hasn't changed much, but that Ford city station wagon is no longer parked in front!

A Milwaukee Road boxcar was behind the station in the mid-sixties. The Milwaukee Road itself has long since gone bankrupt! CP moved its operations away from City Hall to make way for Confederation Park and the Centennial celebrations.

As I walked back, I reflected on the grey day, its grey sky, the grey of limestone and concrete and those long-ago images with their own shades of grey, black & white.