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Locals remember ground collapsing at school

Robin Howe indicates the area of the hole in the ground when he and his friends saw it.
Robin Howe indicates the area of the hole in the ground when he and his friends saw it. (Penny Coles)

In recent days, as the development proposal for the Parliament Oak property has been much discussed, Niagara-on-the-Lake native Robin Howe recalled an event from his childhood that at first, he says, seemed more of a dream.

But as he reached out to friends on social media to discover what they remember, he realized it was a very real, although a strange occurrence — their recollections were similar to his, and even provided more detailed descriptions

It has led him to question what remains buried under the property that is proposed to be the site of a three-storey apartment building and nine homes.

Howe lived across the street from Parliament Oak, and born in 1953, he attended the school in the late ’50s and early ’60s. 

There was always one patch of hard, brown dirt which was surrounded by grass, he says, which was perfect for playing marbles, until one day it collapsed, leaving a hole that over the next few days became larger and deeper — about 15 or 16 feet across, he estimates, and about seven or eight feet deep, before it took a turn toward King Street.

It was not far from the building and a strip of pavement where students lined up for school, toward what was called the secondary baseball diamond. There were two diamonds, he recalls — the other at the corner of Regent and Gage Streets. He and other kids would play on the diamonds on teams that competed outside of school hours, he recalls — he was on the St. Mark’s Church team. He vividly remembers hitting the ball and running the bases, and his brother running ahead of him, both of them captured on a film recording the event. 

A fence was put up quickly to keep kids away from the hole and it expanded, but Howe says although it was dark, they could peer down into it, and some of the boys decided to slide down a bit of a straight descent. Then the hole took a lateral turn, away from the school and toward the corner of the street.

“I can’t imagine where the teacher or principal were. I imagine they were keeping us away from it, but I don’t remember that.” He does recall being nervous about getting the strap — it wouldn’t have been the first time, and he didn’t want it repeated.

The Plumb House, taken from the Centre Street side, the house facing King Street on the right. (Jim Smith collection)

He and others who reached out to him recently remembered seeing an arch and a piece of a wall, which backs up other stories about a very large house that once sat on the corner of King and Gage Streets. When Howe learned about the house, he realized what the kids saw was the back of it, where the kitchen stood.

“I wonder if an archaeological dig was ever done,” he says. At the time, the focus was on getting the hole filled in quickly for the sake of the students — he doesn’t remember anyone other than the kids being interested in what was down there.

Standing on the spot where the hole developed, he gestures to the size of the opening in the ground, and asks, “can you imagine? You’re at school, playing with your friends, and all of a sudden this hole opens up beneath you? It seemed so strange.”

And even stranger, he adds, that none of the adults, at least that he can remember, seemed at all curious about what they were looking at.

Although the story of the property being used for an outdoor meeting of parliament on a hot summer’s day is well-known, the history of the building that came later is not as well known.

A couple of articles published in the former Niagara Advance explain what was on that corner, and what would have been seen below ground.

One article, written by Anne Buyers in 1988, describes what became to be known as the Plumb House in the late 1800s as the largest in NOTL, with many mature trees on the property, and a “three-storey red brick mansion.” Her family was the last to live in the home, says local historian Jim Smith.

The four-acre block bordered by King, Centre, Gage and Regent Streets had passed through many hands from the time four lots were deeded to the Macdonell family in 1796, before Senator Josiah Plumb, who appeared to have rented it from 1864, purchased the house in 1871.

Plumb, a successful businessman, was a Conservative who was first elected to the House of Commons in 1874, and was appointed to the Senate in 1883. He died suddenly in 1888, and he and his wife Elizabeth are buried in St. Mark’s Cemetery.

It went through two more owners, including Buyer’s parents, before it became the possession of the municipality for unpaid taxes, and the house was dismantled with various features and materials sold to residents. The municipality sold the land to the board of education in 1943, and the school was opened in 1948.

Smith’s report in the Advance said when work began on construction of the school, a truck on site “suddenly sank into the ground.” After the truck was pulled from the hole, local Noel Haines, who was operating the construction equipment, “climbed into the tunnel and walked all the way to Regent Street.” In 1956, this same tunnel opened again, Smith said, “showing itself to us school kids. We all had a look into it before once again it was closed.”

Smith says the kids saw a brick-lined tunnel with an arched ceiling.

If the two remembrances are accurate, the ground must have caved in again about 10 years later, before finally being filled in for the last time.

Sarah Kaufman, managing director and curator of the NOTL Museum, says the archway found underground is the fireplace from the kitchens that were located down there, as mentioned by Buyers in her article. “Some people have assumed previously that it is some underground tunnel for smuggling people or booze, but that is very incorrect,” says Kaufman.

Howe says his memory of what he saw fits with Buyers’ description of the fireplace and the archway. There would have to have been large kitchens and a very large fireplace for the size of the home, he says, and they would have been at the back of the house,
where the hole developed. However, although he knew Haines and his truck — everyone knew Haines, he adds — he questions whether the tunnel went as far as Regent Street. It would be nice to actually find blueprints of the house, and he wishes someone had taken photos of the hole, however, even without that documentation, “it’s a very interesting story.”




About the Author: Penny Coles

Penny Coles is editor of Niagara-on-the-Lake Local
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