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John Galt portrait by Charles Grey
In October 2006, City Council enacted a bylaw creating John Galt Day, becoming the 7th municipality in Ontario since 1969 (when the Civic Holiday was created) to give a name to the civic holiday.
The impetus to name the civic holiday after our founding father, John Galt, came from citizens Peter Anderson and Gil Stelter, longtime advocates for recognizing Galt’s contribution to the thriving City of Guelph. Anderson was involved in the commissioning of the John Galt statue in front of old City Hall, and Stelter is a renowned scholar in Canadian urban history with an extensive knowledge of Galt’s legacy.
In the written history of Galt, he is called many things – writer, poet, entrepreneur, debtor, adventurer, land developer, etc. But my favourite moniker for our Founding Father was offered by his close associate, Dr.”Tiger” Dunlop, who called him “the woodland sovereign”.
Galt’s vision for Guelph was ambitious. He planned a radial design, with terminating vistas that led to the Church of Our Lady, St. George’s Square and Market Square. He carefully planned and executed a land settlement process that was not based solely on profit — he insisted on the inclusion of public works to attract settlement (roads, a school, a market) and gave shelter to the destitute La Guayra settlers when the British government had abandoned them. He dreamt of a centre of agriculture, culture and economic prosperity.
In 2009, Guelph was ranked the Most Caring community in Canada, the Safest Community in Canada, and the 4th Smartest City in Canada. We are home to Canada’s finest agricultural and veterinary university, an agri-food and biotechnology centre of excellence and home to world class musicians, writers, poets and musical festivals.
So yes, I think Galt’s vision has become reality. That’s worth celebrating! Happy John Galt Day!
The Conservation Review Board has released its decision with respect to 47-49 Alice Street. The CRB conclusion is:
“Based on the evidence heard, it is the recommendation of the Conservation Review Board that the property know municipally as 47 Alice Street and described at Lot 40 and Part Lot 39, Plan 244 in the City of Guelph be protected under s.29 of the Ontario Heritage Act R.S.O., Chapter 018 as amended 2006.”
Unlike the OMB, the CRB makes a recommendation on its findings as it relates to the Act, however, final decision on designation still rests with Council. City staff will prepare a report and the matter will likely find its way back to Council early in the new year.
A full copy of the CRB decision can be found here:
crb-decision_alicest
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An 1870’s farmhouse at 132 Clair Road West burned to the ground in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 21. The house has been vacant since 2006, and yes, it had heritage value. The land was originally part of Puslinch Township and was annexed by the City of Guelph. The land was first settled in 1830 by Simon Eustace (b. 1892) and his wife Bridget (b. 1807), immigrants from Ireland. They likely first built a log cabin on the site, cleared the land, and the later house was built sometime prior to 1877. The farm was later bought by David Maltby, and then John Clair.
It’s such a shame that the south end of Guelph is losing, or has already lost, much of its historic past. The Tolton farm on Clair Road East burned down (mysteriously) in 2005. The Hanlon and Clair farms were demolished, and “replicas” (nothing original) were built in the Westminster Woods subdivision. Luckily, the Carter-Moffatt farmhouse (the beautiful stone house on Coopers Court in the Clairfields subdivision) was saved.
The fire is still under investigation.
It’s official! MPP Liz Sandals announced today that the Province of Ontario’s MIII infrastructure program has awarded the $5 million request from the City of Guelph towards the restoration of the former Loretto Convent into the expanded Guelph Civic Museum.
This is exciting news, because it means the $6 million threshold in government-level funding has been reached, and the project can move ahead as planned.
The Civic Museum first identified the need for expansion over five years ago. The current site cannot be expanded on site and the museum is bursting at the seams with artifacts, storage and lack of programming space. The Diocese of Hamilton and the City of Guelph negotiated a 75 year lease term to use the Convent, a structurally sound Pre-Confederation limestone building, for the Museum.
This is great news!
Leanne
A recent commentary in the Mercury is critical of the concept of putting a civic museum in a building the city does not own. The writer compares it to building a swimming pool in your neighbours backyard. Personally, that sounds like a great deal.
The business case for adaptive re-use of the convent for a museum is quite brilliant. To use the swimming pool analogy: if I was planning to build a pool anyway, and my neighbour was not using his backyard, and he offered me full and exclusive use of his yard for three generations of my family, at a token $1 year cost, I would take up the offer in a millisecond. I would keep my own yard open for a garden and greenspace, and in effect, double my useable yard space with my neighbours blessing and support.
The convent is an empty building. The financial and environmental cost to demolish is significant (up to 1/3 of Ontario landfills contain demolition waste). The Diocese has no future planned use for the site and has offered it to the City for use as a civic museum for a nominal cost. They were not strong-armed – they fully understand the beneficial synergies that would come from this partnership. The current museum is bursting at the seams and will be moving forward to secure a new site at some point within the next five years. To buy or lease a new building at market value would be costly. A long-term lease with the Diocese (ie.50-100) years removes this expense.
If Council failed to act to secure the Convent site, the cost to relocate the museum will not disappear, it would just be deferred into the future. Past councils have done this with a number of capital projects which had led to a huge backlog of community needs – main branch library, south end firehall, civic administration centre, etc.
Losing the Convent would mean the City would have to relocate the museum by purchasing or leasing another building at market value. In order to meet the museums future needs, they will need a building twice the size of the current facility, at an estimated cost of $1,000,000. Leasing the convent for an estimated $2 per year means that million dollars can be spent on other things or invested.
I share the concerns expressed about the number of capital projects on the horizon. Guelph cannot lose its AA financial rating. But we cannot continue to defer capital projects in perpetuity. Our city as a whole suffers when we fail to act on identified needs. We must prioritize our projects carefully in order to finance them effectively – and we will do this.
If you haven’t been to visit our Civic Museum lately, I encourage you to drop by the facility on the corner of Dublin and Waterloo and experience this community gem.
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