HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1967-06-29, Page 36i'AaaSM''l-�ut5►;K'+n�^.-•ops,. ,Q.;.......,�..ra
Goderi aI St, sithuroxiim June 29; 1907
vr•
cots
By W. E. Elliott
A Scots stonemaso cavae to
Goderich to build he port's
second i
o. lighthouse thou a a�d
d g s stayed
to do a great deal more build-
ing hereabouts.
The, T. R. Rundle house on
the Huron Road, a fine sped.'
men of dleorgian architecture,
with details in the Greek Rev.
.ival style, is' an examale of
the work of Adam Mac icor.
It was, a built in 18 , for
George 'Brown, fir t'easurer
of Huron county d` th@ town
of Goderich.'
A' Belgian baron ught fr m
the Canada Company QO ac es
on "The Ridge," opposite the
infant settlement of Goderich,
and had built for him there
a commodious log house with ,
full base rant for `servants,
which stands today; ' after 137
years, as part of theIlidgewood
Park property of Mr. and Mrs.
Ben Homan. " „
r L. For 40 years the residence
of a member of British nob-
ility, the "Curzon houhe" east
of Goderich was built by a
• United States citizen in the
' • •Italianate or Italian revival
• style. Erected in 1860, it or.
iginally had 10 fireplaces, and
in that era .they were .not , for
ornament solely, though some
are of Italian marble.
COUNTRY ESTATES
The three houses briefly de.
scribed in the• foregoing para.
graphs were first owned by
men who -certainly were not
primarily farmers. The fourth,
best known as the Laithwaite
place on Highway 8, is on a
first farm and the property,
acquired by John Blake from
the Canada Company in 1831
likely,. farmed from that'earlf
beginning. J
Historical Society members
and guests made Laithwaite's
the . first stop on their tour,
so that those who have never
viewed the remarkable sta.
tuary may do so. Mr.
and M 's. Clayton Laithwaite are
accustomed to people driving
in for a, closer look at the
Old Gazeteer
Gives View
-Early Goderich
Clergy in Goderich included
Rev. E. L. ET•wood, Church of
England; Rev.' P. Schneider,
-`• Roman Catholic; Rev.",Alexand.
er MacKid, Presbyterian
Church of Canada in -connection
with, the Church of Scotland;
• Rev.. R. Ure, Canada Presby.
terian Church; Rev. Noble F.
English, Wesleyan Methodist;
Rev., J. Beach, Methodist New
Connection; Rev. M. Lowry,
Methodist•Episcopal.
LARGE POPULATION
Population of Huron in 1861
was 51,964 including McGilliv.
ray and Biddulph, detached
about that time to Middlesex.
There were 14 townships, and
two "municipalities," the town.
of Goderich and village of Clin.
ton. Population' of Goderich in •
1861 was 3,227. Mails were t.•
received -'wee times a week
"from Lucknow."
Goderich, stated the gazet.P
teer, "promises to far outstrip
its past progress in every de-
partment. The court house,
built of brick, two storeys, cost
$18,000. On the bans .of the
Maitland is the jail, a. stone
building of two storeys, built
in 1840 at a cqst of $28,000.
There are two extensive found.
ries, a telegraph office, tanner.
fes, planing and sash factory,,
a woollen factory, sawmill and •
grist 'mill. There are two news.
papers, the Huron Signal, pro.
jetted in 1848 'by the late lam-
ented Thomas McQueen and now
in • the hands of W. T. Cox,
and 'the Canadian Empire, pub.
lished weekly by Thomas Mc.
Cleneghan.
The gazetteer gives, a partial
„picture of town and county a
century ago, before motor cars,
tractors, paved highways, tele.
phones, , airplanes, hydro,.. old
age -pensions and unemployment
insurance. Anyone whose fam.
ily has been in Huron for three
generations can • look up grand.
na e
father'sm The list of
professions and trades in God.
erich includes George and Wil-
liam Acheson; George, John
' and Thomas Bates;• George and
James Bissett; M. C. Cameron,
barrister; Christopher Crabb,
groceries, hardware, _dry goods •
and lumber; J. 1'. Garrow, stud.
ent.rlt.law; Daniel Gordon, cab.
inet maker; Wm. T. Hays, bar.
rister; Daniel Holmes, conduct
tor express; George Jessop,
manufacturer and dealer in
boots and shoes; Daniel Liz.
ars, clerk of the peace; John
McDonald, sheriff of Huron and
Bruce; James Saunders,. tin.
shop; . Abraham Smith, met.' '
chant tailor; George and John.
S.• Videarl„” blacksmiths; and
Charles Widder, Crown land
agent.
The Goderich township list
of-_ residents discloses eight
Cantelons, eight Coxes, 14 Ell.
etts (by tleg „4i' •names; and
lot numbera'.1 gi ft late as $1
Botts}, si of .the Hoiriies .fam.
fly, mostly On the Maitland con.
cession; three Porters; five
Ftutledges; lsaacand JOhnSock.
.e..a1d. Salkeld)•, sing Sturdys; eight
W118611s and eight Whiteteys.
,
:0. n
sculptured statues, all the,Work
of the late Georg+ Laithwaite,
grandson of a Lancashire set.
tier who took up land in the
Maitland concession of God.
erich township. in 18.31. George
acquired the present property
in 18984 and the family has been
in "the Maitland" now for 135
years.
Apart from the • matter ° of
early ownership, nothing co (d
be more dissimilar than. e
,houses themselves. John B1 e,
settling on the one existing main
road of then 1830', erected a
proper house for a country fam.
ily, from brick made in a near.
by brickyard. Years later, his
son Charles added to the house,
this time with .brick from an-
other neighborhood yard, which
was of 'a different appearance,
so that the, division is quite
noticeable. • "Apple Park," as
the , Laithwaites call it , now,. is
noted for its beautiful group of
trees and wide lawns between
hodse and highway,
GRANDSON OF EARL
The so-called Curzon place,
now owned by, Mr. and M:s.
Stanley Freeman, is just across
Highway 8 from Apple Park, and
reached through a well -treed
drive. Date of the house, 1860.
is visible°'in colored glass in
a west door. The servants'
quarters comprised a complete
wing -not at one side, as cam -
manly seen, but at the rear -
and they were complete with
bedrooms, sitting room andkit.
chen. •
- Arthur,.Wardlaw Curzon, who
acquired the place in 1893, was
descendant of a Norman knight
who accompanied William the
Conqueror to England in 1066
and a grandson of Richard Wil.
Liam Penn. Curzon, first Earl
Home, Re married a Goderich
girl Charlotte Radcliffe, His
wif and a- daughter both His
`
bef re •Mr. Curzon, who died
in hospital here in 1934, in his
74th year.
A feature of the Itaiianate
•E,
n'is VVcwk'E*ci iIes of Early Canadian
V w�.
style of the house is the square
tower at the southwest corner.
There isone like on..
'
an.
s,ittart ,Avenue in Woodstock. A
famous example of the archi.
tectural type is Osborne House,
on the Isle of Wight, built by
Prince Albert, consortofQueen
Victoria, in 1846.
Geor''ge Brown, who Awned
" various properties In Goderich
before he had Adam MacVicar
build "Stirlings" from Mait.
lana riv • , stone, lived only nine
years .to ay his iountry es.
tate, but .,, "'.widow, Marianne
Cobb Bro. , r = ained in poss.
ession for 30 ears, and was
patron of St. • Stephen's
(Anglican) church, for which she
deeded •land in 1873. Many fang.
iliar names are found in the
records of that parish up to
1893, when the church was
closed. The former rectory
remains as' a private resid.
ence.
Of the four houses listed for
the July tour, three are in
Goderich Township. Ridgewood.
Park is in Colborne. Theriver
is the boundary for many miles.
A flimsy footbridge near its
mouth provided access from.
the Goderich hamlet in the early
years.
The original log facing the
river, has been covered longer
than anyone now can remember
-covered more than once, evi.
dently, for an old photograph
in possession of the Signal -
Star shows a block formation
of some kind. ,Who applied that
covering, and when, is not,
knownY putt the material was
pine, in panelswhich account
for the markings In the photo.
graph. No longer weatherproof,
it was replaced by Me'Sandy
abbut 1950. The picture also
shows a full verandah, now long
gone, and the. big chimneys
are the chief identifiable feat.
urea
Ownership here is a �articu.
larly interesting story After
the `brief period in possession
of the Baron de Tuyle and. hta'.
son the Ridge site was seYect-
ed for thee Baron de Tuyle by
'---apt. Henry Wolsey Bayfield,
a Royal Navy officer who con•
ducted hydrographicsurveys on
the Great Lakes. He had fin.
ished this work several years
before' he picked the Ridge for
de Tuyle, but probably had shel.
tered many times in the natural
harbor at the river mouth, and
admired the high ground as a
site.
GALTS AT THE RIDGE'.
'''John Galt, son of the first
Canada Company Comniiss•
loner, who with Dr. William. Dun•
lop founded Goderich, acquired
the Ridge in 1854, and his sen
John, later postmaster of God.
erich, was born there. The
fam'ly was at the Ridge until
1866, when Registrar Galt died,
Henry Yarwood Attrill,' who
came from Ba.ltirnore`butlived
in. aristocratic English style,
bought Ridgewbod 'Park in 1872.
He had a farmer to look after
the estate, and used the place
mostly as a summer home, wen
he was not living ,in Toronto
or spending a winter in Cali.
fornia. The Attrill, regime at
Ridgewood Park was mem.
orable for an almost success-
ful • attempt to start a salt in.
dustry. He employed experts
and spent $80,000. in drilling,
but could not overcome water
in the shaft.
Mr. Attrill built the large
frame house which adjoins the
original log house on •the north.
It does not seem to be known
who the contractor was,' but
architects agree that he achi.
eyed a reasonable harmony in
the operation. From .the front
door a hall leads straight thr-
ough to the original, front door
at the south. In the basement,
the great beams show no sign
of thein great age.
At the time of his salt min.
ing enterprise, Mr. Attrill had
30 Negroes working for him,.
and 30 teams of mules. George
Sillib, who worked 'there as..a
boy recalled 'seeing 30 " sets
of double harness ...marked
"mule harness." On, the river
bank in front- of the house grew
MAY THE ARCHITECTS
OF OUR
NEXT 0
HUNDRED YEARS
BE - BLESS: D WITH .
• • THE VISION, w INITIATIVE
OF THE
-FATHERS-OF
N v1'1 .� S
VICTORIA ..and GREY
TRUST
ri-
25 or 30. varieties of grapes,
Mr. Sillib remembered, as "we
children used to
go and get
the cows down what was then
' a public road, now filled in.
The late Pery ("Pop") Wal•
Jan, used to relate that Attrill
had bulldogs - tied among the
grapevines to keep the •fruit
frost being. stolen before it was
'ripe. '
This interesting . family
seemed to melt away in a few.
years. The father died in Tor.
onto in -1892, in his 70thyear,
and the estate passed to his
widow and three children. A
fourth, Thomas, had died ,in
188.0. Elizabeth, who was con.
veyed to town behind high -step.
ping. 'hackneys with shinning
chains on the pole, died in1906,
Edward a year later, of -a fall
from a hammock. The' other
daughter, •Grace, was Mrs. Er.
nest Heaton, Toronto,
Oscar E. Fleming, Windsor
lawyer, worth a half -million
dollars At one time, took over
Ridgewood Park in 1913, and
entertained many guests there,-
including, it is said,Henry Ford
but by 1929 things . went bad
financially, and the place was
mortgaged to a • Windsor von•
tractor; Thomas Sandy, God-
erich contractor, obtained the
property in 1945. He died in
1959, but his daughter and her
husband have kept the place in
perfect, condition and ,added: im.
piovements.
Three interesting properties
are described in detail in
"Early Huron Houses," a•book.
let available at Goderich book
stores and news stands, but
Goderich is probably unique in
the variety and interest of its
prefederatiOn houses, and the.
histories 61 the families that
lived in them. -' Research so far
indicates that some 40 ought to
be adequately written tip in sub.
sequent issues. of "Early Huron
Houses," as well as an un.
determined number throughout
the county for• which material
is being assembled, pending
some financial encouragement.
If you come in
and call me Ebb'..
you'll only be
one out!
ILL ROSS
f
s -s
SHOE SHOP
That's Me!
0
BILL ROSS
Actually I will answer to both Bill or Ebb.
The shoe business has been my way .of ,life since,
1928 when I went 'to work for MacVicars Shiite Store.
Many of you remember MacVicars. 1 ,1953 1 took -
over the business and th recent' years r"ian(, to this
location,
,You will remember that M tVicars was (located
where Don MacRae is now.
While„'you are in town come in and say hello, and
if any member of your family needs footwear; we
will be happy to take care of you.
w.
.4
GIcid You Could dome. For .Old Home Week
WILL YE
NO--CCME-BACK
AGAIN___
SHOE SHOD
1.
WAS
962 a BIG YEAR AT sa, /age
a
t Y.w
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We certainly like to think that 1962 was a big year at Sproule's. That was the year we opened our store
incGoderich and we feel that it was one of the smartest things we have ever done. Goderich and area
residents have been kind to us. For five straight years ,now we have enjoyed serving you and have
experienced a steadily growing business. .
Goderich is a mighty fine town to operate.a business in and also to :live in. To those v `ho are returning
we say welcome back to your home town.and>our adopted home town. Please dr. opsin°; apd'get acquainted i
1
KINGSTON STREET
, M
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