HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1972-06-28, Page 47WALTER S. SCOTT
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Edward Pollard was the first mail man to deliver mail
out of Brussels. In this picture taken in 1913 he is starting
out on his route. Mr. Pollard, who was 89 years old on
June 17, is at present residing in the Callander Nursing
Home in Brussels. The picture was taken by Mrs. Archie
Engel.
Oldest INing native recalls youth in, russels
(By Susan White)
Walter, Service Scott will be
82 on July 6 this year and he
is the oldest living Brussels
resident who was born here in,
a house located near the present
Isabel Adams' residence. Mr,
Scott now lives alone, with his
cat "Nuisance" for company, in
a white, brick house .on William
St. Be has lived on the street
for 81 years, many of them in
his present home, built for his
father, the late Sydney Stewart
Scott,
Mr. Scott, (he says "I used
to be 5' 10", but I think I've
shrunk some") is a small, white
haired man who has seen most
of what's gone on and a lot of
changes in his years in Brussels.
For 19 years he was in the
Brussels post Office, for several
years as Postmaster, as succes,
SOr to his father. For many years
he was treasurer of the Brussels
Grey and Morris. Telephone
System.
The Brussels Mr.• Scott re,
members, or remembers hear-
ing his father tell about, bears
little resemblance to ,A the pret-
tiest village. in Ontario" as it
In 1972,
Physically much has
changed-- Brussels has had fires
which ' at different times des-
troyed both sides of Turnberry
Street: the village's• population •
was once about 1500; and Mr.
Scott recalls that Brussels once
had a salt mill, three carriage
factories, four blacksmith shops;
Woollen, flax and flour mills
and an apple evaporator and a
fire • engine factory. But an
even more important change has
been the speeding up of pace, and
change of mood as progress and
technology influences even small
towns and villages like Brussels.
The time Mr. Scott remembers
seems to have been slower, more
relaxed, and maybe even a lot
more fun than the present.
We can't go back, but we
can remember - - after all,
good memories are what the
Brussels Centennial is all abobt.
Walter Scott is a good story
teller and is well qualified to
talk about Brussels in the past.
Here are some of his memories.
a calf it wOuld be hidden in the
dense underbrush and Mr, Scott.
Would have to take a dog in to
find it.
The Scotts kept livestock be-
hind their house on William St.
until Walter Scott's father died
in 1922. Mr. Scott spea}cs very
highly of his father, who wasen
unusual man. He was an auction-
eer, conveyancer,, postmaster
and a large man who also did
all the canning, preserving and
pickling for his family.
walter Scott's connection with
the Brussels, Grey and Morris
Telphone System carried on a
family tradition. His father was
one of the founders of the
system in 1908-09. The elder
Mr. Scott canvassed Brussels
and the two surrounding town-
ships for subscribers and signed
up everyone except about two
people, his son says. The charge
was $13 a year, for ten years
and the telephone charge was
held against the property, so
that if the farm or house were
sold, the phone was included.
Phones in those days had two
receivers, one on each side.
Walter Scott says that his
father was progressive but adds
that a telephone system was a
great personal convenience in
his auctioneering and conveyan-
cing jobs.
During the Depression,
Walter Scott started keeping the
books for the Telephone system
at $50 a month. "Damn near
starved", he says. Twenty-
three years later, in 1959 after
his wife died, he retired.
Mr. Scott was also an insur-
ance agent, as was his father.
He remembers as a boy deliver-
ing insurance calendars to his
father's customers at Christmas,
by horse and cutter. He points
out that snow drifts on conces-
sion roads were not nearly as
high and treacherous in those
days as they are now - - - the
old rail fences stopped drifting
snow to a .great extent.
Mr. Scott points out that the
large hotels in the village were
built originally to provide room
and board for the many workers
employed in Brussels industry.
As well as playing football
and hockey in his youth, Mr.
Scott was a volunteer fireman.
He remembers a fire which des-
troyed the flour mill, which was
on the site of the present Top-
notch mill. The fire alarm
sounded as Mr. Scott and the
rest of Brussels were on their
way to church.
He fought the fire in his
good blue suit. water was
pumped out of the river and
a tank near the English Church.
Fire and flour wrecked Mr.
Scott's new suit and shortly after
this incident he retired from
the volunteer fire brigade!
Mr. Scott recalls another
earlier fire when he was a boy
of 14 which started in a barn
behind the Queen's Hotel. Sparks
ignited all the outbuildings and
barns behind the stores on the
west side of the street. He
says that flying shingles ignited
fences in the countryside as far
away as 2 1/2 miles. The main
store buildings on the west side
of Turnberry Street were saved
only because they were brick.
These buildings were all rebuilt
following the fire of 1878.
Walter Scott remembers when
the wide concrete bridge across
the Maitland was narrow and
made of wood. The wooden
structure was later replaced by
an iron one. He tells of a
flood which damaged the flax
mill near the river bank and
carried away large numbers of
bales of flax.
The flax mill owner paid small
Brussels' boys 24 for every
bale of flax they could recover
by diving off the old bridge and
pulling it safely ashore!
Mr. Scott can tell many more
stories of earlier days in Brus-
sels. He is a proud native of
the village and is very pleased
that he has been selected to
cut the ceremonial ribbon open-
ing Centennial festivities. And
his three children, one from
California and some of his nine
'
grandchildren, will be here to
celebrate with him.
10.
Its
Mr. Scott rememlters when
the Maitland at Brussels:had
the best bass fishing for miles
around - - before the days of
farm drainage and lagoons in
nearby Listowel. Every winter
there were huge ice jams, with
eight foot chunks of ice sticking
up into the air.
When he was a lad, he and a
friend threw stones at one of
these chunks, while they were
out on a trapping expedition along
the Maitland. The ice berg
crashed down, toppling' several
trees and carrying away the
boys' traps. Sounds more like
the Arctic than the , Maitland,
doesn't it?
In the brick barn behind his
house, Mr. Scott's father kept
five horses and two cows. The
cows, like those of most people
who lived inside the village then,
were led to pasture every day
along the river. There was an
overgrown "island" in the river
years ago and when a cow had
1
1'
`THE BRUSSELS POST, JUNE 26, 1972-22a