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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1971-05-13, Page 13Clinton, Ontario, 106 Year No. 19 Thursday, May 13, 1971 Clinton News-Record Seeokd Sectiou Bob Holmes Was a onetime editor of the Clinton New Era. He later' succeeded M. C. Cameron as Liberal M.P. of Huroe-West. Carnet-on eventually became Lieutenant Governor of the North West Territories, In days of yore when this picture of the old Huron News-Record office and staff was taken, the newspaper was located across the street from the present location, about where the laundromat now is. Boardwalks, hitching posts and ankle-length dresses were the order of the day in those days. JUly 1967 saw this ceremony in the News-Record office, as the News-Record changed hands to the latest of a long line of owners. A. Laurie Colquhourt, who for many years published the News-Record, hands over a copy of the' paper to the new owner, R. G. (sob) Shrier, president of Signal-Star Publishing Ltd., Goderith. Mr. Colquhoun continues to operate the printing portion of the business, News Record has come a long way since 1864 George Ellis is a former editor f the Goderich Signal-Star. Since his retirement in 1966, Mr. Ellis has been compiling a history of all the newspapers in Huron County. Here he tells of the long history of the News-Record from the early 1860's until the present. ,..13arli)in 1879, Blyth had two ewspapers, The Record and lso The Review. Both of these ere short lived. In 1885, The Blyth Standard was started by J. eslie Kerr. He was followed as ublisher by J, H, R. Elliott, hen by A. Robinson. In 1938, en Whitmore took over, and, n h'is death, his son, Doug hitmore, became publisher. Blyth was incorporated as a illage in 1877, when it had a opulation of 850. First settlers ere Lucius A. C. McConnell, ounty Down Irishman, and enneth MeBean, a Scotsman. Blyth was originally known as Drummond, after one of its a r 1 i est settlers, Robert Drummond. Incorporated as a village on January 10, 1876, Bayfield Was named after a celebrated engineer employed by Baron De Foile, who purchased considerable land in the present Bayfield area from the Canada Company for about 50 cents per acre. First newspaper to service Bayfield was The Huron Gazette, published at Goderich from February 18, 1848, but which went out of business in 1849. The Bayfield Advertiser, printed by The Clinton New Era, with George Stanbury as editor, Operated from 1895 to 1896. Mr, Art Elliott published The Bayfield Bulletin in 1965 and 1966 and on a Summer basis in 1961 and 1968, A newspaper press used by the noted leader of the Rebellion of 1837 in tipper CAnada, William Lyon Mackenzie, Toroto's First Mayor and grandfather of the Late Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King, once regularly printed The New Era, the third of at least seven newspapers which at one time or another operated in Clinton. When Mackenzie's march on Toronto failed, the Loyalists raided his propaganda printing press into Toronto Bay. Later, after the press had been fished out of the bay and repaired it was purchased by The New Era of Clinton. It was used for several years and finally broken up and sold to a foundry in Clinton as scrap iron. First newspaper in, Clinton was The Courier established in1864 by George Laycock. The plant was located at the rear of what is now the Menzies and Parker Law Office at 47 Albert Street in Clinton. In that same year, Mr. Kelly, operating from Blyth, circulated a newspaper in Clinton know as The True Briton. Since Clinton was then only a small village, having been incorporated as a village on January 1, 1858, both newspapers had a difficult time to exist so during the fall of 1864 both folded due to lack of port. When Clinton became a ge without any newspaper, nd Holmes came up from Tht Times of Hamilton and hattte the plant -of The True Briton. Mr Laycock then offered his printing equipment to Mr Holmes and formed a partnership with the latter. Their first issue came off the press on July 6,1865 and was known as The New Era. This newspaper was so named because the owners hoped to establish a "new era" for a newspaper in Clinton which had previously provided only difficulties for a newspaper. The staff consisted of Edmund Holmes, his son Bob, Edwin Grigg and one lady. At the end of six month Ed Holmes bought out the interest in The New Era held by George Laycock, Only because Mr. Grigg was the only , "paid' employee for some time was The New Era able to keep "out of the red", The fact that various members of the Homes family took a share in the mechancial work 'also helped. Since Edmund Homes was a pronounced Liberal his viewpoint was not appreciated by the Conservatives on his mailing list. The Conservatives threatened to start a newspaper of their own. Realizing from what happened in fortner years that two newspapers could not survive in Clinton, the owners of The New Era decided to sell. When this took place, the Conservatives appointed Edwin Grigg, a Conservative, as its manager. Mr. Grigg immediately changed the name of the newspaper to The Monitor. After running it for six months, he sold it back to the former owner because the expected support of the public was just not there. Later on, the paper was once more sold, this time to Robert Mathison, a school teacher from Milton, Ontario. Mr. Mathison improved the contents of the newspaper considerably but did not make a financial success of it, Consequently, the business once again reverted back to the Holmes family. This time it was owned by Edmund Holmes and his son, Bob Holmes. Incidentally Robert Holmes was Mayor of Clinton from 1894 to 1898 and later became Liberal M.P. for West Huron from 1904 to 1908. A report of a political meeting in South Huron which appeared in The New Era was regarded by Conservatives as so politically biased that a group of irate Conservatives raided The New Era plant one night while the paper was being published and destroyed the entire issue. After several years of operation under the name of E. Holmes and Son, The New Era was sold to W.H. Kerr and Son. No records are available to show where the New Era office was located but in 1910 it was in a building which later became a farm feed store. Mr. J. Leslie Kerr took over from his father, W.H, Kerr, and operated the paper until he sold out to Edward Hall in 1924. Mr. J.L. Kerr then went to Brussels where he purchased The Brussels lost. As newspaper owners and newspapers came and went over the years in Clinton, the villiage eventually was incorporated as a town in 1875. Clinton once had 35 different groceries, three hardware and three bakeries, eight hotels and threee law firms. Its first settlers were Jonas Gibbings of 'Toronto Township and Peter and Stephen Vanderburg of ?onge Street North, Toronto. Gibbings left Toronto in June, 1831, coming to Goderich and then headed out the Huron Road to the present location of Clinton. The Vanderburgs came by land at the same time. Peter Vatiderburg built a log house which he used as a tavern, the first in the district. "Yankee Read" was the tavern's next owner, while in 1844 the owner was William RAttenbury, a native of Devonahire, England. Rattenbury bought lots and laid out the village in1855. lie called the place Clinton in honor of Lord Clinton, on whose estate in Devonshire his father worked as a large tenant farmer. Swamps, stumps, snakes, mosquitoes and fire flies were continual irritations to the early settlers. Among the colorful early settlers was Joseph 'Whitehead. A mechanical engineer by protestor, he Was stoker on "The Rocket" on its celebrated first run over the rails between Manchester and Liverpool. Whitehead eventually took a contract in connection with the building of the Great Western Railway and also on the Buffalo and Lake Huron Railway. But to return to Clinton's newspapers. During its career, The New Era had two libel suits. One involved a medical doctor from.Clinton and also one from Seaforth, Another suit occurred as a result of a fight that had taken place at Varna, a report of which appeared in The New Era. In this case, the plaintiff, (who was a brother of the defendant) was awarded damages amounting to ONE CENT! The jury decided that each party should pay his own court costs. The New Era was not always without newspaper opposition. In the Fall of 1880, Edward Floody tired of teaching school in Goderich Township and dicided to try the newspaper business. He purchased a defunct newspaper plant at Blyth in December, 1881. The Record was first [opted on Ontario Street and later at 63 Albert Street. A professedly Conservative newspaper, The Record found surprising support from some Liberals also. Mr. Floody secured many lively news correspondents. One of them, W.E. Groves, later became Principal of Ryerson Public School in Toronto. Mr. Floody had the usual editor's headaches of libel suits and embarrasing misprints with his paper. In May, 1882, he sold out to A. H. Blackely. a Dominion government factory inspector; and J.T. }trivia, foreman of The Galt Reporter. By Noveniber of that year the aforementioned partnership decided they had had enough and sold the paper to N.H. Buckner of The Hamilton Times. Mr, Buckner lasted only two weeks when he sold the paper to its founder, Edward Floody, who still held a mortgage on it, Mr. Floody sold The Record in 1883 to W.T. Whitely and A.M. Todd publishers of The Goderich News. The latter two men moved part of their plant from Goderich to Clinton and then changed the name of the paper from The Record to The CLINTON NEWS RECORD Ed. Floody and Bob Holmes, at one time publishers of opposition papers at Clinton, later were both employed by the Ontario Government and worked in the same building at Toronto. In their off duty hours they often got together to swap yarns on amusing incidents that happened during their.newspaper days back in Clinton. About 1900, Whitely and Todd sold The Clinton News Record to W.J. Mitchell of Hanover. When Mr..- Mitchell met his death suddenly in London, The News Record was sold in 1916 to G. Edward Hall, first an employee of The New Era and later of The News Record. Mr. Hall's editor was Miss Mabel R. Clark, an aunt of an outstanding Canadian newspaperman, Gregory Clark, who frequently 'visited her at Clinton. In November, 1924, Mr Hall also purchased the opposition paper, The Era and since that time Clinton has been a one newspaper town. Mr. Richmond S. Atkey, who was with the Daily Commercial News of Toronto, and Mr. Herman L. Tomlinson of The Barrie Examiner purchased The Clinton News REcord from Mr. Hall in September, 1945. By June, 1946, Mr. Tomlinson returned to Barrie and Mr. Atkey remained publisher. In March, 1948, A, Laurie Colquhoun had first been an apprentice at the News Record, then served with the „RCAF in World War IL On his discharge from the Air Force he came back to The News Record after a brief period with Tile Daily Pree Press at Nanairno In 1952, Frank and Harty lVicEwan also became assoiated with 'The News Ilecord, Previous They also started a new newspaper, The Clinton Citizens-NewS, which operated to this the McEwan brothers, following service in World War , II, started a commercial printing business in Clinton. In March, 1962, Mr. Atkey sold his interest in The Clinton News Record and purchased The Chronicle at Arnprior, Ontario. By July, 1957, Mr, Colquhoun had purchased the two-thirds interest in The Clinton News Recored held by the McEwan brothers. Exactly ten years later, in July, 1967 Signal-Star Publishing Limited of Goderich purchased the publishing rights of The Clinton News Record. Mr. Colquhoun retained the building and as also its commercial printing plant. Soon after The Clinton News Record was printed at Goderich on the newly installed offset press there by S ignal-Star Publishing Limited, beaded by Robert J. Shrier, Mr. J, Howard Aitken of Goderich was appointed manager of The Clinton News Record. Looking back over the period from 1864 to 1970 it will be noted that there have been a total of about 25 owners and part owners of the various newspapers that have been published in Clinton.. Newspapers in Blyth and Bayfield were shortlive(l