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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1981-10-07, Page 3An early photo of Jamestown Molesworth looking east THE BRUSSELS POST, OCTOBER 7, 1081 A3 Ci surveyed when Grey settled. Editor's Notes There was only time for a short story on some of Grey Township's history and therefore a lot of informa- tion in regard to the different areas of the township is not included.. As the information can only be as accurate as the people and books it was obtained from, please make allowances for errors. BY DEBBIE EANNEY This year, like a lot of other townships in this area, Grey is celebrating its 125th birth- day and will commemorate the occasion with a dance at the B.M.G. arena on.October 10. A reminiscing room will also be set up. A French-Canadian named Beauchamp was the first white man to settle in Grey. He lived in Henfryn but the precise date of his arrival is uncertain. Other settlers who followed included Batemans, Mitchells, Stewarts, Mc- Neils, McNairs, Schnooks, Engels and Wheelers. According to the Cran- brook W,I., Tweedsmuir book, in most cases, a man and wife and family or the eldest sons who later sent for their family spent a year or two in the townships around Montreal, Ottawa and King- ston and then came to Huron County. Most of the following infor- mation on the hamlets in. Grey was provided by research done by three students who were working on Grey Town- ship history this summer-- David Dunbar, Karen Ells- more and Deb Rathwell. They were under the supervision of Marilyn Engel. Slides on some of this history will also be presented at the arena on October 10. Grey was incorporated as a township in 1856. Previously, it had been part of McKillop Township, along with Morris. In 1855, a year before Grey was incorporated, the gov- ernment chose 500 acres of crown land in the centre of the township along the Maitland River to be surveyed for a city. This included all the land from Lot 10 to Lot 15 on Concession 11. In the begin- ning, this survey was known as the "Plot" while directly across the road was the Post Office established in 1853 and known as Cranbrook. Cranbrook had two other surveys, Tannersville directly to the south of the Plot and Mueller directly to the east of the Plot. In Cranbrook, there was J.J. Williams' black- smith shop while across the road in Tannersviile was a large carriage and wagon shop. FIRST'. The' first tavern in Grey Township was built in Cran- brook in 1854 by James Tuck. A second hotel was also built in Cranbrook in the early 1850's and became known as Wrn. Dames' Hotel or the Union Hotel. Grey Township Council rotated meetings be- tween the two Cranbrook Hotels and later the Ethel }toter. Hotels were central gather- ing place for many activities in the Cranbrook vicinity, including oyster Suppers, W- aal dances, nomination . Meetings, lecturet, lantern entertainment,- literary and Musical programs. The new Cranbrook Community Cen- tre Wag built in 1950. By the 1810's; CratibrOok had Presbyterian, Methodist and. Lutheran Churches, a one storey school, a sawmill, blacksmith shops, two gener- al stores, two hotels, a lime kilns and a shoemaker, The Methodist church celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1914, just prior to church union in 1925. In 1855, people peti- tioned the government for a church site and in 1865 Knox Presbyterian Church was - built. It was later renovated and moved to its present location in 1888. Molesworth, located on the north boundary of Grey is also partly in the Township of Wallace and derived its name from a surveyor who plotted the area. In 1883, Molesworth had a general store, two blacksmith shops, a wagon and carriage shop, a shoe shop, a carpenter shop and Presbyterian and Canada Methodist churches. There was also a hotel. The general store also housed the post office. The first school was the U.S.S. #4 which was in a brick building to the west of the general store. The first blacksmith shop in Molesworth was located on Lot 50, Son. 1 with Allan McLean as the first owner. It burned down in the late 1880's and the next black- smith shop was constructed on Lot 52, Con. 1. Other items of interest in Molesworth included an api- ary on Thos. Waldock's pro- perty, a United Church, a library and a Grange. Molesworth also had a Cheese Factory and the Molesworth Chopping Mill, both of which are still in operation today. Walton's first settler John Hewitt came from England to Canada in 1843 and settled in Walton in 1859. He named the village after Walton, England, his wife's 'home- town. Humphries' store built by Wm. Henry Humphries in 1901 was a grocery, hardware and general store all in one. He also had a blacksmith and wagon shop. The business was passed down to his children and is now run by Wm.'s great grandson Stew- art and his wife Marjorie Humphries. A sawmill, was located on the east side of the street just south of the railroad tracks. The first owner was Mr. Knox who along with being miller in 1867 also made shingles and barrel staves. At present, Gerald Ryan has a drying system set up on this same lot. In 1887, the people of Walton complained about their cheese factory because with the attached piggery (the pigs ate the whey). In ' built in 1871. A chopping mill 1903, The cheese factory was was built by Joseph Riehl in discontinued and Henry and 1915 with F.A. Harrison Geroge Hoegy built a steam purchasing the property and powered chopping mill on the mill in 1918. In the 1920's land, In 1945, owners, Herb cement sewer tile and smaller and Ralph Traviss installed a " tiles were manufactured at General Motors Diesel En- the mill. Charles and Mar- gine. In 1072, the mill was shall Harrison operated the Sold to Erie Reaburn and is trucking business and chop- still in use today, ping mill until 1980 when the LODGEBIJILT mill closed and the trucking On May 24, 1900, the business was sold, Grand Lodge of the Ancient HENFRYN Order of the United Workmen Henfryn, located On the purchased a village lot for Grey side of the Elena-Grey $75, A two storey brick border was the site of the first building was erected on the settlement-in the township by property the same year with the French-Canadian Beau. the Sovereign sank of Cana champ. da Occupying the lower floor E.C. X, Davies Who was- attracted by the pine forests in this area, set up a saw mill there and named the town "Henfryn" which meant "Old Mill" in his Welsh dialect, The saw mill produced the lumber for the Anglican Church named St. David's in 1882 by Davies. The last service held in the church building was conducted by the Rt. Rev. H,R. Appleyard on SUnday, July 26, 1964. Henfryn was once known for its hotel, steam mills, stores, mechanic shops and a taylor shop. A tile yard, no longer in use, at one time produced brick and tile for the entire township. Jamestown, located on county road 12, miles south of Highway 86 on lots 1, Concession 1 and 2 Grey and lot 35, Concession 1, Morris was first inhabited by Thom- as Moorehouse who built a large frame tavern there. Jamestown waS named after James Aitchison, a correspondent for the Huron Expositor and after several men named James who lived there. In 1892, Jamestown could boast of two hotels, two stores, one -Wagon shop and blacksmith shop, one harness shop and several Oather buildings. .The store on the east side of Jamestown just south of the river was built by Ed Snell in 1879. The Hotel, On the cast side of County Road 12, north of the store was built by Jas. Mills in 1867. It was later torn down. ETHEL Ethel is located on lots 22 and 23, concesions 7 and 8 near the middle of the town- ship and its buildings at one time included a blacksmith shop, livery stables, hotels, several general stores, hard- ware stores, a butcher shop, flour feed store, a mill, a barber shop, confectionery store, Methodist and Presby- terian churches, a Wagon shop, pottery shop and others. Ethel consisted of the Fish- er Survey, Lot 22, Concession 7; Storm Survey, part of Lot 22, Concession 8 and the Dunbar Survey, part of the Lot 22, Concession 8 as well as residential and commercial lots in part lot 23, Concession 8. A small collection of build- ings around the Ethel railway station was known as Tindell. Tindell was on Lot 22, Con- cession 9. The W.G, and B. Railway passed through Tin- dell in 18/5. Other buildings in Ethel included William Spence's restaurant, the one and only restaurant ever to locate there, Another hanilet in Grey Township was that of Car- mutmock, located on the south corner of Let 35, Concession 18 and named by a pioneer William Machan, who came from Carmunnock, Scotland. Within the hamlet was a hotel, combined store, post office and dwelling, a one- storey log house and two barns all situated on the west section of land. To the north, stood two log boarding-hous- es, a barn and sawmill operated by Mr. Machan. In the early days, the method township govern- ment used for road repair and upkeep was a lot different that it is today. Every man in the township had to do some work on the roads, one or two days or more free labour or team work to offset paying taxes. This free labour ended in ,1926 when the province offer- ed to give a grant to any municipality that appointed a road superintendent: The first one one in Grey was William Cameron. George Wesenberg of R.R. 3 Brus- sels who provided some of the information in statute labour said the only cost he could. - find for building the first log roads was on Concession 10 from Lot 33-35 East Boundary which was real swamp- wet, soggy soil. This cost $1.50 per rod. Brush had to be laid six inches deep and covered with logs, no less than eight inches in diameter and 16 feet long. The road had to be 20 feet wide, 12 inches of earth put on top and over six inches at each end to cover all logs and bush. Like other townships Grey had for many years, a number of school sections until Janu- ary 1947 when 13 rural school sections became one, known as Grey Township area, with five trustees and a secretary. According to the Cran- brook Women's Institute Tweedsmuir book, School Sections 1 to 11 as well as Union 12 and Union 4 turned their books and all their names over to the newly formed Area School Section, Some of the schools were located in bordering town* ships, By 1949, the Area Board had all the classrooms painted and installed flush toilett in all but two schools: It was becoming more difficult to find wood supplies and thought was given to insulating and instal- lation of Oil heater, thermo- statically controlled. By this time it Was their policy to supply pupils with everything but textbooks. along with a barber shop on the east end. Several years later when the bank moved away, Dennis Blake opened a jewellery store on the north side and the south side was used for a storage room b y a merchant, Wm. Neal who had a store on the McKillop boundary. IN 1935, Douglas Ennis purchased the build- ings from shareholders of the Lodge and in 1938 opened a general store. At present, Don Goetz has an antique store on the lower floor. The Victorian Hotel was located on the corner where K.M.M. Drainage is now. Lawrence Cummings later converted the hotel into a garage and apartments above. The present Duff's United Church building was erected in 1912. In the early days, Walton had an Orange Hall, two hotels, a True Blue lodge, a flax mill, livery stable a dressmaking shop and a butcher shop., Moncrieff, located on lots 30 and 31, Con. 16 was named after Moncrieff, Scotland. A store was built in 1897 by Mrs. Lucas with nine differ- ent owners between 1900 and 1921. The store was destroy- ed by fire and later rebuilt, but about 1976, the business closed down. A blacksmith shop was built in 1905 by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Munn. In 1968, Mrs. F.A. Harrison and sons re- modelled the shop for fertil- izer storage, The first Methodist church, Bethel, opened in 1893. A first school built of logs was