Summer as we all know is the time for family reunions and a chance to visit new places, where old family members once lived.
This summer saw the great grand daughter of Charles Melville Hays, Orian Greene, make the pilgrimage to the town her great grand father had great plans for.
Interestingly enough, she arrived in the city just as the great dream of Hays is about to be realized, with Rupert soon to be a major world port all be it almost 100 years behind schedule.
Ms. Greene brought along as a traveling companion Meredith Kaplan, who wrote a Masters degree thesis on her friend’s grandfather, George Hall, the son in law of Hays and who along with Franklin Brett, laid out this city as it now is designed as well as Prince George, BC.
The Daily News provided a bit of a look at their travels through the city and their impressions of the town that has such a close family tie to them.
GREAT GRANDFATHER’S DREAM COMES ALIVE
Great granddaughter of Charles Hays sees Prince Rupert for the first time
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Friday, July 20, 2007
Pages one and two
Orian Greene was impressed by the size of the cruise ship docked in Prince Rupert yesterday, but was surprised to learn that it held more than 2,000 passengers.
“I only counted lifeboats for about 800 people” she said looking at the ship from First Avenue. “You can imagine, I notice that sort of thing, considering the fate of my great grandfather.”
The man she is referring to is none other than Charles Hays, the visionary for the port and rail potential of Prince Rupert back in the early 1900’s, who tragically lost his life as a passenger on the Titanic when she sank in 1912.
Greene arrived in Prince Rupert late Tuesday night with her good friend Meredith Kaplan, who coincidentally wrote her Masters degree thesis on Greene’s grandfather George hall, son-in-law of Chrales hays, and one of two men who designed what would become the city of Prince Rupert as it’s known today.
“The people have been just phenomenal,” said Greene. “The woman in the library took us into the archives room where she brought out pictures of the Rattenberry Hotel, and the information they had on my great grandfather. Then we went down to the archives and they did the same thing.”
After being named General Manager of the Grand Trunk Lines railway in 1895, Charles Hays created the subsidiary Grand Truck Pacific Railway in 1902, and announced a new line would be built from Ontario to anew major Pacific port on the North Coast. Hays realized the area was 800 km closer to the Orient than their competitor (Canadian Pacific Railway) port in Vancouver.
According to Hay’s Orphan, The Story Behind the Port of Prince Rupert, expectations for the city were so high in 1909 that 50 foot corner lots reached bids of $16,500. But the death of Hays in April 1912 aboard the Titanic, was among other things, one of the primary setbacks to Prince Rupert’s future as a rival port to Vancouver and Seattle, according to historians.
“I guess the most exciting thing for me has been to see 100 years later, my great grandfather’s scheme is finally apparently going to happen,” said Greene, referring to the new container port.
“It’s really exciting to see that 100 years later, it’s going to happen just the way he wanted it.
“I’ve always wanted to see it, to see if they really laid (Prince Rupert) out according to the plan,” said Kaplan of George Hall’s blueprint. ”And they did, it’s amazing.”
“Except certain aspects are a little different,” said Kaplan. “but the road plan is the same. Second Avenue was supposed to be the main street, but we learned at the archives that because Second got so expensive, the merchants moved to Third.”
Both Greene and Kaplan, high school friends and U. S. citizens living in Massachusetts and California respectively, were impressed to see the thriving nature of the city.
”You see the kind of housing stock that’s here with the view of the water, and even driving around it’s fairly prosperous,” said Kaplan. “I expected to see a town that’s down and out. It may have seen bad times, but it’s very lively too.”
This summer saw the great grand daughter of Charles Melville Hays, Orian Greene, make the pilgrimage to the town her great grand father had great plans for.
Interestingly enough, she arrived in the city just as the great dream of Hays is about to be realized, with Rupert soon to be a major world port all be it almost 100 years behind schedule.
Ms. Greene brought along as a traveling companion Meredith Kaplan, who wrote a Masters degree thesis on her friend’s grandfather, George Hall, the son in law of Hays and who along with Franklin Brett, laid out this city as it now is designed as well as Prince George, BC.
The Daily News provided a bit of a look at their travels through the city and their impressions of the town that has such a close family tie to them.
GREAT GRANDFATHER’S DREAM COMES ALIVE
Great granddaughter of Charles Hays sees Prince Rupert for the first time
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Friday, July 20, 2007
Pages one and two
Orian Greene was impressed by the size of the cruise ship docked in Prince Rupert yesterday, but was surprised to learn that it held more than 2,000 passengers.
“I only counted lifeboats for about 800 people” she said looking at the ship from First Avenue. “You can imagine, I notice that sort of thing, considering the fate of my great grandfather.”
The man she is referring to is none other than Charles Hays, the visionary for the port and rail potential of Prince Rupert back in the early 1900’s, who tragically lost his life as a passenger on the Titanic when she sank in 1912.
Greene arrived in Prince Rupert late Tuesday night with her good friend Meredith Kaplan, who coincidentally wrote her Masters degree thesis on Greene’s grandfather George hall, son-in-law of Chrales hays, and one of two men who designed what would become the city of Prince Rupert as it’s known today.
“The people have been just phenomenal,” said Greene. “The woman in the library took us into the archives room where she brought out pictures of the Rattenberry Hotel, and the information they had on my great grandfather. Then we went down to the archives and they did the same thing.”
After being named General Manager of the Grand Trunk Lines railway in 1895, Charles Hays created the subsidiary Grand Truck Pacific Railway in 1902, and announced a new line would be built from Ontario to anew major Pacific port on the North Coast. Hays realized the area was 800 km closer to the Orient than their competitor (Canadian Pacific Railway) port in Vancouver.
According to Hay’s Orphan, The Story Behind the Port of Prince Rupert, expectations for the city were so high in 1909 that 50 foot corner lots reached bids of $16,500. But the death of Hays in April 1912 aboard the Titanic, was among other things, one of the primary setbacks to Prince Rupert’s future as a rival port to Vancouver and Seattle, according to historians.
“I guess the most exciting thing for me has been to see 100 years later, my great grandfather’s scheme is finally apparently going to happen,” said Greene, referring to the new container port.
“It’s really exciting to see that 100 years later, it’s going to happen just the way he wanted it.
“I’ve always wanted to see it, to see if they really laid (Prince Rupert) out according to the plan,” said Kaplan of George Hall’s blueprint. ”And they did, it’s amazing.”
“Except certain aspects are a little different,” said Kaplan. “but the road plan is the same. Second Avenue was supposed to be the main street, but we learned at the archives that because Second got so expensive, the merchants moved to Third.”
Both Greene and Kaplan, high school friends and U. S. citizens living in Massachusetts and California respectively, were impressed to see the thriving nature of the city.
”You see the kind of housing stock that’s here with the view of the water, and even driving around it’s fairly prosperous,” said Kaplan. “I expected to see a town that’s down and out. It may have seen bad times, but it’s very lively too.”
Photo above taken from the Prince Rupert Libraries bookboat webpage
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