Comments on Toronto’s Streetcar History in The Woodwards of Warwickshire

When Janet Woodward visited me on Sept. 17, 2009, she asked if I had read the The Woodwards of Warwickshire. I told her that I have read every word of it. I wanted to talk about the reference to streetcars on page 73 which reads, “During the early 20th century, streetcars in Toronto were powered by a coal furnace which required, at times, 30 tons of coal each day for the entire fleet. One person would drive the car, while another would collect the tickets and stoke the coal furnace. This operation changed in 1934 with the introduction of electric streetcars that required only the driver.” Andrew Woodward said the information on page 73 was from a history of Toronto website.

Actually, the coal stove was only for heating the cars in the winter and was never used to power the streetcars. The stove was next to the conductor and it was his job to keep the fire going. The use of coal stoves for heat is noted at
4torontoinfo.com/toronto_transit_commission.asp. The first electric line opened Aug. 15, 1892 and it ran on Church Street; the system was fully electric by 1894. The last horse-drawn streetcar, operating on McCaul Street, and was withdrawn on Aug. 31, 1894.
See toronto.ca/archives/toronto_history_faqs.htm#ttc.

The very early electric-powered wooden cars were square with a flat front and back, and had collapsible sides that were put down to let more air in. They brought those cars in around 1900 and they were taken out of use around 1910. My mother first came to Toronto from Oakville in 1900 and she told me they were starting to use the cars with collapsible sides when she first came to Toronto. The wooden cars were not all alike.

1934 was when the big, heavy, steel cars with a reinforced base were first made. They were curved at the front and back. The manufacturer was Peter Witt. They were used until the streamlined cars came in around 1940. The Peter Witt cars substituted for what I call the “old wooden crates.” The wooden cars, which ran up Sherbourne Street to Rosedale, had three windows in the front—the centre one was flat and the ones on either side angled back. The motorman sat behind the centre window and on the left of him was the coal stove. A few of those cars had a conductor stationed a few seats from the rear. Those cars had no centre exit cars, so passengers paid as they exited. To do so, they had to wiggle their way through the standing passengers from the front entry point to the back. The coal stoves went out when the wooden cars were retired. The wooden cars were officially retired in 1934; however, if they ran short of the steel cars, wooden cars were added and they were kept in service until 1942.

The older cars used a hand control with a knob that was rotated until the required speed was attained. On the same handle was the brake control. The control was connected to the electric wire outside. Those cars were awfully slow. Around 1938 streamlined cars came in, with curved glass at the front and a slanted back. They had windshield wipers. They were the first with a foot accelerator. They were noted for their power and acceleration ability. I believe they were made in the United States and were used until the end of WWII.

Toronto historian Mike Filey writes about Toronto’s streetcars in his column at torontosun.com/life/columnists/mike_filey/2009/07/05/10028546-sun.html.

Frederick Woodward

Source: Andrew
Date: November 2009

Google Books has a search option where you can see which libraries in North America carry a given book (I don't know if it also searches libraries in Europe). Using this tool, I found that there are copies of The Woodwards of Warwickshire in the Library of Congress in Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. These copies must have been the ones that Coutts Library Services purchased from me. At the time, I wasn't sure which libraries Coutts would send the books to. So now we have copies in major libraries of both Canada and the States.

Source: Andrew
Date: October 28, 2009

Flower Pot Inn Photo Search

In May 2009, I wrote an article in the Black Country Bugle, asking for a photo of the original Flower Pot Inn. I received a reply from a person named Dennis. His grandparents, George Walter Parker and Henrietta Sutton, ran the Flower Pot Inn after Mary Ann Cross retired in 1889. As a boy, Dennis visited the original inn. He doesn’t have any photos, but he remembers that the Flower Pot Inn had two bay windows that were frosted to shield the patrons from being viewed from the street. If you look at the floor plans on page 30 of The Woodwards of Warwickshire, you can see the two bay windows protruding from the front of the building. The beer was brewed on location at the back of the inn.

The Case of the Missing Skates

Below are three websites that mention the "Woodward Skate," invented by our ancestor, Edward Woodward (1817-1887). We know that Edward invented the skate while he was running the Flower Pot Inn. He gave skating lessons in a large parlour room at the back of the inn. In 1868, Edward advertised: “E. Woodward wishes to inform the gentleman of the town and neighbourhood of West Bromwich that he intends giving lessons in the art of skating in his large and commodious common room on such a practical scale that he feels confident will meet the approbation of his patrons and friends.”

The roller skate that Edward invented featured a row of vulcanized rubber wheels down the middle of the skate. To aid in turning, the wheels in the middle were larger than the wheels on the ends. Jackson Haines (1840-1875), the father of modern figure-skating, used the Woodward Skate during his exhibitions in America.

In 1943, William Ellery Jephcott, a local historian, wrote in the West Bromwich and Oldbury Chronicle that Edward Woodward’s descendants possess some of his skates. We believe that the descendant(s) Jephcott was referring to may be Harry Woodward or Harry’s first cousins: William, Charles, Albert, or Mary. They were the only descendants living in England during the 1940s.

Assuming the skates exist today, we have developed two theories as to where they may be. The first is that the skates were passed to the descendants of Harry’s wife, Lizzie Jones; however, her relatives lived in Australia, and so this theory is not strong. The second theory is that they were passed to the descendants of Harry’s first cousins in England. This theory seems stronger as it makes sense that the skates would be left to blood descendants of Edward, rather than to Lizzie via her husband, Harry. Lizzie and Harry did not have children to pass their possessions on to, which is another reason why Harry may not have inherited this important piece of family history.

Through Jephcott’s article in the West Bromwich and Oldbury Chronicle, we have learned that Edward was a well-known breeder of black and tan dogs. We have also discovered that he was only 4 feet and 1 inch high and that he weighed only 112 pounds.

Sources (search for "Woodward"):

Evolution of the Roller Skate
http://www.rollerskatersgazette.com/part1.htm,

The Evolution of Inline Roller Skates http://inlineskating.about.com/od/inlineskatinghistory/a/inline_timeline_2.htm,

Roller Sports Canada
http://rollersports.ca/roller-sports/history/

Sept. 23, 2009

Andrew,

You have done a remarkably good job in putting this family history and genealogy together. You've not only used data from our database, and other data given and written by individual family members, but you have done a lot of digging and research yourself. I also like all the pictures, illustrations, and historical comments in boxes. You are to be highly commended for a very readable, interesting, and well put together book. Every member of the Woodward family must feel greatly indebted to you for all the time and effort you have put into it.

I am rating your work at 4 stars because, having been a university professor, only on very rare occasions have I ever given the highest grade possible (A+ in university). I can only remember twice in my entire 30 years of teaching, having given the highest grade. So, a 4 really represents my highest grade.

Malcolm Horsnell

Source: Ruth Eddy
Date: August 8, 2009

The book is great. I have read it through, but with my memory I will have to read it over and over.

Just a few things to note:
- On page 113, Leeta Davidson's name is missing.
- On page 137 under “Absent” Evelyn and Brandin Davidson's names are missing
- Bobbi-Jo is misspelled as “Bobbie” in the box at the top of pages 116 and in the heading on page 140.
- On page 109, the reference to Edith’s birthday should be her 89th.

I just thought people might like to add this info, maybe on the back page.

Also to be added since the book was published: Caitlynn Rose, born May 16, 2009, to Evelyn and Raymond Osborne.

Source: David Eddy
Date: August 2009

"The book looks and reads fabulously."