From the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre:
The love of gardening of our forbearers is well documented, especially in the Hollinger town site.
Residents used all available space to best advantage and transformed their small lots by planting all number of annuals and perennials such as gladiolas, aster, snap dragons and dahlias. These brought the neighbourhood to life and transformed the urban setting with a bucolic splash of color and texture which cheered it up to no end.
As well as distinguishing one’s own yard from the rest in long rows of identical houses, residents were also keen to show off their gardening prowess in competitions organized by the Timmins Horticultural Society, which is still active today.
This trend was initiated in the summer of 1936 by the Hollinger mine corporation in an effort to encourage tenants to beautify the sometimes maligned staff housing project. Cash prizes were awarded for the best town site garden in two classes, A and B, the former being an elite class of former winners often defending their title and the latter for all other entries.
The handing out of accolades didn’t end there. At the Timmins Horticultural show, diverse strains of flowers and home grown vegetables were on display and the best specimens where awarded prizes in their respective categories. In the show’s 36th year, in 1965, there was an impressive 1,100 entries.
In recent years with vegetable boxes and bee friendly flower patches cropping up where there was once only manicured lawns, it seems there’s a renaissance afoot.
Each week, the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre provides TimminsToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.
Find out more of what the Timmins Museum has to offer at www.timminsmuseum.ca and look for more Remember This? columns here.
