Hub of Activity & Change

Hub of Activity and Change. Tay Basin. , The landscape in the Tay Basin has changed dramatically over the years. It has gone from an early settlers' campground to shipping docks and from residential housing to a market square., Once called Perth Landing, its docks bustled with the activity of settlement, receiving heavily laden barges delivering goods from Montreal to local merchants. By 1863, the Town Hall was built, marking the downtown centre and business boom. The Tay Basin was home to tanners, curriers and cordwainers (shoemakers) plying their trades., In 1888, a peninsula of land called Wharf Street was excavated to widen the Tay Canal and create the Turning Basin we see today to improve shipping. The street and all of its buildings were demolished in the process., As commerce turned to recreation in the 1900s, businesses traded in their shingles, transforming the area into a residential waterfront neighbourhood. In the 1980s, the Town bought the land and tore down all of the buildings to create a community space. Ten years later the Crystal Palace was erected from sections of Ottawa's Rideau Street bus mall, creating a unique gathering place for festivals, events and market days., Crank Call from Town Hall , In the early 1900s, the Town of Perth installed and operated a set of scales on Baby Street to weigh wagon - and truckloads of coal, grain and other farm produce. In the 1940s there was an office beside it with a crank telephone connected to the caretaker's residence in the Town Hall to summon him to the scales whenever new shipments were ready for weighing. The concrete foundation north-east of the Crystal Palace is all that remains of the weigh scales., Top Photo: Tay Basin circa 1980s., Middle Photo: Rideau Street bus mall being moved into Tay Basin site., Bottom Photo: Bird's-eye view of Tay Basin residential area., Photo at right: 1880s excavation of Tay Basin.