Clinton News-Record, 1975-07-24, Page 34, '41 tf •Sit :ft* **I* 4,1ft cypt,
14VA,194
1S—East 414414.*MiesAfreet,sat, of Cuflir
,
•
earlyTbe
"„.. elintene mostly`
f; onCatho)ic
rsuaslon. although this valiftOt,
he case in neigbbourieg tovnsor
n the surrounding townships,
ar ,,y Huflett.
sth Concession olFHallett WAS an
area known for better or for
worse as -Paddy Settlement
.
whose COtholic tengregatiOil
. built a log. eiturth In 1858 at- the
site of the present *Catholic
cemetery an the 5th.
In 189! the old Presbyterian
Church - on James Street was
PurehaC0 by -the Catholics and
was occupied in lune of that ,
year. The church had been built
in 1854 And wAsAknowri As 'the
vigils Presbyterian Church. It is
reported to have blown down
,
shortly after construction. and to
have been re -erected. When the ,
r ,
present St Andres 04 Attt4'''.,
•tenbury Street, East WAS built ht
884 the:Old church Vies vaeatc1L
. It apparentlystok Aram' tor,
two year* OM 14, ix Hayward.
(see 0),04rotivpw: 1886 and
converted it la * carriage
fac-
tom Ile apparently added a
blackSmithsh4totheretirofthe
..premises.
As noted above. the Catholic -
congregation bong)* the t9tOding,
'iniSSirtnoin me. Ifeywardandre-
conSecrated it as a church. In
March ISM Sam Cooper received ”
a contract to build the present
rectory, , and in 1908 Thomas
Mackenzie Was awarded the
contract 10 build the present St.
Joseph's Church Which opened in
December of that year. The old
frame dme!) was demolished by
Have Centel= and wds in-
. corporate() . into an apple
evaporator in Little England (see
19). •
(s.
torbiiC *PI
the PreSbyterian cOngregatiOn, WaStOrn down iri.19(18.
1 9
iuftutgti*torr hes tWeeri 10 and 1900-4:it-was budtby LC. Creeleyin 1000 as a
e turnedDrtver lue
tb
0
y
10—North Side of
Gordon Street between
Matilda and
Jantes Streets
The Evaporator
copyright 1975.
by Gerald Frernlin
In 1900 J.C: Creeley stet up a
"skim -toning plant" in Jacob
Miller's. budding at Albert and
Princess Streets (see 52) at' which,
ife collected whole .milk.
skimmed it. and shipped the
cream to Seafprth to be made into,
butter. Clinton's central location
seemed to have, recommeoded
the town as a site foria creamery.
for in the sante year Mr. Creeley
built one. It was on Gordon
*guar°. also known as The
common. at the south end of the
block hounded by James, Ger-
don'. and Matilda Streetswith the
railway on thenorth.
The new creamery was a
4orey-and7a-half frame building,
45 hy 60 feet.-pealt7roofed with an
overhang to shelter the loading
dock. Called the Huron Central
Creatnery. it came into operation
in April 1994l.A.elith 30 wagons
bringing in milk. It went
bankrupt by September. The
boiler and engine were sold to a
knitting factory in Goderich, and
the building went to John E.
Gregor, a butter manufacturer -
from London. He sold the plant in
1902 to W.P. Spalding of Clinton .
who. 'asininity a new boiler and
engine. and adding an 18 foot
al4tiere dye house, converted the
building to a knitting factory.
It might be added here that the
dye vats undoubtedly drained
into a small . creek that came
under, the tracks at the head of
the block and • reached the
Bayfield River just downstream
from the present sewage plant.
The Creamery presumably else
washed its tanks into The stream
as did a later creamery via a
di
Inflow of the stream into the river
was The, Three Trees. a popular
swimming may be con.
lectured that in the days of the
knitting tiretory` sWironterS
emerged blue from the water like
Ancient Britons hence the name
Little England?) hut this would
he preferable to being coated
with whey. Today. if you swam
there. you might be coated with
red.
Returning front The Three
Trees to the knitting factory. the
plant with power operated
hosiery machines seems to have
..,„
prospered imntediatelyand by
1905 was ready to expand. In-
stead of expanding on the site. a
new mill - the Wearwell factory -
was built on Mary Street (see 45).
The vacated plant on Gordon
Square seems to have stood
empty for two years when it was
bought by Dave Cantelon- (the
14-000 )ingywhoseintention. Wil4
to convert the building into an
apple evaporator. The intention
was not realized until 1909. In that
year Mr. Cantelon bought the old
frame Catholic (previously
Presbyterian) Church an James
Street (see 15) for 5150 and added
11 10 the creamery building. The
composite building was then
leased to Towne and Case - the
operators of the apple evaporator
at the corner of High and William-
• Streets (see 3).
'Towne and Case moved two
..buildings from the old site and
reiumcd operations at the new.
This establishment remained in
eperation. being usually open,for
three months in the falls; until,.
about 1435, although the** were
times when it did riot open either
for reasons of market or a bad
apple s6ason. •.
The best period for dried apple
products seems to have been
Jiefore the First World War when
Germany and Prance as well as,
the witteirn Provinces provided a
good market. In a normal season
the evaporator in .Clifton
processed about 12.000 bushels of
apples. The business fell off forii
_Itunliter of r_easons- - loss of the
European • inaritit-iii-a-tie
flrst-
World War. decline in apple
production in this part of the .
country, age, the increasing
--availability a, fresb fruit during
the winter.
The evaporator building is
believed to have been demolished
about 1937. The present cottages
the site were built im-
mediately after the Second World
War.
on
18 From riot to -prayer
lei -Northwest Corner of
Victoria Street and
Railway Street •
The 'Railway Hotel
copyright 1975, .
ht Gerald Fremlin
At least as early as 1863 there
was • a hotel on the northwest
corner of Victoria. Street and
Railway Street. By 1863 it was •
'calledthe Railway Hotetand was
operated by Thomas Lane. Little
is known of it although the house:
ifl 256 Victoria is understood to be
a -remnant' of it.
It was Operated by Mr. Lime
definitely to 1871 and probably.to
1878 • when it was put up -riot
auction. It sold for 52475 -a good
price which suggests that it was
•transfefred as a.viable business.
.By 1844 when the Canada Tem-
perance Act first came into
temporary effect. the hotel was'
definitely closed. A newspaper,
note of November 1884 states
was once Lane's
Hotel whore scenes of revelry
and riot were often witnessed, is
now occasionally used by the
Salvation Army for prayer
meeting purposes.- ID that same
year it was sold to a Mr. Moore
for 5800. A note of May 1886 states
"John Stephenson is converting
part of the Lane Hotel property
near the freight sheds into two
dwelling houses."
°There is quite good reason to
by
believe that the name "Railway.
Hotel' was applied to Kelly's
note/ across, Victoria Street (see
'4) after 1884.•
Peter Grant's
Blacksmith Shop
In 1869, Peter Grant erected -a
large and commodious
Blacksmith shop on Victoria
Street a little north of the railWay
station". The site of this banding
is ,not known, but it is assunted to
have been on the west side of
Victoria Street near the Railway
Hotel.
The main significa,pce of the
blacksmith shop is tliat it was
here that Peter Grant 'invented
and for a time manufactured a
patented fork for lifting hay, into
barn lofts. It was a two -prong
(Ark perhaps four feet in height
with hinged points. It was thrust
into a load of hay, and when a
lever was set. the points turned
inward grasping a large bundle of
hay. The bundle was raised into
the loft hy a pulley leading to a
track in the peak of the roof.
when the fork reached the track
it engaged with a small car which
travelled along the rail carrying
the hay to the desired spot. The
toad was dropped by pulling a
rope attached to a trigger on the
• fork.
In 1875 this fork won a firsi
'(continued on page 11)
Pleased to be part of this
thriving community on the
occasion of it 100th birthday
"4111
rut et Variety
- Open .7 days,/ week
15 VICTORIA ST., tLINTON 482-.7635
•,7