The Coolidge examiner., 1937-01-14

II ME industrial and cultural
center of Northern Ireland is
i indisputably Belfast, so ap-
propriately nicknamed Lin
enopolis." "a very young city,
you are told by those English resi-
dents who reckon settlements age
in centuries instead of years. They
remind visitors that during the Mid
die ages Belfast was a minor castle
on the outskirts of important Car
rickfergus.
Situated near the head of a Tough,
or inlet, a dozen miles from the
sea, where little tributary joined
the River Lagan at ford, Belfast
derived its name from its position.
Bel or beal meant an entrance,
mouth, while fearsad was a sand
bank.
In those early days Belfast some
times was referred to by another
name, and a whopper it was, too
electromagnetic!
So shallow and tWisty was the
mouth of the River Lagan that even
the smallest craft could not reach
the town except at high water. New
erthelesS, it once was an important
military position for maneuvering
armies of the continually warning
factions.
Seeing Belfast now, it is difficult
to realize it was given as present
to Sir Arthur Chichester when he
was made governor of Carrickfer-
gus by Essex in 1904. Rightly
enough, he is considered the
founder of the city and today motor
cars speed over the creosote-block
surface of an important street bear
ing his name. Then the town could
boast but five muddy lanes and
about 500 inhabitants.
A quarter of a century later, Lord
Deputy Wentworth gave the trade
of the port its first major stimu-
lus when he purchased from the
corporation of Carrickfergus the
fright of importing certain COM
moditieS at one-third of the duties
payable at other places" During
the linen industry boom of the 178Os,
work was started on dredging a
winding, shallow channel through
three miles of mudbanks to the
Tough proper. The result was mag
ical.
Growth of Textile Industry.
In less than a generation the linen
export figures increased 800 per
cent! Also the manufa cture of cot
ton goods developed, and in 1900 it
was estimated 27,OOO people were
employed in that industry within a
ten-mile radius of Belfast.
Although shipbuilding had been
carried on in a small way since
early times, the completion of the
waterway project by the middle of
the century naturally stimulated
this industry, too. Belfast reached
its majority when it was created a
city in 1888 and today it boasts a
population comparable to that of
Kansas City, Missouri.
Stormont, where the resplendent
new Parliament building stands, is
about four miles from Belfast. On
your way there you cross one of the
four bridges which span the Lagan
and enter the section which is in
County Down; the main part of the
city is in County Antrim.
Rows and rows of workers
houses line the side streets. Made
of brick and all of one type, they
are only about twelve feet wide.
The door opens onto narrow
staircase, to the left of which is the
living room with a fireplace.
To see the different styles you
look down each cross street. Some
rows are perfectly plain, of yellow
brick; many are of red; some have
little porches. others simply pro-
truding entranceway. But all are
in groups, like quintuplets or oc-
tuplets; never one with a design all
its own.
These are for the greater part
the abodes of shipbuilders and rope
makers, for this is a city of indus
rial workers. Their homes spread
fanlike in all directions, encroa CHI
ing upon and, in many instances,
even completely engulfng the pre-
tentious mansions of captains of in
dustry. From Cave hill on the
northwestern outskirts of the city,
the panorama of roofs and CHM
neys, punctuated only by the mar
rowing arms of Belfast Tough with
its shipyards, unfold like the fan of
some giantess.
No Tenements or Slums.
In Belfast you see no tenements
or large buildings housing several
families. Each family has its in
dividual home. You see no 'slum"
sections, in the strict sense of the
word. In this respect the city is
Exceptional, considering its size
and preponderance of wageworkers.