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CHEAP TRAVEL 45 YEARS AGO
Bradley Chambers Had a Trip to New York and Phil. On Nine Dollars.
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 24 February 1921]
W.B. Chambers, who operates a plumbing and tinsmithing establishment on North Main Street, made rather a unique find among his possessions recently, in the way of a stub of a railway ticket, dated August 26th, 1876-forty-five years ago this coming August.
The ticket in question was issued by the Great Western Railway, which was the old Grand Trunk, and was for passage from Hamilton to Philadelphia, by way of New York City, and return. The total cost of this ticket was exactly nine dollars.
The ticket was issued for the centennial which was held in Philadelphia that years, to the first World’s Fair ever held in the United States.
Mr. Chambers also discovered at the same time a directory and map of the World’s Fair grounds in Philadelphia, as well as a diary which contains some rather interesting information. One think that the diary recalls is that Mr. Chambers started off on that eventful trip with $57 in his pocket-and he had a wonderful time and brought home quite a chunk of it. Now the same trip could not be started without at least $570 in your pocket. In those days the best of meals could be obtained for 35 cents and a room in a hotel for 50 cents, or a dollar.
Fire work displays and night recreation in the grounds at the centennial were unknown. You could enter the grounds at nine o’clock in the morning and if you were not out by six p.m., chances were that you would be locked in.
All of these conditions are recalled by items in the diary of forty-five years ago.
It is interesting to note that this ticket purchased forty-five years ago at nine dollars, if purchased today, would cost in the vicinity of forty-two or forty-three dollars.
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