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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1975-07-24, Page 61On the '444,,OectlPied by the Town Hill, the .Vehtit Ubreryie arid the rent Park OM at Atilt reside -nee and rfti ,in111,54. of the kind ,mnutectwedby Mr. McTaggart Wbndcranke4 machine 404 e Site of deef4reere kicker, Used for. removing Weed seed and other unwanted • ° materiel from seed grain. It " 'Consisted esSentially of a number Of oscillating sieves and an air • impeller. Which provided a iraltrent of air that had a win- , flowing efteCt. The cabinet work and the air impeller were •rnade - of wood; the gearing, shaft, and • sieves, of Metal. Since there were no central` stations for cleaning grain at the time, and since Most , farmers produced their own seed grain, almost every farm required a fanning mill, and 15/Wessell's industry Prospered. The factory was probably moved • from its first , site to Wellington IP'" Street (see 46) in 1870. In 1869, th4re was discussion in • the Village Counciton the need for a municipal marketplace as a clearing ground for products brought in by the farmers, stick as hay, grain, firewood, and livestock. The general idea of the market wasof a place where: farm products could be com- petitively bid for by buyers, where central services such as a weigh .scale could be' provided-, where" auctioning or household goods could be held, and some retailing. In 1870 the McTaggart property Was bought by the Village. and in the same year a brick 'market building with municipal offices was put up about where the • Public Library is now. There were intirket stalls on the first '77 floor, a public hall on the second.,'--- and elsewhere in the building were triunicipat offices and a library - the Mechanics -Institute. There was a bell tower, the bell of which cracked and had to be recast. The public hall had a pipe organ manufactured by the Dolterk, Organ Company. The fire thatburned out the site • of the present Beaver Block (see .63) also burned the market building in March 1879. The present Town Hall was built in the fallowing year by William Little. contractm, using 2100.4 bricks and 75,000 feet of lumber. The new building was formally opened on 17 February 1881. For the occasion the Clinton retket • Club engaged thP Neiman Opera comPooli to present -The Lakes CLINTON,NMAM-RgPOTXThtntSPAY P4X14,1 1 Of Killarney" ,_and "HAM fare" an corbeeutive WOOF, he andittitintn was equipped with twa 124aMP chandeiletnt Oil fueled. and twrrsidelatnPoter the Stage. At the trent door were mounted two 4)11 larntat - the first street lights in Ow% the next being at front atid,,rear Of4t. Paul's Church. .installed in um and 18$1. The chandeliers In the town hall were replaced about Ma by an arc lamp which In 19041 WAS rtpbeed by - the present farty4ightAltendelier. The Town Hall was apparently., built without an external fire escape, and a steel one ' was donated at the cost of $150 in 1904 by W. Buell Hale who had been horrified by A fatal auditorium fire in the United States. The first cement sidewalk in town, known as a "gr.anolithie walk", was laid in front of the Taw'n Hall by James Howe as an experiment in 1896, but it was not until 1906 that the town adopted a systematic program of laying cement walks, the first being on High Street. The front offices of the Town Hall were originally seen as providing revenue by rental as stores or offices, and it was not until 1907 that a "cozy corner" was remodelled for the town clerk and the police. • Immediately prior to this, there had apparently been a shoe repair shop where the police office is now. The front offices had also been used by the Grain Buyers Office Clerk. the • Dominion Telegraph Company, and the customs Office at various times. The PAeplianics Institute, was housed somewhere in the Town Hall, and when- it was moved to the present Ptiblit Library the space was rented to C. Hoare as a music store. - The auditorium became the cultural centre of the town, and for many years had a busy winter season af dances, concerts and theatrical performances ranging from the Boston Ladies Sym - _phoney Oichestra and Shakespearean Companies from New York to minstrel shows and "Uncle Tom's Cabin—. "Richard 111", and Bulwer Lytton's "Richilieu" were staged by local amateurs, the leader of whom, E.J. Howard. departed from Clinton by bicycle for Reno, Nevada. Ile had previously cycled from St. Paul Minnesota, ta New York City. Perhaps he had taken lessons at Mr. Emmerson's bicycle training school in thiTown Hall in 1896. • , But a little culture was perhaps axeclea, fer in 1889, Councillor Plummer drew attention to the common practice ot spitting tobateo juice upon the floor& the Town-- Hall and asked for the draftir/g of a by-law forbidding the filthy habit. His request was • • • oar. 4441.40-4.4,44n ATI,•;,.„1 , , • Vr 1.00t ••,.„4• 4 ert • 4, wiyb 'PU4 . 4 e • 41 • a stork with trfrigS outstretched and sky-pohnhig beak wherein was held a perforated water -spraying nozzle". The building lust showing at the left edge of the picture was a • bowling alley built in 11115. • oz r •••• granted. The dtafting will be easier than __the enforcing." It might be qdded that when the downtown Sidewalks were new and white the Same problem was PerCeivedanaw. The town days af meiett, glory neSse4 with the coming of the moving picture whirl was heralded in thetown hall itself in March of 1892 by a "cinematographic 040nm/tee" that evoked from the 675 who attended "expressions of wonder at the marvellous nature of the invention," Queen Victoria's funeral was viewed in March, of 1902. Recentlythe auditorium was condemned for public use for reasons of structural un- soundness. , ' The Public Lthrary • The Medianics Institute was subscriberslibrary located in • the first Town Hall, in which the non -subscribing public had reading room but not take-ept privileges. When the town ban burned in 1879. 300 volumes were saved. Quarters for the collection_ were found first in the Victoria Blockthen in the Beaver Block, and in 188711 was returned to the new Town Hall. . James Stavely. a Clinton bachelor, and a man reputed eccentric and illiterate. died in 1892 with a will in favour of a relative already dead. Documents in his effects lead the audiorithis to Conclude that he was illegitimnte, and whether for this reason or for the inap- plicability of his will: or both, his 'estate was escheated to the Croiini which -is to say the government took it - 930,000, but did not keep it. Instead, the children of the intended beneficiary received 918,090 and the Town of Clinton 910.000 on strict condition thatthe money be used to build a publiclibrary. 95800 was specified .fibr the Wilding, and the same amount for an endowment. In January 1897, the money was received. In October of the same year Sam Cooper won the con- tract with a bid o193500. He sawn, bargain in the pressed red brick specified for the - libiary and bought enough, using his own funds, to build a new house for himself at the southwest corner of Orange and Wellington Streets across from the present Cooke's greenhouse. The library, named Stavely Hall. was openeed on the first of February Isyro., rhere was some ttrg.:Zriainty at the time as to whether electricity or acetylene would prevail as the lighting of the future, and the building was therefore piped for the one and wired for the „other, but as those who read may see, the wiring won out. • In August 1906, Miss Minnie Rudd was relief librarian during • the holidays of Mr. Bean. In December 013 Miss Rudd introdticed the story hour, still In '1915 '1915 the south -wing of the present building was built with • money received from Andrew' - Carnegie. • The Library Park Beauty and business long battled in the IViarket Square. and beauty,. -may have won, or business may be beautifid. It was opened in 1870 with yards for livestock, space -where buyers could inspect toads of hay or grain or firewood, and.a seale for weighing loads: In 1875, .primed by a public subscription of 913 council voted 940 for a bandstand - a victory for beauty and the arts, • but when finished it was seen to be of shabby construction. Humorous pictures and writing soon appeared upon its walls., In the following year. -the property committee was instructed to look at the feasibility of leasing or selling the land along Albert Street for erecting stores, but this thrust was diveited. When the present town ball was being built after the 1879 fire, the Market Square was heaped with gravel, debris from the fire, and excavated earth. The weigh scale was moved forward to Albert Street. the 'bandstand bed . - disappeared and there were coMplaints about the cattle yard. In 1894 the cattle Yard was retnoved from the 'Market Square, the stockyards at the railway flaying been opened, and the weigh scale was moved back. from Albert Street to a place behind. the present Community Park. In 1898 a new well with pump_was provided, close to the cornerlorAlbereand Rattenbury - more convenient to the public than the previous well, In June of 1900 the cup at the public Pump had gone astray. With the completion of Stavely Hall in 1900, the Market Square began to be more clearly seen as a park. The ground was levelled up. sod and flower gardens were - put in immediately in front of the Library. and a gas pipe fence recently'removed from in front of the Library. and a gas pipe fence recently removed from in front a the Public SCh001 Wits put up around the &mare with the object t..1 keepingsleighs and wagons off. The newspaper expressed doubt as to the wisdom of closing 'off the grounds, and before the winter was over. the fence Was taken down on the north side "to permit' farmers to turn with sleighs." But the image of a park was , growing stronger. In 1901 there was a proposal, for few ben- ches or seats on the Market • Square." and in 1.M the ban4. stand returned. in WEI a stone crusher in the Square malting material for macadamised roads, but to the degreemossible It VMS hid.away behind the Town. Hall. • f • In 1113, the newspaper suggested ',What about seeding down the Market $quare thb spring? Wouldn't such a green spot at the centre of the wan add a good deal to its appearaacir The Women's Institute dOnated a drinking fountain 10 1914 where the present fountain stands. It ran continuously, the overflow • being piped to a cask iron hose; trough for c,00ling off M hot spellS,,, Prince LawSon Whose master was Luke, being the leader of the pack in latter days. The bandstand I. resumed its travels in 1914 and 'went to the point at the convergence of Isaac and King Streets. The 'Market Square is thought to have been legislated out of existence in 1915 and to have formally become a park by the same action. By that time market activity had presumably dwin- dled to occasional weigh scale service. die scales by then being the Library where it remained at least into the 1930's if not later. About 1918. although specific information has not been ob- tained. an elaborate cast iron fountain was donated as a cen- trepiece for the park. It consisted of a large lower basin. perhaps eight feet in diameter. from the tentre of which arose a pedestal of intricate _design which held aloft a second basircat a height of Six or seven feet, on the cir- cumference of Which were heads • of lambs whine mouths spouted water from the upper basin to the lower. On a representation of a clump of vegetation in the centre of the upper basin there stood a large iron bird. presumably a stork. with wings outstretched and sky -pointing beak wherein was held a perforated water - spraying nozile. the spray from which fell in the upper basin. The fountain stood where the austere war monument now stands. the latter giving no hint of the elegant Victorian beauty of the former. It is understood that the friuntain was broken while being moved to make way for the rnornument, but that the iron stork survives in Gaderich • The bandstand resumed its travels about 1930 and returned to the Library Park, staying about ten years before movinragain to the Community Park. from where it was sold to Mex Taylor who settled it at North and John Streets until in the 1960's it ob- tained honourable retirement at the country place .of Alex Addison. AND ALL ITS-RESIOENTS. ON THE CENTENNIAL YEAR YOURS SINCERELY Bob McKinley •••••