Tuesday 26th May 2009 – A Bit of History

In 1962, the great and good of Glasgow decided that they ought to celebrate the 75^th year of its existence.  They decided to call this their 'Diamond Jubilee'.  And why not?  What would you call a 75^th anniversary? 

One of the things they did was commission a souvenir book of the history of Glasgow.  The Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture has managed to find its copy for me, which is pretty impressive.

The very first paragraph of this booklet reads:

"It was late in July, 1887, that the railroad (called the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba when it was organised in 1879) reached a point about two miles from where the Glasgow depot now stands.  The point was called Siding No. 45, the sidings having been consecutively numbered westward from Minot, N. Dak.  It was in October, 1887, that a clerk working in the railroad's St. Paul office, seeking to honour the famed Scottish city, named the siding Glasgow."

This is the first evidence I have seen to suggest the name was deliberately chosen.  Up till now, everyone has subscribed to the view that the sidings were named by sticking fingers/darts/ pins in maps/globes/atlases.  I had felt suspicious about that theory, since the towns along the hi-line didn't seem to have any of the characteristics of a randomly-chosen set, even allowing for some which may already have had a name.

So I'm feeling a bit pleased with myself.  And I have plenty of fascinating history to read.  I also have a quite specific time and place to look for more detailed evidence of how the name came about.