Starting with history itself, then onto urban exploration. I like things that have out lived their usefulness, or their popularity might be more of how I feel about them. An appreciation for neglect of some kind.

I also like keeping things on Blogger blogs. I don't believe they are going to have a sudden, great comeback. Though I would like to see it happen. Blogger blogs are good for keeping things you don't want to lose. I have all kinds of sub-topics and niche ideas tucked away on Blogger blogs.

I think it is an inability to let go, or give up.

On June 1, 1871, Canada issued a prestamped, pictureless post card. It was called a postal stationery card and was sold for one cent at the post office. The cost included both the card and the delivery to any address within the Dominion. According to the 1871 Department Order No. 7 which authorized the government printed post card "The front or stamped side of the card is to be used for the address only, There must be nothing else either written or printed upon it." and "On the other or reverse side, any communication whether of the nature of a letter or otherwise, may be written or printed."

Postal Stationery Cards were used for business purposes to make appointments, confirm orders and arrange deliveries.

On December 9, 1897 the Post Office announced that "designs, illustrations, portraits, sketches or other forms of advertisement may be engraved, lithographed, printed, etc., on the 'address' side of the one-cent Post Card."

The Private Mailing Card: 1898 marked the end of the Pioneer Era and the beginning of the Private Mailing Card (PMC). Again, only the address was allowed to be written on the stamp side, and space was left around the image for any message from the sender.

Also found on many post cards was "Postal Card - Carte Postale" which indicated it was allowed to enter the international mail system.

The Divided Back: In December 1903 one of the most important changes in Canadian post card history occurred. The Official Postal Guide announced "The department has authorized...that a space may be reserved for communication on the face of the cards to the left of the address.... This space must be marked off from the address section by a vertical line..."

A Brief History of the Post Card

I've been interested in keeping old content and what happens to content once the source is gone, for a long time. In particular, web content, since the days I was an editor with the Open Directory Project. I liked finding sites which disappeared. Often I could find them again, on their own domain or from their own domain to a free service like Blogger. I liked tracking them down. It was an adventure and something I could feel pleased about. Not every site could be found again. Often, they were abandoned too. Content still there but no one maintaining it.

There are so many other issues when it comes to preserving online/ web content. Consider the web host the site is on. When payments to the host stop it isn't long before the domain expires and the site will go missing. What happens to your own sites, social media and whatever else you've got, if you die? I think about that too. Mine would all just be gone and not all that missed. But, I've written it mostly for myself and my own satisfaction, something new to learn.

I've got archives of ASCII art. Loads of it but all a mess, not organized. I try to sort it but soon decide my methods are not working well and no one will actually find anything. Plus, there is the problem of how to display it. ASCII art works in plain text files but does not show up on an HTML site (very well or easily) that way. I've had people bitch, complaining that it isn't really ASCII art if it's shown in an image file versus plain text. Well, whine on, but you don't have the headache of trying to make it work.

Anyway, so much for keeping on point...

I'd like to know more about how web content is being archived and what people are doing with the content they save. How is it being stored? Is it viewable by anyone? What about copyrights? So many questions... 

The Association of Canadian Archivists

I grew up in the community of West Rouge. I went to school at West Rouge Public School. I wasn't born there, we moved from the urban area of Toronto, but West Rouge is the place I remember when I think about being a kid, going to school and growing up to attend Joseph Howe Senior Public School (the first year the junior high school opened) and then Sir Oliver Mowat C.I.

West Rouge is a neighbourhood located in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the city suburbs of Scarborough. The community is bordered by Lake Ontario to the south, the Rouge River to the east, Highland Creek to the west and Kingston Road to the north. The area was once known as the town of Port Union.

I've Had a Copy of this Book for Many Years

• Fact & folklore : Highland Creek, Hillside, Port Union, West Hill

West Rouge Community and Links

• West Hill News

• West Rouge Life (Community Association)

• West Rouge - Wikipedia

• Port Union | Scarborough Historical Society

• Rouge Beach and Marsh - Photos by J.Montero1

• Toronto Trails Festival: Port Union - Photos by Paul Henman

• Port Union : Toronto Public Library

• Port Union Recreational Centre

• Port Union Waterfront Park

• West Rouge Tennis Club

• Port Union (Real Estate)

• Rouge Park

• South-East Scarborough's treasure by the lake | TheSceneInTO

• Toronto Neighbourhood Guide - Shopping in West Rouge

Port Union/ West Rouge History

Port Union is part of the Highland Creek community. The old town lines are located in the south east corner of Lawrence Avenue and Port Union Road.

Port Union thrived as a ship-building and fishing community. The opening of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1856 started the decline of Port Union's shipping industry as the railroad industry grew. In the 1940s, Port Union returned to its nautical roots with the reintroduction of the shipping industry.

The area was settled as early as 1798, when a crown patent for lots 29, 30, 32 & 33, "Con. 1 with the Broken Front, Township of Pickering, County of York and Home District, Province of Upper Canada", were granted to William Holmes, Esquire. In 1843 Henry Cowan, an immigrant from Ayr, Scotland, bought lots 32 & 33 from Holmes and settled the land with his family. In 1848 Cowan sold a small portion of his land on the shores of Lake Ontario to the Grand Trunk Railway Company.

(As a side note, when I grew up on Rouge Hills Drive, there was a Mr. Cowan living across the street from us. So the family stayed in the area for years and years after buying the original land at least 150 years before.)

Mr. William Jackson and others purchase the piece of the shorefront south of the tracks from Henry Cowan in 1860.

A post office opened in Port Union Station in 1865. Early businesses in the area included the Scarborough, Markham, and Pickering Wharf Company (est. 1847), and hotels (Helliwell's Hotel) operated by Will Hetherington and Thomas Laskey.

Henry Cowan's son, William, buys Lot 31, on the east side of the Rouge River from Mr. John Pollock in 1868. This summer resort became known as "Rosebank".

In 1925 Dyson Craig Cowan (the son and heir of William Cowan Jr) sells "Rosebank" to the Riverside Development Company Limited (Cecil White) for the sum of $25,000

Riverside Development Company Limited changes its name to Rouge Hills, Limited. The intentions were to create a summer playground and country estates on the banks of the Rouge. The community was to be "The Venice of the North".

Summerland magazine is published by Rouge Hills Publishing Company in 1938. Summerland speaks of "The Dream and the Man Who Dreamt It".

Although the dream community didn't happen as planned, the name of White's subdivision "Rouge Hills" lives on to this day. Locals call the are "The Rouge" or "Rouge Hills". The name also lives on in the public school, GO commuter station, a shopping plaza, and a very long street (Rouge Hills Drive) which runs from the top, north of Island Road, down to the bottom, at the Rouge Beach.

In 1948, the land that is now a new housing development between Rouge Hills Dr. and Ridgewood was sold to Rouge Hills Golf and Country Club Limited. In 1973 the golf course and country club were closed. The land was abandoned and left to grow wild. Locals used it as a bike trail, walking path and so on for a long time. Eventually, it was bought up and a housing development was built on the land.

The West Rouge community was originally part of Pickering. Scarborough annexed West Rouge in 1973. The West Rouge community was east of the town line and west of the Rouge River containing 857 acres and a population of 3,414 at the time of annexation.

In 1979, fire guts Henry Cowan's old stone farm house on Rouge Hills Drive, built sometime between his purchase of the farm in 1843 and his death in 1868.

Port Union / Rouge Hills / West Rouge

C.N.R. Railway Station, Port Union

Kingston Road Toll Gate at Rouge River

Abandoned C.N.R. Station Master's house, Port Union

Abandoned C.N.R. Station Master's house, Port Union

School, Port Union.

Helliwell's Hotel - Thomas Laskey's Hotel, Port Union.

Residence, formerly Helliwell's Hotel

Port Union / Rouge Hills / West Rouge

Port Union was also part of the Highland Creek community. (Although most of the buildings were across the Town Line in Pickering.) Port Union was located in the south east corner of Scarborough, at Lawrence Avenue and Port Union Road. In 1865 a post office opened in Port Union Station. Early 19th century businesses in the area included the Scarborough, Markham, and Pickering Wharf Company (est. 1847), and hotels operated by Will Hetherington and Thomas Laskey.

In the 1920s, real estate developer Cecil White & Co. purchased multiple tracts of land east of Port Union Village with intentions of creating a large community along the west bank of the Rouge River intended to become “The Venice of the North”. Although the dream was never completely realized, the name of White’s subdivision “Rouge Hills” lives on to this day as the name of the local commuter railway station.

The West Rouge community, a modern name associated with Port Union, was originally part of Pickering. Scarborough annexed the West Rouge in 1973 following several years of negotiations. There were concerns about meshing taxation and other costs to the municipality that had to be addressed following the initial annexation discussions in 1969. The West Rouge was east of the town line and west of the Rouge River containing 857 acres and a population of 3,414 at the time of annexation.

Port Union - Scarborough Historical Society

Have you ever read something by H.P. Lovecraft?

Lovecraft was an urban explorer himself. He liked exploring old houses especially. In his books I've read descriptions of the old places which bring poetry to them I envy (as a writer and explorer myself). Anyone who has explored an old house, especially those who have explored many of them and still love finding yet another, will treasure reading Lovecraft's short stories.

I knew about his books for a very long time but thought they were too gruesome and frightening for me. I think that would have been true while I was still a young woman of high school age. But, now that I am nearing 50 and a seasoned explorer... they seem more like stories I've heard before. This is no fault of H.P. Lovecraft.

His stories were horrifying, terrifying and gruesome enough at the time he wrote them. But, like an old house, we have become weathered to horror, especially when it's in fiction. Lovecraft read horror, modern people see it in movies, which is far different than reading it in print.