Clinton News-Record, 1975-07-24, Page 76•
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Postal service in the Oaten
area was started In or before
1850- Since tie ter-atirtn was
Tuelteramllh, the Pat OffiCO was
known as Teekerstitrth And then'
thangedle Clinton
Vriot- to 1851. various ways of
conveying mail Were used and in
1851 the Provieces tookover from
the United Kingdom and were
responsible for the ad-
ministration of Postal Service
in Canada. When a letter or
message was 'Osted, the post-
masteestatnped or wrote "paid"
in red ink on theiace of the letter
and collected the money. This
practice 'was in effect from the
introduction of postal service
until October 1. 1875, when
prepayment- of postage by
adhesive stamp became man-
datory. The postmasters did not
like the adhesive postage stamp
and figured they should be en-
titled to a commission on stamps
sold.
In 1891 the W. Doherty &
Organ Manufacturers. Raglan
Clintonf anted°. were using
Commercial Covers orenvelppes
for their letters, It is interesting
to note that man V Postmasters
made vise of caoc0111011 marks et
their own make and design Which
were made from -old corks from
spirit bottles,. Vocl, leather or
rubber. A, cut cork ;tweet • was
used on the -W. Doherty letter.
Following Confederation in
1861, a new type of cancelling
device was used with a number in
the centre. The nutnber indicated
the order of importance of the
post oltitte. Clinton was number
59. Montreal was the Most im-
portant post office in Canada and
was given number one.
1 amtold mail was first
handled in Clinton Village by
Richard and Louisa Thwaites
near the Yankee Reed tavern.
About 1850 Richard died and
Louisa carried on "for a short
time. The first post office in the
area was on the Huron Road
towards Holmesville in the home
of Dr. Coles.
los. Cook poses with his Union Bus beside the Clinton
Railway station.
Lions Club
39 years— oh!
They sponsored All Minor
Hockey and Ball teams in Clinton
until approximately 1958. when
other Service Clubs started
taking over part of the span-
sos ships. - Sponsored- a,
Scouts and Girl Guides until 1955,
Owned and operated the "Clinton
Lions Arena" on Mary Street
until the new Community Center
was built. Sponsor and organize
all care for Crippled Children in
the Clinton area. Also the
sponsoring Club for C.N.I.B. in
this area. Assist with Programs
at Hureetview, and the Godcrich
Psychiatric hospital.
• The Charter members were:
W. Bali; 14. Bartliffi C. Bomber,*
Thos. Churchill, J.T. Clancy.
E.A. Fines, F. Fingland. F.O.
Ford, V.V.: Franks, Gco. , T.
Jenkins, AM. Knight, H.C._,
Lawson, Luke Lawsoh, Geo.
Lavelle. lan MacLeod. A.
McCartney, Dr, H. McIntyre.
J.L. McKnight, Rev. K. McGoun,
E. M4Guire, H.M. Menteith, Dr.
W.A. Oakes, F.B, Pennebeker*
JD. Roberton, K.G. Waters, LJ.
Zaphe.
The first president was
Frank Fingland in 1936-1937:
There have* been 38 past
preeidents, and the president for
1975 is Mr. H. Merriman.
Committees are set up under
the firstsecond, and third vice-
presidents and Special com-
mittees include Sight Con-
servation, Education Assistance
Fund and a Centennial com-
mittee consisting of John Wise,
Cam Proctor, Bill Fletschauer
and Hugh Flynn.'
Regular meetings are held
twice menthly ter teb Months Of
• the year in the Anglican Church
Parish Hall.
• Information by Joe Murphy
The first post office to be
actually lOcated in Clinton
Village about MS was ioa Wall
boqseila would ba Ver be on
the "lawn in front, of the Wesley
Willis United Church between
King and Victoria Streets, lames
Gordon was postmaster from
1853 until his death in January of
1856.
In the 1860's a postoMce was
located in the block between King
and Isaac Streets and owned by
Combe, the • druggist.
Thomas Fair was postmaster.
Mr. Fair had a4fratrie building
constructed to the North of the
Hotel Clinton on Victoria Street
about.1866.
On October 1, 1862, Thomas
Fair had the Clinton New Era
publish a ;'List of Letters" asking
the addresses to call for the.,
advertised letters. In 1862 the
people did not call at the post
office every day asking lei let-
ters. Some of these letters may
have had postage owing on them.
Listing letters in the paper ap-
parently in vague at that time.
The following list was published
in the Courier newspaper of 1862:
John Brociks; John Cameron; 3.
Caldwell; Robert Cease; Wm.
Cole; Chas. A. Fletcher; Andrew
Henry; John Killington; Jacob
Morse; John McKay. Joshua
Penney; Wm. Pearson; Mrs.
.Caroline Steep; • Henry—Sweet;
Thos. Stanley; Wm. Scott. -
Persons calling for any of the
above letters will please- ask for -
advertised ' letters. Signed -
Thomas Fair, P.M.
The Thomas Fair building
served as a post office until the
federal government erected a red
brick building in le03. The new
post office was on Victoria Street
'opposite the sRatteribury Hotel.
The Hon. LI. Tarte and Hon.
James Sutherland were
Ministers of Public Works and
Robert Holmes was, M.P. for
West Huron when the contract to
build. die new post office was
awarded to S.S. (Sam) Cooper.
The Federal Building on the
corner of King and Wellington
Streets was built in 1965 and the
Clinton Post Office began
operation in this building on
January 31,19.
The „ history card from
Ottawa does not sho* Mr. or Mrs.
Richard Thwaites as post-
masters, but it Would appear that
they handled- letters before
records were kept. Mrs. Thwaites
was born in 1815 and lived en
Huron Street, She and her
husband bad ii"-StOre where Ray
Dupuis has.a shoe repair shop,
and mail las posted and called
for at their store.
James' Gordon was ost-
mailer from 1853 until his dea ,
In January 1856, Themes rot,
kora, January 1864 to March,13,
1894, Robert Porter trete
November 1.1004,toIoly 21* 1$014,
Janes Scott from Mardi% 4. ISA •
to March 6, 1934. GeOrge Morley A4,
Counter &corn October f, 1934, to
October 31, 190, J,. Pearsan .
Cairns•frozn November 1,1856, to
December 27,.. 1956, Arthur E. -,
Ball from ,Dtcember 28, 1996, to
March 30, 1971, and R.I. Dixon
was appointed on May 20, 1971.
"Why are so
many of us
being killed
in car
accidents?"
"Ws a fact. Last year. tire 14.to-24 age group
accounted for more than one-third of all
drivers killed on Ontario roads.
"And nearly 40 percent of alt driveribinvolved
in fatal accidents were our age.
"Maybe we can't change the world. But we
cavi change this.
"We've got to slow down. We've got to live."
Think about it.
Ontario
Ministry of
Transportation and
CommunicatioQs
• 4-
frown your newest
Void deafer
in Huron County...
-.4440,04,01.rrrie4000,041f...,940M,*,
,
George eutler
SALES
PHONE CLINTON 111$247112