What’s a community newspaper without advertising? We couldn’t let our regular look back at the news of the week in New Westminster history go by without taking a look at some of the newspaper advertising that went along with it.
On this week in 1913 — in the March 21 edition of the New Westminster News, to be precise — automotive advertising took up some serious real estate in the paper’s pages.
When it came to the latest in automobiles, New Westminster residents were evidently spoiled for choice.
In just the one edition, we find at least three competing car sales establishments vying for residents’ business.
At the MacLean-Burr Auto Co., at 610 Royal Ave., folks could obtain a variety of Studebaker offerings — from a four-cylinder, five-passenger option at $1,175, to a larger four-cylinder offering at $1,650, to the six-cylinder offering up to 45 horsepower for $1,950.
T.J. Trapp & Co., meanwhile, served as agents for the Canadian car manufacturer McLaughlin (later taken over by General Motors) — the discerning New Westminster automobile shopper could find the McLaughlin 25, a “splendid car in every respect,” for $1,450.
The well-heeled New Westminsterite could also check out Westminster Garage, at the corner of Carnarvon and Sixth streets. The garage served as agents for Cole, the Indiana-based luxury car manufacturer. Its models ran for $2,400, $2,800 and a whopping $3,500, for those with some money to spend.
But what exactly did those prices mean to a New Westminsterite of the time?
As a rough calculation, we turned to Statistics Canada’s archived Canadian Year Book for 1913 to see just what things cost and how much folks made then. It shows a typical family of five with an annual income of $800 spending about $13.80 per week on necessities: $7.70 for food, $4.08 for rent, and $2.02 for fuel and lighting.
With those numbers as a backdrop, those cars were indeed some big-ticket items for New Westminster residents, 110 years ago this week.
New Westminster is a city full of history — and that history includes a variety of community newspapers over its many decades.
In this new weekly series, we're taking a look back at the headlines from some of those newspapers, shining a spotlight each week on a notable news story, person or moment from this week in New West history.
Watch for it online every Thursday.
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Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
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