1900 - 1909 - An Arbroath Timeline
1900 - 1909
1900 (Feb 1) The goods branch railway line from Elliot to Carmyllie's slate quarries (from this date until Dec 1929) also carries passengers. 1900 Lifeboat 'James Stevens No 13' is launched. 1900 Keiths amalgamate with Blackman Air Propellor Co. of London & build huge fans for power stations & deep mines. 1900 A ladies bathing pavilion exists outside the Municipal & Police boundary by the railway underpass. 1900 Rosely House is bought by Charles Corsar, son of David Corsar, leading Arbroath merchant. The family are one of the town's benefactors, responsible for it's 1st motorised fire service & gifting the present Library. 1900 Watercolour artist James Watterston Herald takes up residence in Arbroath. 1900 The 'Oriental Bar', High Street comes under the ownership of Ralph Gouck (until 1907). 1900 Douglas Fraser & Sons Westburn Foundry at Stobcross is greatly enlarged. 2 shifts of workers produce jute mill machinery for Calcutta. 1900 (Sep) The Burgh Constabulary has it's annual inspection in the Corn Exchange buildings. The inspecting officer is Capt. Monro & is witnessed by Provost Grant, Bailie Alexander, Bailie Duncan, ex Provost Keith, Councillor Dorward, Major Corsar, Dr. Anderson & Mr. F. W. Mackintosh. The entire Force of Chief Constable, 2 Inspectors, 2 Sergeants & 15 Constables are present. Insp. Piper takes the men through a series of drill movements. 1900 Steven & Struthers of Glasgow are instructed to proceed with the erection of a new parapet, lantern machine, lamps & fog signal apparatus on the Bell Rock Lighthouse. 1900 Abbey Leather Works off Palmer Street. have a busy year making footwear. 1900 (approx) Business properties in Commerce Street include The George Hotel at No.30, John Bremner printers at No.34, Miss Watt's confectioner shop at No.36, D. Johnston's musical instrument shop at No.37 and the two Miss Bremnars ran a millenery shop at No.38. 1900 (approx) The son of John Brodie (Arbroath Herald publisher), being trained in the stationer & newspaper business, dies aged 21. Within a year, Brodie's business partner also dies. 1901 (Jan 22) Queen Victoria dies. 1901 (Jan 30) The Provost, magistrates & Town Council assemble at the town hall as the Sherriff proclaims the new monarch, Edward V11. 1901 The population is 22,997. 1901 The failure of the Russian flax crop causes 9 Arbroath mills to close and 1,500 girls leave the town for work elsewhere. In contrast, engineering has a prosperous year. 1901 A revision is carried out on the 1859 map survey of the town. The new map will be printed & published by the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, in 1903. 1901 (Sept 2) The New Victoria Hall becomes the Arbroath Theatre. 1901 Boath's Inchcape Cycle Depot trades in Guthrie Port. 1901 Arbroath now has 51 fishing boats operating from it's harbour. 1901 Links land is purchased for Arbroath Golf Club. 1901 The Arbroath Epidemic Hospital is built next to the Western Cemetery. 1902 Arbroath's limits now roughly Hayshead Rd, Hayswell Rd, Cairnie Rd & Viewfield Rd. Eastern Cemetery is in use, but lies outwith the town. 1902 A new manse for the Wesleyan Church is procured by the purchase of no.4 Seaton Road. The church is renamed 'St. John's Methodist'. 1902 Robb Bros. Bon Accord soft drinks business opens on Dishlandtown Street & will exist for about 90 years. 1902 Funeral Directors David Mackay & Company open on West Grimsby. 1902 David D. Buick (in USA) sets up the Buick Manufacturing Co. & develops the overhead valve engine, which is now the norm in modern cars. 1902 A ring of 5 tubular bells are installed to join the heritors bell in St Vigeans Kirk. 1902 A new dome & lantern is fitted to Bell Rock Lighthouse. 1903 The Arbroath Musical Society is established. 1903 (Apr 1) A.K. Adamson (menswear) is founded at 7-9 Keptie Street, until then premises of Smith Bros, tailors & outfitters. 1903 The Arbroath Theatre becomes the New Theatre & soon after St James Theatre. 1903 (Jun) St Margaret's Church opens it's small hall. 1903 The fishing boat 'Matilda (built: Selby 1871), comes to work out of Arbroath. One of 4 boats owned by Sam Renny. 1903 (Aug) Arbroath Golf Clubhouse opens (now Five Gables House B&B). 1903 Arbroath Artisan Golf Club is founded. 1903 (Dec) St Margaret's Church hold a dedication service on completion of the upper part of the Church tower. 1904 'A Guide to Arbroath: The Birthplace of the Declaration of Scottish Independence' & 'Guide to the Cliffs' by John Brodie is published. 1904 Provost Alexander serves the town until 1913. 1904 (Aug 22) An entertainment event occurs in Arbroath in a field on Culloden Farm. The event is captured in watercolour by Angus artist James Watterston Herald - but does it depict 'Buffalo Bill' Cody, or an inferior and much smaller attraction by one 'Buff Bill' ? 1905 The Glasites cease to exist in Arbroath. The Glasite Church on Church Street (formerly Braik's Wynd) reverts to the ownership of the heirs of Provost John Mann who gifted the building to that sect in 1746. 1905 Around this time the White Hart Inn's proprietor was Alexander Smith (phone number Arbroath 26 !) 1906 (Feb 12) The Arbroath schooner "Renner", owner S. Rennie & carrying 170 tons of potatoes, leaves the harbour bound for Faversham, Kent. Bad weather forces the boat to shelter in the Firth of Forth but it will break up on Buxey Sand near Burnham on Crouch, Essex. All crew are rescued by the Clacton-on-Sea lifeboat. 1906 (May 17) Last week about 20 Arbroath emmigrants left for foreign parts. 1906 Alexander Gordon & Co cease manufacturing flax at Burnside Works, Gravesend. 1906 Dodd & Bathies mart opens on Millgate Loan. An ice cream shop has opened at the entrance to the mart. 1906 George Hay dies aged 75, after 44 years service with the 'Arbroath Guide'. 1906 D. T. Wilson's furniture business is trading by this date at 99 High Street. 1906 (Jul) Arbroath's (first ?) donkey rides are enjoyed on the West Sands & on Cannon Common. 1906 (Nov 29) Arbroath's labourers' 10 hour day is reduced to 9 hours, their 4 1/2d / hour increased to 5d. 1906 (Dec 20) The North British Railway Co. confirm they are proceeding with of the long deferred reconstruction of Keptie Street Railway Station - see 1911. 1906 (Dec 28) A railway disaster during a snowstorm occurs at Elliot Station. 21 are killed. The rear carriage of the local train is completely destroyed, one of it's few survivors being Applegate ice cream manufacturer Pal Dora. 1907 (Mar) The White Hart Hotel is taken over by William Cuming of the Panmure Arms, Carnoustie. 1907 (Jun) The steamer 'Niobe', under the command of Captain Hansen, on route from Riga to Methil, discharges approx 250 tons of flax at Arbroath harbour consigned to around four local merchants. She leaves for the Fife port the same day. 1907 The 'Oriental Bar', High Street comes under the ownership of G.K. Black (until 1925). 1907 The livestock auction house, a wooden construction, is built between Millgate & Panmure Street. 1907 Porteous the bakers open at 162-164 High Street. 1908 Andrew Gordon, aged 71, refuses to be admitted to the Poorhouse at Brechin Road. He chooses instead to live in Mason's Cave at Cove Haven. Born in Arbroath, he has been a mason by trade, residing at West Grimsby. 1908 The town's gas holders are replaced. 1908 George Birse, of 79 Keptie Street, dies. He was Arbroath's last handloom weaver, born in 1858. 1908 Yeomanry, Militia & Volunteers are combined into one force - The Territorial Army. Arbroath Battery is issued with 15-pounders, used eventually in France. (Source: M.O.D.). 1908 The Water Tower (below), insufficient to meet increasing demands, becomes redundant when a supply from Noran Water at Glenogil begins to flow. 1909 (Apr 24) Arbroath Lawn Tennis Club opens on Arbirlot Road. 1909 St James Theatre becomes the Arbroath Picture Hall. 1909 (Jan 17) Ruby Melvin is born. As part of the family entertainment troupe 'Melvin's Merry Macs' she will become a singer & actress under the stage name of 'Little Rube'. 1909 'Arbroath, The Royal Burgh Of Romance, It's People & It's Past' by P C Carragher is published. 1909 (Oct 29) A roller skating rink at McDonald Park opens. In this decade Paul Coppola runs his confectionary business from 230 High Street. 'in the early 1900s' John D Fox has a grocery shop at the southern corner of High Street (no. 194 ?) & Applegate.
Harbour about 1900
The new 1901 map : this part shows Millgate to Shore
Walter Marr & Thos Buick
(David Buick's son) 1904
Arbroath Golf Course
Rosely House
Two of J Watterson Herald's water colours - but do they depict Buffalo
Bill's Circus, or Buff Bill - a lesser act ?
Arbroath's ( 21st century ) Rebecca Connelly, herself an emigrant to the USA,
sings 'Small Town Girl'
BL
Elliot Junction The Station platform was where the car park is now, the Carmyllie 'Pilot' line branching off at the white box. photo/text courtesy of: Derek Robertson
Image copyright
The Arbroath Herald
Andrew Gordon at Mason's Cave
Flooding in Arbroath in 1907
George
Birse - Arbroath's last
handloom weaver
A west highland castle with five or six hundred years of history ? No, just a local landowner, a local architect & a local builder's idea of a better class of water tower. In 2008 this wonderful building will have been doing nothing for a hundred years.... What ? A rooftop restaurant under glass ? Evening dining under the stars to soft music, or enjoying lunch looking out to sea, or across the town towards Angus horizons ? The lower floors perhaps an audio/visual spectacle of the town's vibrant past ? Behave yourself !
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