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Town House Extension Foundation Stone
2757 The foundation stone of the Aberdeen Town House extension on Broad Street.
As stated on the stone, it was laid by Lord Provost Robert S. Lennox on 17th November 1975.
The city architects responsible for the extension were I. A. Ferguson and T. C. Watson. It was built by Taylor Woodrow Construction (Scotland) Ltd.
The stone also makes reference to a casket buried five metres below the foundations to commemorate the dissolution of the Corporation of the City of Aberdeen as part of local government reform.
The casket ceremony was held on 15th May 1975 shortly after the last meeting of the Aberdeen Town Council which was being replaced by the City of Aberdeen District Council.
The casket ceremony was the final act of John Smith as lord provost. The official switch over of councils was marked by the "Bon-Accord" bell of the West Church of St Nicholas tolling from 11:50pm to midnight on 15th May. Earlier in the day saw a fireworks display at the Queens Links, pipe bands and a special lunch and church service for members and officials of the corporation. See local newspaper coverage from the time for more details on the occasion.
Around 80 people, including councillors, family and Taylor Woodrow employees watched Lord Provost John Smith place 29 items of interest into the copper clad box. Smith joked, "About the year 3048, an unsuspecting archaeological digger may come upon this box and he will no doubt remark on my genius."
Among the buried items were copies of the Press & Journal and the Evening Express, local books, records and cassettes of Scottish music, local government data, sets of coins of the realm and postage stamps, local stones, a phial of North Sea oil and plans for the Town House extension.
The casket was placed on a crane hook by Aberdeen Town House project manager Tom Nisbet and guided into the ground by foreman Andrew Benzies.
The ceremony was reported in local newspapers and the July 1975 issue of the construction company's magazine, Taywood News. Treasure 15: Tramways routes
185 This plan of the tramway routes in Aberdeen was produced about 1914 and shows the route colours which were displayed as coloured bands on the top-deck of the Corporation tramcars. There were nine routes which covered most of the city as it existed at this time.
Trams were first introduced to Aberdeen in the 1870s when a group of local businessmen successfully obtained Parliamentary sanction under the Aberdeen District Tramways Act 1872 to set up the Aberdeen District Tramways Company. By 1874, they had constructed their first two lines - one running from Queen's Cross, via Albyn Place and Union Street, to the North Church (now Aberdeen Arts Centre), King Street and the second from St Nicholas Street and George Street to Kittybrewster.
Their horse-drawn trams were opened to the public in September 1874 with two cars which could each carry 20 inside passengers and 4 cars for 20 inside and 20 outside passengers. A fare of 3d was charged for the full route. In their first year they carried 1.1 million passengers.
Over the years additional routes were constructed to Woodside, Mannofield, Bridge of Dee, and Bridge of Don.
By the late 1890s, consideration was being given to the introduction of electric traction in place of horse haulage. After lengthy discussions, the decision was made to sell the company to Aberdeen Corporation and the transfer was completed in August 1898. By 1902 all the tracks had been converted to electric traction and new routes to Torry and Ferryhill were opened in 1903.
Motor buses had first appeared in 1920 and a service from Castle Street to Footdee opened in January 1921.
By the 1930s the expansion of the city was creating problems for the tramway system. It was far too expensive to build new track while maintaining the existing routes. The non-profitable Torry and Ferryhill services closed in 1931. The ongoing housing developments in the 1950s forced the Town Council to take the decision in January 1955 that the tramway system would close by 1959. Over the next few years individual routes ceased until the last trams ran in May 1958. Most of the remaining cars were burnt at the Links and the metal was sold for scrap.
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