The long, slow vote to a new name It seems any worries about a mad stampede of passionate voters to the referendum poll were for nought. To avoid a one-day rush, organisers decided the polling station (yes, singular) would be open from 9 am to 9 pm for four days (from 24-28 June (but […] Read more…
SOS A severe storm passed over the northern part of the County just before suppertime on 15 June. The next day, The Berlin Daily Telegraph’s front-page story, “Cyclone sweeps over Elmira,” described the swath cut through the small town. No one was injured, but shortly after the winds picked up, “it developed into a […] Read more…
Huzzah? According to The Berlin Daily Telegraph, “there has been considerable worry on the part of a certain class in the city.” The shortlist wasn’t to blame: King George V’s radio silence caused furrowed eyebrows because he had yet to congratulate the city on voting to rid itself of its enemy name. It’s not as if […] Read more…
George Rumpel (10 May 1850 – 05 June 1916) “He remained warm-hearted, fair and diplomatic. His employees liked him for this and because wealth did not deprive him of his genial, companionable attribute. Without ostentation, he was considerate of and helpful to those in unfortunate circumstances.” Berliners were rocked by the sudden death of former […] Read more…
Sorting through thousands and thousands of names With the name change vote done and over with, Aldermen Cleghorn, Hahn, Hallman, Rudell and Master winnowed the estimated 30,000 submitted names to 113. They easily tossed thousands of entries: contest rules precluded names already in use in Canada (the Post Office demanded an original name). It seems as if […] Read more…
15 May 1916: Colonel Lochead’s open letter to Berliners Regarding the reports apparently more or less generally circulated throughout the City, that the officers, NCOs, and men of the 118th Battalion mean to take an active part in the election slated for Friday, I beg to state that I myself and every other officer of […] Read more…