The Huron Expositor, 1978-06-29, Page 43•••••••••••••
Congratulations
Dublin on your
100th Birthday
We hope we may
see you during
the Anniversary
weekend at the
SEAFORTH
° GOLF &
COUNTRY
CLUB
Phone 527-0985
PHONE
519.346-2913
BOX 22
DUBLIN, ONT., WOK 1E0 Seaforth 527-1803
taStgantid
BREAD & DONUTVMOP
I Congratulations
DUBLIN
On 100 Great Years
O'ROURKE TRANSPORT
Livestock and Genera! Trucking
Congratulations
DUBLIN
on
100th Birthdayt
Over 40 Varieties of Donuts
Tasty-Nu white sliced:Bread-
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JUNE 24; 1978 19
Dutch join Irish here, in '50's
(A photo-story by Bruce Murdoch in the
Hamilton Spectator: Pictures courtesy the
Hamilton Spectator. 1959)
It is .hard to belieye .that the Irish are
giving way to the,Dutch around Dublin, but
that is what I was told when I visited the
little Ontario community of that name last
'Week, it on No. 8 Highway sonic '18 miles
- northwest of Stratford. and midway
between Mitchell and Seaforth.
Originally known as .Carronbrook, the
community was settled largely by Irish
immigrants in the 1840's when the Canada
Company was opening up what was known
as the HUron Tract. The section of. today's
-Nor 8.'HigbWay froth around Strafford to
Goderich was then called the Huron Road.
"It used to be all Irish, either by.birthor.
. descent around this village, but in recent,
years the Dutch, have bought up practically
all of the farms," said Miss Monica Byrne;
village postmistress, who has worked in
the Dublin post , office since ft935. She
added that 10 years ago there Isere ,many
vacant farmsin the' area but that "now you
can't buy one ,..at all." •
The new 'arrivals from Holland, she said,
(From A Hibbert Review Part 2. 1959)
In 1899 Jacob Weber, Matthew Williams
and Dennis' O'Leary approached the
.._ Bishop of London Diocese about the
Wilding of. a Roman Catholic Church in
Dublin. Later, consent was granted by
Bishop McGray, provided a sufficient
amount of money could be collected. After
this had been arranged to the satisfaction
of the bishop, Rev, William Fogarty, curate
at that time to Rey. Dean Murphy at St.
Columban, was appointed to head the
building committee. Others on the
committee 'were Jacob 'Weber, Bernard
O'Connell, Patriek---Woods, Frank
McConnell, Matthew Williams and
- 'Thomas-- Ryan.----4-n----11900 Cott' tithan _
parish, the one to which this area was
.connected, was divided, and that year St.
Patrick's Church,at Dublin was built, Early
inthe year the above committee. purchased
the, old Joseph -Kidd-estate• from John J.
McKenna, and in the early spring the first
sod was turned for the new church, which
. is a:beautifteWhite brick edifice. The
contractors were Davis' and. Eizerman. of
IVEtchell, and the architects, 'Moore and
Henry, of London. Alex_Darling drew, the
first' load, of tacks. On May • 25th the
cornerstone was laid by Bishop McGray, of
the Diocese of London. The dedication by
Bishop Dowling, of Hamilton, took place on
November 25th of that same year.
Rev, William Fogarty was the first
pastor, and Miss May Williams was the
first organist, it wasn't till- December.
1902, that the consecration of the hall in
the basement took place.
Other priests in charge of- the parish
after Rev. William Fogarty. who passed
away in December, 1902, have been Rev.
are "very fine people and hard workers'.
and making a real success of their farming
ventures,
To the,sonth of Dublin. Miss Byrne told
me. is a Scottish settleMent including the
villages Of Staffa aridCromarty, and to the
Borth, in the Brodhagen area, is a German
settlement.
At the post office. I met Frank Burns. 74,
who has handled one of the three mail
Mutes- Horn Dublin for the last 36 years.
"For 24 of those 36 years". he said, "I also
took the 'mail to and .from the railway
• station every week day, but the • -mail
doesn't 'come by train anymore. It is
delivered by truck right to the post office,"
Speaking of the gradually changing
population,--Mr.- Burns said' "These -n-ew
Canadians send and receive a great
amount of mail, far more •than' the
ad-timers. They write a great many letters
and.they nearly all go by air mail, with the
postage often being 35 or 40 cents. I'm
certainly handlilng a lot more mail than I •
nsed, to."
' He said. the past winter, due to beaVy
snowfall. wars one Of the hardest he had
•
Penesault (relieved), ' Rev, Thomas
NOonan, %tho died while still in charge in
1928, Rev. Frank P. White, 'Rev. Francis
O'Drowski and Rev, Frank Brickland• his
assistant. The present pastor is Rev. .1. B.
FfoulkeS, and hiS assistants have heen
Rev. Farrell and Rev. J. F. Lynch.
St. Patrick's Cemetery. lies east of the
diurch. Thomas Murphy.' as far as sis
known. who :passed away June 14,, 1902,
was the first person buried here. His wife's
death on the marker shows an eartie~ date,
September 4. 19 )I. but she \vas first buried
in St. Coluniban cemetery.' and the
remains later lifted arthiterred here.
Josepi iiicidts-reKid c n cc t the r t h of
the church, has been the home of all the
pricSts 'in charge of this parish..
These highlights of the/village and, the
concession in the northern part of the
township give some insight into the
development of Hilbert Township, and
recalls. the. names of many who were
hi • for• • tesponst langing the primeval ,
forest into a-townShip, where the horn Of
plehty has poured far and free its bounties
upon the inhabitat.gs—never-leaving them
with a lack of any good thing.
These sturdy pioneers did their part well
in laying the foundations, of this, the third
smallest township in Perth County. Then,
one by one they all were taken, and One by
one theft-places tilled, and so on down the
'generations till' now we have Our part to
play. These had a vision, to sacrifice, for
that was their great joy. Let's 'not break
faith with. them. There's pioneering yet to
do. Their years of labor and of service are
a challenge still to takd their torch from
falling hands and carry on.
ever put in. "And now it's mud I have to.
eontehd with," he added, "but there are'
plenty of places along some of the rural
roads where snowdrifts are still high."
Being an incorporated police village.
Dublin remains a part of Perth County's
1-fibbert Township. but its municipal
affairs, to a considerable degree, are
Handled bythree elected trustees. Those in
office at present are Gerald Holland
(nnSpeeting trustee). Charles Friend and
Joseph Looby. •
Dublin's population today,' including
children: told me, is less that
;100 - probably about 200 -. but as far hack
it; 1879, it numbered as high as 750.
"But it used to be very much .b.tisier in
the old days." he said. "Joseph Kidd-and
San bad a salt works .which turned out 200
Ttrrels of salt per day. Using sonic 4..000
cords of wood year to' provide heat •
The brine was piped from dwell live miles
away near Seaforth. The salt barrels were
manufactured on the premises and Melds
also ran a stave factory and sawmill. Kidds
also ran a big general store. There were
alu,,i• mills and small industries here, as
St. Patrick's Day has always been a tog
(lay around Dublin, 'according to the chid'
tmstec. "But With tuo place here to hold a
big get-together or reunion c•ylebration
an5'ntore, tile scene has Changed 10 Metro
Turtha 0 where there are more Dubliln
natives, now than there are ill Dublin",
. "It was started four _years ago by 11w
kids front here who had gone to Toronto to
live," he said. 'Tlwre is no place for'them
to come back to here, so they. arranged to
hold fhc St.--Patrick's Day get-together in
. This year, the fourth ;annual
Dubliln party %I...as held at ,a restaurant in
the ,Alderwood Playa and 140, from here
attended the dinner' and dance. We even
tcok over an orchestra of Dublin. players."
He declawd that there is no "future" for
the younger people remaining 'In Du blin
and that they Ica'e at a fairly punt-A age to
seek employment • clseWhere. "We did
have a . gout! hockey . team and even a
championship girls' s';oftball team at one
One," he said, "but there is no material .
for teams Anymore. We haven't even a
children'S'playgrottnd tit present. but may
have one before very' long„","
He said that Dublin people contribute to.
'-organizations in both Scalorth and Mitchell
such'as the Lions Club and. other .t.,)rattps.
They go. to these _plaecs..14 their skating-...
curling and. hockey.
,loseph Stapleton, now living retired in
the.village, told me that he was horn there,
a son of Patrick Stapleton.. "Yes,.it used to
he all Irish around here," he said, "but the
.hish are getting pretty well thinned out."
He said his father 'had told him that at
one time "in the good qld,,days", there
were seven hotels operating in Dubli n,
with liquor stores , too, and whisky all over
the place. He told, too, of the salt works
and factories.
It 'was interesting to learn that the little
village operates its own hydro distribution
system, buying electrical energy from the
Ontario Hydro Electric Power Commission.
his run by the public utilities commission
under the name of Police Village of Dublin
Hydro System, and was st arted in 1918, at
which time debentures for $5,000, long
since paid off,. were' issued. Its system
today is completely modernized and • fully •
paid for. Incidentally, its rates seem. to be
lower than those of the rural setups.
The oldest business establishment still
in the same family is Dill's general store.
Taken over by Peter Dill. 90, and now
living retired in Stratford, 52 years ago, it
is now owned and operated by his son, -
Joseph Dill, who has been in the business
since 1934,
• 'Years ago we never used to sell canned -
toots, it was all bulk." Mr.,, Dill said.
"Barter wits the order of the clay and we
took in till kinds-of farm•prolltIce -- even •
teal hers". In his spare time, by the way,
Mr.. Dill acts as sccreary of the public
lrtilitles commission.
There arc two schools - a separate school
staffed by . the Ursuline Sisters, and a
continuation- school where , high school
grades''are taught./ • • •
The Goderich-Stratford line. of the CNR
runs through the but: as has
happened on many branch lines, the .
number o r Irains has been reduced. A few
years ago there were four passenger trains
(LAY, butt now there arc two, !inbound to
(k in the morning and dowribound to
Stratford in the afternoon. Also in the line
of transportation,. there is a Goderich-,-, Stratford fills tie
-
Operating on No. 8
•Iiighway'.... .
Industrially, Dublin has a creamery and
poultry packing business, a seasonal pfelde
plant and a It.'1A1 mill, its' stores include a.
hardware, electrk.' supplies, a general store •
and a quite modern Red and White market.
And 't+peratiOg the old blacksmith shop.
once owned by his father, .iini Kranskopf
times general repair work.
'The area has its own telephone syStem.
operatiog in conjunction with Bell
"Idephone. It is known as the MeKillop,.
login and Hibbert Telephone -COmpany.
Church building fun
started in 1899