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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1981-06-25, Page 2Page 2 Citizens News June 25, 19$1 Local writer chronicled Zurich's first l00 years The following story is reprinted from a 1956 issue of the Zurich Herald. It out- lines the first hundred years of Zurich's history. By Maude Hadden Zurich is situated in the south-western corner of Huron County, about eight miles north of Grand Bend and 25 miles south of Goderich. Frederick Knell of Switzerland, registered his first survey of Zurich 100 years ago and named the new village after the city of Zurich in his native land. Within a year there was a general store and a post of- fice, then a grist mill and a sawmill. Today the natives are mostly of Frenth and Ger- man descent. The first settlers were of German ex- traction and the first of these were John Oesch and family followed shortly by Peter Diechert and Frederick Ayt who were blacksmiths. French came later. By 1864, the village boasted of two hotels, the "Victoria" and the "Zurich", two shoe shops, one tailor shop and a tinsmith as well as the general store. The first organized church was the Lutheran in 1860. The first school was built in 1872 and contained two classrooms. By 1872 the population was and more industries eveloped. A tannery, a glue factory, two wagon and carriage shops are listed in that year. A town hall was built. In 1866 the Baptist Church was built with John Sumpt as .pastor. While this con- gregation has long since dis- banded, the brick building which served as their place of worship still stands. The first Mennonite church was built in 1864 and was replac- ed by the present building in 1908. The first Catholic church was erected In 1870 with Father T. J. Valentin as resident priest. The parish was called St. Boniface after patron saint of Germany. The Evangelical church, now the Evangelical United was erected in 1862. The first hydro system was installed in 1905 and supplied electricity to the community until 1917 when it was taken over by the Hydro -electric Power Com- mission of Ontario and ser- vices were extended over 24 hours a day instead of being shut off at midnight. The Zurich water system was organized in 1917 with a large cistern and deep well. Many changes have since been made. In 1944 an 8 -inch deeprock well was drilled d anubsequently more were put in service. Later a 35,000 gallon storage tank was erected and a new turbine pump was installed. In 1867, a well-known pioneer named George Hess, a watch maker and photographer opened the first jewellery shop and watch repair in the village. He subsequently built two clocks — one for the town hall and one for the Lutheran Church. The church clock is still in service. In 1,.,'i he built the first electric clock which he operated on cell batteries and later on an Edison gravity battery. From 1895 to 1909 the Bell Telephone Company of Canada gave service to Zurich with a switchboard in post office operated by Dan Faust. The idea of a rural telephone company was first conceived in 1906 by Ed- mund Zeller, publisher of the Zurich Herald. The Zeller Company operating the telephone service, was taken over by' the South Huron Telephone Company with Zurich as its headquaters. Eventually the Hay Township Municipal Telephone Company, took over and is still operating. There were many humorous incidents in the telephone history. An elderly gentleman was not too enthusiastic about this' new contraption but finally had one installed when he was assured he could speak German over it. He then proceded to call his daughter-in-law who could not speak German and when she was unable to unders- tand him he requested that the phone be removed as it had been misrepresented to him. In 1914 there were some 600 residents in the com- munity. The Women's Institute was organized in this year and did much for the men overseas in both the first and second world wars. The town by this time had another general store, a clothing store and drug store. It also had three den- tists, a doctor and veterinarian. One of the first industries, a planing mill, is at present the most important. The pre- sent company was founded in 1910 by Fred C. Kalbfleisch. It was incor- porated in 1945 as F. C. Kalbfleisch and Son Ltd., with Ivan L Kalbfleisch as president and managing ALLTOGETHER NOW -- Models for the Zurich and area figure skating club's tribute to "The way we were" are:. (back, from left) Carmel Sweeney, Carrie Sweeney, Elizabeth Memer, Marge Schilbe, Joy Hogg; (front, from left) Donna Hoffman, and Hubert Schilbe. The show will be held July 2 for the 125th anniversary. director. This company employs some 50 to 60 per-' sons and provides a livelihood for many of the village families. Early banking was carried on by private bankers. These were eventually bought out by the Sovereign Bank. In 1908 the Molson's Bank open- ed a subagency in the building previously occupied by the Sovereign bank. In 1910 the office was moved to the east corner of the building which .also housed the general store of Johnathan Merner and stood on the corner west of Main Street and Goshen Road, the main corner of the village. here it remained until a dis- astrous fire destroyed the premises in 1924. The .pre- sent office was erected on the same site. In 1842 the bank was clos- ed because of staff shortage brought on by World War II. The branch was re -opened in October, 1945. Zurich is unique in that it reached a population of some 600 in early years and still retains that population without the benefit . of a railroad or other major transportation facilities. To the north-west of Zurich is the parish of St. Peters, known locally as the French settlement. Many of Zurich families originated in Paris. Champlain is' said to have been the first white man to set foot there around 1616. In 1850 a small school was built and also used for church services by both the French Catholics of St. Peters and the German Catholics of Zurich. The per - sent church was built in 1889 near this school. St. Peters is one of the few French settlements established- in the Province of Ontario, South of St. Peters and four miles directly west of Zurich is St. Joseph. This village was founded by Narcisse Cantin in 1896. Blue Water Rest Home has difficult, successful year "Quite a difficult year" was also a "very successful year, once more" for the Blue Water Rest Home reported chairman Dr. C. Wallace at the Home's an- nual meeting Tuesday, June 16. Plenty of worries and plenty of meetings were re- quired to get the Blue Water Rest Home Apartments completed (the 10 apartment units were officially opened May 3,) Wallace said. He also noted discussions with the union were also worrysome. Administrator Joe Risi's report stated an arbitration board gave Blue Water's full-time unionized staff an increase of $1.45 per hour over a 22 month period starting June 6, 1980. This will give an average increase of 21 percent, to April of 1962. The average hourly rate of $5.62 will in- crease to $7.07 by January 1982, the report states. The report also notes similar in- creases will be passed along to all non-union and super- visory staff. The combined balance sheet for the home, prepared by Richardson and Laken Chatham, reflected the "successful" year. Increases to operating and capital accounts of $48,491 this year, increased the total surplus to $685,312. The combined accounts show data for the Blue Water Rest Home, the Maplewoods Apartments for Seniors and.the Blue Water Rest Home Apartments. In 'other business the meeting accepted re- appointed board members and re-elected members -at - large. Robert Westlake, Zurich, will replace Laird Schilbe, Bayfield, as the appointed member for St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Zurich. Other appointed members are: Chairman Dr. Wallace, Zurich Chamber of Commerce; secretary Russel Grainger, Zurich Lion's club; Harold Erb, Blake Mennonite church; Lewis Boshart, Zurich Men- nonite; Oscar Greb, Zurich United; Mrs. Cornelius VanRaay, St. Boniface Roman Catholic; Clement Regier, St. Peter's R.C., St. Joseph; and John Eckel, Goshen United. Members -at -large return- ed to the board are Lloyd Walper, Elgin Hendrich, John Corbett, and Orval Wassman. Ethel Myers reported on the activities of the auxilary. The group sends flowers and cards to new residents and those in hospital, and arranges Christmas and birthday gifts. The auxiliary also arranges special events like the Mother's Day Tea and the annual picnic dinner. In ' 1980 the auxiliary donated $1,000 to purchase as whirlpool bath for the residents use. In his report, admin- sitrator Joe Risi noted there was a waiting list for entry in to the Maplewoods and Blue Water apartments. One resident moved from the Maplewoods to the rest home and the vacancy was filled immediately. Rent in the Maplewoods apartments is $194 per month, up about $5 as of March, 1981. Rent at the Blue Water Rest Home apartments is $200 per month. Both rents include utilities and laundry facilities. Fire alarm systems at the home were upgraded by replacing heat detectors with smoke detectors located in all the bedrooms and in the hallways adjacent to the bedrooms. An extra annunciator panel and a new fire alarm panel were in- stalled at the nurse's station. Half of the $10,498 cost for the improvements was paid by a grant. Risi reported there were 62 residents in the rest home, 12 men and 40 women. Of these, 24 are under residential care, the remainder are extended care residents. The average age of residents is 81 for the men, and 84 for the women. One resident, Mrs. Marie Gelinas will by 103 in November. A donation was also made by the Klaghorn family who donated a hi -low mechanical bed, a bed -side table and a three drawer dresser to fur- nish one of the home's infir- mary rooms. BLUE WATER BOARD — Returning board members of the Blue Water Rest Home are (back, from left): Harold Erb, Laird Schilbe, Elgin Hendrich, John Eckel, Oscar Greb, Lloyd Walper, Clement Regier, Robert Westlake, auditor John Laken, solicitor Bod Deane, secretary Russell Grainger; (seated, from left) Mrs. Cornelius VanRaay, chairman Dr. C. Wallace, and administrator Joe Risi.