**Read below for how to access Stage 1**
Historic Hamilton will be a series of caches that serve to bring cachers to historic places in and around the City of Hamilton. These caches can be placed by anyone, and are not limited to one owner. If you know of a historic place in the City of Hamilton to which you would like to bring people, feel free to add it to the series!
The cache is a bison tube that has only a logbook. Please bring your own writing instrument to sign the logbook, and replace as found. Parking can be found roadside nearby, but please obey all parking signs.
Stage 1
To access Stage 1, you must enter the building at 350 King Street East, called First Place. You will enter right below where it says "Place" and will proceed through two sliding glass doors, and will look to your left to see a very out of place grave marker in the foyer of this highrise. The below description is from BQ's waymark at this location:
The story goes that there was a church at this site in the 1800-1900's that burned down. This new building was built on the same site and this headstone was saved.
People pass by every day, probably assuming it is just a plaque which is what one person that works there told me too, but reading it reveals the true nature of the stone.
Stop by and see the 'final resting place' of Richard Springer.
To calculate the final:
North: On the headstone of Richard Springer, it said he died at ___ Years, ___ months, and ___ days. Take the number of months that he died at, and divide this number by 500. Then subtract the answer from the posted North coordinates.
West: There is a plaque called "The Place Of Firsts". In 1914, a Methodist cathedral was built here. It was ___ feet high, and ___ feet in diameter. What was the difference in feet between the height and width? Take this number and divide it by 500. Next, multiple this number by 9 and subtract the result from the posted West coordinates.
The final is within walking distance of the posted coordinates.
Additional Information About Richard Springer
The following information was found on https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172066721/richard-springer as submitted by Marilyn Hardsand.
Richard Springer was a Private in Butler’s Rangers, and was my 5th Great Grandfather!
He was born in September 1757, in Albany, New York, to a Methodist minister. After his father David was shot by revolutionary troops at Poughkeepsie NY (on his way to join Loyalist forces), his mother walked with her younger children to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Eldest son Richard served with Butler’s Rangers and married Sarah Boyce on November 20, 1786, also the child of a Loyalist. Richard and Sarah had two sons and seven daughters.
Richard first settled in Niagara as a disbanded Ranger at Four Mile Creek on the Niagara River and moved to the Head of the Lake, now known as Hamilton, after hearing that superior land was available and built a log cabin at the corner of Hunter and Spring Streets. His farm consisted of 100 acres bordered by Wellington, Catharine and King Streets and the base of the mountain.
He was a very religious man who built an altar in his home. In 1798, he began inviting neighbours to weekly Methodist prayer meetings in his kitchen – his home thus becoming the first regular place of worship in Barton Township, and attracting other denominations as well.
As more people started to attend, the services moved to the barn. Sermons were preached by Richard himself or by visiting circuit ministers.
In 1810, the congregation moved to a schoolhouse on the site of First United Church. The official church building was completed in 1824, built at a cost of $1,700.00, plus 5 pounds for the purchase of the land from Robert Land.
When Richard died in 1829 he was buried in the churchyard adjoining his beloved church. When this church was enlarged the tombstone was put in the church wall, where it stands today.
Congratulations to Mississauga Misfits on the FTF!