Bill Manson is a retired educator and amateur historian. He is the author of four books on local heritage, Up and Down Locke Street South, Getting Around Hamilton: A History of Transportation in Hamilton, Footsteps in Time: Hamilton's first heritage neighbourhoods Beasley, Central, Corktown and Durand (Vol. 1) and Footsteps in Time: Hamilton's Historic Port and North-End Neighbourhood (Vol. 2).
Born, raised and educated in Hamilton, Bill lived much of his life on Locke Street South, and has spent much of his time observing a half-century of change in his hometown.
As an historian, Bill was intrigued by how well our Hamilton ancestors seem to have coped with change. To his bemusement, he found that, in many instances, they were better able to deal with the challenges of change than we do today. He came to realize how influenced we all are by Hamilton's geography, and how creatively our predecessors dealt with its challenges as the city developed into a major North American industrial and transportation centre.
