RHODES: 1929 wreck brought end to CW and LE railway |
On June 12, 1929, Chatham, Wallaceburg and Lake Erie railway motorman Tom Cooper was involved in a disastrous wreck, and I will explain that a bit later in the story.
Thomas Henry Cooper was born in 1886 and is first listed in the town directories in 1912 as being a labourer, but his employer is not mentioned.
He was an employee of the CW and LE, I believe, from 1914 to the demise of the railway in 1930.
He started out as a brakeman and later became a conductor and ultimately a motorman.
The directories indicate that he left the railway for a brief period in 1918 to work for Gray Dort, which was a prospering automobile assembly company with three large factories in Chatham.
I came across Tom’s name while researching a 19th-century seven-unit row house known as the Wellington Terrace Apartments which was located at 65 Wellington St. W., northeast corner of Wellington and Fourth streets. Tom lived in the most westerly unit of the building........