My View: A King Street Boy Leaves Town

Steve Krar at his 90th birthday party last summer. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

By Joe Barkovich, Scribbler-at-large

One of the original King Street Boys has left town.

Steve Krar, the once-prolific author and co-author of technology textbooks, has been moved from Welland.

He is now a resident of St. Joseph’s Villa, a long-term-care facility in Dundas. He was moved there Thursday, Feb. 19.

I phoned him this afternoon.

The conversation was short and bittersweet. At first he didn’t remember me. This from a man who could talk about life in the ’30s like it was yesterday.

“I’m as well as I can be,” he said when asked how he is doing.

Judy and Steve at the birthday party.

I made small talk.

He has visitors now and then, he said.

He does not have a computer and misses it, he said.

He still has a good sense of humour.

“Everybody tells me I’m too young to be old,” he quipped, then laughed. I laughed with him.

Steve would very much like to hear from friends in Welland and area.

He would appreciate telephone calls and personal visits, said his daughter Judy.

Steve, who turned 90 last summer, has dementia.

“His voice is weaker and conversational skills are deteriorating so be prepared to do most of the talking. He is experiencing constant exhaustion that requires frequent naps especially after meals,” Judy wrote in an e-mail.

Steve is well known in Welland and beyond. He was a tech teacher and department head at Eastdale Secondary School for many years. He authored or co-authored many technology text books, some of them international best sellers. He wrote a well-read technology column for his hometown newspaper. He promoted the celebration and preservation of neighbourhood culture in Welland, first as a co-founder of the King Street Boys, later as a member of the Welland Boys committee and reunions, attending the most recent reunion last October. He has other affiliations as well.

He is in good company in his new surroundings.

His brother, Frank, is also in St. Joseph’s Villa, Judy said.

Steve is on the fourth floor, Frank is on the third.

“They are enjoying their reunion as the last surviving siblings,” Judy said.

For those who care to visit, the address of St. Joseph’s Villa is: 56 Governor’s Rd., Dundas. Parking is off Oldfield.

He is in the North Tower, 4^th Floor, room #446 in the Tuplic Garden wing (right off the elevator and first wing on the right after crossing the lounge area).

Steve has a telephone of his own. His direct number is 1-289-238-7900  “so please remind him that you are thinking about him,” Judy asks.

Mail is not being redirected there due to the progression of Steve’s dementia so a mail box has not been set up, Judy said.

But a call or a visit would mean so much.

“My father is trying to hang onto his life in education, publishing and technology so a connection from you would be great, whether it’s a phone call or a visit.”

(A former reporter and city editor, Joe Barkovich lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario, Canada’s Rose City.My View appears as a recurring feature.)

Icy Graffito

Remnants of a word, barely visible, on a frosted window early this morning. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Four Cool Rinks In Welland

Chippawa Park at night. (All photos by Joe Barkovich)

River Road rink.

Woodlawn Park trails.

Gram Avenue rink at night.

Sign Of Spring

At long last, a sign of spring in Welland! (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Jack Frost’s Art

Jack Frost turned the windows of this shelter at the Niagara College Welland campus into a work of art with some help from the background sunrise. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Let The Sun Shine In

The sun shines through a frosted window of a smoking shelter at the Niagara College campus in Welland early this morning. It was -16C when this photo was taken. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Sunrise At Woodgate Drive

The sunrise was beautiful over First Avenue at Woodgate Drive today around 7:05 a.m. It was -16. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Street Sense: Bustling area was known as ‘The Village’

Some of the former Cordage houses lining Plymouth Road, this scene at Second Street. (Photos by Joe Barkovich)

By Joe Barkovich, Scribbler-at-large

Welcome to Street Sense, where street names get the story they deserve

I grew up a stone’s throw, sort of, from this week’s real estate. Plymouth Cordage Subdivision is the name of the property acquired by Plymouth Cordage Company for their industry in Welland, a game changer. The plan was registered in 1906 but construction had already started the year previous. Plymouth Road was one of its main streets.

Here is the account as provided by Welland Historical Society’s What’s In A Name. Once again, because of the richness of the history and heritage, the content is provided in full:

“When the first labourers arrived from Plymouth, Massachusetts to start up the new Plymouth Cordage branch plant in Welland (maker of cordage, rope and binder twine), their homes were ready for them. The company had purchased a roughly rectangular plot of land surrounding the new Plymouth Cordage plant, bounded by Lincoln Street, the Welland Canal, the Michigan Central Railway and the Canadian National Railway. When purchased, the land was occupied by three farmsteads, and the company maintained the three houses as residences in the in the initial years as well as one of the farms where they grew wheat and raised horses (later the site for First Street School). A large labour camp was moved in to build the Cordage houses and workers lived in tents on the site. By 1905, when the Plymouth employees arrived in Welland, the quadriplex homes along King Street and duplex homes on First Street were erected for them. The duplex houses on First Street were erected about a year later. Some of the houses were boarding houses for single men. The Plymouth Road and First Street houses were reserved for foremen. The last Cordage houses built were the quadriplexes along Lincoln Street in 1918.”

Worthy of note: Plymouth Road was created as an extension of Hellems Avenue from Lincoln Street to Ontario Road.

I could end here, but won’t. There’s a lot more story to share and for a small portion of the details I turn to Book 3 in the trilogy by William H. Lewis, A History of the City of Welland – The 20^th century.

Plymouth Cordage is given eight pages of text and several photos in this interesting volume.

Lewis wrote: “The first brick for Plymouth Cordage’s three-quarter-million-dollar plant in Welland was laid on November 3, 1905 and the first bale of binder twine was turned out exactly 55 weeks later. The company’s American management had insisted that, as much as possible, all construction and operational material be of Canadian manufacture.”

Lewis provides detailed information about the company’s social concerns and policies:

“In Massachusetts, the company had been noted for the liberal benefits accorded its employees, and this policy, years ahead of its time, was followed in Welland. Party because of a housing shortage in the town, some 50 two-and four-family homes were built between 1905 and 1918 on Lincoln Street, Plymouth Road and South Main Street (today’s King Street) and employees were offered low rent in maintenance-free living.

“To reduce heating expenses, Cordage workers were permitted to buy wood and coal from the plant. The homes were attractive and very modern for their time, and thus the promise of both a job and housing was a compelling persuasion for workers to come to Welland. In 1917, the company adopted a policy of offering the ‘Cordage houses’ for sale to their employees, and within two years, all but 13 of the homes had been purchased.

The Cordage area, known as ‘The Village’ also included Plymouth Hall (on Plymouth Road), a recreation centre erected in 1905. The building provided facilities for kindergarten classes as well as for instruction in sewing, cooking and carpentry and was later expanded to include a library and reading room, billiard room, dance hall and bowling alley. An athletic field complete with grandstand and dressing rooms, was also provided by the company, as well as tennis courts and in winter, a skating rink.”

As street signs here bear witness, the area was designated a heritage district several years ago.

Now, to make a long story short, Plymouth Cordage curtailed operations in Welland in July 1969 after 63 years of production, Lewis wrote.

All this, and lots more to be found in his book, should help explain how Plymouth Road got its name.

Plymouth Cordage staff, 1952. (This photo can be seen in at least two locations: the Plymouth Cordage Retirement Home on Plymouth Road and, in Welland County General Hospital’s dialysis unit foyer.)

(A former reporter and city editor, Joe Barkovich lives in Welland, Ontario, Canada’s Rose City. Street Sense is a recurring feature.)

Framed

Look but don’t touch! Two benches partly covered with snow, are framed by decorative fencing at a Welland park. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Flags-A-Fluttering

A great morning for a flying-the-flag photo at the local campus. Kinda’ makes one feel proud, doesn’t it? (Photo by Joe Barkovich)