Published: Friday, 11th September, 2009 12:00pm

Pages From the past

1859

150 Years Ago

The opening of the Athlone to

Tullamore rail-link

In 1859, the Dublin to Galway train line was well in operation and trains operated by the Midland Great Western Railway Company travelled east and west through Athlone and Mullingar.

However, in that year, a connection between Athlone and Tullamore was built by the Great Southern and Western Railway with its own station (the existing Southern Station).

This was how the Westmeath Independent reported the development: "In a few days we shall have direct railway communication via Tullamore with the Great Southern and Western line; and through it with Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny - in fact all the towns of importance in Munster, and that portion of Leinster untraversed by the Dublin and Galway junction.

Before the close of the year too, the Roscommon branch will be open for general traffic.

Perhaps no other town in Ireland will then possess more advantages with respect to steam communication that Athlone.

Besides the great iron highways radiating in all directions, it can boast the additional advantage of being seated on the most navigable river in the kingdom."

All this could only be beneficial for the town

"It is difficult in this country to judge what local advantages will arise to any particular place from the proximity of railway communication."

The paper went on to speculate that the new rail-line would help in developing Athlone as a central market for the grazier and the agriculturist.

"These will, sooner or later, find that their interests are specially concerned in selecting the most generally accessible depot for the sale and transmission of their several productions. The markets of our old town will probably become one day as celebrated as those now existing in the richest agriculture districts of England," the Westmeath Independent optimistically concluded.

The Great Wizard

"Our readers will perceive from an advertisement in another column, that Hambujer, who for a hundred consecutive nights delighted a Dublin audience, is to visit Athlone on the 19th instant. His entertainments have been on more than one occasion patronised by the Queen, and we expect a large and fashionable audience to meet him in Athlone."

1909

100 Years Ago

Lack of urgency in tackling

housing shortage highlighted

Housing waiting lists remain a huge issue in modern day Athlone - and 100 years ago, the lack of housing for those in need was also a paramount concern, as the Westmeath Independent reported in September 1909.

"What are we doing in Athlone to solve the housing problem. We have built a few houses and we are building a few more. That much, however, remains only on the fringe of the evil we want to see swept away," the paper said.

"The Urban Council, in however, are not indifferent to the situation as it exists. The council includes many whom we recognise would gladly reform it all. What we complain of is there is too much time wasted. We want to come to close quarters with the issue. We want to put more life into the work ..."

And of course, delays always lead to the possible loss of funding, the paper warned.

"If the council loiters now, be assured of it, there will be a difficulty getting money later on. There will be no chance of getting any part of the subsidy which will be dispensed elsewhere.

"It is an important thing to decide whether the slum cabins should be levelled and the areas then build in keeping with modern requirements or new sites obtained and sufficient houses erected on them when perforce the slum areas would then settle itself albeit that they would be an ugly eyesore to our eyes, though no longer inhabited."

1959

50 Years Ago

Calls for canal "cesspool"

to be filled in

Athlone's canal needs to be cleaned up or filled in as it is only a dumping ground for dead cats and dogs, a meeting heard fifty years ago.

Mr T Darcy said the canal presented a danger to the health of people and the situation is getting worse and worse each year, and it was now nothing more than a "cesspool".

In a motion to Athlone Urban Council he continued: "The southern end is an eyesore and it is not fair to the people who live near it. It is a dumping ground for dead cats and dogs, and as far as I can see it is only a dog's home".

Mr F Waters seconded the motion, but said that if they filled it in they would have to extend the sewerage pipe discharging it right down to the mouth of the Shannon, a quarter of a mile distant, while Mr PJ Lenihan commented that they could fill in the canal by selective dumping over a period of ten years by using their own tip lorries.

"The town clerk then read correspondence between Mr Childers and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance in October 1957, in which it was stated that subject to an abandonment order in respect of the canal, the Bord of Works would be prepared to arrange a 99 year lease for the canal for a consideration of £300 plus a small nominal rent"

Mr Lenihan said the report about the canal in relation to public health was "not too bad" and he called for the council to take over the lease and do something about the issue, a decision agreed by the attendance.