Unless you grew up in Niagara, and are over the age of 80, it is unlikely that you will remember the unique Pelham museum which operated at the top of Lookout Street on the western fringes of Fonthill in the 1950s. The Little Nature House, created by James A. and Gertrude Selby, celebrated natural history in its many forms, and focused on displays and programming aimed at children. At the time, it was the only nature museum in Niagara and drew tours from local schools, Scouts and Guides troops, and some of the other museums in the peninsula. The proprietors also sponsored a “conservation poster” art competition for a different local elementary school each year. a I’ve spoken with several older local residents who recall enjoyable visits, but are understandably a little fuzzy on the details.
The Little Nature House, which the Selbys established in 1948, was a dream they had nurtured long before purchasing their Pelham property from the Keeling family in 1944.b James Alvin Scarth Selby (1885-1966) was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and his wife Gertrude Lillian (Pettit) Selby (1889-1970) descended from one of the founding families of Winona, Ontario.c After marrying in 1916, they moved to New York City where Mr. Selby worked for the Bell system.
The museum was described as a small, brown-board, single story building. Inside were a cornucopia of nature exhibits including a collection of 36 bird nests; an extensive library; cloud, bird, and magnified insect photos; lists of native birds; elements of the Carolinian forest; cases containing butterflies, moths and beetles; and maps of bird migration paths. There were also exhibits donated by visiting children such as Charlie the toad and Herman the praying mantis. The concrete pad measuring 15 feet x 30 feet where the museum once stood still exists, set into a sloping hillside behind the Keeling / Selby house, which has been tastefully renovated and expanded by current owners Ed and Deni Thiessen. This property is adjacent to current Hole #1 of Lookout Point County Club.
The Selbys were celebrated birders and Mr. Selby was an international authority on the behaviour of hummingbirds. In 1952 James Selby was recognized with a full-page feature article by Hugh M. Halliday titled Ever Try Banding a Humming-bird?d The article describes how Mr. Selby attracted ruby-throated hummingbirds to his property by deploying bird feeders, a process which was so successful that at least 15 occupied nests were recorded on the property in 1951, possibly a fraction of those present. Mr. Selby used a unique banding technique which he applied to over 50 birds, captured using a trap he developed himself. Many of these banded birds were identified in subsequent years when they returned to the property from their winter round trip south to the tropics. The article estimated that Mr. Selby had been responsible for at least 33% of all hummingbird bandings in North America during this period.
James A. Selby in their Garden in 1952 (unfortunately, I’ve yet to locate a photo of Gertrude Selby, who was the driving force behind the Little Nature House)
Gertrude was also a keen birder and in 1948 was recognized by the Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology in Toronto for her discovery of a Ruddy Duck breeding pair in marshland about five miles from Welland.e The Selbys recorded 32 nesting species of birds on their three acre property and noted sightings of 135 species.f By contrast, I live less than a kilometre from where the museum was located, and have only been able to accumulate about 25 identifications on our property. Gertrude was also a founding member, and on the executive committee, of the Niagara Field Naturalists.g
I am always curious to learn why and how people come to relocate to Pelham, whether in the 18th, 19th, 20th or 21st centuries, so could not resist trying to decipher how the Selbys ended up on Lookout Street. It took some digging but I eventually determined that James Biggar and his sister Leila Biggar, who had purchased the old Beckett homestead at 2150 Sulphur Springs Road in 1939, were children of Gertrude Selby’s sister Harriet (Pettit) Biggar. One visit by the Selbys to their family in Effingham no doubt sold them on the magic of Pelham as a retirement retreat. Some of the preceding description of the museum was culled from an article written by 16 year old Martha Biggar and published in the 1949 edition of the Pelham Continuation School PNYX year book.h Martha was the grand niece of Gertrude Selby, living with her uncle and aunt on Sulphur Springs Road after the untimely death of her own parents.i
In 1927 James and Gertrude Selby had lost their only child, who only lived three weeks. It is tempting to speculate that this tragedy may have been a factor in their decision to create the Little Nature House as a retreat for children to learn more about the natural habitat of Niagara. It is not clear exactly when the nature museum closed, but it was likely in the late 1950s. The Selbys sold the lower (eastern) one acre of their property to Charles and Dorothy Rungeling in 1961,j and the remaining two acres were sold in 1970 after Gertrude passed. They may have only lived in Pelham for 25 years, but during that time they made a significant contribution to their adopted community. One of the reasons I have taken time to document the Selbys and their long-lost Pelham institution is an error I made in the chapter about the Lookout subdivisions in my book about Upper Fonthill. I accidentally referred to James A. Selby as Ralph A. Selby, a slip which I have hopefully now rectified.
a 1950 Fonthill Public School; 1951 Pelham Public School winners – Gerald Haist, Carman Cook (Welland Tribune, May 26, 1951); 1953 Hansler School winners – John Eybel, Sheron Cook, Evan Saylor, Brenda Beckett (Welland Tribune, May 29, 1953)
b Pelham Instrument 15082, dated Sept. 1, 1944, registered July 9, 1945
c Genealogical details from Ancestry birth and marriage certificates and newspaper obituary reports
d Toronto Star Weekly (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Sat, Feb 9, 1952, Page 6
e Welland-Port Colborne Evening Tribune (Welland, Ontario, Canada), Mon, Apr 26, 1948, Page 5
f Toronto Weekly Star, Sat, Feb 9, 1952
g The Standard (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada), Sat, May 8, 1954, Page 2
h Sourced from the PNYX digital collection of the Ontario Genealogical Society, Niagara Peninsula Branch
i Genealogical details deduced from a wide variety of online BMD and newspaper accounts.
j Pelham Instrument 63232A, dated Sept. 12, 1961, registered Nov. 15, 1961