How did Dundee look 60 years ago?
We’ve rewound the clock and opened DC Thomson’s archive to venture back to 1964.
The Fifies were still in daily use transporting Dundonians across the Tay.
The Tay Road Bridge was under construction with a target date of June 1966.
Much of Dundee’s historic city centre vanished, including the Empress Ballroom where many young couples went dancing and shared their first kiss.
The Beatles and the Rolling Stones performed in Dundee in 1964.
Scotland defeated England thanks to a goal by Dundee’s Alan Gilzean.
Grab yourself a cuppa and enjoy having another browse back through the ages courtesy of The Dundonian, which appears in the Evening Telegraph every Wednesday.
Some of these photographs have not been seen for years.
Piggy back skills at Tannadice
Dundee United players have fun during pre-season training in July 1964.
Jerry Kerr was in charge and United would finish the season in ninth place in the First Division and reached the semi-final of the League Cup.
I am sailing, I am sailing…
Parents wave to their children as the Devonia leaves King George Wharf.
British India’s educational cruise ship was a yearly visitor to the port of Dundee and every school was allocated a set number of places.
Tay Road Bridge construction
Work cost around £6 million and it was built with 140,000 tons of concrete, 4,600 tons of mild steel and 8,150 tons of structural steel.
Sadly, contractor Willie Logan never saw his bridge completed in 1966.
Broughty Ferry beach
Broughty Ferry was a popular visitor attraction in July 1964.
People flocked to the beach for donkey rides during the summer, before most “bucket and spade” breaks were taken in European destinations.
Dundee Law in 1964
A TV mast was erected at the top of Dundee Law in 1964.
In later years the mast was used to transmit the local commercial station Wave 102.
Pre-season training at Dens Park
Dundee players being put through their paces in July 1964 at Dens Park.
It was a season of upheaval with league-winning manager Bob Shankly and top goalscorer Alan Gilzean departing during the campaign.
Claypotts Road
A view of the entrance to Ballinard House on Claypotts Road in July 1964.
The main hotel building was a former large mansion house and it was demolished for a housing development that was approved in 2002.
Peddie Street
The Paterson hair salon on the corner of Peddie Street and Abbotsford Place.
Little has changed in the architecture of the street over the decades.
Gussie Park
A school pupil walking through Gussie Park.
The old-fashioned travelling circuses used to pitch up during the summer and Horne’s Waltzers and dodgems were regular visitors to the park.
Treading the boards
Founded in 1964, the Thomson-Leng Musical Society was established for employees of DC Thomson & Co to let its workers have fun staging musical productions.
Their first show, Oklahoma, was staged at the Neil Leitch Memorial Hall YMCA on Constitution Road in November 1964.
Lighting the lamp
Ralph Coutts from the Harbour Board was a lamplighter in 1964 and he is pictured along the waterfront to Broughty Ferry.
The lamplighter was the man who went round the streets to light the street lamps.
On the buses
A picture of the interior of one of the new Dundee Transport Corporation buses.
The 1960s were certainly the glory days of bus travel in Dundee with over 1,000 staff and 240 buses following the building of new housing schemes.
Downfield railway line
A section of the Downfield railway line in November 1964.
Baldovan railway station, later renamed Baldovan and Downfield, served the northern suburbs of Dundee including Downfield.
The platforms extended behind the old Downfield Tavern.
It’s the final image of our pictorial trip down memory lane.
Did these awaken any memories for you?
Let us know.
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