Harvest of Memories

Elgin’s History Through a Photographer’s Lens - Volume II

Harvest of Memories Elgin's History Through a Photographer's Lens VOLUME II

Edited by Ken Verrell and Mike Baker with the Members of the Elgin Photographic Heritage Society Published by the Elgin County Library, St. Thomas, Ontario, 2010

Harvest of Memories Elgin’s History Through a Photographer’s Lens Volume 2 Published by Elgin County Library, 450 Sunset Drive, St. Thomas, Ontario N5R 5V1 Canada Printed in Canada by Friesens, Altona, Manitoba Front End Papers: Elgin County Historical Atlas, 1877 Back End Papers: Elgin County Road Map, 1923 Cover Photograph: Denniss farm, Quaker Road near Fruit Ridge Line, c. 1946 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise (except for brief passages for review purposes) without permission from the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Elgin’s history through a photographer’s lens.

Photographs in v. 1 are drawn from the Scott-Sefton Collection.

Photographs in v. 2 are drawn from the Elgin County Archives.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: v. 1. The Scott-Sefton Collection / edited by Ken Verrell and the members of the Elgin Photographic Heritage Society -- v. 2. Harvest of memories / edited by Mike Baker and Ken Verrell with the members of the Elgin Photographic Heritage Society.

ISBN 0-920339-14-X (v. 1 : bound).--ISBN 0-920339-15-8 (v. 1 : pbk.).-ISBN 978-0-920339-27-5 (v. 2 : bound) 1. Elgin (Ont. : County)--History--Pictorial works. 2. Farm life--Ontario--Elgin (County)--History--Pictorial works. 3. Sefton family--Photograph collections.

4. Elgin County Library--Photograph collections. 5. Elgin County Archives-Photograph collections. I. Verrell, Ken II. Baker, Mike, 1959- III. Elgin County Library IV. Scott-Sefton Collection V. Elgin Photographic Heritage Society VI. Elgin County Archives FC3095.E44E44 2001

971.3’340222

C2001-903313-3

Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................................ X Chapter 1 Past International Plowing Matches in Elgin County...............................1 Chapter 2 West Elgin............................................................................................................ 22 Chapter 3 Dutton-Dunwich.................................................................................................50 Chapter 4 Southwold............................................................................................................. 78 Chapter 5 Central Elgin......................................................................................................106 Chapter 6 St. Thomas.......................................................................................................... 134 Chapter 7 Malahide.............................................................................................................. 162 Chapter 8 Aylmer.................................................................................................................190 Chapter 9 Bayham................................................................................................................ 218 Index..........................................................................................................................................246

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Memories • III • Elgin County

A Note of Thanks from the Editor-in-Chief

2010 marks the eighth year of operation for the Elgin County Archives and the passing of almost 10 years since the publication of the first volume of Elgin’s History Through a Photographer’s Lens. That book was based on the large Scott-Sefton photographic collection, the existence of which was a major impetus in the founding of the Archives in the lower level of the Elgin County Administration Building in 2002.

The Archives’ holdings, since then, have grown considerably and it now seems appropriate to publish a second volume in the series to showcase the extent of these acquisitions. It would also be an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contribution the farming community has made over the years to the development of Elgin County particularly since this year we will host the International Plowing Match for the fourth time. Finally, the book serves to illustrate for residents and visitors, the lively and entertaining history that can be found in each of our municipalities.

I would like to extend my thanks to the large number of people who have made important contributions to this book either as volunteer members of the Book Committee, as staff at the county museum and the archives, as technical support, or as researchers, writers and editors.

I would also like to thank Dowler-Karn for their financial support of the project.

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The project has been under the overall direction of Brian Masschaele, former Elgin County Archivist, now Director of Community and Cultural Services, and County Museum Curator Mike Baker. Archives Manager Stephen Francom and Archives Assistant Gina Coady compiled the initial selections which were reduced by the Book Committee to less than 30 images for each municipality. All of the selections were scanned and prepared for publication by Jan Row. The book was designed by Jozef VanVeenen and printed by Friesens, all of which was coordinated by Orland French. Rob Turner completed a highly detailed map for each of the municipalities.

We have had the assistance of some of the most knowledgeable ElginSt. Thomas historians and researchers both on our committee and as contributors. Don Cosens and former Warden Paul Baldwin both contributed a number of captions for St. Thomas and Aylmer respectively.

All of our captions were reviewed by Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Steve Peters and edited by Anita McCallum. Other material and captions were supplied by the committee members and by Elgin County Museum Assistant Jenn Nelson.

Finally, we would not have been able to produce this book without the initial support and encouragement of Elgin County Council. Council’s ongoing support for the Archives and the Museum has allowed significant collections to be acquired and preserved. We are now pleased to be able to share those collections with the public through this publication.

Editor-in-Chief Ken Verrell

Memories • IV • Elgin County

Book Committee

Book Committee Left to Right, standing: Wayne Mifflin, Stephen Francom, Ken Verrell, K.C. Emerson, Harley Lashbrook, Mike Baker, Brian Masschaele.

Left to Right, sitting: Marlene Colledge, Jennifer Nelson, Mable O’Connor, Mary Ann Neely, Jeanette Walters, Gina Coady, Jan Row.

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Memories • V • Elgin County

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Memories • VI • Elgin County

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Memories • VII • Elgin County

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Memories • VIII • Elgin County

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Memories • IX • Elgin County

Introduction

The return of the International Plowing Match to Elgin County for the fourth time in 70 years is an opportunity to reflect on the County’s early history. Even as late as 1940, when the IPM first came to the County, the urban-rural divide was not so lop-sided, the pace of life was comparatively slower, and the livelihood of a majority of its residents still came from the farm. It’s this era which the images in this volume evoke; images that capture everyday life in both the present-day municipalities that make up the County of Elgin and the City of St. Thomas.

Nineteenth and early twentieth century life in Elgin County was largely tied to the land and the lake from which came logs to be milled, crops to be harvested, and fish to be shipped. Much of the growth and prosperity of both city and county came from the region’s central location on the tracks of three major U.S. railways.

Livestock, fish and crops from the county were shipped all over the world in cans from Aylmer, apple barrels from Malahide and boxes from fishing villages like Port Glasgow. In the city, these railways were responsible for, by 1905, three division shops, employing hundreds of men and giving rise to many related factories such as Canron and Timken.

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While the trains have stopped running and as industry in the region strives to find its place in the global economy, it is agriculture that remains the region’s traditional strength. Images of today’s elevators, stock yards, fields of crops, and extensive roadside produce stands may one day fill another volume of this series perhaps when the IPM next comes to Elgin County.

The photographs in this volume are drawn from the holdings of the Elgin County Archives which include a number of Tweedsmuir books complied by local branches of the Women’s Institute (WI) beginning in the 1940s. Without the dedicated collecting of data and images over the years by the WI branches, little would be known about the evolution of rural Ontario at the local level during the twentieth century. Photographs from the Moore Post Card Collection, the Ellis Collection, the Times-Journal Collection and the Chalk Collection have also been used, among others.

Readers will find a map at the beginning of each chapter showing the locations of towns and villages past and present. The maps of Aylmer and St. Thomas show the location of each of the views that are reproduced in those chapters. Roads, both on the maps and in the captions, are identified using present-day names.

Memories • X • Elgin County

Chapter One Past International Plowing Matches in

Elgin Count y Elgie, mascot of the 1985 IPM

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Memories • 1 • Elgin County

The eight-horse hitch of heavy horses owned by Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn leads the opening parade at the 1940 IPM Sitting in the wagon are Jack Sanders, Bill Tapsell and Jim McKinley. The match was held on the grounds of the St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital, then in use as an RCAF training facility, and the surrounding farms.

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Memories • 2 • Elgin County

Entrance to the Elgin County tent, 1940 IPM On either side of the entrance are the original names of the seven townships that made up Elgin County when it was created in 1852.

Several of the names disappeared following restructuring in 1998.

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Memories • 3 • Elgin County

Peter Burwell of Eden with his oxen Jiggs and Wimpy, 1940 IPM

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Memories • 4 • Elgin County

1960 IPM Organizing Committee Sitting, left to right: Elgin County Warden Harvey Liddle, Ken Bowden, Albert Auckland, Les Armstrong, Vice-Chairman; Frank Pineo, Chairman; Cyril Williams, Archie Irvine, Philip Schleihauf, Vic Langton, Secretary-Treasurer.

Standing, left to right: Kenneth Wright, J. D. Thomson, Sherman Fish, John B. Wilson, Bob Stewart, James Galbraith, Assistant Treasurer; Fred Charlton, Reg Clinton, Mac McWhinnie, John Coulter, Farnell Nimmo, Claybourne Gordon, Angus Campbell, Walter Auckland, Roy Jewell.

Absent: Giles Hume, Ronald Bradt, Leon Bodkin, Mrs. J. R. Futcher.

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Memories • 5 • Elgin County

Lynda Prong crowned Queen of the Furrow, 1960 IPM In the first Queen of the Furrow competition ever held, Mrs. Lynda Prong, representing Elgin County, was declared the winner at the 1960 IPM.

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Memories • 6 • Elgin County

Donna Denniss on Babe, left, and Grace Frederick on Comanche, ride through Tented City, 1960 IPM

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Memories • 7 • Elgin County

Crowds watch the CBC Stage at the 1960 IPM Below to the right in the sweater, is Tommy Hunter who appeared on stage October 13, 1960.

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Memories • 8 • Elgin County

Tented City, 1960 IPM, hosted by Thomas Hume and Sons farm and neighbouring farms

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Memories • 9 • Elgin County

Thomas Hume and Sons farm, near Springfield, site of the 1960 IPM The Hume house and barns are on what is now Ron McNeil Line at the back, right corner of tented city.

The plowing competition appears in the foreground.

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Memories • 10 • Elgin County

1960 IPM site, looking north

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Memories • 11 • Elgin County

Plowing competition, 1960 IPM

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Memories • 12 • Elgin County

Bill Martyn and his daughter, Megan, plowing, 1983 Elgin County Plowing Match Bill was a member of the 1985 bid committee and the 1985 IPM executive. He was the Ontario Plowmen’s Association (OPA) Director for Elgin County and was OPA President in 1989. First elected in 1978 to Yarmouth Township Council (now Central Elgin), he was Warden in 1988.

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Memories • 13 • Elgin County

Aerial view of the Tented City at the 1985 IPM, hosted by William F. Bradish and Sons and neighbouring farms near Talbotville Shorelea Line runs along the edge of Tented City on the right. Wonderland Road runs across the top of the photograph.

At left, is the first on-site trailer park ever set up at an IPM.

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Memories • 14 • Elgin County

1985 IPM site, looking east from Wonderland Road

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Memories • 15 • Elgin County

1985 IPM Bid Committee Front row, kneeling, from left: Bill Martyn, Leslie Armstrong, Keith Bawden, Elgin Plowmen’s Association (EPA); Lester Longhurst, Elgin County Warden.

Middle row: Don Hitch, St. Thomas Mayor; Ronald McNeil, MPP, Elgin; Shirley Bechard, Elgin Women’s Institute; Bill Caverly, committee chairman and Malahide Reeve; Mary Withenshaw, Elgin IODE; Ken Bawden, EPA director; and Reg Clinton, EPA. Back row: Ralph Millman, EPA; Jim McGuigan, MPP, Kent-Elgin; Bob Moore, Elgin County Engineer; Elgin Wells, EPA secretary; John Anderson, Elgin County associate agricultural representative; and Morris Taylor, EPA.

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Memories • 16 • Elgin County

1985 IPM Organizing Committee Front row, Executive, left to right: Bill Caverly, Bill Martyn, Lorne Carroll, Tom and Helen Bradish, Chair Ken Monteith, Dave Murray, Merv Riddell, Marian Millman, Elgin Wells.

Second row, left to right: Doreen Wilson, Larry Shaw, Cheri Ferguson, Joe Mennill, Lynda Cummings, Bud Marr, Audrey Jenkins, Norma Smith, Harold Jenkins, Madeline McLaughlin.

Third row, left to right: Ken Smith, Mike Ferguson, Lynda Prong, Ronson Sandham, Bernice Sinden, Dave Bechard, Pat Clinton, Pauline Lindsay, Jerry Rietveld, Catherine Bogart, Lloyd Smith.

Fourth row, left to right: Doug Lyons, Ron Green, Ken Wilson, George Leverton, Richard Haddow, Elaine Long, Shirley Bechard, Joe Bechard, Bill Turvey, Ruby Silcox, Ken Somerville.

Fifth row, left to right: Ralph Millman, John Lyle, Don Williams, Bob Moore.

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Memories • 17 • Elgin County

Lord Elgin opens the 1985 IPM Front row, left to right: Tom Bradish, Host Farmer; Ken Monteith, Chair, 1985 IPM Committee; John Wise, MP for Elgin and Minister of Agriculture; Bill Parney, Ontario Plowmen’s Association (OPA) President; Lord Elgin, Premier David Peterson, Jack Riddell, Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food; Bob McMahon, OPA Manager; Carolyn Lindsay, Elgin Queen of the Furrow.

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Memories • 18 • Elgin County

Opening day, 1985 IPM Left to right: Tom Bradish, spokesman for the Bradish Family, Lord Elgin, Lady Elgin and Helen Bradish.

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Memories • 19 • Elgin County

Elgin County Queen of the Furrow, Cindy Lysko, with the “Elgies,” Ken Monteith and Helen Bradish, 1987 Reunion Dance at St. Anne’s Centre, St. Thomas Elgie was the symbol and mascot of the 1985 International Plowing Match. The costume was used to promote the event around the province and took Gwen Barendregt, the maker, a month to complete.

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Memories • 20 • Elgin County

William Bradish plows with oxen Bright and Lion, owned by Mac Watson of St. Thomas, at the 1985 IPM Media Day near Talbotville

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Memories • 21 • Elgin County

WestElgin Chapter Two

Furnival Road, Rodney, c. 1900

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Memories • 22 • Elgin County

Chapter Two

West Elgin

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Memories • 23 • Elgin County

Premier Hepburn opens a newly paved stretch of today’s Road 103, then known as Highway 77 from New Glasgow to Rodney, August 11, 1937 Ontario Premier and Elgin County MPP Mitch Hepburn opened three short highways on this day in 1937; running from what is now the Talbot Line to the communities of Rodney (Highway 77), West Lorne (Highway 76), and Dutton (Highway 75). In this picture, Hepburn (with his back to the camera) has just cut the ribbon. The men standing on either side of the flowers are Bob Kerr (left) and Reeve Ernest Lashbrook. The boy in the cloth cap in front of the stop sign is Keith Kelly. Hepburn was Premier from 1934 to 1942.

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Memories • 24 • Elgin County

Rodney from the air, looking northeast, 1956 The Canada Wood Products Company buildings are in the bottom of the photograph along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway tracks. The tracks to the north belong to the New York Central Railway. The passenger stations for the two lines are to the right of Furnival Road which runs north from the lower right corner. The fair grounds are at the top including the agricultural hall which was later lost in a fire.

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Memories • 25 • Elgin County

East side of Furnival Road, looking south, Rodney, July 1st parade, c. 1915 Sam Morrison, a building mover and general contractor, walks on a pair of stilts that can still be seen today in a barbershop in Wardsville. Mistele Brothers dry goods is the first store on the left.

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Memories • 26 • Elgin County

Paving Furnival Road, looking north along the west side, Rodney, 1928 After completing the paving of Highway 3 (Talbot Line today), the Ryan Construction Company of Windsor was contracted by the then Village of Rodney to pave a section of Furnival. It was paved with concrete mixed by the machine in the centre of the image. A half-holiday was declared to mark the street’s reopening, which featured a boxing match, a beauty contest and a street dance.

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Memories • 27 • Elgin County

Rodney Continuation School, c. 1915 The original school was built in 1890 and a new wing, visible here at right, was added in 1913. The original design, by Chatham architect J. L. Wilson, won an award at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. It was no longer used as a school after 1974 and burned down in 1991.

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Memories • 28 • Elgin County

A service at the Cenotaph, McMillan Brothers Library, 207 Furnival Road, Rodney, c. 1955 Brothers Archibald and Duncan McMillan, both of West Lorne, left a large sum of money in their wills for the construction of libraries in West Lorne and Rodney, the two largest centres in what was then the Township of Aldborough. The West Lorne library was opened March 8, 1950 and the Rodney building on November 1, 1951.

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Memories • 29 • Elgin County

“Old Boys” parade in front of the community hall on Furnival Road, Rodney, 1926 Held from July 1st to 6th, the reunion attracted thousands of former residents from all over North America. This day’s parade was led by a brass band as well as the Rodney Kiltie Band, whose members marched carrying upside down stools to imitate bagpipes while blowing kazoos.

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Memories • 30 • Elgin County

Three local men, George Fenn, Lyle Purcell, and Charles Blake, return from serving overseas, Michigan Central station, Rodney, 1919

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Memories • 31 • Elgin County

New fire truck at Duncan Scott’s International Harvester dealership, Rodney, c. 1925 The new pumper (left) replaced the International truck at right which had pulled the two-wheeled chemical cart (centre) since 1921. Duncan Scott (right) and Bob Kerr are standing on the 1921 truck. At the wheel of the new vehicle is George Mistele; Graham Vogan is above the radiator, and Oliver Mistele above the driver. The boy standing up in the truck is Douglas Lusty. Below him are Simon Speirn and George Nelson. Sid Dorland stands at the back of the truck.

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Memories • 32 • Elgin County

James Fuller with his car, the second automobile to come to West Lorne, c. 1910

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Memories • 33 • Elgin County

S. B. Morris cottage, Port Glasgow, c. 1900 People came from far and wide to Port Glasgow to swim, camp, and enjoy their summer vacation as well as take a cruise on the lake.

In the early 1960s, a yacht club was organized and a marina was started with only a few small boats. In later years the marina was expanded to ten times its original size. Sam Morris owned a private bank in Rodney.

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Memories • 34 • Elgin County

Ernest Lusty’s Fishery and the S. B. Morris cottage, Port Glasgow, c. 1920 The pound net fishery at Port Glasgow was started in 1880 and was shared by a number of fishermen into the 1960s. To catch the fish, 75-foot stakes were driven into the lake bed by the pile driver pulled up on the shore in this photograph. A lead net of several hundred metres in length was suspended on the stakes from surface to bottom which forced the fish into a pound (or trap). Lifts (catches) of as much as three tons were taken from each trap on a daily basis, mostly herring and some sturgeon.

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Memories • 35 • Elgin County

Looking south along today’s Graham Road towards Talbot Line at Eagle, 1915 On the left is Lindenman’s general store and on the right is the Eagle Hotel. In the late 1870s Eagle was composed of five hotels, a carriage maker, a saw mill, a lumber dealer, a general merchant, a shoe maker and a commission agent. By 1900 the businesses had closed mainly because the Canada Southern Railway (later the Michigan Central) had been built a few miles to the north through West Lorne.

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Memories • 36 • Elgin County

Kirkpatrick’s Sunoco station and cabins, southeast corner of Talbot Line and Furnival Road, New Glasgow, c. 1950 Much of Highway 3 (now Talbot Line) was paved in the 1920s and it soon became an important tourist route between Windsor and Fort Erie.

Talbot Kirkpatrick, a descendant of an early settler, opened a gas station, cabins and a motel in New Glasgow.

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Memories • 37 • Elgin County

Lawrence Vaalburg plowing with a Titan tractor on a farm near Talbot Line, c. 1925 James A. Kelly of New Glasgow bought the Titan from Duncan Scott, the International Harvester dealer, located in Rodney. The tractor was built in Chicago in 1919-20.

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Memories • 38 • Elgin County

Workers remove full baskets from a tobacco priming machine on Joe Boka’s farm south of Rodney, 1980 Tobacco was first grown in the southern part of West Elgin in the 1920s. Ideally suited to the area’s sandy soil the crop was eventually grown on over 150 farms in the municipality.

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Memories • 39 • Elgin County

Elgin County logs at the McKillop Mill, West Lorne, 1921 Left to right from top: Dave McDonald, Archie McKillop, Bob Binks, Hugh McKillop, Jack Burger, Cliff Walker, Don Ash, Alex Haviland, Mike Cummings, Jack Murray, Bob Mills, Fred Edwards, Dan McKillop (seated), John A. McKillop (seated), Lionel McKillop (boy), John Meek, Herb Petherick, Bill Allett, John Burger Sr., Sam Smith, Joe Wilton Sr.

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Memories • 40 • Elgin County

Workers at the former Seaman-Kent flooring factory, West Lorne, c. 1953 Built for the West Lorne Wagon Company in 1904, this building later housed Seaman-Kent hardwood flooring from 1919 to 1930. A new company, Erie Flooring and Wood Products Limited, followed in 1940. It had been founded by three brothers from the former Czechoslovakia: Robert, Alexander, and Dr. Arthur Haas. Erie Flooring still operates out of the old wagon factory.

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Memories • 41 • Elgin County

Looking north on Graham Road from Main Street, West Lorne, c. 1925 The rail lines in the background have been out of use since the 1980s. Both lines, the Michigan Central (later New York Central), to the north and the Pere Marquette (later Chesapeake and Ohio) to the south, were part of large US rail networks.

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Memories • 42 • Elgin County

The Michigan Central passenger station and water tower and the Pere Marquette station (inset), Taylor, c. 1915 Taylor station was a key water stop and track maintenance centre for the Michigan Central Railway. Water was first supplied by the tower (at left) and later from track pans laid between the rails. As the train passed over the pans a scoop was lowered into the pans which deflected water into the locomotive’s tender until it was full. The pans were later relocated to West Lorne. Passengers boarding at either of these stations could travel east or west on a variety of daily trains.

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Memories • 43 • Elgin County

D. N. Walker Funeral Home hearse, purchased in 1919, Furnival Road, Rodney

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Memories • 44 • Elgin County

A car has knocked out a corner post and a pump, Ivan Little’s garage, New Glasgow, 1936

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Memories • 45 • Elgin County

The Rodney ‘Sodbusters’ baseball team and some fans, Rodney, 1931 The Sodbusters beat Napanee to win the 1931 Ontario Baseball Amateur Association Intermediate “B” trophy. The team included Fred Welch, George “Tip” Miller, Graham Vogan, Charles Van Crane, Don Lancaster, Gordon McCallum, Omar “Pete” Davies, Sid Dorland, Walter Mistele, Gordon Stinson, George Sherman, Allan “Bun” Crawford, Donald Campbell, Gordon Walker, and Coach Charles Martini. Crowds numbering as high as 1,500 came out to watch the play-offs that year.

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Memories • 46 • Elgin County

Girls’ baseball team, Rodney, 1915 Front row: Florence Morris, second base; Mildred Eggert, first base; Ada Murray, pitcher; Mary Brad, third base; and Edith Messerschmid.

Back row: Etta Schrub, fielder; Mae Johnston, fielder; Effie Shaw, chaperon; Myrtle Avey, short stop; and Lillie McPherson, fielder.

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Memories • 47 • Elgin County

Making concrete blocks on the site of Harry Ketch’s new house, near the northwest corner of Furnival Road and Queen Street, Rodney

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Memories • 48 • Elgin County

Catching smelt at the mouth of Creek 16, c. 1965

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Memories • 49 • Elgin County

Dutt onDunwich

Chapter Three

Keillor Cheese factory, Wallacetown

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Memories • 50 • Elgin County

Chapter Three

Dutton - Dunwich

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Memories • 51 • Elgin County

Michigan Central Railway station, Dutton The Michigan Central took over the Canada Southern line that had been built through most of Elgin County in the early 1870s. The building of the line and a station where it crossed the Currie Road brought Dutton into existence. The community is named after a Canada Southern civil engineer.

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Memories • 52 • Elgin County

Pere Marquette station, Iona Station, c. 1918 The Pere Marquette took over the Lake Erie and Detroit River Railway in 1903 shortly after the LE&DR had built a line from Windsor to St. Thomas which paralleled the Michigan Central line from Ridgetown to Shedden. Eventually the Pere Marquette, whose lines were also mainly in Michigan, was taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.

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Memories • 53 • Elgin County

Dutton Lawn Bowling Club

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Memories • 54 • Elgin County

John E. Davies in front of the Dutton Flour Mills, Main Street North, c. 1950 The mill was built in 1874 and taken over by Henry Hollingshead in 1886. His son William contracted with a US firm in 1921 to make a type of cake flour called Swan’s Down and encouraged area farmers to grow the required grade of winter wheat. The mill later supplied flour to the McCormick biscuit factory in London. In 1938, the business was acquired by John E. Davies (Reeve of Dutton, 1948-51).

The mill closed in 1967 and burned down two years later.

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Memories • 55 • Elgin County

Main Street, west side, looking south, Dutton, c. 1915

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Memories • 56 • Elgin County

Main Street, west side, looking north towards Mary Street, Dutton, c. 1910

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Memories • 57 • Elgin County

Main Street, looking south, Dutton, c. 1910 At right is the Queen’s Hotel, opened in 1889 and demolished in 1939.

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Memories • 58 • Elgin County

Main Street, west side, looking south from Mary Street, Dutton

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Memories • 59 • Elgin County

Garage, southeast corner, Talbot Line and Currie Road, Wallacetown, c. 1930 This concrete block garage, which still stands, was built 1928-30, by Sam Davey and his father-in-law, Ed Wilton who made the blocks in the basement of his St. Thomas home and brought them to Wallacetown.

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Memories • 60 • Elgin County

Edward Bobier home, Shackleton Street, c. 1950 In 1950, Edward Bobier bequeathed this house to Dutton-Dunwich, then two separate municipalities. He wished to provide a home for the “relief of the people of the community who are sick, ill, or in distress.” After many years of use a new home, Bobier Villa, opened on July 22, 1997.

The original home is now a private care facility.

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Memories • 61 • Elgin County

Prime Minister Diefenbaker (sitting on the back of the first convertible with his back to the camera) arrives at the Wallacetown Centennial Fair, 1960 The Centennial Fair, marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the West Elgin Agricultural Society, was officially opened by John Diefenbaker on Friday, September 30. The following day Dunwich native and Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith spoke about his recollections of past fairs. He arrived from Michigan where he had been campaigning for John F. Kennedy.

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Memories • 62 • Elgin County

Barn raising, Farr farm, northeast corner of Coyne Road and Silver Clay Line, 1911

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Memories • 63 • Elgin County

Dr. Donald A. Cameron office and surgery, Dutton, before 1919 Born in Wallacetown in 1870, Dr. Cameron graduated from Trinity Medical School in 1896. He married Jennie McLaws of St. Thomas in 1905. They moved to London in 1919.

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Memories • 64 • Elgin County

Parade in honour of Pat Bolger’s appearance in the 1968 Olympics, Dutton, November 5, 1968 West Elgin Secondary School cheerleaders take part in a parade in honour of Pat Bolger, who grew up near Dutton. He was a member of the Canadian wrestling team at the Olympics in Mexico City.

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Memories • 65 • Elgin County

Colonel Talbot Estate, Port Talbot, c. 1910 This house survived on Talbot’s Estate, Malahide, until 1997. It may have been built in part by his nephew Sir Richard Airey in 1848 when he came to live with Talbot. Airey and his family returned to England after Talbot signed half of his lands over to him. The rest went to George Macbeth his servant and heir who came to own this house as well. The Macbeths sold the estate in 1925 to an American, C. A. “Cap” Pfeffer of Detroit. In 1954, Frederick Innis Ker, retired publisher of the Hamilton Spectator, bought the estate and, with his son John, expanded the lands to a total of 1000 acres before selling in 1989.

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Memories • 66 • Elgin County

John E. Pearce (left) and Hon. J.W. Spooner, Minister of Lands and Forests unveil a monument in the new John E. Pearce Provincial Park, 1959 John E. Pearce gave a woodlot on a high bluff overlooking Lake Erie near Tyrconnell, to the province for use as a provincial park in 1955.

The monument, designed by Donald Inman, depicts a settler uprooting a stump. It commemorates the settling of the area by Pearce’s ancestors.

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Memories • 67 • Elgin County

Tyrconnell Bridge, 1900

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Memories • 68 • Elgin County

Tyrconnell, c. 1905

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Memories • 69 • Elgin County

The Particular Covenanted Baptist Church, Talbot Line, west of Wallacetown The church was built in 1911 by a congregation of Baptists who had formed their own church in 1820 in what is now West Elgin. Eventually, other congregations of Particular Covenanted Baptists were founded in Kent and Middlesex Counties.

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Memories • 70 • Elgin County

Dutton-Dunwich Community Hall, northeast corner of Main and Mary Streets The first Dutton Town Hall was built in 1897, six years after the village was incorporated. It was extensively rebuilt in 1922 by returned servicemen and renamed the Memorial Hall. It remains in use as the municipal building today.

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Memories • 71 • Elgin County

Benjamin Crane farm, Coyne Road, south of Talbot Line, 1901

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Memories • 72 • Elgin County

Alvro and Ada Keillor and family in front of their cheese factory, Wallacetown, 1890s The factory was a converted lodge hall which provided the family with living quarters on the second floor. Sometime between 1900 and 1914, the farmers who brought milk to the factory convinced Mr. Keillor to switch to butter making as the return would be higher. He sold out in 1918 and went into raising chickens.

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Memories • 73 • Elgin County

Burns Dinner, Dutton-Dunwich Public School, 1976 Rev. Stanley Andrews, of Largie Presbyterian Church, delivers the address to the haggis during the evening’s tribute to the Scottish Poet Robert Burns.

From left are Rev. and Mrs. Andrews; Duncan K. McKillop, chairman; Elgin MP John Wise and Mrs. Wise. About 250 persons attended the banquet.

The evening was sponsored by the Dutton Highland Games.

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Memories • 74 • Elgin County

Bagpipers entertain at the former St. Thomas-Elgin Memorial Hospital’s annual picnic, 1966 They are left to right: Ann McWilliam, Laurie MacDonald and Ruth Leitch, all of Dutton.

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Memories • 75 • Elgin County

High school competitors, International Plowing Match, Springfield, 1960 Two students were chosen from West Elgin High School to take part in the International Plowing Match at Springfield: Gerald Brown, 19, of R.R. 1, Dutton, left, competing in his third IPM and Don Jewell, 18, also of R.R. 1, Dutton.

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Memories • 76 • Elgin County

Ice slide, Tyrconnell During the period when a fishery was active at Tyrconnell, ice was cut from the lake to keep the fish cold during shipping. 50 pound boxes of mainly perch, pickerel and white fish were shipped to New York and Detroit from the nearby railway station in Dutton.

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Memories • 77 • Elgin County

Sout hwold

Chapter Four

Cott’s general store, Sunset Road and Talbot Line, Talbotville, 1953

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Memories • 78 • Elgin County

Chapter Four

Southwold

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Memories • 79 • Elgin County

Fulton House, southeast corner, Fingal Line and Union Road, c. 1937 The Fulton House was built in 1872 by Samuel and Robert Fulton. Once known as the Stagecoach Inn (c.1948) it served as a residence, a Chinese restaurant and a Gospel meeting place until it was demolished in 1981.

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Memories • 80 • Elgin County

Looking east along Fingal Line at Union Road, Fingal, 1950s The Fulton House is at centre right.

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Memories • 81 • Elgin County

Fingal Line, north side, looking west from Union Road, c. 1905 Today’s Post Office and variety store is the building to the right of the house at the end of the streetscape. Two other general stores in operation at this time included Cattanach’s in the middle of the block and one belonging to William Page on the corner. The word “Groceries” can still be seen on the side of the building as it appears here.

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Memories • 82 • Elgin County

Fingal Line, looking east towards Union Road, c. 1905 Fingal was once known as the home of Glasgow, MacPherson and Company, makers of threshing machines from 1848 to about 1900.

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Memories • 83 • Elgin County

Board of Management, Knox Church, Fingal, 1937 Back row, left to right: William J. Cron, Lawrence H. Sutherland (secretary), Neal L. Campbell (chairman), Charles Ashmore, James Smith, Stewart A. Brown, Charles E. Jackson.

Front row, left to right: John Buswell, H. V. Sutherland (treasurer), Rev. Walter Moffatt, J. S. Turner, J. T. Lethbridge.

The present Knox Church was built in 1908.

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Memories • 84 • Elgin County

Middlemarch Choral Group, c. 1926 In 1926 the Junior Farmers and Junior Women’s Institute sponsored a county music festival in St. Thomas.

Middlemarch Women’s Institute won with their choral entry.

Front Row: Mrs. S. Curtis, Mrs. W. G. Lyle, Mrs. J. R. Futcher (leader), Mrs. Matthew, Mrs. George King.

Back Row: Mrs. McCann (pianist), Mrs. McPherson, Mrs. Nicol Best, Mrs. Alex Lyle, Mrs. R. Dowler, Mrs. L. Kruppe, Mrs. T. Begg, Agnes Fletcher, Mrs. Helen Gorton, Mrs. Charles Butler, Mrs. Ross Tufford, Mrs. Isaac Welter.

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Memories • 85 • Elgin County

Pere Marquette station, Shedden, c. 1923 The Pere Marquette was taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1948. A sign board promoting the Western Fair in London can be seen behind the pole.

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Memories • 86 • Elgin County

Michigan Central Railway station, Shedden, c. 1909 The Michigan Central Railway was later made part of the New York Central Railway System.

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Memories • 87 • Elgin County

General store and post office, southeast corner, County Road 17 and Mill Road, Southwold Station, c. 1910

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Memories • 88 • Elgin County

Southwold from the air, looking east, 1950s The general store pictured on the previous page appears at the intersection of the five roads. The tracks of the St. Clair Branch of the Michigan Central Railway once followed a route across the top of the photograph.

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Memories • 89 • Elgin County

Cott’s general store, Sunset Road and Talbot Line, Talbotville, 1953 Built to house a hotel in the 1890s, this building was eventually occupied by a store and the Talbotville Royal Post Office, possibly as early as 1894.

Fred Cott, from London, bought the store in 1934. The building was sold in 1953 to Reliance Petroleum and demolished. Mr. Cott moved the business, including the Post Office, across the street into an addition he had made to his home.

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Memories • 90 • Elgin County

Sunset Road, looking south towards Talbot Line, Talbotville, c. 1910 An electric trolley car approaches the intersection on its way from Port Stanley to London. The trolley line, known as the Southwestern Traction Company, operated from 1906 to 1918. What was later the Cott general store (here with a veranda) can be seen at right.

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Memories • 91 • Elgin County

School Section #14, Southwold, c. 1906 This school was built in 1865, near Middlemarch on the north side of what is now Fingal Line. It was replaced in 1906 with a red brick school which is now a house.

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Memories • 92 • Elgin County

School Section #9, Shedden, c. 1985 This school house, built in 1866, was transformed into the Old School House Tea Room during the 1980s.

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Memories • 93 • Elgin County

Methodist Parsonage, Highway 4, north of Talbotville, c. 1912 In front of the parsonage, which still stands, are Rev. and Mrs. John Holmes, Miss Luella Holmes and an unidentified visitor.

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Memories • 94 • Elgin County

Former Amasa Wood House, Fingal, c. 1908 Amasa Wood, a very successful Fingal merchant, retired to St. Thomas in the 1890s and built the city’s first hospital. The house, which still stands, was occupied for many years by the Cron Family.

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Memories • 95 • Elgin County

Looking east along Talbot Line in Shedden, c. 1925 The two-storey garage and residence at left, which still stands, was probably built in the 1920s. It was known as Brad’s Garage in 1926, offering service to Hudson, Essex and Ford vehicles.

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Memories • 96 • Elgin County

Unveiling of the Elgin Historical Society Plaque, Frome United Church, c. 1924 Members of the Elgin Scientific and Historical Society unveil a plaque commemorating the site of the first Congregational Church in Canada.

Frome Church was established by Reverend Joseph Silcox in 1819 on the site of the present Frome United Church.

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Memories • 97 • Elgin County

School Section #11, Watson’s Corners, southwest corner, Fingal Line and Scotch Line, 1947 Like many other nineteenth century school houses in Elgin County, this building, constructed in 1893, is now a residence.

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Memories • 98 • Elgin County

Students in front of School Section #7, Paynes Mills, with their teacher, D. McBane, 1896

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Memories • 99 • Elgin County

Middlemarch Women’s Institute members model period wedding dresses, Fingal United Church, 1973 Left to right: Jean Palmer, Lois Oldham, ____, Grace Campbell, Hazel Lidster, ____, ____, Alma Drager, Lois Martin, Marjorie Blue, ____, Barbara Wilson, Mrs. Pat Zegers wearing Mrs. J. R. Futcher’s wedding dress, Ruth Jones wearing Ann McLean’s wedding gown, Betty Smith wearing Ann McLean’s bridesmaid’s red velvet dress, Muriel Carroll, ____.

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Memories • 100 • Elgin County

Middlemarch, looking northwest along the Chesapeake and Ohio (formerly Pere Marquette) rail line, with Fingal Line at right, 1950s The Pere Marquette Railway was constructed through Middlemarch in 1900. Many farmers worked with teams of horses building the road bed.

Later, a stock yard and a station were also constructed. Freight trains carried cattle, salt and fertilizer into Middlemarch. During World War I many farmers shipped milk to Windsor every morning; others shipped wheat, sugar beets, sheep, cattle and hogs. At one time, four passenger trains passed through Middlemarch each day.

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Memories • 101 • Elgin County

Archibald McLean’s carriage shop and home, Talbot Line, near Frome, c. 1880

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Memories • 102 • Elgin County

4H Beef Club Champions, Shedden Fair, 1978 Left to right: Theresa Rapelje, Fair Queen; Wayne Carroll with the champion steer of the day; Wes Stafford, champion beef showman of the day; Bruce Amos, judge, from Woodstock; and Nancy McCallum with the grand champion beef heifer.

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Memories • 103 • Elgin County

Wreckage of a DC3 at the crash site east of Lawrence Station, 1941 An American Airlines DC3, enroute from Buffalo to Detroit, carrying seventeen passengers and three crew members, crashed at this spot after circling the area several times. There were no survivors and the exact cause of the crash has never been determined.

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Memories • 104 • Elgin County

Assistant Fire Chief Hugh Silcox tests the hose on a new tanker-pumper, Southwold Township Hall, Fingal, 1966 The new truck brought the number of township fire vehicles up to five with this one to be housed at Talbotville. The truck had a capacity of 1,000 gallons and was equipped with two 200 foot one-inch high pressure hoses.

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Memories • 105 • Elgin County

Cent ral Elgin

Chapter Five

Norman Farm, Talbot Line (Highway 3), west of Yarmouth Centre Road

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Memories • 106 • Elgin County

Chapter Five

Central Elgin

GAN R E AU R N E BO

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Memories • 107 • Elgin County

The Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 (I) at Port Stanley Harbour, c. 1907 The Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 (I) was one of the largest of the Great Lakes car ferries. Between the 1890s and the 1950s, these ships hauled rail cars full of coal from the US to Ontario to heat homes, generate electricity and fuel locomotives. After only 4 years in service the ship, while fully-loaded, sank during a storm on December 7, 1909. The wreck has never been found and there were no survivors.

A second vessel of the same name was launched in 1910 and continued to haul coal until 1932.

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Memories • 108 • Elgin County

Bridge over the Kettle Creek at Port Stanley, c. 1905 The large building in the distance behind the bridge is the village hall.

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Memories • 109 • Elgin County

Sutton’s Red and White store, Talbot Line (Highway 3), south side, looking east from Yarmouth Centre Road, c. 1940 A complete service centre in its time, Sutton’s had a gas bar, a tourist camp, a snack bar and a Red and White food store.

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Memories • 110 • Elgin County

Harold and Violet Graves and their son Cecil in front of their general store, New Sarum, 1950s Cecil helped manage the store full-time after his father passed away until it was sold in the late 1960s. The store once stood at the east end of New Sarum, down the road from the New Sarum Baptist Church.

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Memories • 111 • Elgin County

View of the London and Port Stanley Railway dance pavilion, later known as the Stork Club, from the incline railway, Port Stanley, c. 1930 The dance pavilion was built by the London and Port Stanley Railway in 1926 to take advantage of the explosion in the popularity of live dance bands following the First World War. The dance floor accommodated thousands at a time and most of the big bands of the day appeared regularly. Though it closed in 1973, it was reopened the following year under the ownership of Joe McManus Sr. and experienced a brief revival. However, fire severely damaged the building in 1979 and it was subsequently demolished.

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Memories • 112 • Elgin County

Hopkins Stanley Beach Casino, Port Stanley, Dominion Day, 1909 The Hopkins Casino was one of the many ‘casinos’ found in lakeside towns after the turn of the twentieth century. Not a gambling casino, these buildings were instead the first dance pavilions with additional rooms for billiards, cards, smoking and sometimes bowling. The building was extended several times, completely rebuilt in the 1920s and burned down in 1932. Other developments at the beach included the Ferris wheel (at right) and, further up the beach, a roller coaster.

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Memories • 113 • Elgin County

Massey-Harris combine, Simons Brothers farm, Sunset Drive near Fruit Ridge Road, c. 1946 This is thought to have been the first combine ever used in Elgin County.

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Memories • 114 • Elgin County

Denniss farm, Quaker Road near Fruit Ridge Road, c. 1946 Left to right: Bruce Smith, Harold “Red” Nichols, and Colin Player. The little girl is Lynda Denniss, later Mrs. Lynda Prong.

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Memories • 115 • Elgin County

Sparta Brass Band, organized in 1884

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Memories • 116 • Elgin County

Sparta Red Socks, 1949 Back row, left to right: Cyril Crocker (umpire), Owen Medcraft, Bill Newman, Lee Smith, Don Fishleigh, Rae Axford, “Dinty” Brown, Charles Smale, Bill Fishleigh, Morley Gorvett (a friend of the team).

Front row, left to right: Ray Crocker, Harry Collins, Bill Norton, Henry Gervais, John Martyn.

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Memories • 117 • Elgin County

Sparta Line looking east towards Quaker Road, 1900 Buildings from right to left include: the Oille House, built 1838 by John Oille, a blacksmith who owned the smithy across the street, now a museum; a tinsmith shop, built in 1840; a house built in 1845, owned by Israel Doan, village constable and meeting house caretaker; the Temperance House, originally the Sparta Hotel when it opened in the 1840s; the Sterling Bank; and the Eakins store.

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Memories • 118 • Elgin County

Sparta Line, looking west from Smith Street, c. 1900 On the left is the Smith store, still extant, built by Hiram Smith in 1846 as a tailoring shop and store.

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Memories • 119 • Elgin County

Dr. Drake’s cottage, Orchard Beach, Port Stanley, c. 1910 Cottages began appearing on the lake front in a former orchard just east of Port Stanley beginning in the 1880s and by 1910 as many as 100 had been built.

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Memories • 120 • Elgin County

Strachan Brothers print shop, Belmont, c. 1930 Thomas Strachan and his brother Stewart owned the The Belmont Times and the print shop where it was produced, from 1887 until the early 1930s.

They are likely the people pictured here along with Stewart’s daughter Marjorie.

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Memories • 121 • Elgin County

David Sutherland’s dry goods store, northeast corner of Talbot Line and Springwater Road, Orwell, c. 1890 Sutherland, a native of Scotland, opened his store and became Post Master in 1848 when Orwell was still known as Temperanceville.

He moved to St. Thomas in 1890.

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Memories • 122 • Elgin County

Union general store, Stone Church Road, Union, c. 1930 Left to right: George Frances, Miss Mary Hepburn, T.H. McComb (owner of the store), Joseph Pearce, and Murray McIntyre.

This store continues in business today and still houses the post office.

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Memories • 123 • Elgin County

The Walters Brothers farm, Southdale Line, Central Elgin, 1901 Left to right: Ann Halls Walters in the doorway holding her daughter Hilda Annie, Jennie Cramer Walters, Mrs. Yeo, Ella Mable Walters, Lewis Yeo, Richard Edwin Walters, Mrs. Bawden, George Henry Walters with Jenny and her foal.

The front half of the house was moved in 1917 and today both sections of the original house form parts of separate homes on adjoining farms.

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Memories • 124 • Elgin County

John Henry Ingram Ellman and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Swaffield) Ellman, c. 1900 J.H.I. Ellman was an English gentleman who, after travelling through North America, settled in Union where he sold bicycles. Both he and Mrs. Ellman were members of the St. Thomas Bicycle Club.

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Memories • 125 • Elgin County

Friends Meeting House, Quaker Road, Sparta This is the second meeting house built by the Quakers in the Sparta area. It features separate entrances for men and women and a large wooden partition which could be raised and lowered to separate the two sides of the building. The Society of Friends continues to meet in this building today.

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Memories • 126 • Elgin County

Temperance House, Sparta Line, Sparta, c. 1913 The hotel, formerly known as the Ontario House, was Sparta’s busiest hotel in 1901 when it was taken over by a temperance organization which closed the bar. Temperance was on the rise at this time culminating with the passing of the Ontario Temperance Act in 1916 which closed the rest of the province’s bars. The building has also housed an ice cream parlour, a dance hall, an apartment house, a factory, and shops.

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Memories • 127 • Elgin County

Stone Church Road looking north from Sparta Line, Union, c. 1910 Several women and a horse and buggy stand in front of the Union general store, visible on the right.

At left is the Union Hotel, pictured opposite.

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Memories • 128 • Elgin County

Union Hotel, northwest corner of Sparta Line and Stone Church Road Built in 1840, the hotel was the centre of life in the village for many years. The man holding the horse is Miles Ketchum, owner of the hotel.

Mrs. Mary Ketchum, his wife, is standing in the doorway.

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Memories • 129 • Elgin County

White’s Mill, near Springwater Road and Southdale Line, c. 1980

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Memories • 130 • Elgin County

Hepburn Cheese Factory on the York Farm, c. 1896 Group at left: Walter Donnelly, boy kneeling; Harry Donnelly, Flossie Donnelly, (Mrs. Sam Shipley); Robert McMillan, cheese maker; Charlie Donnelly, boy near building; John Donnelly, in doorway.

Front row: left to right: Lee Shelly, in rig; Jack Lale, behind cans near factory; James Liddle, standing with straw hat on; William Collins, standing against back of wagon; Melvin Vansyckle, sitting with back to horse; John Sutton, in foreground with felt hat; Charlie White, near building with light colored coat; John Fulton, standing with straw hat, his horse and wagon at the whey tank; Walter Manchen, William T. Dufty, in wagon at extreme right. The small boy in the background at right is unknown.

Harvest

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Memories • 131 • Elgin County

Belmont Post Office, c. 1920 The post office occupied this residence until Mr. Harold Archer was appointed Post Master in 1940. Mr. Archer opened an office in his residence on the hill. The woman pictured is possibly Nellie Venning, Post Master’s Assistance.

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Memories • 132 • Elgin County

Train wreck on the CPR line near Belmont, 1939 In the background is the Borden milk plant, built in 1911.

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Memories • 133 • Elgin County

St . Thomas Chapter Six

St. Thomas News Company, 662 Talbot Street, 1935

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Memories • 134 • Elgin County

Chapter Six CITY OF

St. Thomas Harvest

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Memories • 135 • Elgin County

Tennis courts, Athletic Park, c. 1915 These courts would remain in use until 1961 and were some of the best clay courts in the country. The Wabash-Grand Trunk Railway bridge can be seen in the background, now used by the Canadian National Railway.

Harvest

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Memories • 136 • Elgin County

Athletic Park, looking southeast, c. 1910 The park was presented to the city by W. K. Cameron, a lawyer and sportsman. The tennis courts are to the left of the grandstand.

At right, above the park, is the St. Thomas Collegiate Institute, demolished in 1967.

Harvest

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Memories • 137 • Elgin County

Joseph Mickleborough (centre) and his brother William, second from right, and staff, 243-245 Talbot Street, c. 1900 William Mickleborough came to St. Thomas in 1865 to work at the “Scotch Warehouse” then owned by Robert and James Carrie. In 1877, William, with his brother Joseph, purchased the Scotch Warehouse and began what was to become a well-known and popular St. Thomas enterprise. Joe bought out his brother’s interest in 1893, incorporated the business, and would eventually build a new store further east.

Harvest

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Memories • 138 • Elgin County

J. Mickleborough Limited dry goods store, northeast corner of Mary and Talbot Streets, c. 1910 The new Mickleborough store, designed by St. Thomas architect Neil Darrach, was built in 1903 not far from the new city hall.

Between 1917 and 1951, the store was owned by J. H. Gould and then, until 1976, it was a Walker’s Store. For a brief period the popular British firm Marks and Spencer operated here.

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Memories • 139 • Elgin County

William St. Thomas Smith, a prominent St. Thomas painter and teacher, with his students at Alma College, c. 1910 William Smith was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1862 and came to Ontario at the age of seven. The “St. Thomas” was added to his name while at the Ontario College of Art to distinguish him from another William Smith. He married Julia Elizabeth Payne, a young teacher he met at the college.

By 1887, the couple had made St. Thomas their home where they both taught at Alma College.

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Memories • 140 • Elgin County

Dining room, Michigan Central station, c. 1910 Until the 1920s, passengers could dine beneath elegant light fixtures in one of Canada’s largest passenger stations, now known as the CASO station, named after the Canada Southern Railway. The station, built in 1872-73, was also the Canadian divisional offices for the Michigan Central Railway and later the New York Central Railway.

Harvest

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Memories • 141 • Elgin County

Michigan Central Railway Engine No. 380, an early tall-stack wood-burner of the 1880s, next to what is now the CASO station A conductor is handing up the “orders” to the engineer, detailing the route and destination of his run.

Harvest

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Memories • 142 • Elgin County

Canada Southern Railway shop workers, c. 1880 The leasing of the Canada Southern line by the Michigan Central Railway in 1883 brought the first of three US lines to the city followed by the Wabash and finally the Pere Marquette, which was later taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Each maintained extensive car and machine shops and engine houses which employed hundreds of machinists, blacksmiths and labourers.

Harvest

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Memories • 143 • Elgin County

Horton Street Market, c. 1950 For about a century, market days in St. Thomas were on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Only in the last 30 or so years has the market activity fallen off. A recent successful effort has revived the Saturday market.

Harvest

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Memories • 144 • Elgin County

Circus parade on Talbot Street, looking west past the Holy Angels Church, c. 1902 This may be the Adam Forepaugh and Sells Brothers Circus which came to St. Thomas on July 18, 1902. The parade was described in the Evening Journal as “one long, bright pageant of magnificence in the way of horse flesh, gorgeously decorated wagons, gay costumes and musical organization” and included a “big herd of elephants several of whom were of ponderous size.”

Harvest

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Memories • 145 • Elgin County

St. Thomas hydro-electric sub-station, Scott Street near St. Catherine Street, c. 1918 The sub-station which still stands, was built to allow St. Thomas to obtain power from the new Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission grid most of which came from Niagara. St. Thomas was connected at a ceremony on March 24, 1911.

Harvest

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Memories • 146 • Elgin County

Former gas works site, looking west towards Mondamin Street between Curtis and Scott Streets, 1936 Artificial gas, made from coal, was produced on this site beginning in the 1870s. It was used mainly for lighting streets and homes and, later, in stoves.

The remains of a large gas holder or gasometer appear in the foreground with a portion of the purifying house just beyond.

Afterwards it was used as a skating rink and park known as Central Park.

Harvest

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Memories • 147 • Elgin County

Roller skating at the Granite Arena, Metcalfe Street, c. 1943 Among those pictured are two instructors: Tom McKenzie, second from left and Cliff Cascaden, third from right.

Harvest

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Memories • 148 • Elgin County

Skating on Pinafore Lake, early 1940s The men in uniform are likely from one of the several RCAF flight and ground training bases in the area. The houses on the hillside are on Elm Street.

Harvest

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Memories • 149 • Elgin County

The Sutherland Press building, Talbot Street and Moore Street, c. 1947 Built in 1912 this factory first produced chocolates, and then later cured tobacco until 1928 when the Sutherland Press moved in.

Conversion of the building into condos began in 1998 and has never been completed. Note the parking meters introduced in 1947.

Harvest

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Memories • 150 • Elgin County

The Empire Flour Mills, Moore Street, c. 1930 This mill was built in the 1880s, becoming the Empire Flour Mills in 1912. After WWII, it became part of the Elgin Co-operative which maintained the plant here until at least 1990.

Harvest

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Memories • 151 • Elgin County

Street race, Times Office, Talbot Street, north side, between East and Mary Streets, c. 1905 The Times amalgamated with The Journal in 1918, and continues to be published as the Times-Journal.

Harvest

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Memories • 152 • Elgin County

St. Thomas News Company, 662 Talbot Street, 1935 The St. Thomas News Company was a short-lived news/magazine agency operating between 1935 and 1940. The business served as a distributor for various magazines - in this instance the popular five-cent Liberty Magazine. The aviator cap and goggles worn by many of the boys may have been inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight of 1927.

Harvest

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Memories • 153 • Elgin County

Camera Club, Waterworks Park, c. 1905 This image was likely shot by photographer Calvin Ellis, a member of the club. Ellis was also the first St. Thomas resident to own an automobile. In the spring of 1902, he drove into town in his brand new “Winton” purchased in Toronto.

Harvest

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Memories • 154 • Elgin County

Women’s hockey in the Granite Arena, Metcalfe Street, south of Talbot Street, c. 1905 Women’s hockey was very popular in St. Thomas until about 1930. The arena, built in 1878, held a natural ice surface for curling and skating. It was demolished shortly after the Curling Club relocated in 1954.

Harvest

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Memories • 155 • Elgin County

The Canadian Iron and Foundry Company plant (Canron), Talbot Street and First Avenue A car wheel factory came to St. Thomas in 1884 to cast wheels for the railways. It produced over 240 rail car wheels a day.

It was taken over by the Canadian Iron and Foundry Company in 1903 and closed in 1988.

Harvest

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Memories • 156 • Elgin County

William Keith’s flax mill, St. George Street, looking north from what is now Athletic Park, c. 1870 Three large stacks of flax appear to the left of the building and another three are further up the road.

After processing, the flax would be used to produce linen.

Harvest

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Memories • 157 • Elgin County

“Labour Day Special,” Talbot Street, north side, between East and Mary Streets, 1907 This engine led the Labour Day street parade and was manned by Wabash Engineer George Smith, MCR Engineer Joe Worden, MCR conductor George E. Wright, MCR Brakeman Herbert Sharpe, PMR Brakeman T.H. May and Wabash Conductor George Thomson.

Harvest

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Memories • 158 • Elgin County

“Launching the Polly Wogg,” White’s lumber yard, White and Talbot Streets, c. 1905 In the background is the former YMCA building.

Harvest

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Memories • 159 • Elgin County

Balaclava Street School, c. 1905 Both Wellington Street and Balaclava Street schools were built in 1898.

Harvest

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Memories • 160 • Elgin County

Michigan Central Railway employee band, Elgin County Court House, 1920 Standing left to right: P. Cain (President), R. Eddleston (Secretary), Ed Mitchener, P. Powless, Ed McGhee, R. Knight, William Waters, R. Bell, William Smith, William Robinson, Fred Hardy, C.W. Adams (Hon. Secretary), E.R. Webb (Hon. President).

Sitting, middle row, left to right: F. Crute, J. Gant, E. Andrews, W. Taylor (Leader), F. McLauchlan, W. Barnwell, S. Read, J. Atkinson.

Front row, left to right: J. Mitchener, J. Schuyler, C. Hayden, A. Demcie, A. Allen, Charles Rowe, D. Wilkinson.

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Memories • 161 • Elgin County

Malahide

Chapter Seven

School Section #13, Summer’s Corners, c. 1882

Harvest

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Memories • 162 • Elgin County

Chapter Seven

Malahide

Harvest

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Memories • 163 • Elgin County

W. J. Demary general store, Avon, c. 1913

Harvest

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Memories • 164 • Elgin County

General store, Lyons, c. 1918

Harvest

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Memories • 165 • Elgin County

G. McConnell general store, Lakeview, c. 1910

Harvest

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Memories • 166 • Elgin County

General store, Kingsmill, 1915 When the Canada Southern Railway was built in the 1870s, its route went through what is now the town line between Central Elgin and Malahide.

A small village soon developed around the crossing which was named Kingsmill after the engineer in charge of constructing of the line.

Harvest

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Memories • 167 • Elgin County

Hockey rink, Springfield, 1939

Harvest

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Memories • 168 • Elgin County

Sunday school picnic leaving for Port Stanley, MCR station, Springfield, 1910 The Michigan Central Railway (originally the Canada Southern) caused a boom in Springfield when it was built in 1872. Nearly 70 buildings went up in the following two years. By 1878, when it was incorporated, the village had a population of approximately 800.

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Memories • 169 • Elgin County

School Section #13, Summer’s Corners, c. 1882

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Memories • 170 • Elgin County

School Section #15, Kingsmill

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Memories • 171 • Elgin County

Port Bruce, from the east hill, c. 1893 The large building with the two-storey verandah was known later as the Rocabore Inn. It was built c. 1855 by Amasa Lewis, a merchant who owned land and a warehouse in the port. In 1882, a dance hall was added to the north and space was provided in the basement for both a shooting gallery and a bowling alley. In 1924, it was moved back from the river, raised several feet and renamed the Rocabore.

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Memories • 172 • Elgin County

Port Bruce, from the east hill, c. 1893 The two-storey building in the centre of the photograph had a store on the ground floor above which was a space for making gill nets.

It was later moved to Port Stanley on a barge and used as a broom factory.

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Memories • 173 • Elgin County

Carnation milk plant, Springfield

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Memories • 174 • Elgin County

Lakeview cheese factory Standing to the right of the wagon are Theresse, Gordie and Alex Herrie.

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Memories • 175 • Elgin County

Meeting of the Springfield and Lyons Women’s Institute Branches, Methodist Church, Lyons, c. 1914 Standing in the doorway is Mr. George Putnam, originally from Lyons, Superintendent of the Institutes from 1904 to 1934.

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Memories • 176 • Elgin County

School Section #3, Lakeview

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Memories • 177 • Elgin County

Chambers furniture store, Springfield Left to right: Herbert McTaggert, George Muller, Mr. and Mrs. H. Chambers with sons Gordon and Willie.

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Memories • 178 • Elgin County

Post Office, Springfield, c. 1910

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Memories • 179 • Elgin County

The King’s Cupboard, Port Bruce, 1940s The snack bar, built in 1924 by Mr. and Mrs. Clark Johnson, once had a dance hall in the back. At this time it was operated by Ruth and Audley Fuller.

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Memories • 180 • Elgin County

Main Street, looking east, Springfield, c. 1906

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Memories • 181 • Elgin County

Catfish Creek at Port Bruce, c. 1910

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Memories • 182 • Elgin County

Amasa Lewis house, Port Bruce, c. 1900 Built c. 1860 by land owner and merchant Amasa Lewis.

Left to right: Harry Todd, chauffeur, St. Louis; Chauncey Ladd, St. Louis; Mrs. Ladd, St. Louis; Dorothy Ladd, St. Louis; _____; Captain Thomas Thompson, Port Bruce; Harry Ladd, St. Louis, _____; Miss Rouby, nurse.

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Memories • 183 • Elgin County

White’s Pond, near Springwater, c. 1910

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Memories • 184 • Elgin County

White’s Pond, near Springwater, c. 1910

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Memories • 185 • Elgin County

Christmas party, Lyons

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Memories • 186 • Elgin County

Parachute demonstration, RCAF Station, Aylmer, 1957

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Memories • 187 • Elgin County

Cart load of wet tile, McCredie tile yard, northwest corner of Imperial Road and Crossley Hunter Line Left to right: Jack Tuff, Elmore Martin, Claude Chalk, Bert Davenport, Lorne Martin. The tile yard was established by Willson McCredie in 1870 and operated until the supply of clay ran out in 1930.

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Memories • 188 • Elgin County

Laying drainage tile from the McCredie tile yard with a ditching machine

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Memories • 189 • Elgin County

Aylmer

Chapter Eight

Davenport Public School, Rutherford Avenue, 1960s

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Memories • 190 • Elgin County

Chapter Eight TOWN OF

Aylmer

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Memories • 191 • Elgin County

Talbot Street, north side, looking east towards John Street, c. 1910 Horse-drawn vehicles stop for a chat in this panoramic view of part of Talbot Street. At one time, the street was paved with interlocking blocks of wood soaked in coal tar creosote.

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Memories • 192 • Elgin County

Talbot Street, looking west from King Street, c. 1910 The three-storey building on the corner (at left), known today as the Central Hotel, was once the Kennedy Central Hotel and Shaving Parlour. The fire hydrant and the gas street light (both on the right) represent some of the town’s first municipal improvements.

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Memories • 193 • Elgin County

Aylmer Public School buildings, John Street South, west side, looking north towards South Street, c. 1910 This view includes both the 1870 public school and the first Aylmer high school, built in 1876, that was taken over by the public school in 1887.

These buildings remained in use until 1969 when the present McGregor Public School replaced them.

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Memories • 194 • Elgin County

Aylmer High School, Talbot Street, c. 1915 The second high school, built in 1887, is a reflection of the longstanding support given to education by the town of Aylmer. The architecture was enhanced by spacious, well-maintained grounds. Its serious purpose was protected by a pair of British cannon from the Napoleonic Wars. It was replaced in 1937 by what is now the oldest part of the present-day East Elgin Secondary School.

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Memories • 195 • Elgin County

Post Office and Customs House, c. 1930 Aylmer’s present town hall occupies the former post office and customs house bought by the town after the new post office was built in 1974.

This building was constructed in 1913-14 by the Borden Government, at the instigation of David Marshall, MP for East Elgin, and a loyal supporter of Mr. Borden’s Conservative Party.

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Memories • 196 • Elgin County

Aylmer Town Hall, 38 John Street, before (right) and after the 1911 addition What is now called the Old Town Hall was built in 1873-1874 as the municipal offices, fire hall, and opera house for the newly-established Town of Aylmer. It was designed by London architect George Watson. Abandoned when the town’s offices were moved to the former post office in 1974, it was restored by C. A. Ventin in the 1980s and now houses the Old Town Hall Library and the Old Town Hall Theatre.

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Memories • 197 • Elgin County

Mill, Talbot Street, east of the present Dingle Street Bridge, c. 1913 The mill, once owned by George Goodfallow, was powered by the waters of Lake Aylmer, a pond that once graced the town’s eastern entrance, created by a dam across Catfish Creek.

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Memories • 198 • Elgin County

Shoe factory (left) and waterworks, near the Myrtle Street bridge, c. 1915 A town waterworks with pumps, 500 feet of new hose, and hydrants, was installed in 1884 after numerous devastating fires. The shoe factory was originally a hoop, stave, heading and agricultural spoke and bending factory. In 1899, it was bought by the Laidlaw-Watson Shoe Company of London who produced the Sovereign Shoe here.

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Memories • 199 • Elgin County

Dominion Canners, northeast corner, Cherry and Walnut Streets, 1913 The Aylmer Canning Company, established in 1879, moved into this immense building in 1913. Among the wide range of goods packed in the factory were corn, peas, beans, pig’s feet, tongue, catsup, and chicken soup. Its owners, including MP David Marshall, had by then organized the Dominion Canners which controlled 62 other factories in Canada. The factory rolled out its last cans in 1959 and the building was demolished in 1969.

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Memories • 200 • Elgin County

Processing room, Aylmer Canning Company factory, c. 1897

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Memories • 201 • Elgin County

Warehouse No. 7 under construction, Imperial Tobacco, John Street North, 1957 The first building on the site was opened in 1946 and was almost continuously added to until, by 1999, nearly 32 acres of covered space occupied the grounds. Leaf tobacco was graded, packed and stored here until Imperial moved its processing to Mexico. This plant was closed in 2007.

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Memories • 202 • Elgin County

Carnation Evaporated Milk Company plant, John Street North, c. 1980 The Aylmer Condensed Milk Company was organized between 1905 and 1910 by David Marshall and J. J. Nairn of Dominion Canners. The plant, modeled after their Aylmer Canning Company, provided a market for local farmers and jobs for area residents. The business was sold to Carnation Milk of Washington State in 1916.

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Memories • 203 • Elgin County

Pierce and Sons Livery, John Street South near Sydenham Street, 1913 The livery, with horses and carriages for hire was a key service in this period. People traveling by rail could take a livery omnibus to their hotel upon arrival. Pierce and Sons was located behind the Brown House Hotel. A Pierce livery carriage, or omnibus, can be seen drawn up beside the railway station in the photograph on the next page.

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Memories • 204 • Elgin County

“Old Granny” next to the Grand Trunk Station, west of John Street North, c. 1913 To compete with the Canada Southern, the Great Western Railway (later Grand Trunk) built the “Air Line” a branch line from Glencoe to Fort Erie.

While the Canada Southern ran three miles north of town, the Air Line ran through the north end of Aylmer. The engine, known as “Old Granny,” collected milk cans from and delivered mail to each of the little villages on the line.

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Memories • 205 • Elgin County

Hutchinson Marble Works, 110 Talbot Street East, c. 1913 The modest operation of J.W. Hutchinson symbolizes the importance of small business entrepreneurs in Aylmer. His marble works, which opened in 1874, produced mantle pieces and grave markers. Active in local affairs, he was Mayor of Aylmer five times. His last major work, before his death in 1928, was the Aylmer Cenotaph.

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Memories • 206 • Elgin County

Aylmer Express printing office, c. 1897 The Aylmer Express was first published in 1880 and today is still a weekly broadsheet-sized newspaper.

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Memories • 207 • Elgin County

Talbot Street, looking east from John Street, c. 1925 Automobiles crowd the downtown in this post card view. At left is the Molson’s Bank, soon to be taken over by the Bank of Montreal, and at right is the Brown House, one of the town’s largest hotels. New buildings occupy both corners today.

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Memories • 208 • Elgin County

Talbot Street, looking east from near Myrtle Street, 1950s Pictured on the right is the Texaco station and garage of Frank Truman. Mid-block on the left is the popular coffee shop of Ray and Mary Sheppard.

The Sheppards claimed that this was Canada’s largest small restaurant: it had a seating capacity of 10,000 - 44 at a time. It served Aylmer and the motorists of Highway 3 from 1936 to 1968.

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Memories • 209 • Elgin County

Residence of Dr. J. J. Kingston, 148 John Street South, c. 1913 Unlike today, it was common in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for physicians to operate from an office in their own home. Aylmer doctors of this era all worked from home, J. J. Kingston among them. Dr. Kingston’s residence and office as well as those of doctors McLay, Mann, and Marlatt were all on Gravel Road South (John Street), all within a block of one another; independent but side-by-side.

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Memories • 210 • Elgin County

Swiss Cottage, 369 Talbot Street West, c. 1897 The house, which still stands, was built in 1884 by Enos Scott, the owner of a pork packing plant.

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Memories • 211 • Elgin County

Public Library, 62 Centre Street, c. 1913 Before the building of its public library in 1912, Aylmer had a lending library that occupied a small space in the town hall.

A separate public library was proposed with the prospect of funding from the Carnegie Foundation. David Marshall and J. J. Nairn of Dominion Canners then provided the plot of land.

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Memories • 212 • Elgin County

Trinity Anglican Church, 170 John Street North, c. 1915 Built in 1879 by Episcopal Methodists, this church became Trinity Anglican in 1885 after the Episcopals joined the Wesleyans at St. Paul’s Methodist Church. Designed by Aylmer architect Mark Buffy, it characterizes the British Victorian aspirations of a community proud of its success and expansion in the later nineteenth century.

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Memories • 213 • Elgin County

Lawn bowling grounds, Centre Street, c. 1910 The Aylmer lawn bowling green has long been a quiet summer haven for sportsmen. Dressed quite formally in whites, ties, and hats, they competed with muted determination. They still do, in the same location, now joined by women.

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Memories • 214 • Elgin County

Aylmer Fair Grounds, c. 1915 Every autumn, crowds flocked to the Aylmer Fair, eager to show, to see, and to be entertained by sideshows, midway rides, and horse races. The focal point of the fair was the Crystal Palace (the large building with the flag) built in 1889 as the main exhibition building. It was dismantled in 1965.

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Memories • 215 • Elgin County

Poustie, Stewart and Burgess department store, Talbot Street, 1897

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Memories • 216 • Elgin County

Davenport Public School, Rutherford Avenue, 1960s

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Memories • 217 • Elgin County

Bayham

Chapter Nine

Robinson Street, in front of Chalk’s Drug Store, Port Burwell, c. 1940s The Commercial Hotel is to the left of the Bank of Commerce.

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Memories • 218 • Elgin County

Chapter Nine

Bayham

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Memories • 219 • Elgin County

A dredge and several barges, Port Burwell harbour, c. 1900 Port Burwell’s harbour, at the mouth of the Big Otter Creek, regularly filled up with silt brought down by the river. The dredge filled the barges which were taken out on the lake and dumped.

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Memories • 220 • Elgin County

Robinson Street, looking north from Pitt Street, Port Burwell, c. 1910

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Memories • 221 • Elgin County

Trinity Anglican Church, 25 Pitt Street, Port Burwell, c. 1910 Trinity Anglican was built in 1836 on land donated by the village’s founder, surveyor Mahlon Burwell. The interior was remodeled in 1909 and the spire was replaced in 1978 following a storm which destroyed the original. Many of Port Burwell’s earliest settlers, including some of the Burwells, are buried in the adjacent cemetery which dates back to 1818.

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Memories • 222 • Elgin County

St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Edison Drive, Vienna, c. 1900

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Memories • 223 • Elgin County

Looking west along Edison Drive from Plank Road and the present day Memorial Park, Vienna, c. 1908 Lumber mills were a common sight in nineteenth century Bayham. Millions of board feet of lumber were shipped out of Port Burwell every year during the 1840s and 1850s.

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Memories • 224 • Elgin County

Canning factory, Vienna, c. 1907

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Memories • 225 • Elgin County

Fishing on the Big Otter Creek, Vienna, c. 1910 On the far side of the river is a large water-powered mill.

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Memories • 226 • Elgin County

Fred W. Fay general store, Port Burwell, 1895 The building was lost in an 1899 fire that destroyed much of the downtown.

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Memories • 227 • Elgin County

A house being moved over the Big Otter Creek, west of Eden, c. 1900 The house is possibly being moved along the CPR tracks.

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Memories • 228 • Elgin County

Emery Mill, Port Burwell , c. 1910 Built in 1853, the mill was one of many water-powered mills of various types that took advantage of the Big Otter Creek and its tributaries.

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Memories • 229 • Elgin County

Grade 7 and 8 manual training students, Vienna Public School, 1941 Back row: Howard McIsaac and Marcel Colpaert, Front row: Harvey Southwick, Douglas Bartlett, Wilmer Reid and Arnold Reid.

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Memories • 230 • Elgin County

Left to right: Nora, Clara and Ella Edison with Laddie the dog Nora and her sisters were first cousins of Thomas A. Edison, the inventor, whose father had been born in Vienna but fled following the Rebellion of 1837. Nora donated a large collection of family heirlooms now on exhibit in the Edison Museum of Vienna.

Harvest

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Memories • 231 • Elgin County

Gas fields near Port Burwell, c. 1913 Drilling for natural gas began in 1910 on shore and shortly thereafter on Lake Erie where many wells continue to produce gas today. Gas was used in Port Burwell to light streets and homes before electricity came to the village in 1927.

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Memories • 232 • Elgin County

Marconi Wireless Station near Port Burwell, c. 1914 Built just east of the village in 1913, the station was one of a number of emergency response stations located throughout the Great Lakes.

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Memories • 233 • Elgin County

Richmond Hotel, Richmond, 1905 Built in the first half of the nineteenth century, the 15-room hotel was operated until after WWI by William Smuck. It was demolished in 1959. The man at right with the wagon and team is Harry Godwin, a one-time Reeve of Bayham and roads superintendent.

Harvest

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Memories • 234 • Elgin County

Richmond brass band, 1893 Jim____, Allan Andrews, Bert Green, Lorne Laing, Will Procunier, Will Philmore, Charles Walsh, George Walsh, John Johnson, Jim Johnson, Will Firby, Joe Pearson, Lew Benner, Hiram Morse, Peter Mitts.

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Memories • 235 • Elgin County

CPR bridge near Eden, c. 1910

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Memories • 236 • Elgin County

GTR station, Corinth Many of the goods destined for nearby villages came to this station and many cattle were shipped from here.

Harvest

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Memories • 237 • Elgin County

Plank Road (County Road 19) looking south towards Eden Line (Road 44), 1913 The front porch and one window of the Eden store are visible on the left behind the telephone pole.

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Memories • 238 • Elgin County

Stanley Denton at the counter of his store in Eden, c. 1913 Eden is a small village on the Plank Road which runs between Tillsonburg and Port Burwell. This store, which dates from the 1850s, is still standing. It housed the Eden Post Office from 1891 to 1911.

Harvest

of

Memories • 239 • Elgin County

Aircraft carrying George Elliott’s prize-winning Holstein, 1950 George Elliott, a long-time breeder of Holsteins, farmed near the corner of present-day Elliott Road and Green Line. In 1948, one of his animals, Baralee, was named All-Canadian and All-American champion. The 2600 pound Baralee Pabst Rag Apple Sovereign (XXX) was sold in 1950 and shipped by plane to South America.

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Memories • 240 • Elgin County

Barn raising on the G. E. Wilson farm, lot 23, concession 8, near Eden, 1895

Harvest

of

Memories • 241 • Elgin County

Dance pavilion, Iroquois Beach, Port Burwell, c. 1940

Harvest

of

Memories • 242 • Elgin County

Memorial Park Beach, Port Burwell, c. 1930 The park was developed after WWI and used for camping in the 1920s.

Harvest

of

Memories • 243 • Elgin County

Mrs. McLelland’s Sunday School class, c. 1920

Harvest

of

Memories • 244 • Elgin County

Side-wheel ferry, City of Erie, leaving Port Burwell, 1930s The City of Erie was one of several ferries operated on Lake Erie by the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Company. The 330 foot side-wheeler, launched in 1898, accommodated 450 passengers and in the 1930s, also ran a regular weekend schedule to Port Stanley from Cleveland.

The vessel was scrapped in 1941.

Harvest

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Memories • 245 • Elgin County

Index Adams, C.W. 161 Airey, Col. Richard 66 Allen, A. 161 Allett, Bill 40 Amos, Bruce 103 Anderson, John 16 Andrews, Allan 235 Andrews, E. 161 Andrews, Rev. Stanley 74 Armstrong, Les 5, 16 Ash, Don 40 Ashmore, Charles 84 Athletic Park 136, 137 Atkinson, J. 161 Auckland, Albert 5 Auckland, Walter 5 Avey, Myrtle 47 Axford, Rae 117 Baralee 240 Barnwell, W. 161 Bartlett, Douglas 230 Bawden, Keith 16 Bawden, Ken 16 Bawden, Mrs. 124 Bechard, Dave 17 Bechard, Joe 17 Bechard, Shirley 16, 17 Begg, Mrs. T. 85 Bell, R. 161 Benner, Lew 235 Best, Mrs. Nicol 85 Binks, Bob 40 Blake, Charles 31 Blue, Marjorie 100 Bobier, Edward 61 Bogart, Catherine 17 Boka, Joe 39 Bolger, Pat 65 Bowden, Ken 5 Brad, Mary 47 Bradish, William F. and Sons 14 Bradish, Helen 17, 19, 20 Bradish, Tom 17, 18, 19 Bradish, William F. 21 Brown, “Dinty” 117 Brown, Gerald 76 Brown, Stewart A. 84 Burger, John Sr. 40 Burger, Jack 40 Burwell, Mahlon 222 Burwell, Peter 4 Buswell, John 84 Butler, Mrs. Charles 85 Cain, P 161 Campbell, Angus 5 Campbell, Donald 46 Campbell, Grace 100 Campbell, Neal L. 84 Carroll, Lorne 17

Carroll, Muriel 100 Carroll, Wayne 103 Cascaden, Cliff 148 Caverly, Bill 16, 17 Chalk, Claude 188 Chambers, Gordon 178 Chambers, H. 178 Chambers, Mrs. H. 178 Chambers, Willie 178 Charlton, Fred 5 Clinton, Pat 17 Clinton, Reg 5, 16 Collins, Harry 117 Collins, William 131 Colpaert, Marcel 230 Cott, Fred 90 Coulter, John 5 Crane, Benjamin 72 Crawford, Allan “Bun” 46 Crocker, Cyril 117 Crocker, Ray 117 Cron, William J. 84 Crute, F. 161 Cummings, Lynda 17 Cummings, Mike 40 Curtis, Mrs. S. 85 Davenport, Bert 188 Davey, Sam 60 Davies, John E 55 Davies, Omar “Pete” 46 Demcie, A. 161 Denniss Farm 115 Denniss, Donna 7 Denniss, Lynda 115 Denton, Stanley 239 Diefenbaker, J.G. 62 Doan, Israel 118 Dominion Canners 200 Donnelly, Charlie 131 Donnelly, Flossie 131 Donnelly, Harry 131 Donnelly, John 131 Donnelly, Walter 131 Dorland, Sid 32, 46 Dowler, Mrs. R. 85 Drager, Alma 100 Dufty, William T. 131 Eddleston, R. 161 Edison, Clara 231 Edison, Ella 231 Edison, Nora 231 Edwards, Fred 40 Eggert, Mildred 47 Elgin, Lady 19 Elgin, Lord 18, 19 Elliott, George 240 Ellman, John Henry Ingram 125 Ellman, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Swaffield) 125

Fenn, George 31 Ferguson, Cheri 17 Ferguson, Mike 17 Firby, Will 235 Fish, Sherman 5 Fishleigh, Bill 117 Fishleigh, Don 117 Fletcher, Agnes 85 Frances, George 123 Frederick, Grace 7 Fuller, James 33 Fulton, John 131 Fulton, Robert 80 Fulton, Samuel 80 Futcher, Mrs. J. R. 85 Galbraith, James 5 Galbraith, John Kenneth 62 Gant, J. 161 Gervais, Henry 117 Godwin, Harry 234 Gordon, Claybourne 5 Gorton, Mrs. Helen 85 Gorvett, Morley 117 Graves, Cecil 111 Graves, Harold 111 Graves, Violet 111 Green, Bert 235 Green, Ron 17 Haas, Alexander 41 Haas, Dr. Arthur 41 Haas, Robert 41 Haddow, Richard 17 Hardy, Fred 161 Haviland, Alex 40 Hayden, C. 161 Hepburn, Miss Mary 123 Hepburn, Mitchell 2 Herrie, Alex 175 Herrie, Gordie 175 Herrie, Theresse 175 Hitch, Don 16 Hollingshead, Henry 55 Holmes, Miss Luella 94 Holmes, Mrs. John 94 Holmes, Rev. John 94 Hume, Thomas a nd Sons 9, 10 Hunter, Tommy 8 Irvine, Archie 5 J.W. Hutchinson 206 Jackson, Charles E. 84 Jenkins, Audrey 17 Jenkins, Harold 17 Jewell, Don 76 Jewell, Roy 5 Johnson, Jim 235 Johnson, John 235 Johnston, Mae 47 Jones, Ruth 100 Keillor, Ada 73

Harvest

of

Keillor, Alvro 73 Kelly, James A. 38 Ker, Frederick Innis 66 Kerr, Bob 32 Ketch, Harry 48 Ketchum, Marvin 129 Ketchum, Mary 129 King, Mrs. George 85 Kingston, Dr. J.J. 210 Knight, R. 161 Kruppe, Mrs. L. 85 Ladd, Chauncey 183 Ladd, Dorothy 183 Ladd, Harry 183 Ladd, Mrs. 183 Laing, Lorne 235 Lale, Jack 131 Lancaster, Don 46 Langton, Vic 5 Legers, Mrs. Pat 100 Leitch, Ruth 75 Lethbridge, J.T. 84 Leverton, George 17 Lewis, Amasa 183 Liddle, Harvey 5 Liddle, James 131 Lindsay, Carolyn 18 Lindsay, Pauline 17 Long, Elaine 17 Longhurst, Lester 16 Lusty, Douglas 32 Lusty, Ernest 35 Lyle, John 17 Lyle, Mrs. Alex 85 Lyle, Mrs. W.G. 85 Lyons, Doug 17 Lysko, Cindy 20 Macbeth, George 66 MacDonald, Laurie 75 Manchen, Walter 131 Marr, Bud 17 Martin, Elmore 188 Martin, Lois 100 Martin, Lorne 188 Martini, Charles 46 Martyn, Bill 13, 16, 17 Martyn, John 117 Matthew, Mrs. 85 May, T. H. 158 McCallum, Gordon 46 McCallum, Nancy 103 McCann, Mrs. 85 McComb, T.H. 123 McDonald, Dave 40 McGhee, Ed 161 McGuigan, Jim 22 McIntyre, Murray 123 McIsaac, Howard 230 McKenzie, Tom 148 McKillop, Archie 40

McKillop, Dan 40 McKillop, Duncan 74 McKillop, Hugh 40 McKillop, John A. 40 McKillop, Lionel 40 McKinley, Jim 2 McLauchlan, F. 161 McLaughlin, Madeline 17 McLelland, Mrs. 244 McMahon, Bob 18 McMillan, Archibald 29 McMillan, Duncan 29 McMillan, Robert 131 McNeil, Ron 16 McPherson, Lillie 47 McPherson, Mrs. 85 McTaggert, Herbert 178 McWhinnie, Mac 5 McWilliam, Ann 75 Medcraft, Owen 117 Meek, John 40 Mennill, Joe 17 Messerschmid, Edith 47 Mickleborough, William 138 Mickleborough, Joseph 138 Miller, George “Tip” 46 Millman, Marian 17 Millman, Ralph 16, 17 Mills, Bob 40 Mistele, George 32 Mistele, Oliver 32 Mistele, Walter 46 Mitchener, Ed 161 Mitchener, J. 161 Mitts, Peter 235 Moffatt, Rev. Walter 84 Monteith, Ken 17, 18, 20 Moore, Bob 16, 17 Morris, Florence 47 Morris, S.B. 34 Morse, Hiram 235 Muller, George 178 Murray, Ada 47 Murray, Dave 17 Murray, Jack 40 Nelson, George 32 Newman, Bill 117 Nichols, Harold “Red” 115 Nimmo, Farnell 5 Norton, Bill 117 Oille, John 118 Oldham, Lois 100 Page, William 82 Palmer, Jean 100 Parney, Bill 18 Pearce, John E. 67 Pearce, Joseph 123 Pearson, Joe 235 Peterson, David 18 Petherick, Herb 40

Memories • 246 • Elgin County

Pfeffer, C.A. “Cap” 66 Philmore, Will 235 Pineo, Frank 5 Player, Colin 115 Powless, P. 161 Procunier, Will 235 Prong, Lynda 6, 17, 115 Purcell, Lyle 31 Putnam, George 176 Rapelje, Theresa 103 Read, S. 161 Reid, Arnold 230 Reid, Wilmer 230 Riddell, Jack 18 Riddell, Merv 17 Rietveld, Jerry 17 Robinson, William 161 Rouby, Miss 183 Rowe, Charles 161 Sandham, Ronson 17 Sanders, Jack 2 Schleihauf, Philip 5 Schrub, Etta 47 Schuyler, J. 161 Scott, Duncan 32, 38 Scott, Enos 211 Sharpe, Herbert 158 Shaw, Effie 47 Shaw, Larry 17 Shelly, Lee 131 Sheppard, Mary 209 Sheppard, Ray 209 Sherman, George 46 Silcox, Hugh 105 Silcox, Ruby 17 Sinden, Bernice 17 Smale, Charles 117 Smith, Betty 100 Smith, Bruce 115 Smith, George 158 Smith, Hiram 119 Smith, James 84 Smith, Ken 17 Smith, Lee 117 Smith, Lloyd 17 Smith, Norma 17 Smith, Sam 40 Smith, William 161 Smith, William St. Thomas 140 Somerville, Ken 17 Southwick, Harvey 230 Speirn, Simon 32 Spooner, J.W. 67 Stafford, Wes 103 Stewart, Bob 5 Stinson, Gordon 46 Strachan, Stewart 121 Strachan, Thomas 121 Sutherland, H. V. 84

Sutherland, Lawrence H. 84 Sutton, John 131 Talbot, Col. Thomas 66 Tapsell, Bill 2 Taylor, Morris 16 Taylor, W. 161 Thompson, Captain Thomas 183 Thomson, George 158 Thomson, J.D. 5 Todd, Harry 183 Truman, Frank 209 Tuff, Jack 188 Tufford, Mrs. Ross 85 Turner, J.S. 84 Turvey, Bill 17 Vaalburg, Lawrence 38 Van Crane, Charles 46 Vansyckle, Melvin 131 Vogan, Graham 32, 46 Walker, Cliff 40 Walker, Gordon 46 Walsh, Charles 235 Walsh, George 235 Walters, Ann Halls 124 Walters, Ella Mable 124 Walters, George Henry 124 Walters, Jennie Cramer 124 Walters, Richard Edwin 124 Waters, William 161 Watson, Mac 21 Webb, E.R. 161 Welch, Fred 46 Welter, Mrs. Isaac 85 Wells, Elgin 16, 17 White, Charlie 131 Wilkinson, D. 161 Williams, Cyril 5 Williams, Don 17 Wilson, Barbara 100 Wilson, Doreen 17 Wilson, John 5 Wilson, Ken 17 Wilton Sr., Joe 40 Wilton, Ed 60 Wise, Mrs. John 74 Wise, John 18, 74 Withenshaw, Mary 16 Wood, Amasa 95 Worden, Joe 158 Wright, George E. 158 Wright, Kenneth 5 Yeo, Lewis 124 Yeo, Mrs. 124

Dowler-Karn distributes propane and petroleum products throughout South-western Ontario.

Founded in 1953 by Jack and Joyce Karn, the Company is operated today by Dave Karn, John Karn and sister Barb Molinaro and their spouses. Dowler-Karn employs approximately 90 people in 5 branches.

John Karn with a 1919 Imperial Oil delivery vehicle u This Ford of Canada truck was built in 1919, the first year they were outfitted with electric starters as well as hand cranks. It has a three-speed transmission, a 4-cylinder engine and a top speed of 40 mph (64 kph). The tank has a capacity of 500 gallons (2273 litres).

t Dave Karn with a 1954 White Mustang truck The truck, built by the White Motor Company, was put into service by Hutton Transport, where it operated for nearly 30 years. Jack Karn acquired it in 1988 and completed its restoration. The trailer was built in 1950 by Forman Tank and Welding (now Robica Tank Ltd.) of St. Mary’s. It was used into the 1980s for fuel delivery in Toronto by Imperial Oil. Jack Karn had it restored in the 1990s by Robica Forman.