The Hamilton Thistle Club

Collectivité

The Hamilton Thistle Club

• Hamilton Thistle Club

• Ontario Curling Club of Ontario (1853-1868)
• Ontario & Burlington Curling Club (1868-1871)
• The Curling Club of Hamilton (1868-1871)
• Hamilton Thistle Curling Club (1871-1889)
• Hamilton Curling Rink Company (1889-1927)
• The Hamilton Thistle Club Limited (1889-1927)
• Hamilton Thistle Club Limited (1927-1959)
• Hamilton Thistle Club Holdings (1959-1978)

1853-2002

Founded on November 26, 1853, as the Ontario Curling Club of Hamilton (The Hamilton Thistle Club), was the second oldest curling club in Canada besides the Montreal Caledonia Curling Club (1850-1976). It originally began as a men's only curling club whose members played on natural rinks on the Hamilton Harbour. In its first year, the club had 22 members who paid an annual membership fee of $15. In 1878, the club purchased land for $2,000 on the corner of Park and Robinson Streets to build a permanent club house. The red brick building started with four sheets of ice, and by 1886, the club purchased additional land for expansion. By 1890, the club was used for both curling, skating, and hockey. Additional sports were introduced when electricity replaced gaslight, such as squash, tennis and badminton. On October 11, 1927, The Hamilton Thistle Club was officially incorporated, the same year that artificial ice was installed. In 1934, a women's curling section was formed with eight members under the leadership of their first president Mrs. W.D. Southam. The club was further renovated in 1959, 1978 and 1981, and additions included racquetball and squash courts and locker rooms complete with sauna and whirlpools in both the men's and women's sections. The club also had an indoor tennis court and combined there were 11 racquetball courts, six curling sheets, lawn bowling areas, lounges for billiards, and dining and spa facilities. The popularity of racquet sports brought the end of curling, and in 1987 the club closed all the ice sheets. Declining membership and financial problems led the club to close in 2002, one year shy of its 150 birthday. The building was demolished in 2004.

Hamilton, Ontario

Curling club, sports club

Crossan, James (1984). "A Curling Odyssey and the Hamilton Thistle Club", [Hamilton]: self published.
Houghton, Margaret (2006). "Vanished Hamilton Volume II", Burlington: North Shore Publishing.