Infrastructure Projects, 1920s

Before the dawn of the twentieth century the major infrastructures necessary for towns and villages to flourish were often privately developed and owned. With new legislation enacted before the First World War (such as the Municipalities Act, the Public Health Act and the Local Improvement Acts) municipalities began to take on these duties for the benefit of their citizens. The legislation gave cities, towns and villages the responsibilities required for major infrastructure projects and, at the same time, the means to fund the projects through raising taxes. Soon the Board of Works and the city engineer of Kingston were busy with improvement projects; roads, waterworks, sewers, sidewalks, curbs, asphalt surfacing etc. This 1920’s image from the Harcourt Brown fonds shows one such infrastructure project in progress even before the snow has melted.