HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-08-16, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1989.
Mennonites move Auburn house to St. Helens
BY USA BOONSTOPPEL
Traffic in Auburn met an unusual
site Thursday when the old Bake-
laar house on Hans Bakelaar’s
property at RR 1, Auburn was
moved by tractor trailor to a
mennonite home in St. Helens.
Heave-ho
Ittookalotofeffortfromthegroundcrewatthesiteoftheformerhomeof Mrs. J. C. Bakelaar’s house
owned by Hans Bakelaar of RR 1, Auburn to place the wide roof of the house onto a narrow tractor
trailer bed for transportation to the Shetler residence in St. Helens, the home’s new owners.
W. Wawanosh worries about weeds
The yellow-sided house just past
the railway tracks by Auburn has
been empty for almost two years
since the passing away of its
owners, Mr. and Mrs. J. C.
Bakelaar. Mrs. Bakelaar had lived
there for almost 20 years.
For a time, Hans Bakelaar, the
couple’s son, had rented the house
out but decided that since the
house was so close to his own home
on the property he would rather
have it removed, so he decided to
give the house to the Mennonites.
“I went to the Mennonites
because they’re known for tearing
stuff down and moving it away,”
said Mr. Bakelaar.
But when the Shetler family of
St. Helens saw the house, they
decided to keep it. “I felt it was a
shame not to use the house,” said
William Shetler, who said he would
be living in the house.
“It’s nice to see someone make
use of the house,” said Mr.
Bakelaar.
The Shetler family hired the
services of Wilson’s from Port
Elgin to transport the house. Along
with the Mennonites help,
Wilson’s first jacked the structure
up from the basement and placed
steel trusses underneath it. The
next day, the roof was taken off and
placed on a transport truck with a
crane. On Thursday, the house was
pulled out onto the road for a police
escorted move to St. Helens.
The removal of the house from
the Auburn area brought back
memories for Tom and Marion
Haggitt who once lived there
themselves. “My son was bom
while we lived in that house,” said
Mr. Haggitt who watched the move
from the home of that son, Steven,
whose house neighbours the Bake
laar residence.
Mrs. Haggitt can remember
many of the families who made that
house their home. Back when the
railroad tracks beside Bakelaar’s
were used over four times a day,
the station agent for the Auburn
railway station lived there. His
name was Donald Patterson, she
said.
Then the house was sold to Mrs.
Haggitt’s father, George Beadle in
1915 who lived there for more than
20 years. The property was then
rented to Arthur Hallam and then
to Joe Postill who moved out of the
house after a year but lived in
Auburn until he passed away.
After Mr. Postill moved out, the
Haggitt’s bought the house in 1942
and lived in it for the next 19 years.
It was at this time that Mr. J. C.
Bakelaar bought the place which
was adjacent to the property where
he was living at the time which is
now the home of Hans and Audrey
Boonstoppel. But the Bakelaar’s
didn’t move into their home until
their son Len got married. Len
Bakelaar stayed at the home farm
while his parents, with their youn
gest son Hans, moved into the
house. Many years later, Hans
built his own house on the proper
ty-
While reminiscing, Mrs. Haggitt
solved a mystery about the house
that Mr. Bakelaar discovered.
While inspecting the house during
the move, he saw that a few beams
in the roof were charred indicating
that the house had been on fire at
one time in the past. Mrs. Haggitt
remembered that one Thanks
giving morning, the roof had
caught on fire while family mem
bers were cleaning out the chim
ney.
It was decided at the August 1
meeting of West Wawanosh Coun
cil that the Huron County Weed
Inspector Joe Gibson should be
contacted, regarding part of Lots 14
and 15 on Concession 10. The land
here has been neglected and is now
overgrown with weeds.
An amount of $1,700 will be paid
to W. Adamson & Son Contracting
for the blasting, priming and
painting of the garage roof.
Following a motion by Councillor
David Errington, Council agreed to
pay the initial fee of $150 for the
Letter from the editor
Continued from page 4
often a hotbed of the movement in
many schools. I did take part in one
student march (seeking better stu
dent loans - has anything chang
ed?) but I can’t even remember
smelling anyone smoking mari
juana until years later, and then it
was back in Huron County. I was
pretty naive and square back then.
I guess I was pretty naive
because when I thought of the
1960’s, it wasn’t the free sex and
the drugs I thought of, it was
idealism. My generation rebelled
against the materialism of their
parents, so they said. They wanted
a better world, one with peace and
a healthy environment. The U.S. of
course had the civil rights move
ment and the anti-Vietnam war
movement. We didn’t have those
things in Canada but there was a
new sense of self as a nation in
young people as we adopted a new
flag and celebrated Expo and the
Centennial.
But in reality the sixties ended
up being mostly a big, self-indul
gent party with all the big talk
turning to nothing. Just what have
we left from the “revolution”
represented by Woodstock? Well
we’ve got the music which has
contributed something because
how would so many movies have a
musical score today if they couldn’t
bring back sixties music? We have,
unfortunately, got more drugs than
ever. And the free love of the
sixties turned into the promiscuity
road superintendent’s application
for certification provided that a
daily log is started and maintained
from this time on.
The building inspector was auth
orized to issue permits to: William
Shetler for a residence; Bill Sproul
for a shed; and John Stryker for a
porch enclosure.
The general accounts in the
amount of $35,180.12 and the road
accounts totalling $49,026.23 are to
be paid.
Council agreed to endorse the
petition from Howick asking the
of more recent years and the rash
of sexually communicated diseases
that plagues us today.
But the anti-materialism has
been lost as my generation became
the “me” generation and set out to
stuff their expensive homes and
their expensive cars with every
trinket known to man. The new
sense of nationhood among those
young people has been lost as the
“me” generation watches the Blue
Jays, swigs American beer and
talks about how terrible it is that
those Canadian stations cluttering
up the cable TV keep them from
their rights to more American
channels.
This generation that was going to
set out on its own to be individuals,
turned out to be the greatest
fashion followers of all time. In the
sixties it was fashionable to wear
denim and tie-dyed shirts and tune
out and turn on and talk about the
new world they would build, so the
kids did. Now the fashion is to
reject everything the sixties stood
for (except the nostalgia of Wood-
stock and the music) so the
now-middle aged rebels do. Now
the fashion is fashion, expensive
clothing, expensive cars, expensive
restaurants and expensive homes
with expensive furniture. The
ideals of the sixties were just the
foolishness of youth.
It shows you how naive some of
us country boys still are. Some of
us think that idealism was the one
part of the 1960s that was worth
keeping.
province for legislation that would
require all chemical companies to
provide for the return of and
recycling of pesticide and herbicide
containers.
Reconstruction on Concession
Road 6-7 at Lots 22-23 will soon
proceed.
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