Frugal Film Project – June 2024 – The Royal City

This is technically my third attempt at getting Guelph into the Frugal Film Project. I attempted once last year but was driven out by rain, and then earlier this year. But it looks like it has finally struck. While I have visited Guelph many times because my Opa lived here until his death, it was the short stint I lived in the city while house-sitting and just starting to explore photography that I took to wandering the downtown. I don’t know if I still have the digital files from those days when the downtown was a rough spot with lots of urban decay and the such; both those are from 2005, and I will need to dig out an old hard drive and hope it still works to see if I have those files. But during the pandemic and not wanting to go too far, Guelph became a favourite spot to shoot off some film in relative peace.

The Speed River has offered humans a means to move quickly through the unsettled land, water to drink and clean, a source of food with fishing and a means of power. The earliest known human settlements in the area were 11,000 years ago with members of the Attiwonderonk; they were supplanted by the Haudenosaunee, who were chased away by the Mississaugas. Under the terms of 1792’s Treaty 3, the land came under the control of British colonial power, which gave the land to the Mohawks, who had allied with them during the American Revolution and lost their lands. The Mohawk would settle the area, although by the 19th century began to sell off sections to British settlers. Following the Anglo-American War of 1812, the need to expand the settlement of Upper Canada came under the control of the Canada Company; chartered in 1825, the company was granted the entire Huron Tract to act as surveyors, agents, and suppliers. The company would establish roads, build infrastructure and survey townsites. John Galt and his partner, Dr William Dunlop, would cut down a ceremonial tree in April 1827 to mark the founding of one of the two planned anchor cities at either terminus of the Huron Road. Galt gave the name Guelph to the new settlement. The name is an English version of an Italian name for the Bavarian family of Welf, the current monarch, King George IV’s family, to be exact. Instead of using the aggressive grid system, Galt decided that Guelph would use a more medieval European layout, with broad main streets radiating out from a central square and narrow side streets interconnecting them. While it is difficult to see in Guelph today, the second city of Goderich is a much better example of this style. By the fall of 1827, Guelph featured a market house, the headquarters for the Canada Company, a grist mill (the Guelph Mill) and seventy-odd houses. Initially, the settlement grew slowly, but increased emigration in the 1830s would kick start the population, especially since the province was attracting wealthy English, Scottish and Irish families. By 1832, Guelph had a population of 800. William Allan purchased the grist mill and began operating the business in 1833. Soon, more residents and businesses fanned to the growing village. Congregations built churches, hotels provided shelter for travellers, and stores allowed goods to be bought and sold. By 1846, Guelph was a bustling backwater urban centre with daily postal service, a weekly newspaper, five churches, and fifteen shops. As county seat, a courthouse and jail were also present, along with a starch factory, tannery, distilleries, taverns and hotels. With the imminent arrival of the railway by the mid-century, Guelph’s industry began to expand. William Allan tore down the original wooden mill, replacing it with a limestone structure, and opened a distillery and brewery. In 1851, John Sleeman purchased a small brewery and distillery where he had been an employee, naming it Sliver Creek Brewery, while education received a boost with the opening of the Guelph Vocational Institute. 1855 Guelph was formally incorporated as a town, and John Smith was elected the first mayor. Both Grand Trunk and Great Western Railways opened lines through Guelph during this time. The grand Italianate town hall was completed in 1856. By 1860, Guelph’s population had jumped to 4,000 as more industries opened or expanded now that they had easy access to the United States and the rest of Canada through the railway, as seen by the opening of the Goldie Mill in 1866. Guelph saw rapid growth through the second half of the century. A general hospital was completed, the iconic Church of Our Lady Immaculate started construction (completed in 1888), gas lighting and telephones were introduced, and a radial railway started. The McCrae Family moved to an 1858 stone cottage and welcomed a son, John, into the world in 1872. John Sleeman would incorporate his brewery as Sleeman’s Brewing & Distilling Ltd in 1890. John McCrae would graduate from the Guelph Vocational Institute and get his medical degree. The first half of the new century brought great change; electricity became widely available and replaced gas as the light source. Allan’s mill became home to Flexible Conduit Company. A new armoury was completed, as was a grand new station by Grand Trunk. John McCrae’s now famous poem, In Flanders Field, put the city on the map during the First World War. The war also influenced the new police chief, who introduced motorcycles to the city’s force. The Ontario Veterinary College relocated from Toronto to Guelph in 1922. The iconic towers of the Church of Our Lady were completed in 1926. Sleeman saw their brewing license revoked in 1933 because of their involvement in smuggling and refusal to pay the fines and taxes. However, the brewery would continue to operate under new owners. Both the Jock Strap and Five-Pin bowling were invented in the city. After the Second World War, like other urban centres in Ontario, the rapid growth of the suburbs and urban expansion saw Guelph expand well beyond the borders of the original town site. Guelph would become home to the first cable TV station in 1953, airing Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation. The University of Guelph was in a merger between Ontario Vetery College and Ontario Agricultural College. The University would cultivate and create the Yukon Gold Potato in 1961. Although the good times would not last, the 1970s started to decline slowly, and the years of being an industrial city were taking its toll. Much of the industry either closed or moved out of the downtown, and urban decay started. Rail services were slowly cut, some rails were torn out, and some buildings were demolished. In 1984, the Great-Great Grandson of John Sleeman, also named John, was handed a beer recipe from his aunt and decided to restart the family business in 1988. Sleeman Brewery reopened in 1988. Although Sleemans would be bought out by Sapporo in 2006. By the start of the 21st century, the Guelph downtown was far worse, and the city council began planning a major urban renewal project. In 2014, the ambitious Baker Street Project began; many historic buildings were restored and reopened with new businesses. Parking was improved, and a civic museum opened in a formerly abandoned convent next to the newly dedicated Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate. Sleeman’s even opened 2019 the Spring Mills Distillery in the former distillery of Allan’s Mill, which had been completely transformed into the Metalworks Condo development. Today, the downtown is far better than when I first ventured down the hill in 2005. There is still a way to go, but since the pandemic, it has become a favourite spot for photography.

Having visited Guelph many times in the past, the downtown offers up a lot of interesting photographic opportunities, however navigating the downtown in a liner fashion is difficult because of the radiating survey rather than a grid style. But I already had a hit list in my head of the places I wanted to capture and most where in the downtown. Unlike last month were I had grand plans to capture everything I had mentioned in the history section I had a lot planned that day so I stuck with the historical core. Much easier than running around the University of Guelph and heading out into the sections further away from the core. My original plan had been to start at the Spring Mills Distillery, but my approach to Guelph was different so I found a quiet shaded street on the other side of the Cathedral to park my car, starting out with one of the provinces oldest high schools, before heading up the hill to the Cathedral. Despite the downtown being a bit odd to wandering around in some logical fashion, but oddly enough I went ahead and came up with a route that took me past all the key buildings and sites I wanted to capture. One thing you’ll note for this month is that I’ve increased the number of shots in the main body to five rather than four because there is always more I wanted to share. If there is a singular theme it is churches, downtown Guelph has a lot of beautiful historic churches many of which I feel would fit in a European city, so I wanted to feature the main body of churches, including the beautiful Basilica of our Lady Immaculate. From there, I have my favourite corner, the old city hall, the Spring Mills Distillery (their new whiskey offering is lovely), the railway station and a smattering of other stunning stone buildings. I honestly had a hard time picking out my favourites.

For the kit, I went with the kit lens of 28-80mm as I needed a bit of range in my shooting as Guelph’s downtown offers many different opportunities. I wanted to give myself the best chance of getting the compositions I wanted. I needed both a wide angle and a slightly longer option. I shot my roll at the box speed of ASA-200. I went with LegacyPro Mic-X for the developer, one currently being reviewed. For this month, I went with a stock dilution. Mic-X, a clone of Kodak’s first fine grain developer, Microdol-X, would be a good match for Arista 200, and the results are impressive. I was shooting under hard light and often had to use my hand as a lens hood to block out off-axis light. The images have high contrast, but there is almost no visible grain; it would soften the edges, but they are not too bad. It’s a nice classic look. But what makes Mic-X interesting is that it can be used one of two ways; while the stock dilution is designed to deliver fine-grain results, you can bring up sharpness by using it as a dilute developer. Next month, I’ll use the 1+1 dilution to develop July’s FFP roll.

There is so much more to explore in Guelph, and I could do an entry in this project, the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate. I’ve added that to my list of possible themes. I won’t go into that this year; a faster film and different camera would be needed to fully appreciate this church’s beauty. But if you find yourself in downtown Guelph, fully explore the downtown. It might take a bit to see everything and a lot of backtracking, but it is always well worth the effort. And if you’re into craft brewing and distilling, make sure to check out Spring Mills and Brothers Brewing Company. Next month we’ll be going back to a familiar location, but for a once-in-a-lifetime event. We’re returning to Hamilton’s Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Airforce!