1886 - Bay View Park

“Visitors to Bay View Park will no longer climb the long flight of steps from the wharf to the top of the high shore.”

Hamilton Spectator.  May 13, 1886

For Hamiltonians, the spring of 1886 was a time to think of ways to leave the dust, bustle and constant noise of the city to obtain a few hours of fresh air, recreation and relaxation.

For a day’s outing, there was a delightful nearby location, Bay View Park. a a private enterprise, operated by George Midwinter. Situated on property on the flat plain above the shoreline of the extreme west end of Burlington bay, the park had facilities for picnics, concerts, dancing and other activities. Small passenger steamers ran hourly back and forth from the north end of Hamilton across the bay to bring citizens to the park, and to return them home.

One of the drawbacks of Bay View Park was the fact that, once passengers had disembarked from the steamers onto the wharf below the park, it was a long haul to climb the steps to get there.

For the season of 1886, Mr. Midwinter had addressed that matter, and invited members of the press and others to see what he had done:

 “A number of citizens went over there yesterday afternoon on the steamer Lillie to see what kind of contrivance the inclined railway is which the lessee of Bay View Park has constructed to haul his visitors up from the wharf.

“This inclined railway is quite an affair. It has cost Mr. Midwinter about $2500. The line is built on uprights fixed into the ground and is 335 feet long. There are two tracks and two cars, and when one car is hauled up one track, the other is let down the other.

“The cars, which are open, will have comfortable chairs fixed into them, and will accommodate twelve persons each. They are hauled up by means of a ¾ inch cable which winds around a large pulley in the engine housed at the top, and which is strong enough to hold a weight up to three tons. The cable is worked by an engine built by Mr. Midwinter, and he will no doubt reap the reward of his enterprise during the coming summer.”¹

¹ ““Midwinter’s Inclined Railway : From the Wharf to the Mountain Side at Bayview Park.”

Hamilton Spectator.   May 13, 1886.

While the inclined railway was a notable improvement at Bay View Park which Mr. Midwinter wanted to publicize, he had been busy with others things as well:

“Mr. Midwinter has made other improvements at his pretty resort besides the contrivance which enables visitors to reach it easily. The most important of them is an excellent baseball ground in an adjoining field. He has had the place fenced off and nicely levelled. With these additional attractions, and the steamers Lillie and Maggie Mason running regularly from the city, Bay View Park is likely to have a big boom this summer.”¹

The Spectator reporter who had accompanied the May 12, 1886 visit of inspection to Bay View Park, was impressed with the modest incline railway which has been put in place. He took the opportunity to suggest that something of a similar, if on a much more grand scale, might work in Hamilton:

“An inclined railway after this pattern is just the thing that is needed on the Hamilton mountain, and it is to be hoped that what private enterprise has done at Bay View Park will soon be recognized as a public necessity in Hamilton.