Name/Title
Frank SmartEntry/Object ID
2007-215-04-09Scope and Content
Frank Smart spent 42 years as a telegraph operator, first working at the Beamsville station in 1909, then at the Grimsby station for the Grand Trunk Railway from 1910 to 1937 and maintained his railroad career in the Niagara Peninsula until his retirement in 1951 at the Stoney Creek Station. Following in his father's footsteps, he believed railroading was in his blood as Robert Smart was a train conductor.
Even as a young child visiting the railway station, he would hear the telegraph key and it would be music to his ears.
Smart recalled the bustle of Grimsby station in the early years where up to 19 trains would pass Grimsby station every day to more somber times of hand delivering messages to families of men killed in the First World War or being a source of help to travellers during the depression, "A good many of them slept in the station and shared my lunch" (the spectator January 8th, 1977).
Telegraph operators were essential in delivering commercial messages to the public such as hockey nights, election results, and town news stories. As a result, making railway stations the town's news center. A big story Smart telegraphed was the tragic death of the Teeter family's sleigh struck by a Grand Trunk Railway at the Grimsby railway crossing in 1909.
A caboose at the Village Depot was named in honor of Frank Smart and used to be a boutique (see photo).
He spent his retirement in his farmhouse in Grassie, gardening, woodworking, and beekeeping, at one time having 25 hives next to his home. Smart found enjoyment building equipment such as boxes and found purpose in taking care of bees when they pollenate in spring to extracting their honey for others to enjoy.Context
Source: Hamilton Spectator, Jan 8, 1977. "Grimsby station gets new life as Village Depot" - photo of station, Frank Smart