A Turbulent Chapter in the Early 20th Century History of London, Ontario: The Debacle over the Federal Square Project, the Acrimonious Debate over the New City Hall, and the Scandal over the Electrification

Abstract

Although the stories of the Federal Square Project, the need for a new city hall, and the London/Port Stanley Railway have been summarized on several occasions, the purpose of this article is to examine the largely forgotten evidence behind each story through use of material that appeared between 1911 and 1928 in the archives of the London Free Press and the London Advertiser. While these undertakings were initiated around 1912 and were largely intended to showcase the city and encourage its growth as a manufacturing and commercial business centre, the archival evidence shows that they also led to substantial rancor that lingered for many years among the city’s newspapers and left the city with a heavy financial burden