Beckwith Street was a popular subject of photos and postcards from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. These images captured the fine architectural stone and brick facades that originally characterised the street. Beckwith Street's generous width of roughly 99 feet/30 metres was and is another of its most distinguishing features and was often highlighted in photos through angle and perspective. The vibrant street front businesses consisting of general stores, groceries, hotels, banks, opera house, and theatre attracted pedestrians as well as area residents and travellers in their horse drawn buggies and later cars.

Historian Glenn Lockwood described a pivotal moment in Beckwith Street's past, writing that "Automobiles were becoming so numerous that in August 1924, just to show that Smith's Falls was keeping up with the latest advances, Beckwith street was paved from the stone bridge at Wood's mill to Russell street. Handsome iron light fixtures were installed along the length of Beckwith street on low wooden poles so as not to stand out above the roofline of the business blocks. The pavement was a source of wonder to the farmers driving into town, and there was no end to the driving up and down the paved stretch as they marveled at the smooth ride that contrasted with the jouncing on roads in the surrounding countryside. To show off the width of the street, cars were parked at a 45 degree angle in the centre (1994, p.382)."

Lockwood also noted that "The spires of Saint Andrew's Presbyterian church and the Baptist church crowning the brow of Beckwith street reveal a town in which the visual relation of buildings to one another once mattered. The equal height and similar design of the two spires on the churches, like the alternating tones of brick and stone in the commercial facades leading up to them, created a sense of a uniform vista. They were evidence of a proprietorial pride in the appearance of the front street of the town as a valued possession of all inhabitants (1994, p.229)."

During the late twentieth century, major fires and unsympathetic redevelopment led to the loss of a number of architectural gems along Beckwith Street. As of 2021 Beckwith Street is in the midst of an extensive two phase revitalization project.

For additional information about the history of Beckwith Street see Glenn J. Lockwood's "Smiths Falls: A Social History of the Men and Women in a Rideau Canal Community 1794-1994." Smiths Falls: Corporation of the Town of Smiths Falls, 1994.

Please help us add to Beckwith Street Scenes by submitting images from your own collection. Smiths Falls Digital Archives also welcomes your photo uploads that relate to Montague Township and Smiths Falls.