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This photo was taken down slope a few years after Fairview Saint John Plaza had been constructed. (It opened in 1961) The Irving gas filling station is visible in the far distance. The illuminated sign shows how Routes 1 and 2 traffic had been diverted briefly in the 1960s, which required the tourist maps to be amended. The posted speed limit for this block of Main Street was 15 MPH in the 1960s. Fairview Plaza is today a shadow of what it once was, as the North End was depopulated by an extraordinary out migration accelerated by urban renewal schemes.
The hybrid traffic diverter put in at the intersection of Main and Lansdowne was remarkable. It placed an illuminated commercial sign out in the middle of a busy arterial with no curbing, (perhaps FAIRVIEW SHOPPING CENTRES LTD. paid for the work?) and even though there was a small striped warning sign at its base, I do wonder if any driver ever plowed into it. I recall that in the early 1970s there were squat, square concrete boxes placed at intervals on Main Street, between Elm and Lansdowne. I have a distinct memory of standing at the window in Miss Murray's classroom at St. Peters Intermediate, and looking down at the intersection of Main and Elm. I caught the instant when a car plowed into one of those median barriers.
A 50 year old tourist map indicates Routes 1 and 2, which included Main Street from Douglas Avenue to the Mill Street Viaduct. Note "Proposed Shopping Centre" astride Lansdowne Avenue. This became Fairview Plaza, Saint John's first shopping centre. The project used up most of the property that had been the old Kiwanis Grounds and it was intended to revitalize the North End. It did that, but only for a few years. For one generation at least, the plaza was a neighborhood focal point as its offerings included SEARS, a laundromat and a bowling alley.
[My mother worked for a time as a cashier in the DOMINION store and I recall lugging the "specials" home on my shoulder - it might be a 50 pound bag of potatoes or Campbell's tomato soup when they were "on," five or six cans for a dollar. The annual University Women's Club book sale was usually held in Fairview Plaza and my back has never forgiven me for the time, circa 1973, when I filled a whole banana box with books and somehow dragged it down to our flat at the far end of Churchill Blvd.]
LOST VALLEY reader Al Graham sent a query about the metal "M" which formed part of the support bracket for the traffic lights on either side of Main Street, at the corner of Douglas Avenue. There would seem no point to indicating "M" - Main Street, so my thought is that it referred to the Main Routes 1 and 2. But I just do not know. Perhaps another reader can give Al the answer he seeks. [Reader comments - Below - provide answers.]
5 comments:
I was told that the M is for McAvity, the iron foundry that probably made the fixture (and a few zillion fire hydrants).
http://www.firehydrant.org/pictures/clow-canada-mcavity.html
That's quite possible. In that era, T. McAvity & Sons offered a full range of products to municipal utilities, including metal street lighting poles with support brackets.
That makes sense to me as well... I am not certain, but would guess that all the traffic fixtures of this style had the M, regardless of what route they were on.
Thank you KJ and Ron!
It is amazing the details one can remember. While I forget more important things from my past, I too recall the 'M'. They were certainly on many of the traffic standards about town. Do you recall traffic lights going to flashing amber at midnight? A visitor once expressed his amazement that this was possible.
This is a very cool blog. I'm a North Ender and love learning all the details behind these familiar sights.
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