Goderich Signal Star, 2011-08-10, Page 17nit, Star • Wednesday, August 10, 2011
he Attrills of Ridgewood Park
CONTINUED FROM < PAGE8
y Beach Hotel, 'the largest hotel in the
the exorbitant sum of $1,250,000.
tit completing the hotel or paying his
it appears Attrill pocketed the money
.terred the Rockaway Beach stock to his
daughters 'The New York Tribune'
1880), reported that 2,000 construction
refused further work on 'Attrill's Hotel'
hey were paid. Investors borrowed
to pay back wages to prevent 'a serious
ce.
In several legal actions, large judgments were
awarded to Rockaway Beach investors. One
1892U.S. Supreme Court ruling assessed Attrill
the princely sum of $102,000, but since he was
not a resident of New York state, he could not
be forced to pay.
Locally, Attrill was known as 'a very erratic and
peculiar gentleman' 'The Huron Expositor' (Oct.
22, 1880) reported that at a livestock sale, Aurin
sent a strange telegram ordering Mr. Phipps, his
business manager, "to withdraw all the stock
entered, have the Town of Goderich and all it con-
tained put up for auction and sold to the highest
bidder and consign all the inhabitants thereof to
the nether regions"
Attrill's 'peculiarities of temper; might be for-
given as he probably just learned of his son Tho-
mas' suicide on October 16, 1880 in Queensland,
Australia.
Mental illness may have been a problem for the
Attrill males. Another son, Edward's, suicide
attempt made it into a Winnipeg newspaper in
1902. It was reported that T. C. Attrill, a wealthy
man of Goderich visiting the home of a friend in
Chicago, suddenly made a violent effort to jump
through a window. He was insane'
When Henry Attrill died in 1892 of Bright's dis-
ease in Toronto, his widow, Helen Attrill, took up
Taken A
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permanent residence on the Ridge with
son Edward, and daughters Elizabeth and
Mary. Earlier, in 1890, Grace Attrill had
married Ernest Heaton, a Toronto lawyer;
Mary married Gilbert Wright in 1897 at St.
George's Anglican Church. The oldest
son, James, had already married in 1 879
and resided in California. Smith observed
he returned only for family funerals.
Aged 76, Helen died at Ridgewood Park
on February 22, 1900, she was mourned
as 'a highly respected lady.' Indeed, she
was regarded as an aristocrat. Sillib said
that in deference to Mrs. Attrill's superior
station, merchants carried 'their wares
and bolts of doth out to the carriage' for
her convenience. Her 'Goderich Star'
obituary called her 'a generous and sym-
pathetic friend' who was always willing to
lend a hand. She was greatly missed.
The Ridge was left to Edward and Eliza-
beth who tried to run the farm for a while
but, according to Homan, they eventually
moved to the Hughes Houma on Welling-
ton Street in Goderich.
Elizabeth, known as Bessie, died in
June 1906, after a 'long and painful illness'
at the age of 50. 'The Signal' described
her as one of the 'most kindly women liv-
ing' and of 'a lovable character' Her death
left a 'blank inthis part of the country that
will be hard to fill!' Upon her death, her
nine Shetland ponies were
chloroformed.
Edward died of 'congestion of the
brain,' in Peterborough in July, 1907
caused by a fall from a hammock at age
37. He was given a Masonic burial and
interred in the family plot in the Maitland
Cemetery. Three stained glass windows
in St. George's Church commemorate the
Attrill family.
Sisters Mary Wright and Grace Heaton
leased the abandoned property to the
Militia Department for their summer
encampments in 1908, 1911 and 1912.
After quartering the senior officers in the
Ridge's house, the family hoped the prop-
erty would be purchased for a permanent
military base. However Sir Sam Hughes,
Minister of Militia, squashed the idea at a
dvic dinner in the Bedford Hotel when he
declared the Attrill property too expen-
sive. In 1913, Ridgewood Park was sold to
Oscar Fleming, a former Mayor of
Windsor.
The Attrill saga is only one of five fasd-
nating family stories to have resided at
Ridgewood Park. On Sunday, August 28,
Colborne Township's oldest residence
will be open to the public. Experience
nearly two centuries of local hletorywithh
present residents in period costumes giv-
ing
iving one hour guided tours to pre -bought
ticket holders.
Proceeds to be used to restore gates at
Colborne Cemetery gates.
May litinisp, kunst 211, turseSpAss
new allow mimic* one hour *w guided tour.
proland
Rants, M $ Foga Irk..