Hamilton’s Foundation of Cool

Hold on tight, Hamilton is attracting the best in the arts and world class business. With all this talent could Hamilton emerge as the new Chelsea? After all, it’s no secret why the film industry continues to shoot the cityscapes of the Hammer.
I don’t have to tell you that we are experiencing a renaissance. All around us we see newcomers enjoying the frenzy of Hamilton and making the city cool. Great bands, Supercrawl, the exploding real estate market, and the revival of our neighborhoods are just some of the great attractions here.
But with all this talk of cool kids coming to Hamilton with a new wave of talent, we should take a look in our rear-view mirror. Hamilton was always cool.
Let’s highlight a few of Hamilton’s cool kid alumni, as this city has seen a full class. Since the city is looking at building its own walk of fame I think it’s time that we start thinking about who should be recognized. Where do we start?
The city’s history is full of candidates deserving of cool-kid status — enough to fill Tim Hortons Field. So how do we shortlist them?
Let’s start with people simply being cool. Eileen Vollick was one of them.
Eileen was the first Canadian woman to earn a pilot’s certificate. Eileen was born in Wiarton, Ont., in 1908 and lived in the Hammer. While waiting to get her pilot’s license at the age of 19 — yes, 19 — Eileen was the first Canadian woman to parachute into water, landing in Hamilton Bay.
If that’s not cool enough, as a stunt she walked on the flying wings of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane. Eileen was posthumously awarded an Amelia Earhart Medallion in 1975, and she was the first woman to have an airport terminal named after her: the terminal at the Wiarton-Keppel International Airport.
The Ninety-Nines, an international organization committed to inspiring women pilots since 1929, and the Ontario Heritage Foundation revealed a plaque at John C. Munro Airport in her honour in 1976.
Jackie Washington was also a groundbreaker.
Jackie was the first black DJ in Canada when he started spinning records for CHML in 1948. He was a jazz and blues singer/songwriter who went on to record with such greats as Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell. And he didn’t stop there.
Jackie also acted, appearing in the films with Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave and I Want To Be Happy: The Jackie Washington Story.

Now, it’s hard to list a person in a certain category when their accomplishments are as diverse as Nancy Campbell’s.
Nancy was an artist, pianist, actress and dancer. She was born in England in 1906 and moved to Hamilton with her parents shortly after. Dancing was her true love and that drove her to become a respected dance teacher. She then became a highly acclaimed international speaker, speaking on peace and world unity. Nancy’s artistic and intellectual activities, along with her leadership in the Baha’i faith, brought her recognition from around the world.
Her community and international efforts along with her services at the Hamilton branch of the United Nations Association of Canada garnered her a “Meritorious Service Award” in 1978.
The Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute, an international private Baha’i school was opened in her name. Located in Stratford Ontario, it is a top ranking school according to a Fraser Institute Survey.
Another luminary was John Moodie, a late 19th century business leader. In addition to being the executive of Royal Distillery (Hamilton), and the Cataract Power Company of Hamilton, he loved his hobbies.
He owned the first bicycle in Canada in 1878, piloted the first motor boat in the Hamilton harbour and loved cars.
He owned the first in Canada, right here in Hamilton. John was one of the founding members of the Hamilton automobile club, now CAA South Central Ontario, which was the first organization of its kind in the country. When the club was founded in 1903, there were only 18 cars in town.
So when city councillors lay out the stars on its downtown walk of fame with iconic names such as Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Teenage Head, Tom Wilson, the Arkells and others, let’s not forget those that forged this great city into what it is today. People like painter Frank Panabaker, actress Jean Adair, architect John M. Lyle, fashion designer Liday Baday, actor/director George H. Summer… you get the picture.