fitted for one-man operation, as well as 33 buses were in operation when it was written. The article went on to say that the Hamilton Street Railway had 27.97 route miles of electric railway. 1940 – Harry Crerar was a Canadian general and became the country's "leading field commander" in World War II. 1940 – John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport; The airport was originally built in 1940 as the Mount Hope Airport, a Royal Canadian Air Force base. After the war, the airport gradually shifted towards civil use, The military ceased using it as a base in 1964. 1941 – The Royal Botanical Gardens was established as an independent entity in 1941 by an act of the provincial government, but the project's origins are traceable to the late 1920s when the City of Hamilton began acquiring land for the beautification of the city's northwest entrance. 1943 – Jackie Callura, was a Canadian featherweight boxer and became the world featherweight champion by defeating Jackie Wilson in 1943. 1944 – Civic bathing beach was closed by the Department of Health. 1944 – On 23 April 1944, Rocco Perri was seen for the last time in Hamilton, Ontario. Although his body has never been found, there is speculation that he was murdered, possibly by being put in a barrel filled with cement and dumped into Burlington Bay. As one Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer concluded in a 1954 interview, "We won't find his body until the Bay dries up." 1944 – An earthquake damaged St. Paul's Church spire. (5 September 1944). 1944 – Sam Lawrence Park can be found on the western end of Concession Street. Prior to 1944, this property was the Webb Quarry. In February 1944, The City of Hamilton was given of land for park use by Thomas Hambly Ross, MP (Hamilton East), and his wife Olive. The park was originally named Ross Park, then renamed Patton Park in 1946, in honour of captain John MacMillan Stevenson Patton, a Hamiltonian who risked his life during World War II by detonating an unexploded bomb. For this exploit he received the first George Cross for valour. In 1960, the park was renamed to honour Sam Lawrence. During 1990 to 1994, Sam Lawrence Park underwent a major upgrading that included repairing the stone walls, installing new walkways, site lighting, site furniture, and the redevelopment of the major rock gardens. 1945 – Win