The Wingham Advance-Times, 1954-07-28, Page 374
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75 th Anniversary Central Committee
Left to right: J. P. McKibbon, past pres., Business Assoc.; Norman Keating, chairman invitations committee; Reeve. R. E. McKinney
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Hamlet to
Wednesday* July 28, 195<
JPage Thirty-seven
C'
Great changes have taken place numerous stores began .to appear.
' Telephone service was .introduced’ in
1885.
H. P. Carmichael, pres , Business Assoc., sponsoring group; Mayor D eWitt Miller; Johnny Brent, general chairman; Warren Callan,
treasurer. Absent Clare Cantelon, chairman decorating committee; Barry Wenger, chairman publicity committee.
^bode Locations „
Of Early Settlers
(Continued from page thirty-six.)
in the roadway at the corner.
George Green built a hotel on the
corner of McIntosh, across from his
store, and north of the hotel was a
cottage where Mr. McGregor, the first
tailor resided when he arrived in the
Town Pot. This was later the home
of,Mrs. Spence who had one of 'the
private schools before the erection of
the public school. Then came at double
house occupied by the Baptist minister
and Mr. Woodland, and beyond that
the first Baptist Church now the Low
er Wingham school.
West Side of Helena
^•Returning to the bridge and follow
ing north on the west side of- Helena
“Street was T. G. Jackson’s store, and
adjoining his kitchen garden was the
inn driving shed for the convenience
of farmers, with an outside stair to
a hall above. Then came the inn, rent
ed by Mr. Copeland and owned by
Robert Eadie, who operated a grocery
store in the north part of the inn.
Next was Campbell’s general store,
managed by Mr. McGuire, the dwell
ing part behind the store being oc
cupied by Lauchie MacLean. (Mr.
MacLean later built his own house
farther up Helena Street). A store
and residence beside the Campbell
general store, was burned in 1864 and
Stewart’s store and Matnieson’s wool-
len-milj were built on the site.
.’Next to this came the street, prob-»land Street (the first street south of}./
be
st.
the
led
ably a continuation of Vicforia, for it
is not in line with McIntosh. It is
lieved that the break in Victoria
was the result of the building of
Lower Wingham- dam. This street
west, past the Market Square, and
across a small creek beyond. Here
lived the Campbell, Turnbull, Ruther
ford, Phippen, Wiley, Kyle, Graham,
Netterfield, and Fairweather families.
Continuing north on Helena Street,
across the corner from the woollen
mill, stood the home of Carr the shoe
maker. A few vacant lots and then
came Bolton’s, house, in a piece of
marshy land beside the creek, a fear
some looking place. It was too tall
for its size and built on stilts, a pre
caution against floods, but it was be
lieved that any flood would have car
ried it away. Mr. Bolton was an Eng
lishman, who became disgusted with
the cold weather in these parts, and
he later moved to Chicago. He was
drowned while teaching his boys to
swim, just before the, big Chicago fire.
Beyond the creek was Joseph
Flack’s tannery with a tiny dam, and
several dwellings further on. Here
Helena Street seemed to lose itself
among park lots but by following de
vious corduroy roads, one came in,
sight of Gregory’s flour mill, situated
on the upper dam.
South of Fisher’s Bridge
On the west sMe of the hill, south
of the bridge on Helena Street, stood
the homes of„ Archie Fisher .and old
Mrs. Simmie. To the east along Mait-
the river) were a number of lots fac- of dwellings later converted to stores,
ing the Maitland River, one of these
being the Jackson orchard. They only
had fruit if they picked it green. One
time someone injected jalap into some
of the apples and an epidemic among
the village boys followed. There was a
spring of lovely, cold water in the
river bank opposite the orchard. -
Further east on Maitland Street was
Arthur Street, with Graeme's bridge
crossing the river to Victoria. (There
is no bridge at this point now). This
street skirted Green’s prairie and on
it lived people named Wright, Cooper,
Hartt, Netterfield, and several of the
Green families.
'On McIntosh Street, between
Graeme’s bridge and Helena Street,
lived the Johnston, Foster, Carruthers
and Bruce families with their black
smith, wagon and cooper shops situ
ated on this street as well.
Upper Wingham
Upper Wingham began at Arthur
Street. On the south side of Victoria
Street was the dwelling of James
Shrigley (opposite Leopold Street),
then (Dr. Sloan’s, J. Nichol’s house
and carpenter shop and a cooper shop
and dwelling owned by Mr. Shaw. Next
to this was Scott Street, running dia
gonally from Victoria to the Gravel
Road toward Belgrave, where Ritchie’s
house stood on one side and wagon
shop on the other.
From Scott Street, Victoria sloped
toward Josephine and continuing on
down the south side of Victoria stood
Newlove’s cobbler shop and a number
with Foley’s Tavern on the corner
facing Josephine.
From the corner of Josephine and
Victoria Streets,- onthe north side of
the latter, stood Sextus Kent’s gener
al store, Risdon’s shoemaking shop,
Mooney’s tinshop, Langdale's watch
making shop (also the first telegraph
office) and Barcley’s tailor shop.
There were no buildings on the
east side of Josephine Street. A swale
began at Diagonal Road and extended
south past Victoria Street and on to
ward Bluevale. James Graham’s
blacksmith shop stood at the north
. end of the swale, far below the level
of Josephine Street. When the stores
were first built on the east side of
Josephine, the back doors were ten
feet or more from "the ground and
water stood in the* back yards all
fluring the summer months.
Places of business on3 the west of
Josephine Street were scattered
jthat time. Going north from Kent’s
store was Warren’s store, an inn with
a driving shed and hall above the shed,
all being under one roof (the site of
the present Queens Hotel) and a few
small dwelling places.
at
The new tank at the C.P.R. station
cost about $1,800 and has a capacity
of 40,000 gallons.—News item 1889.
Messrs,
opened a
Block. —News item 1887.
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YOUR TOWN
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Wingham’s story, since its incorporation, down to .
the present 75th Anniversary Celebrations, has been
recorded in the pages of The Wingham Advance,
The Wingham Times and The Wingham Advance-
Times. Week by week, for over eighty years, the
two papers which later became one, have carried
news and advertising of particular interest to Wing
ham and its.people.
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It is a human story, full of events in the lives of those
who have made this community their home, their
comings and goings, births and deaths, joys and
sorrows, victories and defeats. And it is worthy of
note that stories pertaining to shame or disgrace
are almost totally missing from the files. It is the
stories of encouragement and success which pre-
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in Wingham since Edward Farley ar
rived at the Town Plot on a raft in
1858. Progress began with the erec
tion of the Fisher industries, follow
ing the building of the upper and
lower dams in 1861. From that time
on settlement in the Town Plot was
rapid. General stores, Joseph Flack’s
tannery, carpentry, blacksmith, wagon
and cooper shops sprang up in Lower
Wingham.
When the first settlers arrived, Zet
land was the. centre of trade. It was
to that place that residents of Wing
ham had to go for staples and to re
ceive their mail. Later Edward Foley
became postmaster at Wingham and
. mails were received thrice weekly
from Clinton and once a week from
Teeswater and Zetland.
During the years 1863-66, several
churches, a public school in Upper
Town and a second flouring mill were
built, and Wingham could boast a
resident physician.
Upper Wingham began its true
growth in the 70’s. In 1872 board side
walks were erected in this section of
the Town Plot, with .the supposition
that Lower Wingham would have
them as well, but .they were not
extended that far. In the same year
the town acquired a newspaper and
within two years Upper Wingham had
grown to such an extent that it was
incorporated as a village in 1874.
The next advantage was the entry
of the railways, the Wellington, Grey
and Bruce in 1874, and the London,
Huron and Bruce in 1876. Wingham
also had a private bank at this time.
It was in the years following the
entrance of the W. G. & B., that Jose-}
phine Street began to open up as a'
business section, Victoria having been
the centre of activity prior to that,
time. The north end of the village be
came an industrial area with the erec
tion of the Scott and Bell furniture
factory , and the Inglis and Armstrong
woollen mill in 1875, the Watt and
Little and the J. J. Anderson sawmills,
Brennan’s tannery in 1877, an oatmeal
mill operated by Elder and Clegg;' and
later, in 1888, the erection of a chair,
factory by the Kincaid Brothers; With
the coming of industry, Wingham bc-
•came large enough to be incorporated
as a town in 1879.
A by-law was passed in 1889, stat
ing that all buildings erected in future
from Patrick Street to Victoria on
Jpsephine Street must either be built
of brick or brick veneered in order to
reduce the fire hazard.
Electricity made its appearance in
1890 and six years later granolithic
(paved) walks were laid on Josephine
Street, between John and Victpria, at
a contract price of 13 %c a square
foot. Within five or six years side
walks were being laid all over town.
’Following the year 1900 the town be
gan to assume the appearance it has
today, with the erection of the post
office, high school and other public
places, and the purchase of the Web
ster house for conversion to a hospital.
Residents and officials decided that
Wingham should become the industrial
centre of Western Ontario and every
effort was made to induce industries
to establish here.
been purchased and built up, so with
the idea of encouraging future growth
and offering further inducement to
industry, Dr, J, P. Kennedy purchased,
the James Angus farm at the south
east corner of the town. The 50 acres
wqre laid out.in lots and it was intend
ed that CarJing Terrace and Catherine
Streets would be extended south to the
river.
Hillcrest Sub-division
It was at a much later date, how
ever, that building actually commenc
ed on the former Angus farm. In
the interval Wingham’s development
had slowed and the building lots were
never required. With the impetus of
the second world war, and the return
and marriage of veterans from the
armed forces, Wingham again found
itself desperately short of housing. In
1947 arrangements were completed be
tween the town and the Central Hous
ing and Mortgage Corporation for the
erection of homes on Carling Terrace
from Victoria Street to Diagonal Road,
with a few at the foot of
Street.
The sub-division, which
become known as Hillcrest,
of which the town .can well be proud.
Catherine
has since
is an area
Mr. Jerome, dentist, is extractingBy 1906 most of the desirable resi-,
dential property in the town had ; teeth at 10c each. —Ad 1890.
Macdonald and Dean have
dental office in the Mason In the business section itself, such
buildings as the Mason Block, the
Brunswick Hotel, the Royal Hotel and
The W.H.S. Orchestra 1923
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Back row—W. Robinson, N. Muir, S. Harrison.
Front row—H. Mitchell, Marion Mitchell, C. Robertson.
YOUR PAPER
dominate. These are the stories which could be told
only by Wingham’s own newspapers.
Since the time thex first press turned in Wingham
some eighty years ago, the local newspaper has been
a potent force for good in the community. Today
The Advance-Times is the only newspaper devoted
exclusively to the interests of Wingham and district.
Through the medium of its news, advertising and
editorial columns it endeavours to use its influence
at all times for the benefit of the community.
On the occasion of Wingham’s 75th Anniversary,
The Advance-Times joins with pride in the Cele-
bration, and re-affirms its pledge to serve the com- ’
munity in every possible way.
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LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY