1906 - Turkey at Christmas

It was a significant change in what Hamiltonians bought at the downtown market a few days before Christmas.

          Since the Hamilton market had started 99 years previously, the market square on the last market day before December 25 would be very, very crowded.

          It was the traditional place for city dwellers to meet farmers from around the city, a place where the vegetables, eggs, fruit and meat was available.

          For most of the history of the Hamilton market in the 19^th century, the meat sold by the butchers on the market would include some chicken, some duck, some pork, some veal but as Christmas approached, it was either beef or goose that attracted the most sales.

          After the turn of the century, the Christmas meat of preference was beginning to be dominated by of turkey.

          By 1906, the ascendance of turkey for Christmas dinners in Hamilton was indicated in a feature article in the Hamilton Spectator on December 22, 1906.

          The article was headlined, “Hail to the King of Christmas Mart : His Royal Highness, the Turkey Gobbler, Reigned Supreme for the Day.”

          The article described vividly how the last market day before Christmas, 1906 began:

          “Some time last night or about daylight this morning, three wagons trailed down the road from to the city. They looked like gypsy wagons with big canvas hoods, and the horses pulled heavily, as if it were an unusually large family of gypsies.

          “But in these wagons were turkeys, geese and ducks in such array that one would wonder at their destination. The three evidently belonged to one man, although on the roads approaching to the city were dozens of other wagons similarly loaded.

          “Their destination was for the big market day – the Christmas market.”

          The article went on to detail the prices for the various meats available on the market that day, prices that fluctuated reflecting demand. At the start of day, prices for all meats were comparable, but as the day went on things changed. The price of turkeys rose substantially as the supplies of turkeys left for sale decreased, while prices for other types of meat lowered as sales were slow for the beef, duck, veal, pork and chicken.

          At the end of the market day, the Spectator reporter concluded in no uncertain terms, that it was the turkey which was the favored selection for Hamilton Christmas dinners in 1906.