1883 - July 30oo

It was one of the first inlets from the bay to be overtaken by the urban development of Hamilton in the 19^th Century.

Usually referred to as the Caroline street gully, the inlet ran from the bay south to the area around Cannon street west. After the completion of the Great Western Railway line in the early 1850s, the low-lying inlet, mainly marshy, was cut off from direct connection with the bay, leaving what water was in the inlet stagnant.

Gradually residents and businesses in the vicinity of the Caroline street gully started using the location as a place to put household, commercial and other refuse.

By 1883, the accumulation of what had been put in the gully, and what was still being put in the gully, had become a nuisance and a public health concern.

On July 30, 1883, the Spectator , under the headline, “A Horrible Place, “a few facts for the consideration of the board of health and the executive officer of the board” were presented:

“The Caroline street gully is a festering sore in a residence district of this city.

“In the rear of Grant’s brewery is a dump where can be seen a wagon load of rotten fruit, with other decaying vegetable and animal matter.

“There are human beings living on Railway street not far from the dump. They, or their landlords, pay taxes as do residents in other localities, and they are entitled to all the protection from nuisances the city council can give them. On Railway street, people are ill at Mr. Weir’s residence, made so by the offensive odors from the Caroline street dump and other nuisances in the neighborhood.

“Mr. and Mrs. Duignan have been ill the past week from the same cause, and a near neighbor is also suffering. Physicians who have attended cases on this street have spoken of the horrible condition of the gully.

“People living on the street declare that they will move as soon as possible because of the nuisance.”¹

¹ “A Horrible Place.”

Hamilton Spectator.   August  08, 1883.