Stories or facts about your hometown* that you didn't know

[Mendalla]

So I was checking the wiki article on Victoria Day to confirm whether Newfoundland celebrated it (they don't really, only civil servants officially get a holiday) I discovered the existence of the Victoria steamboat disaster, an event here in London, Ontario in 1881 that I swear I had never heard of before. 182 dead, possibly higher, after an overcrowded paddlewheeler on the Thames tipped over. I was only vaguely aware that the Thames had once had paddlewheelers running on it, let alone that we had a disastrous capsizing of one. They ran between Waterworks Park in Byron (modern day Springbank Park) and downtown. The name of the disaster by the way, is from the name of the boat, though it is apparently also called the Victoria Day Disaster sometimes.

Victoria steamboat disaster - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

* = could be your current home, birthplace, or another place that you've called home

 

[ninj]

Queen Millie

Millicent Milroy Memorial in Cambridge | Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/millicent-milroy-memorial

I always found this fascinating. MT. View Cemetery was a favourite hangout of mine as a kid. On hot summer days, the mausoleum in particular was cool and inviting. There was a drinking fountain near the entrance which always had me wondering if it was dead people water.

 

[Mendalla]

Queen Millie

Millicent Milroy Memorial in Cambridge | Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/millicent-milroy-memorial

I always found this fascinating. MT. View Cemetery was a favourite hangout of mine as a kid. On hot summer days, the mausoleum in particular was cool and inviting. There was a drinking fountain near the entrance which always had me wondering if it was dead people water.

That's a cool story, really. One could get a good alt-history novel (or secret history novel) out of it. I see there is a play.

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

So I was checking the wiki article on Victoria Day to confirm whether Newfoundland celebrated it (they don't really, only civil servants officially get a holiday) I discovered the existence of the Victoria steamboat disaster, an event here in London, Ontario in 1881 that I swear I had never heard of before. 182 dead, possibly higher, after an overcrowded paddlewheeler on the Thames tipped over. I was only vaguely aware that the Thames had once had paddlewheelers running on it, let alone that we had a disastrous capsizing of one. They ran between Waterworks Park in Byron (modern day Springbank Park) and downtown. The name of the disaster by the way, is from the name of the boat, though it is apparently also called the Victoria Day Disaster sometimes.

Victoria steamboat disaster - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

* = could be your current home, birthplace, or another place that you've called home

And I thought the holiday was named after her birthday….
So why do we not have a Halifax explosion holiday?

 

[paradox3]

Not my hometown but the island where we had a family cottage. There were arrowheads discovered on the site way back when.

I discovered this by accident when reading about something related.

 

[Delightful Life]

And I thought the holiday was named after her birthday….
So why do we not have a Halifax explosion holiday?

We should
I remember larnin aboot that in elementary
(i like the Simpson's version of that; a ship full.of hot shorts exploded, and they all.washed to shore in Springfield, blessing everyone with colourful hotpants)

 

[Mendalla]

And I thought the holiday was named after her birthday….

It is. My point is that the disaster is named because the boat was called Victoria, not because it was on Victoria Day, unless you go by the alternative name.