Frugal Film Project – December 2024 – Grand Finale

Well we’ve reached the end of another year and for the final entry for what may be a couple years break from the Frugal Film Project I decided to go with an old favourite, the historic city of Galt. While the name is not known outside of the city of Cambridge today, but it was the largest muncipality that forms the modern city of Cambridge today and is by far the most unique as it has a lot of offer to a photographer with a great deal of historic buildings in the city centre. So I figured it would make for a great final entry for 2024’s Frugal Film Project.

Like many of Ontario’s earliest urban centres, it is thanks to rivers that they sprung up. The modern city of Cambridge owes its existence to two rivers, the Grand River and the Speed River. These two rivers first started to attract human settlement some 10,500 to 9,500 years ago after the last great ice age. The earliest settlers were the ancestors of the Attawandaron or Neutrals with the earliest known settlement of this civilisation dating to 1280-1310 CE. These peoples were driven out by the Haudenosaunee during the Beaver Wars, the first European to arrive in the region came in 1669 a French explorer, René de Bréhant de Galimée, who gave the name Tinaouatoua to the Grand River. The Haudenosaunee were in turn driven out by the Anishinaabe (Mississaugas) who gave the name O:se Kenhionhata:tie to the Grand. Following the American Revolutionary War, the British allied Haudenosaunee were granted a large tract of land under the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784 which included the lands around the Grand River, this land claim was further confirmed under Treaty Four or the Simcoe Patient of 1793. It was in 1796 that the Haudenosaunee began to sell parcels of land to European settlers. William Dickson and Absalom Shade would purchase a large tract of land south of these early settlements on the Grand River in 1816 and the settlement of Shade’s Mills quickly grew around a general store, grist mill and distillery along with a bridge across the river. This expansion was further aided by the arrival of land development giant John Galt and the Canada Company. Both Shade and Dickson signed contracts with Galt to provide supplies and build roads and bridges on behalf of the Canada Company. Shade’s Mill, owing to the size and power available on the Grand River grew quickly, taking the name Galt for John Galt (head of the Canada Company) in 1825 when the post office opened. By 1846 the settlement boasted a population of one hundred along with a growing foundry and textile industry. These two foundries would grow into major manufacturing plants in the later 19th Century. By 1850 Galt was incorporated as a village, and in 1852 the Galt Grammar School opened (it would become Galt Colligate Institute in 1872 and remains an active high school today). In 1857 Galt was incorporated as a town and a handsome Town and Market Hall completed in the Tuscan-Italianate Style. By 1870 the town had close to 4,000 residents and was recognised as a centre of industry and manufacturing in Ontario and the region’s largest population centre. In 1873, the Credit Valley Railroad began constructing a rail bridge over the Grand River, and the line would be completed by 1879. While CVR would fall under the Canadian Pacific Railway’s control in 1883, they continue to operate today. Galt would be electrified in 1889 when the original Dickson mill and dam were converted to generate hydroelectricity. The arrival of modern electrical generation allowed for further industrial development throughout the region. In 1890 the area’s first hospital opened. In 1894, an electric Interurban streetcar system opened, linking Galt and Hespeler. The line expanded twice. The first expansion added lines to Preston and Berlin (Kitchener), then south to Brantford and Port Dover and Waterloo. The line remained in operation until 1955. In 1915 Galt was incorporated as a City. The city also became home to a large regional armoury, completed following the Great War outbreak. Galt, along with Hespeler, Preston, and Blair, would amalgamate in 1973 into Cambridge. In May 1974 the Grand River flooded and caused a mass amount of damage to the historic city core. The city of Cambridge did have some growing pains as the three separate communities still saw themselves as independent but as the space between them filled in the city quickly grew. But like all major industrial centres through the 1980s and 1990s there was a great deal of closures which resulted in some urban decay throughout the historic centres. Thankfully efforts through the 21st century have seen many of the historic buildings restored and reused although there is still a level of urban decay and precarious living conditions that many communities across Canada are still struggling to find a better solution to resolve.

One thing that I enjoyed about this time around is that there was snow on the ground; while I could have used more sun and blue skies, there was honest snow, which is something that I haven’t seen in November for the past couple of years. It made the photography both interesting and challenging. The one thing with Galt is that I’ve visited it many times and went into the trip with a bit of a hit list. I started my walk on the west bank of the river, walking towards the centre of the historic downtown and Confederation Square. While I did want to go beyond that to Southworks, with only 25 frames and needing clean sight lines with only the 28mm, I decided to cut back through the downtown from the square. Then, I wind through the several blocks of downtown to capture as much of the character as possible. This includes several historic churches, buildings and, of course, the armoury. I did catch shots of the town hall, fire hall (now museum), the library, post office and at least one of the mill ruins. Despite the small size, there is a lot to photograph through the downtown. And I’m glad I had a second camera and a 20mm lens to get some of the historic buildings in full detail with the narrow streets.

Because I was working in a wide variety of situations, I went with the 28-80mm kit lens because I wanted to have both a wide angle and the ability to zoom in to allow for the best composition. All four communities have relatively narrow streets, although Preston offered up the widest streets of the four. The one problem with photographing at this time of year is that the weather sometimes cooperates, so I chose Adox XT-3 as my developer. If I needed to under-expose and push the film, I could do so with minimal problems, I ended up exposing the roll at ASA-200. I have struggled with Foma 200 and Xtol (XT-3), but that was more on the film than the developer combination. But when I pulled the negatives out of the tank this time, they looked good. They also scanned clean despite being in harsh conditions. And I’m not talking about the cold weather (although another of my cameras had some trouble later in the day), but the snow. While the skies were overcast, it was still bright enough to throw off the exposure reading. I would do something about it by adjusting the exposure. The EOS 3000 does lack in that area, but overall, I’m pleased with these results.

Well friends, this is the end for now, as I mentioned in my update post last year I have chosen not to continue with the Frugal Film Project for 2025 and 2026. The reason is that after doing it two years in a row I felt that by the end I was slogging along. At least I ended the year with a few solid themes for the months, but with everything else I think a break is a good idea. Stay tuned for my usual look back post on Thursday!