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The 1900s

11/ 6/2003

Part of River Roch to be covered

ROCHDALE Council's Tramways Committee approved proposals to build a bridge between The Butts and South Parade, partially covering the River Roch, on Monday 11 May 1903.

Members wanted to use it as a centre for the council's tramways system. The mayor, Alderman Turner, said the project would cost £12,000, including paving and concreting on the river bed to help support the walls with the extra weight they would have to carry. It would also help sanitary conditions near the river.

The scheme would cost £4,000 less than estimates made three years previously which didn't include paving the river bed, because newer ferro concrete would be used.

Guards march to mark Falinge Park public opening

CROWDS flocked to Falinge Park on Saturday 5 August 1905 for its official opening to the public.

The park and house, Mount Falinge, were given to the council by Alderman Samuel Turner in June 1902 when he was mayor of the town. He spent about £3,500 on planting and laying out the park to make it more attractive to the public. The park cost £11,000.

Mount Falinge was built in a commanding positionon sloping land between Cronkeyshaw and Falinge Road. The 18-acre park stretched from the junction of Sheriff Street and Falinge Road to Cronkeyshaw, and over towards the Greenhill residence of Colonel Royds MP.

The park catered for young and old with plenty of seats, a bright show of flowers in the Sun Garden and a fine playground for youngsters. It also offered spacious views of the surrounding countryside - at the time the best of any public place in the borough.

Alderman Turner officially opened the park and led a procession up to the house including the Duke of Lancaster's Own Imperial Yeomanry Guard, the police, the fire brigade, Rochdale Old Band and members of the council.

Key events - 1900 to 1910:

1900 - Reports come in that 33 Rochdale men are among the missing, killed and wounded in action at Spion Kop in the Boer War; Police surprise 200 men at a cockfight on Ashworth Moor near Cheesden Lumb Mill, the fight, which was a Lancashire and Yorkshire match, didn't take place; A girl dies and 100 people taken ill as a result of eating ice-cream at a field day; First municipal election for Castleton Moor ward, two liberals and one Conservative elected.
1901 - Rochdale Waterworks reports a profit for the first time; War medals presented to Rochdale volunteers who served in the Boer War; Salvation Army founder General William Booth visits Rochdale; John Ellis' first public execution, assisting in a double execution at Newcastle.
1902 - Trial run of Castleton to Middleton tramway; Two men killed in explosion at Makin's paper mills; Town Council refuses to attend coronation service at Parish Church; Demonstration against Education Bill in Town Hall Square.
1903 - Animated pictures shown at Rochdale's first cinema; Town Council approve of education scheme; Prisoner commits suicide by shooting himself with a revolver at the town hall; Frenchmen walking around th world pass through Rochdale.
1904 - Announced that Rochdale's identification plate for motor cars is DK, reported that nine motors an eight motor-cycles had been registered and 23 people had applied for driving licences; Exciting scenes in treasure hunt for money hidden in the town by proprietors of London magazine; Colonel Royds MP lays down foundation stone for Church of the Good Shepherd; Colonel William Cody, aka Buffalo Bill, visits Rochdale.
1905 - Rochdale Pioneers Society decided to close down a dozen of its newsrooms; Eminent author George Bernard Shaw speaks at the Public Hall; New St Patrick's School opened; Postcard craze causes chaos at post ofice.
1906 - Colonel Clement Royds knighted; Freedom of the borough conferred on Alderman Samuel turner, Alderman Fishwick, Sir Clement Royds and James Ogden; The new Maclure Road opened to traffic.
1907 - Countess Romanoff, cousin of the Czar of Russia, appeared at the Empire Hall; Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst opens women's club in Rochdale.
1908 - Thornham girl drowns in canal at Moss Lock; Canal Company and mill owners' water rights dispute heard in Chancery Court; Lead poisoning scare after tests revealed lead in town's water; Opening performance at the new Hippdrome Theatre.
1909 - Labour MP Ramsay Macdonald lectured in Pioneers' Assembly Room; Colonel Kemp, hero of the Boer War, receives knighthood Unionist demonstration at Town Hall; Palace skating rink opened.