Residence of G.Y. Smith, 1907

Description

Comments (0)

Creator

Unknown, Photographer

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Postcards

Description

A black and white photographic postcard of G.Y. Smith's home.

Notes

This home was located at 401 Dundas Street West, Whitby. It was built in 1877 on the block bounded by Dundas, Henry, Colborne and King Streets. It was demolished in 1958. The owners of the house were G.Y. Smith (a lawyer and later a judge) and Samuel Trees (owner of the blanket factory and later the buckle factory).

Whitby’s house numbering system was provided by Rev. Dr. James Roy Van Wyck (1877-1941), a retired Presbyterian minister. Van Wyck provided this service to the town, free of charge, during the Great Depression. By the summer of 1935, Whitby had a population of about 4,000 people and a house numbering system was needed. Prior to 1935, residences and businesses were listed in the telephone book with the street on which they were located. As well, there was no need for a house numbering system since all mail was picked up by local residents from the town post office. Under Van Wyck’s system, each block was numbered by a hundred. For instance, the first block south of Dundas on Brock Street was the 100 block; the second, the 200 block, and so on. Buildings on the west side of the street were given even numbers, while buildings on the east side were given odd numbers. On streets running east and west, even numbers were given on the north side while odd numbers were provided on the south. Van Wyck was careful to assign numbers for vacant lots between existing homes. Assigned house and business address numbers were published in the Whitby Gazette and Chronicle and a postcard was mailed to each residence in 1935 with the assigned house number and asking residents to please place this assigned number at their front door. Brooklin was given a house numbering system in the late 1960s or early 1970s, while Ashburn, Myrtle and Myrtle Station received a house numbering system in the 1980s or 1990s.

Inscriptions

On Dundas St., Whitby

Date of Original

1907

Dimensions