Our old photo this week shows a crowd of people gathered, shoulder to shoulder, on the lawn in front of the old red brick house that until 1936 was St. Catharines’ city hall. Not only is the lawn thronged with people, but every inch of the city hall roof is filled with spectators, while others crane their necks out of the windows to get a view.
They were gathered on Sept. 14, 1886, the day of the dedication of the memorial to Pte. Alexander Watson, a recruit from St.
Catharines who had died while serving with the 90th Winnipeg Rifles in May 1885, during the federal government’s attempt to suppress the North-West (or Riel) Rebellion. The following is a newspaper account of that ceremony: “The unveiling of the Watson monument was performed Tuesday afternoon between three and four o’clock. The crowd was, we think, the largest ever gathered in our city, fences, trees and every spot that could hold a sightseer being occupied .
.. the platform, which was only about a foot high, (was) altogether too low to enable the crowd to see or hear what was going on.
” And today? Where the Watson statue stood, we find the spacious, well manicured lawn in front of today’s city hall (built in 1936-37 to replace the upscale residence that had served as such since the mid-1860s) ...
but no Watson statue. What became of the Watson statue during the almost 140 years that it stood on the grounds of city hall? The front of St. Catharines city hall where the statue of Watson stood.
By the end.
