The Brussels Post, 1979-08-01, Page 27THE YOUNGER AND OLDER GENERATIONS OF BELGRAVE Lorna
Humphrey and her friend Brenda White at five years of age each are part
of Belgrave's younger generation, while Cora McGill, right,, at 93 is
probably Belgrave's oldest citizen. (Post photo)
THE BRUSSELS POST, AUGUST 8, 1979 — 3
Belgrave industry 100 years ago
BY DEBBIE RANNEY
The tiny hamlet of Belgrave now has a
population of approximately 265 people but
back in the late 1800s Belgrave not only
had more people, it had more industry.
Mrs. Lewis Stonehouse, this news-
paper's Belgrave correspondent knows a
lot about Blegrave's history.' A great deal
of her information came from, a book called
East Wawanosh Township, written by a
committee of East Wawanosh natives.
The committee was chaired by the late
Walter Scott of Belgrave.
NAME
Perhaps the most unusual thing about
Belgrave is how it was named. At first it
was called Haggerty's Corners after
Dennis Haggerty, an early settler who
erected a tavern on the present site of
Taylor's store and named the community.
One story reports it remained Hagger-
ty's Corners until a pioneer named Bell
was buried in the community and Bell's
grave was later shortened to Belgrave.
Another story is that the community was
named after an English lord.
The Irish were the first settlers to arrive
in surrounding townships and at Belgrave
around 1851. Although Belgrave is now a
small, quiet place, back in the late 1800s
Belgrave was literally booming.
By 1858 nearly all the property in the
townships was taken up and the first post
office opened in 1865. In 1876, Belgrave
had a railway station on the fourth line of
Morris on the present farm of Jim Coultes.
The railroad line ran from London to
Wingham.
A saw mill was located on the site where
the Co-op is today. Two busy blacksmith
shops were on the east side of the street
and across from them was a woodworking
shop. The earliest record of the Belgrave
Woodworking shop dates back to 1890
when John Gillies bought the land from
John Scandrett who owned the farm
(currently in Alan Dunbar's possession).
Successive owners were Robert Sterling,
David Scott, Franklin Wheeler, George
Wheeler, and Herbert Wheeler.
Clarence Hanna later bought the prop ,
erty located just north of his house and
demolished the building. With the building
went a past history of wagons, buggies,
sleighs and ladders which had been made
by hand. The shop also did woodworking
repairs of all kinds. If iron work was called
for,; the proprietor worked with the local
blacksmith shops. Ernest Geddes was one
of the first blacksmiths and he opetated a
shop where Cliff Purdon's garage is now.
Jack Stewart also operated a blacksmith
shop at the same time and on the same side
of the street between Ross Andersons'
store and Mrs. Cliff Logan's house.
CHEESE FACTORY
On the west side of Belgrave was a
cheese factory located near the creek and
tailor's shop, dressmakers shop, a flour
and a feed mill and a tannery made up the
rest of the stores.
The former Queen's Hotel has now been
made into apartments but people still refer
to the building as the "Hotel." The hotel
had overnight rooms and dining and in a
speech that Sheila Anderson of Belgrave
gave on the history of the community she
says her father recalls that even when he
was a boy this hotel was the only place
where you could buy ice cream.
McEwan's general store and Ross
Anderson's hardware store, though their
owners have changed throughout the years >
are two of the original businesses which
have survived the changing times.
McEwan's past owners included
McLennans, Harry Hopper, Clarence
Wade, Bill Rowland, a Mr. Wilson,
Charles Hopper, Harold Walsh and finally
Ross McEwan. Anderson's past owners
included William Duncan who sold the
store in 1898 to Robert C. Gallagher. In
1904 it was sold to James B. Nichol, in 1907
to Luther Williams, in 1914 to James
McCallum and in 1917 to Duncan
McCallum. Duncan McCallum sold it to
John Geddes who then sold it to Bob
McKenzie. The present owner floss
Anderson bought the store in 1950.
CHURCH SERVICES
Church services were held in the
Belgrave community as early as the winter
of 1852-53 though not in an actual church
building.
Rev. Mr. Atkins, an itinerant preacher,
made his way around the district on
snowshoes, and services were held in the
homes of the settlers until churches could
be built.
A Methodist Church once stood in what
is now the Brandon Cemetery in Belgrave
and then in 1872 it was moved to where
Knox Presbyterian Church now stands. A
Presbyterian Church had been built in 1899
where Knox United Church is now located.
Some of the history of the two Knox
churches is explained in the Knox United
Church, Belgrave book which was put out
by an appointed committee of members of
the church under chairman James Midhie.
"Without a vote having been taken the
Methodist Church joined with the Presby-
terian and Congregational Churches to
form the United Church of Canada, June
10, 1925. The former Methodist building
Was sold to the Continuing Presbyterians
who still worship there."
And the history of Trinity Anglican
Church is explained in the East Wawanosh
Township book. "The first services of
Trinity Anglican Church were held in the
Orange Hall which at that time was two
and a half miles south of Belgrave on
Highway 4. The property at that time was
owned by Lancelot Nethery but is now
owned by his grandson Alex Nethery.
Rev. William Murphy was in charge of
services from 1866 to 1871. He was
' succeeded by William Davis who was there
from 1872-1881 and it was under his
direction that plans were made for the
erection of a church. The first site chosen
was half a mile south of Belgrave where
John Gnay now lives. The plans were later
changed and a lot was bought in Belgrave
where the church now stands. Rev. Davis
remained as the minister until the church
was consecrated in 1875."
Although it doesn't say so in this book,
on the actual church building there is a
• stone which says the building was erected
in 1876.
SCHOOLS
As for schools, S.S. No. 17 the old school
is still standing' along the highway north of
Belgrave. In her speech Sheila Anderson
states "It was the first school built in
Belgrave in 1907 but for a year before that,
school was held in a house in the southwest
corner of the village. In 1966, a new school
was erected on Gord Bosman's farm. This
school was opened on January 3, 1967, and
is still in use today."
In the East Wawanosh Township book it
states that in 1913, all Ontario farmers met
in Toronto to discuss their farming
problems. In March, 1914 they called a
conference. This meeting gave birth to two
organizations, The United Farmers of
Ontario and the Farmers' Co-operative
Company:
This movement, was initiated in order to
draw farmers together to act as a unit in
purchasing farm supplies and in selling
farm produce. The Belgrave Club became
one of these groups in 1914 with Robert
Coultes Sr. as the first president and
Abram Procter was secretary-treasurer
until 1918. By buying items in large
quantities they could be purchased much
more cheaply. In 1963 there were 494
members of the Belgrave group. It was
1930 before there was a joint club of men
and women in Belgrave.
FARMERS' CLUB
The organizational meeting was held in
the Forester's Hall in September of 1944.
The chili decided to apply for a charter and
to prepare a set of by-laws. Thek bylaws
were approved and the Belgrave Farmers
Club became the Belgrave Co-Operatives
Association. In 1945, Alex Manning sold
' the village mill to the Co-Operative
Association and the Belgrave United
Co-Operative is still in operation today. In
fact, in 1975, a store was added on to the
Co-Op building because the old facilities
weren't large enough.
Belgrave was once also the home of the
Belgrave Credit Union. The monthly board •
meetings and the weekly office hours were
held in the old hotel until 1957. Then C.R.
Coultes Store became the Credit Union
headquarters. In 1961, Wingham started a
Credit Union too. Because it seemed more
convenient, Belgrave incorporated with
Wingham in 1974 in what today is known
as the North Huron District Credit Union.
It wouldn't be right to do a small history
of Belgrave without mentioning two events
the community is noted for - the Belgrave,
Blyth and Brussels school fair and the
annual turkey supper.
Mrs. Stonehouse provided some of the
information on the school fair for a
previous edition of the paper. She also got
that information out of the East Wawanosh
Township book.
An agricultural society was first formed
in Belgrave in 1886 for the purpose of
holding an annual fair and building a hall
in which to display the products shown.
The first president was Charles Procter.
The directors were Robert Scott, Finlay
Anderson, James Oeveus, and John
Coultes. George Procter built the hall.
Smaller farm products were displayed in
the hall while the animals were tied up on
the fairgrounds and brought into the ring
to be judged.
The fair which was shared by Morris and
East Wawanosh Townships stopped in
1904 and the building remained standing
for only a few years after that.
SCHOOL FAIR
This fair probably led to the interest in
forming Belgrave School Fair. In 1920,
school trustees from the vicinity of
Belgrave met with S.B. Stothers, the first
agricultural representative of Huron
County,and organized the Belgrave School
Fair. •
Richard Procter of Morris Township was
the first president and John Wightman of
East Wawanosh Township was the secre-
tary.
Teachers, councilors and others con-
tributed money for funds and prizes.
The Forester's Hall, now the WOmen's
Institute Hall and the Presbyterian and
United Church sheds were all used to
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