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The Brussels Post, 1976-07-28, Page 5County road 12 into the busy hamlet of Walton. - well. Mrs. McCall succeeded longtime Expositor Walton cor- respondent Mrs. Gertie Ennis. And it is the closeness of the community which many people like about Walton including,Paul- ine Bennett, 'who has been a resident'of Walton for the past 27 years. "It's a small town community, everybody gets to knoNy every- body," she says. Mrs. Bennett, who with her husband has recently built a new house in Walton, says she has seen many changes in the place- through the years she has lived there. According to the Huron County Historical Atlas of 1879 it would appear that Walton has always been a changing village. On the map at that time Walton is shown as having two churches, and the atlas says that Walton also contained a "post and telegraph office, two hotels, two stores, steam saw-mill, with all kinds of minor manufacturing establish- inents. to supply the local demand; and has daily mail both to' and from Brussels and Seaforth." (By John Miner) To some people the name brings to mind a favorite televi- sion show on Sunday nights. Others who live in Huron County may think of it only as'a thirty-five mile per hour zone and a collection of houses on the' road between Seaforth and Brussels. gut to the people who live there,' Walton means a lot mo,re. Anyone just driving through Walton can tell by the well kept up baseball diamond next to. the Walton Community Centre that the residents are sports minded. The diamond sees lots of action with two slow pitch teams, a boys intermediate team, as well as an area hard ball team. The Walton Recreation Committee is now working hard to raise money for the installation of lights at the ball diamond. But sport isn't the only activity that ties the community of Walton together. A quick glance over the Walton column in the Huron Expositor or the Brussels Post written by Mrs. Allan , McCall shows that both the Women's., Institute and Duff's- Church are very central to the community as n' correspondent, Mrs, AAcCall gets fhe news ever k. The Commission, to "Review Proposals for Property Tax Reform in Ontario -will hold a public meeting- for residents of Huron and Perth counties and Stratford on; August 4, 1976 at • 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Goderich Collegiate Gymnasium 260 South Street Goderich to receive submissions, both oral arid written, from all interested parties, concerning, the Ontario government's proposals for a new system of property taxation based on market value assessment, The ComrnisSion hopes that all residents with Opinians and suggestion8 to offer will be present to make their ,repreSebtation..s to us. Willis L. Blair Chairman Ontario REMINDER NOTICE ''THEE BRUSSELS, POST.- JULY 28, 1978 ts, tvit, in spot, 4r. and berly, cols. family takes Men kend, ischet, Mia ; at the at Si Itch 0 ily Hill ;st vessels', Friendship Club enjoys picnic The Brussels FQendship Circle gathered at the grounds of the Agricultural park on Wednesday 'afternoon for their first club, picnic and it proved a very . enjoyable event for all. About si x ty mebers with some welcome v isitors took part in several gaines arranged by Vennie and Wilbur Turnbull, Mrs. Ida Gordon and Miss' Kate McNabb. A short business meeting was held with President Edwin Martin in charge. A bus trip to Lorkdon is being arranged to visit interesting places of London and area, with dinner at a down town restaurant before returning home. A fine supper was enjoyed in the club rooms of the Brussels Bowling Club which is situated close by, A vote of thanks was moved to the ladeis who served the meal and to the Bowling Club for the use of their lunch room. Walton-well keptand sports minded I 0 Today Walton has only one church and no hotels. It still has a restaurant, and two general stores and a garage. There is feed mill along with a farm machinery shop and Walton Public School. At one time Walton had rail passenger service. This lasted from 1907 to April 23, 1955 and since that time residents have been without any means of transportation except their pri- vate automobiles. This has dis- couraged people from retiring to Walton, Mrs. McCall says, because they feel shut in. "But there are always resi- dents happy to take them wher- ever they want," she says. Walton's Community Hall, now located on the south edge of the hamlet, is over 100 years old and. has survived three moves. The building was first a Methodist Church, built in 1873 at a cost of $2000. When church union took place in 1925 between the Metho- dist and Presbyterian churches, the building was sold to the Loyaf Orange Lodge, who kept it until 193.8. At that time the building was bought by local citizens for use as a community hall and it has been used as such ,since. Growing up in Walton today means eventually going away for most young people. "There is nothing to keep them here," says Mrs. McCall. "When they finish school, they go off to ,college or university and they are gone.. Unless they are boys and decide to farm with their father, they don't have much choice." Mrs. Bennett agrees that Wal- ton suffers from a drain of young people, but adds, "they are always glad to get back on the weekends." The future of Walton, like many other hamlets that dot rural southwestern Ontario, is a quest- ion mark. But according to Mrs. Bennett, things don't look too bad at present. "My husband, who has lived in Walton for 49 years, has been predicting for the last ten that there would be a lot of empty houses in WaltOn, but they seem to get picked up right away," she said. Covering the news for the Walton area keeps her busy, says Mrs. McCall, with all the institute and church meetings. "I have to get out to things or I \ never know all that is going on. I wish sometimes that people would call me , and let me know what's happening," she says. "One thing though, being a correspondent for the. Brussels Post and the Huron Expositor, you sure get to know those from Walton who don't want their name in the paper."