Then and Now

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Then and Now – The Port Elizabeth Opera House

The first meeting to discuss a new theatre for Port Elizabeth took place in 1890 after which a company was formed, shares sold and a site was agreed upon with the Town Council.  The building was designed by G.W. Smith and opened on 1 December 1892.  The first lessees of the building was B and F Wheeler who also presented the opening performance of JM Barrie's "Walker, London".  By 1916 the theatre was taken over by African Consolidated Theatres and…

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04/04/2016
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Then and Now – The Athenaeum building

The Port Elizabeth Athenaeum Society of Port Elizabeth was founded in 1856 to promote the interests of science and literature among the members and general public.  In 1859 land was granted for the erection of the Town Hall and it stated that the building had to provide space for a library and athenaem as well.  In 1887 the athenaeum was dissolved and the Council took over it's assets, which included a museum, which was housed in the Town HallIn 1894…

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31/03/2016
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Then and Now – Lower Baakens Valley

Way back in the early days when the first ships started coming past our coastline they used to sail into the bay to get fresh water in the lagoon near the mouth of the Baakens River.  The Baakens River got it's name from the Dutch East Indian Company beacon that was placed at the fountain below Fort Frederick from where sailors could collect fresh water from for the ships.  The fountain later supplied water to the early settlement that later…

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29/03/2016
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Then and Now – Kings Beach kiddies slide

When we were small we often went to swim at the pools (both the pool by the Smartie Train and the kiddie slide pool) at Kings Beach.  I remember the day so well when I decided that I was big enough to go and  try out the "big" slide at McArthur's Pool.  The kiddies slide (and Smartie Train pool) closed down before I had kids so they never got to experience that part of my childhood memories. After the slide…

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24/03/2016
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Then and Now – Target Kloof

I am sure all of us who live in Port Elizabeth drive through Target Kloof between Walmer and the Central / Cape Road area every now and then.  Some on a more regular basis than others.  But do we ever think about the history of the road and area? Probably not.  So here is a tidbit of history.  Although I couldn't find any info on where Target Kloof got its name from, I have found that on 22 April 1896…

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16/03/2016
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Then and Now – Trinder Square

Back in the early days of Port Elizabeth there used to be a vlei area where Trinder Square in Central is located today.  The "Vlei" was a natural drainage point and in the early and mid 1800's it was used to provide water for animals with a lot of farmers coming to do business at the market square bringing their animals here to drink.  The Garrison Company's gardens was also laid out on the western side of the vlei.  The…

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10/03/2016
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Then and Now – The Beach Hotel

Yesterday morning Errol Somerville posted two old photos of the Beach Hotel on the Friendly City of Port Elizabeth Facebook group.  The first one dates from round about 1924, the year the hotel was built.  I went to have a look on the Beach Hotel's website to see if they had any history about the hotel on there and found the following:It is believed that the original Beach Hotel and surrounding area belonged to Piet Retief and his family.  His…

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09/03/2016
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Then and Now: St Peters Church (ruins)

When the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship was in the PE Harbour a few weeks ago I took a drive to the St Peters Church ruins in South End as it has a great view of the harbour.  It's been a year or two since I've last been there so I took a walk around the ruins and snapped a few pictures.  I found this old picture of St Peters with the Fishermen's Cross in front of it and decided to…

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02/03/2016
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Then and Now – Top of Whites Road

The Port Elizabeth tramway network was opened on 14 May 1881 and was initially operated horse-cars.  On 16 June 1897 the network was converted to electrical power and the system operated until it was closed on 17 December 1948.  One of the most challenging parts of the tramway network was going up Whites Road past the Opera House.  Apparently at one stage boys with buckets of sand used to throw sand on the line to give the trams more grip going up the hill.Looking down Whites Road today it's all…

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01/03/2016
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Then and Now – Port Elizabeth Airport

I've been collecting historic photos from the Port Elizabeth groups on Facebook to be able to do Then and Now posts and found the "Then" one in this post showing the Port Elizabeth Airport in what I guess was probable somewhere in the 60's.  Perhaps the older folk around here can help me out on this one.  The day after finding this photo I had to drop something off at the airport and snapped the "Now" picture.  Clearly there's a lot more cars, and…

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16/02/2016