Now we know this area as the Stabroek Market Square, but for a time in the colonial period it was known as Russell Memorial Square. The bust in memory of William Russell can be made out in the small garden in the centre of the photo; today Russell’s bust is accommodated in the compound of City Hall. A well-known planter, Russell is remembered for his work in the nineteenth century solving the problem of how to bring water into Georgetown. There had been failed efforts before his, one of which saw the water in a canal designed to flow into the city, flow in the opposite direction because of the gradient of the land. Russell went out into the bush to study the water levels, and eventually came up with a viable solution. This photo is said to date from 1924.
If you have any photographs dating from before 1966, which you would like to see published in this column, please contact Ms Allison Bowlin on 225-7473 or 227-4080 to make arrangements for you to bring them in.
We will scan them while you wait. Alternatively, you could e-mail them to us at stabroeknews @ stabroeknews. com or stabroeknews@hotmail.com
Now we know this area as the Stabroek Market Square, but for a time in the colonial period it was known as Russell Memorial Square. The bust in memory of William Russell can be made out in the small garden in the centre of the photo; today Russell’s bust is accommodated in the compound of City Hall. A well-known planter, Russell is remembered for his work in the nineteenth century solving the problem of how to bring water into Georgetown. There had been failed efforts before his, one of which saw the water in a canal designed to flow into the city, flow in the opposite direction because of the gradient of the land. Russell went out into the bush to study the water levels, and eventually came up with a viable solution. This photo is said to date from 1924.This view of the Georgetown skyline is unusual in that it shows the tower of the Roman Catholic cathedral rising above the roofs of the houses. The wooden cathedral, a beautiful building by any standards, was the work of Fr Ignatius Scoles and Cesar Castellani, but was burnt down owing to the carelessness of a workman in 1913. He was up in the tower with a coalpot soldering some leaks, when the coalpot was knocked over. Thinking that he had retrieved all the burning coals, he went to lunch, and in the meantime a piece of coal which he had not noticed set the tower and subsequently the entire structure on fire. This photo dates from around 1890.
