By Muscle, Mast, and Motor

This story map presents an early transportation history of the City of Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It touches on all forms of transportation from early water-based transportation until the advent of the automobile in the interwar period. Historian Daniel Headrick (2020) argues that of all technologies in the 20th century, the automobile had the most significant impact on the environment. Others consider the internal combustion engine as one of the most influential developments in the history of technology and energy (Smil 2021). Cars also transformed cities, and breaking through the bottlenecks created by horse- and human-powered transportation made many modern urban centres possible (McShane and Tarr 2007).

Yet, cities existed and grew, sometimes quickly, without fossil fuels during most of the modern period. By understanding how cities were designed for a form of life and mobility that was largely self-propelled and muscle-powered we may better understand the history of Canadian cities as well as some of the ways that our current decisions will likely shape urban life and environments into the future (Bonnell and Kheraj). Charlottetown has experienced several new developments in active transportation in the last generation, so as people get away from their cars a little, what aspects of Charlottetown will they recognize in these site histories?

This project stemmed from a class project in Dr. Josh MacFadyen's ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities class at the University of Prince Edward Island, and it benefitted from close collaboration with Natalie Munn and the City of Charlottetown Archives. Natalie introduced ACLC students to many aspects of the city's history during the Winters of 2021 and 2022, and provided invaluable advice and historical resources to the authors for many months after the first course. One of the students, Barbara Rousseau, continued working on the project after the course and co-authored this Story Map.

The Story Map is organized around eighty sites that were either central to or symbolic of developments in the history of transportation in the greater Charlottetown area. The above menu options bring you to six sections that explore the city in 1917 and five main ways that people traveled and transported goods within it before the ascendency of the automobile. Maps, images, and sites related to each theme will appear in the panel on the right. Selecting any site will provide a more detailed site description and some links for further information. The legend in the lower corner of the map indicates which type of transportation was most relevant for the people and infrastructure in that location, although many sites were significant for more than one theme.

Digital History and Charlottetown's First Interactive Story Map

The methods for this project include historical research and historical Geographic Information Systems (hGIS) mapping. Many of the sites that we explore in this project are well-known landmarks to residents and historians alike. Others, such as the bicycle peddling funeral home director and furniture maker Mark Wright on 15 Ole King Square (now MacLean Funeral Home) are less familiar. However, by examining the city's transportation infrastructure using a variety of historical maps, air photos, and other views, the impact that our modes of transportation have on urban development is even more visible.

Students in Dr. MacFadyen's Digital Humanities classes worked with the historical maps of Charlottetown, and along with students in the ACLC  GeoREACH Lab  they helped to georeference and mosaic the full set of 1917 Fire Insurance Plans to act as a base map and a research tool. Dr. MacFadyen is Associate Professor in Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture and the Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities at the University of Prince Edward Island.

The information in this Story Map is for general research and educational purposes only, and links to other websites from the Story Map are for additional information. The authors and the City of Charlottetown are not responsible for the accuracy of websites that are external or that are subject to change. The maps in this project are presented by the GeoREACH Lab at the University of Prince Edward Island and they are supplied for research purposes only. The University and the City of Charlottetown are not responsible whatsoever for any loss, damage, or failure attributable to any use of these maps.

From trains to automobiles and back to pedestrians and bicycles, an active transportation lane was opened on the Hillsborough Bridge in 2021.

The authors would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of many students, scholars and heritage professionals in the Charlottetown area. The students in ACLC 2090: Digital Humanities at UPEI helped to select about two dozen sites in this project in the Winter of 2021, and their research is featured in some of the site pop up windows and in the blogs listed, below. Natalie Munn and the City of Charlottetown Archives played critical roles in the research behind most of these site histories, first with the class and later with individual students and ongoing consultation with the authors. Their digital exhibit space  Charlottetown Stories: Explore Your City's Heritage  contains additional resources for many of the sites explored in this Story Map. Similarly, Simon Lloyd of the UPEI Robertson Library University Archives & Special Collections met with the class and shared many excellent materials from the Prince Edward Island Collection and from the Library's online collections,  Island Archives . Other heritage professionals such as the archivists and staff at the  PEI Public Archives and Records Office  (PARO) graciously offered advice and gave permission to use several of the maps and images shared on this Story Map. Tammy MacDonald, the Historian and Archivist at  L'Nuey , consulted with students and authors and has worked with Natalie Munn over recent years to ensure that Indigenous history of the City is told. Dr. Edward MacDonald, Professor of History at UPEI, offered valuable feedback on a draft of the Story Map and gave his permission to share the video on the  History of the Prince Edward Island Railway . We would also like to thank, Janey-Lynn Perrier, Josie Thibodeau and Olive MacPhail, three students in the UPEI Music program who accompanied ACLC student Isabelle McNeill in her original rendition of the ballad of The Callaghan Murder by poet Lawrence Doyle.

Ballem, Charles. More Than Just a Game: One Hundred Years of Organized Sport in Prince Edward Island. Charlottetown: Acorn Press, 2004.

Bonnell, Jennifer and Sean Kheraj, eds., Traces of the Animal Past: Methodological Challenges in Animal History. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, forthcoming.  https://press.ucalgary.ca/books/9781773853840/  

Bradley, Ben, Jay Young, and Colin M. Coates. Moving Natures: Mobility and Environment in Canadian History. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2016.  https://press.ucalgary.ca/books/9781552388594/  

Charlottetown (1906). By-laws of the city of Charlottetown and the Acts of Incorporation, as Consolidated and Amended A.D. 1906, Laws, etc. Charlottetown: Murley & Garnhum, 1906/  https://islandarchives.ca/islandora/object/ilives%3A171499  

Charlottetown. Charlottetown Stories. Digital Exhibits. City of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.  https://charlottetownstories.wordpress.com/ 

Clark, D. Bailey. “Who Wants a Car, Anyway?”: Improved Roads, Snowplows, and The Transportation Revolution on Prince Edward Island, 1900-1970." Honours Thesis. Department of History and Classics. University of Prince Edward Island, 2022.  https://islandscholar.ca/islandora/object/ir:24730 

Curley, Rosemary. “Expansion of Charlottetown Along the Hillsborough Shore.” The Island Magazine (Charlottetown, PEI), 58 (Fall-Winter 2005): 28-31.  https://islandarchives.ca/islandora/object/vre%3Aislemag-batch2-740?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=6d1286644a53f0818812 

Graham, Allan. A Photo History of the Prince Edward Island Railway.  Summerside, PEI: Williams & Crue, 1982.

Headrick, Daniel. Humans Versus Nature: A Global Environmental History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.

Lockerby, Earle and Douglas Sobey, Samuel: Holland: His Work and Legacy on Prince Edward Island. Charlottetown: Island Studies Press, 2015.

MacDonald, Edward. If You're Stronghearted: Prince Edward Island in the Twentieth Century. Charlottetown: PEI Museum & Heritage Foundation, 2000.  https://www.islandscholar.ca/islandora/object/ir:ir-batch6-2028  

McAlpine Company. McAlpine's Prince Edward Island directory 1924-25 : comprising general directory of the Island arranged under cities, towns and counties; a classified business directory and street directory of Charlottetown. Halifax: Royal Print & Litho, 1925.

McCloskey, J.P. “Bridging the Hillsborough.” The Island Magazine (Charlottetown, PEI), 56 (Fall-Winter 2004): 32-37.  https://islandarchives.ca/islandora/object/vre%3Aislemag-batch2-717?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=6d1286644a53f0818812  

McShane, Clay, and Joel A Tarr. The Horse in The City: Living Machines in the Nineteenth Century. Baltimore: JHU Press, 2007.

Montgomery, Lucy Maud. The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-190. Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Hillman Waterston eds. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Montgomery, Lucy Maud. My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. MacMillan from L.M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables. Francis W.P. Bolger and Elizabeth R. Epperly eds. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1980.

Mullally, Sasha. “The Machine in the Garden: A Glimpse at Early Automobile Ownership on Prince Edward Island, 1917.” The Island Magazine, no. 54 (Fall/Winter 2003): 16-25.

Prince Edward Island Telephone System, “Telephone Directory, August 1922.” Island Register website (accessed May 11, 2022).  https://www.islandregister.com/phones/1922/1922book.html  

Rider, Peter. Charlottetown: A History. Charlottetown: PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2009.

Rogers, Irene L. Charlottetown The Life in Its Buildings. Charlottetown: PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation, Charlottetown, 1983.

Sailstrait.  http://sailstrait.wordpress.com/ 

Stewart, Deborah and David Stewart, “Winter Travel,” The Island Magazine (Charlottetown, PEI), 7 (Fall/Winter 1979): 19-24.   https://islandarchives.ca/islandora/object/vre%3Aislemag-batch2-98  

Smil, Vaclav. Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

A selection of student blogs written for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).

Cano Torres, Ruth. “Victoria Park.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://victoriaparkpei.wordpress.com/ 

Casim, R. L. “The Charlottetown Brass Shop.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://charlottetownbrassshophistory.wordpress.com/  

Clark, Devon. “University Avenue Prince Edward Island.”  Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).   https://universityavenue627565930.wordpress.com/  

Cutcliffe, Mackenzie. “Elsitkuk/Hillsborough River.”  Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://elsitkuk.wordpress.com/ 

Doherty-Kirby, Elias.  “Crossing the North River.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://sites.google.com/view/the-north-river-bridge/crossing-the-north-river  

Gallison, Frankie.  “A Stroll Down Great George Street.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://aclc2090ggstreet.wixsite.com/website/post/a-stroll-down-great-george-street  

Lozano, Dani. “History of North River Road and Equestrian Transportation.”  Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://thehistoryofnorthriveroad.wordpress.com/history-of-north-river-road/  

Liu, Bowei. “From lighthouse to Boston Boat.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://aclccharlottenharbour.com/  

Manger, Gilbert. “A History of the Hillsborough River.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://joses223430021.wordpress.com/2021/04/05/a-history-of-the-hillsborough-river/  

McNeill, Isabelle.  “Final Ticket: The Railway to the Underground.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://sherwoodcemeterytransportationhistory.wordpress.com/2021/04/08/36/  

Moudoodi, Faiez. “Treacherous Tale of the Rise and the Fall.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://charlottetowndiaries.wordpress.com/2021/04/05/example-post-3/  

Rousseau, Barbara. “The Charlottetown Main Railway Station.” Final Project for ACLC 2090 Digital Humanities, UPEI (2021).  https://bprtravels.wordpress.com/charlottetown-site-history/