So while doing a bit of reading online, searching for great things about where I am from, I came across this lovely jewel of information. I grew up in this area, this melting pot of talent and fascinating characters that walked the streets while I lived there as a child. But these facts, are a bit before my time....
BELMONT TIT-BITS....a bit of history.........
> The first President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago was born on Myler
> St. Belmont.
>
> Belmont was the first suburb of Port of Spain.
>
> The first six cents pirate taxi to grace the streets of Port of Spain in the
> mid forties was from Belmont.
>
> Belmont has more Churches, more schools and certainly more lanes than any
> other community in Trinidad and Tobago. On one street alone are three large
> modern schools, Providence Girls, Belmont Junior Secondary and Belmont
> Primary within a hundred yards of each other, and two Prep schools almost
> opposite each other. Then there is Belmont Boys RC and Belmont Intermediate
>
>
> Myler St., legend says, was named after the legendary stick fighter, MEYLER
> the invincible.
>
> Belmont Hill where the Hilton now stands was the site of the first
> Government House uptown. The 41 acres originally belonged to Spanish
> settlers and in 1785 was the subject of a lawsuit. When the matter was
> finally resolved, the Government bought the hill for $1,920.00
>
> Belmont was formerly a sugar estate and the city’s first suburb inhabited by
> freed blacks. There is no evidence of any form of town planning in its
> layout , as the streets were laid out after the area was settled. Once
> known as Freetown.
>
 |
| Belmont, with Queens Park Savannah to the left |
> Lady Young Road : Named after the wife of Mayor Sir J. W. Young Governor
> of Trinidad from 1937 to 1942. During his term of office, sweeping changes
> were made in the labour movement as a result of the 1937 Riots.
>
> Oxford Street: In about 1810, the British were busy renaming the streets of
> the City, and Oxford was to remind us of that pleasant University town in
> England.
>
> Belmont landmarks include the L’Hospice, built for the aged in 1858 by an
> Italian bishop following a cholera outbreak, and the Belmont orphanage, now
> well over 100 years old.
>
> Belmont Folklore includes the story of the Belmont Jackass which had gold
> teeth and walked around Belle Eau Road at night, and there was also the silk
> cotton tree at the corner of Belmont Circular and Queen’s Park East under
> which soucouyant limed at night.
>
> In 1941 Governor Young tried to beautify the Belmont Hill by landscaping and
> expressed the hope that the hill would bloom with every flowering tree that
> is native to Trinidad.
>
> Observatory Street: Named after the sugar estate Observatory which bordered
> the town. The estate itself deriving its name from the fact that it was
> cited on the hill overlooking the Town. The Spaniards had called it de San
> Antonio, with their penchant for the Saints.
>
> Queens’ Park Savannah: This was formerly Paradise Sugar Estate. Purchased
> by the Cabildo in 1817 and renamed Queen’s park. The Peschier family who
> owned the estate reserved their burial rights and this has been preserved to
> this day.
>
> Gloster lodge: The home of Henry Gloster who maintained an estate there.
> In 1826 he laid the foundation stone of the Hanover Weslyan Church.
>
> Jerningham Avenue: Named after Sir H.E. H. Jerningham, Governor of Trinidad
> from 1897-1900. On January 1st. 1899 Tobago was united with Trinidad as a
> single colony and he became the joint colony's first Governor.
>
> The late Sir Alan Reece, 'Mr. Public Service' was born in Belmont In 1906
> and served in Public Service for 57 years.
>
>
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