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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1975-07-24, Page 27BY 00;10Elterniiti WOOa fence against the cattle 4:0PyrIght 1,075 'that were pastured an thestreets. by'the•clinteo News -Record Introduction • * hundred years ago Clinton. as a Settlement of 'fly account, • • was about *years old. Its main street* Wero by turns .dusty4 muddy, StieWy, icy, slushy and always horse-manurcy for there were .prof as many horses t•hen• aS there are cars now Cross,vralks, first of Palm and later of stone, crossed the main, earners to give passage across the Morass. Many of the stores, mostly of frame construction, ' had Venal dabs which in effect • roofed the sidewalks. Street lighting was frOM the windows of stores which stayed open quite late. Nine p.m. was at one time considered early closing. There ' were rio street lamps untiLafter MO. When the stores ctose(1„, heavy shutters were emplaced in the windows • for protection against theft in the dark. • The back streets, with fewer * houses than now and almost as many barns as houses, ' were • more like country lanes than streets as they are now known. The back roads were unsurfaced in any way, the ditches were open, and where there were sidewalksthey were made of plank. and often in disrepair. There were no boulevards unless an individual had made his own, and the'grass grew tall enough to considered • pod pasture. •Eachyirdwasr uiredbyl.wto; Many toWASPeeKeltePt a cow or twO, Some pigs awl chickens- The back streets were entirely unlighted, and livestock roved in -the dark. The foltowing article is- a seyerefy lioilted attempt to depict the evolution of the town Landscape. in dealing only with commercial, h3dustrial and in- stitutional structureS, much has been left -out, and nuichis left ft! reader's. imagination. Sites outside the town, such as Ran- sford'S`salt works mut the County home have not been included The major -source of information has been back copies of the Clinton News Record and the Clinton NeW 'Era. Time has not pelted inspection of such docu eats as deeds, building permits, or tax rolls. Also, the research on the old papers does not extend beyond 1914, so that many people's recollections have had to be relied upon for -latter day, information. Time has not allowed consultation with nearly as many people as would be desirable. • The work of the late Jabez Rana on the history of the town has been of great help in preparing this article, and particular acknowledgement is made to Mrs. Doris Ratkins for permitting access to the large quanta*of historical material she has assembled. Material knitted by Homer Andrews is likewise • gratefully The breech ot the Oertrianfield gun lfl J eat% Margart on duty. 1. From the Bank of • Montreal To the Hotel -Clinton • copyright 1075. Gerald Frernlin Bank of Montreal Iri the summer of 1831, Peter Vanderburgh and Jonas Gibbings established • the • first two residential braidings in. Clinton. The Gibbings. homestead -was approximately on the site et the • present Ontario .Street Church Wectoryi Vanderburgh's building, a log tavern, was at the corner of the Landon and Huroo Roads - the present site of- jhe Bank of Montreal. The very first building within the limits of the resent iiieunds of St. Paul's between .1828 and 1831 an the illy church and school a , town was 7a31.pritnitise cabin. nomna put -tip by the Canada Company Peter an the log tavern until 1837 when he sold it to '"Yankee" Reed who in turn sold it. to William Rat- tenbury in 1844 or 1845. William Rattenbury was the egsktive founder of Clinton, for in 1855. • undoubtedly in anticipation of the coming of the railway (it arrived in 1857). he laid out a street gfid and Started selling lots. This 'precipitated a boom in real estate speculation as well as an influx of businessiten anxious to provide service to the star far- ming. community which had grown up in advance of the set- ' tlernent that was to become Clinton. The influx was so rapid that in three years the population had risen from perhaps 100 to '1.000 permitting incorporation as village in 1858. William Rattenbury stayed. Withilte hotel until 1872. The hotel in this period has been described as -a low, two-storey, un- pretentious building, standing back Tram the corner." The first billiard table in Clinton was set up in it. la 1612 William Rat- • tenbury's son Isaac built a new Rattenbury House on the site of the present Hotel Clinton, and the old hotel was sold to a Mr. Knox. _.•=1.43 >7' 1 ° C'411 0.•4 b. d War— in front of the red brick post office. In (he It data* war on the present site of Newcombe's Mr. Knox operated the business as the Clinton Hotel until 1877 after which it ceased to be a hotel. and began to be taken apart piecemeal. T. Watson. set up a flour and feed store in part of the building in the same year Mr. Knox gave it up. Part of the stables were •removed to the , railway tracks by R.M, Racey as a storehouse for iron, and collapsed under the load. A part of the main fabric cif the hotel was moved to King Street by Peter Straith to: be' converted into a •broom factory (see 29).• There is giitid reason to believe that the broom factory ultimate1,. became a- house that is -stiII standing. A 1903 newspaper article referring to the old hotel states: "Part of the same building stands to -day as part of the house occupied by C.E. Dowding (manager of Molson's Bank), it having been vertee, v o the-. resent site.'" The house occupi y Powding i, at 122 King Street. presently eccupied by Mrs. H.C. Lawson. • The old hotel baildifig.received a reprieve from total -destruction as a result of a fire that bufned out the Searle and Davis hard- ware on Albert Street in January 1878 (see 48), Reeuiring tem- porary accomodation until a new porary accommodation until a • new building could be put up.l Searle and Davis overhauled the old hotel building- and resumed. their hardware business,* part' of it. At about the same time. the • market building (see 64) were required to find new quarters. and Robert F tz si m innns • relocated his business in the old hotel. In January 1879 J.H. Combe druggist.- moved in. and visy April of 1879 the newspaper could 'Ippon that "the old building will soon he as gond as new in appearance." This happy • state of affairs apparently continued until March „ 1903 when Barry Combe fell in the drugstore as he was carrying a lighted lamp in one hand and a bottle of 'Wood alcohol in the other. The resultant fire destroyed the building but not Mr. Combe who, in September 1903. contracted with Thomas Mackenzie to have a net building erected. In the following month. the property and the contract were sold for $10000 to J.P. Tisdale. a private banker whose bank at that time was in the, Perrin Block (see 76) next doorto' Maisons Bank. The new struc- ture, with RS south end abutted against the Cooper Block, wedge- shaped to the north. to- fit the corner. and two storeys high, required mew smoothed bricks to bring it to completion in the ramous wintry February of 1904. The first tenants were Molson's Bank, Tisdale's Bank, Cornhe's drugstore. and Fitzsimmons and Sons, butchers. This building remained essentially unaltered until demolishqd to mak e "y for 111-6, present Bank of Montreal. The Cooper Block The site of the Cooper Block, immediately south of the Bank of Montreal, is known to have been vacant in 1881 when , Mrs. Rutledge of Bayfield proposed building a store on the site. Whether the store was built or whether there- bad previously been a building on the location has not been determined. What is beyond question is that the present filocl(Was built in 1888 by William Cooper who was in the building trade. and was occupied by him- in the stationery business. For many years thebuilding was occupied by his,son A.T. Cooper. in the same business. . The Victoria Block • The south store of the Victoria Block. • now Marys Sewing 'Centre. was the site of a frame store built ...abput 1855 and operated by Thomas. Stevenson who is thought to -have been the first furniture retailer in Clinton. Whether the site of the north store. now the Del Mac Fruit and - Variety store. was occupied by a previous building is • not known. The present Victoria Block was built in, 1877 by Cooper and Mackenzie. Ave ..Cooper• of this s• e William Couper who built the ciiiiner Block. The first ac- t:ow:tots • were J a meS Twltchell hoots and harness, in the north " store. and Thomas Jackson .2- cl-tithing. in the south. The Mechanics Institute. predecessor to the Public .Library. was housiN! upstairs in Block from January 1, December 1880 after lht town hall. *where it had been housed. was burned in November 1879. Ray and Shirrs The store presently occupied by Ray and Shirrs Market. ad- irrining the' Victoria Block, was built in the summer of 1880 for William Jackson of Thomas Jackson and-Sons..,,by, McCartney. Thompson and Scott. con- tractors. and was first occupied lei...William Jackson. Later. and for'inany years it was occupied hy McLennan's grocery and confectirmery. and subsequently for a few years was Scott', grocery. During the Second World. War it became Glennie Cook 's restaurant. After The war Mr. Cook and his nephew Frank made a transition from restaurant keeping to . hotel keeping and took over the present Hotel Clinton. Newcombe"s OrtiAstore The site of Newcambe's , Drugstore is thought not to have been built upon throughout mast of the history of Clinton. For many' years it was occupied only by a large billboard. During the--? Second World War a small taxi office was built on the site which remained until the present store and Lee's were built in 1955, by William Miller. I.ee's The site of Lee's, separated (ram the Hotel Clinton by an alley that was for many years known as "the Luie-. had a two story wooden hililding built on it about 1866, wks to this building that the function of post office was transferred in 1866 from a store across the street (see 11) with Thomas Fair as postmaster and storekeeper. The postal facility was -reported as .occupying twenty-one square feet with a "cubby-hole 3% by 3% feet where business was transacted.' This building continued as the post office until' 1904 when the 'red brick post office was opened (see ' (continued on page 4)