Village Squire, 1977-08, Page 10A local resident brings in some more of Wingham's history. Looking at a book of old pictures are left
to right] W.E. Fielding, Mrs. Fielding, DeWitt Miller and Mrs. Iris Morray.
In a day when every city, town and village is interested in
preserving a piece of its history, Wingham is no exception
and that's why on June 16 they opened their very own
museum.
The museum which is located on the second floor of the old
post office was started when George Allan, a resident of
Wingham gave some carved birds to the town and the town
decided to preserve them in a new museum. Now George
Allan's carved birds decorate a room that has been fittingly
named after him and Mr. Allan has also included some other
pieces for the room. These includes pictures of his
grandfather, John Hanna an M.P.P. and a very old
phonograph.
Before being renovated and remodelled, the museum had
once been a prestigeous apartment above the post office but
when the Heritage and Historical Society of Wingham and
District took over there was a lot to be done. Today, the
museum is an attractive neat piece of work.
As one walks down the hall from the George Allan room, on
PG. 8. VILLAGE SQUIRE/AUGUST 1977.
the left-hand side there is the medical room where medical
equipment and supplies from the early days are there to be
seen. In this room there is the first X-ray machine ever used
in Wingham hospital. It was used from 1942 to 1946. The
room also contains the first suction machine used in surgery
and a dentist's drill operated through the use of a foot pump.
In this room there are also the old surgical instruments
from the hospital that were used and odd shaped medicine
bottles which came from a former drug store in Wingham.
On the right-hand side of the hallway and down a little
further from the medical room, there is a room dedicated to
many various pieces of Wingham's history. There are
carvings of the old horse and wagon days that have been done
by James McIntosh a resident of Wingham; a dish that was
used by the Indians to grind wheat was donated by the
Crawfords who live in Wingham and who brought it back from
out West. In this room there's also the various patterns and
tools that were needed in the making of gloves by the Gurney
family. The Gurney glove factory was a well known industry