The Huron Expositor, 1978-06-29, Page 63,„.
36 THE HURON EXPOS1TOR,•JUNE 29, 1978 -.
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More ostwar memories
chopping mill; memories of church
suppers and bazaars and picnics; -
rremories of the youth of the village
leaving for Detroit for its big pay and fast
life.
Memories of Joseph Nagle when he was
reeve of Hibbert Township; memories of
the old horse shoe pits below the
breakwater; memories of the oia telephone
exchange especially of Mary Beale, Lizzie
Et-uxer and Molly O'Connell;,, memories of
the'railway section crew especially of Jimmy
Reel, Pat McGrath, Din Dillon and John
Van Dorrenstein; ' memories of many
farmers -retiring in the village, such as.
Paddy Woods, Billy O'Rourke, Pete
Matthews, Paddy Luney, Pat Morris, Louie
McGrath, Paddy and son Joe Stepleton, •
Martin Feeney, Mike Nagel, Pete Eckert,
Joe Carpenter and many others; memories
of when Pat Benn was bank manager and
Tom Butters was a buttermaker; memories
of when Frank Evans •drove the creamery
truck and Joe 0 'Connel worked at Smith's
garage; memoties of Ed' Stapleton taking
over his father grain and feed business and
of Ferg StaPleton establishing a chicken '-
production industry.
On and on 'could go, down mentor lane
on an almost inexhaustable trek back into
(Continued on Page 37)
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Hoadtbrdbmpi66s
CHAMBAE DES COMMUNES
CANADA .
•
OTTAWA, Ontario
1(1A OX2
June'12, 1978
TO ALL WHO ARE LUCKY ENOUGH
TO CALL D U B- L:1 N "HOME"
HAPPY 100TH
BILL JARVIS, M.P.
Perth-Wilmot
Anniversary
Vilacigaitc
ill F?EtsfOrRID AYR CAMBRIDGE th
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St. Patrick's
At the other end of the_ village was St.
Patrick's Church, a prestigeous building
Aich reflected the faith of the community.,„
In those days Dublin was about 98%
Catholic and it's worthy to note that Alex
and „facic=-Darling in—their turn ivere ,-
guaranteedin any village election a postion
ai the town council as representative of the
Protestant minority. - .
I. can remember Father Noonan, •-a•
distinguished looking gentleman, who as
ixistor was genuinely concerned with his
• flock and served theM with patience and
love. I can recall the peal of the Church hell
renouncing his death and the grief and
awrow of the people., both Protestant and
Catholic, that ensued. •
Too, I recall Otherpriests.at St-Patrick's
including Father McCardle, FlitherWhite„
Father O'DrOuski, Father Mines, Father
Dmandand the present pastor Father Dill.
Then there was Patrick Rowland and later
his son Joe as ,ahle caretakers rind I recall
the: old .1-6Seph 19,dd residence, a palatial
home, whiCh served for many years as the
Church rectory and was finally replaced by
. . a more modern home.
Education
Who can ever forget the interest and the
'
cledicatiOn that the people of Dublin had in
the field ot' education? The village Used, to
have two elementary school and a high
whooL Today Only St: Patrick's Separate
School remains'. The public school was
dcmOlished. .and the high school and.
• convent now are 'offices fir;:' the H
Perth Roman Catholic Separate. School
Board..
1 can remember when the convent,
'r housed 13 ,UrsirlitieSisters; ,todaY they're
. •, arc• all gone. ..
These sisters, •,Vv:26e dedicated teachers
and it was to their credit that many of the
waduates of -the public school continued
• their education with, the ,nuns at the high
• '
Perhaps Dublin's ',greatest con-
tribution to society at large has been the .
12•adudtes of the Dublin COntinuation.
School who have served in all walks of life,
same-with great distinction.
During this period that I an) recalling
• Dublin had two barbershops. One . was
conducted by Walter Carpenter and the
other by Dan: CostellO. In conjUnction with
his barbershop Mr. Castello conducted the
local pool room.
i . Mens' Club
It was the exclusive Men's Club of the
village, when any man was entitled to get a
hair, cut or a shave; play' a' game of pool.
indulge in a game of euchre 'or settle the
problems ,of the nation. With Walter
Carpenter's retirement his business closed
and when Dan Costello's retired Dublin' no
longer possessed a, barber.
I remember in 1922 when Looby sold
his Creamery and returned to „ his con-
tracting business which he had established
in Dublin at 'the turn ,of the century and
which has been carried on by his four sons.
joe, Oaytork, 'Clarence and Louis and , is.
considered today as one orate best bridge
building o tfits in the proVince.
The cam had a succession of
.owners inc u mg Tim •O'Flynn, Ed Tyers,
Bill Hanley a man by the name of Kostock
and finally' the premises became the
property of Export Packe.13 of Toronto and
today is a ppultry processing plant
employing a staff of up to '50 people.
Canning-Factory-- - •
Another And.ustry of Dublin in the late
1920's was the Dublin Canning Factory. It
was L.J. Looby whoa.-brought William
Smith, a brother' of Gar. and FrAni, to
Dublin to interest the people of the area in
4 canning factory. For two years-meetings
were held throughout the, area in an
attempt to interest people to invest in the
venture.
The factory, was built in 1929 but from
the beginning was doomed to failure
tx;catise of lack of sufficient financing
along • with the • fact that • its opening.
coincided with the beginning of the Great
Depression. The men behind. this venture
were G.J.. Looby, Wm. Smith,.. Wm..
Stapleton,' Ed. Tyers and Wm. Byrne, .The
operation laSted two seasiins arid_, finally._
Bolded. The bitilding became the property
of Wm. 'Stapleton and later was used- by
Ferg Stapleton in his. chicken indnstry..
Another industry of Dublin .establiShed
at a later date was the pickle plant. At first
there were three then connected .with••the
plant, Albert Kramers,, Ab Rock and Gerry
Gleason. Then 'Albert Krainers took the
business over •and built a.plant on Matilda
Strect. . Today • this business is being
conducted by his widow and family and 'the
cucumbers arc graded for B•icks..
• Shoe Repair
Upon the death of Wm. Hill the Dublin
Hardware'' _was taken over by Marlin
Klitikharniner. then for many years it was
operated by Torn Butters andnt the present
(line is owned by Matt McCreight.. 1 can
also. remember two. shoe'f'revairnien in
Dublin and Irishman, Pat 1-lurtey and a
lEnglishMan, Lawrence Bragg. . •
And I remember Michael- Benniger
' raising prize-winning silver foxes . and
bees: And Alex Dar ling conducting .a farm;
equipment service and Michael McPhail a
service station.
And' who • can ever forget Charlie
- Douglas, probably the• most interesting ,
business • man that ever existed?. At his,
stare on the highway one could buy. a quick
lunch of fried eggs or ;have a love lette,r
written, all for 25 'cents.
, An 'then there was the ,Liffy,, How I
remember its beauty betort it., gave way to
progress, I. remember it, winding its way
slowly and surely into the Village from. the
norm, passing. under the highway bridge,
sneaking along the old •br eakwater through -
the Main Street Bridge. flowing almost to
Wm. Stapleton's back door,'
hi and out it,went.. shallow here and deep
there, broacthere and narrow there, Clean
and clear water, it flowed southward from
the village and at Saddler's Tile yard it
filially joined the Bayfleld River and on and
an it went. Today it stands as a memorial to'
man'sstupidity - polluted and ruined to the
nth- Aegree "
Bad Memories
BesideS gOodinetribrieS I have some bad
memories. It was the great fire of 1879 that
almost reduced the 'village to nothing.
Since that time there have been other fires.
The' first fire I remember was Charlie
Douglas' place of business,: Harvey
Racho's old garage which burnt to the
grou nd_ .i n -Aug —
It was during this fire that the call came
that Frank 'Meagher of Dublin had been
killed'in an accident inGoderich. Mr.
'Meagher wasin partnership with L.J.
LOOby and 'they had the-Contract Aci' build
the North pier' in the Goderich harbour..
Mr. Meagher ivas crushed to death under
huge wooden pilings. With a death and a
fire on the same day Dublin was shook up. I
also remember at the fire that day that it
way Bill Krauskopf and Jack Darling who
were instrumental in ailitaining the fire.
and saving the adjacent residence.
In ruin's ,
Mrs. Walter Carpenter's residence and
bake shop, the home of Ned Flannagan and
the Curtin home were alsol destroyed by'
fire but it was in the big fire at the
Creamery in the 1950's that history almost
repeated itself. This fire broke' out on a
very stormy night and because of the high
winds and lack of water it seemed.,almost
definite that by morning the village would
lay in ruins. But the fire was contained and
great tribute was paid to Monica• Roach
who manned the switch board at the
telephone office at great. risk to her life.
Fire has always been a cause of anxiety
.• to the village because of the lack of water.
The village used to have its own fire
argines but they must be outdated by now.
I often wonder whatever has happened to
'this equipment - it must be antique by now.
•- -A Gravel Road
I • have other memories; 'memories of
when. Dublin had its own resident. dentist
Dr. Eugene Keyes"; memories of when
Donal Benniger was reputedly cured Of
infatile paralysis at the Martyrs Shrine in
.Midland, memories of Bruxer's Chopping
Mill with its stateIST smoke stack; memories
of Diegel'S Harness shop; memories of
when, Highway 8 was a grave' road;
memories of when the late Clarence Looby
maintained a skating rink behind the old
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were two churches. 5t, Mary's Anglican
Church, built in 1868. was .located' on
lighway 8 on the site of the present Bell
Telephone Building.The congregation of
this Church in its best days was small•and
it never had a resident rector. Some years
ago this church was demolished.
Congratulations
to the Citizens of DUBLIN
on-your. 100th Birthday
TORONTO DOMINION BANK
where people make the difference SeafOrth•
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