Port Elizabeth of Yore: Harbour Construction Controversy

Amongst the grievances of the residents of the Eastern Cape from the 1850s onwards was the question of building a harbour at Port Elizabeth. Keenly aware that the needs and interests of Cape Town were favoured above those of Port Elizabeth, the Separatist Movement was formed. To satisfy their movements’ grievances in the wake of the adoption of the Responsible Government Bill in 1872 in which their complaints were not addressed, they then proposed either the creation of a Federal Structure or alternatively complete separation from the west.

Inasmuch as the Eastern Cape was more entrepreneurial than the Western Cape, their needs differed from those of their Dutch speaking residents in the west. Beset by difficulties such as the lack of roads, irrigation schemes and a harbour through which to export their prime product – wool, they were understandably reluctant to subsidise the western Cape.

This blog covers the endeavours of John Geard to obtain funding for a new harbour and to expediate the issue.

Main picture: The ill-fated breakwater which had to be demolished after being silted up almost immediately after the completion of construction

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The Lost Artefacts of Port Elizabeth: The Majestic Quintuplets

These five structures, the Campanile, Mosenthals Building, Richardsons Building, the Reserve Bank and the City Hall represent the essence of Port Elizabeth in terms of its history. Now some have been demolished or blocked out and some replaced with ahistorical buildings with no connection to its past or in fact its future.

Main picture: The majestic quintuplets – Campanile, Mosenthals, Richardsons, Reserve Bank, City Hall

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: PE in the Age of John Geard

In the book “Memoir of the Hon John Geard of Port Elizabeth,” published in 1904, Hanesworth provides one with a vivid picture of the state of Port Elizabeth. Without a local council, the hamlet had grown for the most part without “let or hindrance” and furthermore without a vision. But this would soon change.

This blog is a verbatim quote from that book.

Main picture:  Port Elizabeth in 1840. The non-descript building on the right is the original iteration of St. Mary’s church

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Mechanics Institute

For the most part the upper echelons of Port Elizabeth’s society possessed more than a modicum of civic pride. Whether it was the improvement of the town itself or the upliftment of its residents, all such efforts would ultimately bear fruit and produce the town that it would become. Amongst such people was the Geard family. Starting with the initial Geard in Port Elizabeth, Charles Geard, through to his son, John, and his grandson, Charles, for three generations they bore the mantle for the improvement of the technical skills of its residents.

This is the story of more than a physical institution but also the dedication of a caring elite and was an eloquent testament to their passion and public spiritedness.

Main picture: Donkin Street. Above C Frames’s premises is the Mechanics Institute, designed by Percy Strutt and opened 23 January 1865. The land was a Government grant & after the Institute closed in June 1954 it reverted to it & became a Post Office.

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Frame’s Reservoir – The Unlikely Dam

The saga of how Port Elizabeth acquired an unsuitable dam on a trickle of a river as its first primary water supply in the 1860s, is explained in this blog. Sadly after a decade the water became saline and no longer potable. Perhaps this venture was emblematic of the era where vision was limited by parsimony and where, despite the Council’s laudable motives, was doomed to failure. 

For all that, the Town Council did protect the interests of its residents by not financing the project itself. So, when bankruptcy did occur, no losses were borne by the denizens of the town. 

Main picture: Opening the valve at the Frames Dam in 1863

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: End of the Era of the Double-Storey Buildings

This blog is largely based upon the reminiscences in the 1940s of Anthony Scallan who was born on the first floor of his father’s shop in Main Street on 12nd October 1852. Below, the sign on the shop front, it read, “James Scallan, Tailor.”  This business was run by John’s grandfather, James Scallan, an early Settler but not strictly 1820, and by his father, Patric [sic], who had been born in 1822. 

He vividly recounts what Main Street was like in an era when most buildings were double-storeyed with the upstairs area being the family’s home. Join me on a journey to a long-lost world of early Main Street, not only the buildings but also some of the characters that inhabited them. 

Main picture: One of the earlier photographs of Market Square long before the erection of the Public Library

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Legacy of Henry Fancourt White

Like all the major roads up from the centre of town to the top of the hill, these roads were originally kloofs with streams, jagged rocks and steep cliffs. So it was with White’s Road. The original steep embankments on either side precluded the construction of buildings except for the Opera House. Except in historical circles is the engineer in charge, Henry Fancourt White, today remembered for his legacy. Even his name has been obliterated, being replaced with the name, John Kani. Despite this iniquity, he will be recalled by golfers in an elite manor house in George, renamed in his honour as Fancourt.

This is the story of this significant road in Port Elizabeth’s history.

Main Picture: This is the earliest extant photograph that I can find of White’s Road. It shows the devastation after the torrential rains of 20th and 21st November 1867. 

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