HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-10-31, Page 24m
c'
PAGE 10A—GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, OC'1 v SER 31, 0474'4
r
Milburn wakening after century of sleek
BY W.E. ELLIOTT •
The sleeping village of
Milburn may be waking after a
nap of a century. Its registered
plan of streets and building lots
was surveyed many. years
before the existence of , such
sometime§ bothersome agencies
as the Ontario Municipal
Board and the Planning. Act of
Ontario. Registered in the
Land Titles Office in 1856, and
never deregistered, it seems, to
offer freedom from at least
some of the restrictions curren-
tly applied to division of farm
land. Subject, pf course, to
Colborne township building
bylaw, it beckons to prospective.
residential builders as possibly.
the 'last attractive, suburban
site available to Goderich, It is
not beckoning; to , a plaza. .
"We looked for ten years
before we came up with this
property, and for a long time
you ' could not buy it", said
H.O. Jerry, apparently the only
resident of Milburn.
`His. fuel and hardware
business is on Kingston street,
close to Highway 21, and he.
w figures he gets home to lunch in
about five minutes. Mr. Jerry is
the largest owner of Milburn
property and consequently in a
position to exercise a little
discretion in the matter of
neighbors. J.M. Donnelly, Q.C.,
is reported to have acquired the
remainder recently, but at the
time this was written he . was
m
engaged 9n an important trial
in Stratford, and could not be
invited to confirm the purchase
and disclose his plans, if any.
Milburn exists on paper only,
-and anyone looking for the sub-
stance, at Highway 21 and
County Road 25, will see no'
building 'except the former
Dunlop Tavern barn, pur-
chased a year ago by Dennis
Steep in- connection, with his
furniture business. It is on
Milburn Lot 30, which adjoins
Lot 1 owing to the circumstance
that the planners ran the lot
numbers north along the road,
then from 16 south again to,30.
If Dunlop be considered as
the: settlement around the in -
tersection of the highway and,,,
county .road, Milburn in>
relation 'thereto constitutes the
northeast section and takes up
most, of the original farm 'lot
numbered 1, East Lake Road,
-Colborne west division. Henry
Hyndman, who came from Ayr-
shire in 1833, with a family
group of 12 --where did they
"stay? --bought this lot from the
'Canada Company, along with
four other lake shore lots north
of it, and others to the east.
Hyndman was•sheriff (of the
London District) from 1841 to
1844. He died in the latter year
as result' of a fall from his
horse. The mansion on the
estate, Lunderston, burned in
•
•
• /i
-f'' `, '�,Y2 C'
fr
h
;o
1846, and members of the large
farm y returned to Scotland
soon after, except one son, Dr.
John Hyndman and his sifter
Ann, of Devon, near Exeter.
On July 4, 1856, the late
shert'ffs son, Henry (wper
;Hyndman, sold Lot 1 (the 100
acre corner lot) to John Galt,
registrar of deeds, who at the
time was midway in a 20 -year
period of residence at The
Ridge. Although the Hyndman
family had' long departed for
Scotland, Henry C. was here for
the transaction, and in the deed
is described as "of Springside;
parish of West Kilbride, Ayr-
shire, 'Esquire.'.' The con-
sideration was 1,250 pounds
sterling. Galt gave a mortgage
back.
During the Hyndmans'
residence at the,
at
least four children were born.
The baptismal record of St.
George's church g'es their
,names as Maria Caroline,
Harriet Elizabeth, Elizabeth
Mary and Patrick Kennedy, in
that order. Eighty-five years af-
ter the sheriffs death, word
came to the Goderich Signal -
Star that Miss Elizabeth Hynd-
man, last survivor ,of the for-
mer Huron family; had died at
Prestwick, truly 15, 1929, in her
90th year.
Galt was owner of Lot 1,
Con. VIII, for only; two weeks
rN
•
44
v)
'p
�.,
�
�`
�
h
\y �7
4
,o.\-(..
1 ;
•1 /
r
r•
when he sold to Joseph Up-
thegrove two-fifths of an acre
for 150 pounds. (Joe was
illiterate, and signed this
document with his mark.). He
was first proprietor of the •
tavern at the corner, widely
known, later in the ownership of u
John Allen and of his for-
midable son Anthony. Up-
thegrove got 300; pounds from
Allen for the property on May
22, 1858, so in two years
doubled his money. The tavern
and barn stood on Lots 1 and
30 of the Milburn plan. ,
On that plan, some street
names such as Raglan and '
Inkerman reflected current
,concern with the war in Russia.
One probably is named for,
Walter Lawson, who acquired
surrounding land i"n 1858.
There was a stream to the
south, and Galt, a Scot,, called
it a burn and gave that name to
a street. On Nov. 22, still in
1856, Galt sold to Ira Lewis,
soon to be Crown Attorney of
Huron and Bruce, Lot 1 "ex-
cept the Milburn lots."
The several dates cited show
that Galt owned lot 1,, Lake
Shore road, when Milburn was
surveyed by ' Nepean
Molesworth, P.L.S., on Aug. 14,
1856, and must be considered
to haveordered the plan. Ob-
viously, _ he expected some
development,,,and in fact the
area was for many years a cen-
tre of rural industry, including
a grist mill, sawmill, wagon
shop and blacksmith,shop. The
sawmill was owned by William.
Savage, a Goderich .,. in-
dustrialist active in the 1860s
and 1870s.
Ira Lewis after only two
years sold his 38 acres to
Walter Law n, and Lawson to
ElizabetIc Jewell. Mr. Jerry
bought his land from frank
Shields.
• There were many reasons
why Milburn stopped short,
like grandfather's clock, never
to go again, industrially. In
1860 a levy was imposed for
construction of gravel roads,
and the Northern Gravel Road
greatly improved traffic in and
out of Goderich. Stages
provided regular service, and
even as Galt was having the
Milburn plan prepared, the
Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway
was ,making •.its way to
f
F�J
Goderich. The county town
soon overshadowed Milburn'
and other rural centres whbse
names are all -but forgotten.
Rural mail, telephones and
electricpower left there no ex-
cuse for existence. .Milburn,
nonetheless, seems to possess
- qualifications as a site for
suburban development.
With the township mill rate
at 81, and that of Goderich 137,
there would seem to be some
advantage in that field. So
many persons have been
looking at the old Milburn map
that Registrar Beaver has
made copies of "Colborne Plan
8" These will be handy for
lawyers, developers and
building contractors.
FOR ALL 'YOUR PHOTOGRAPHIC NEEDS
CAMPBELL'S
168 THE SQUARE.. -GO�IERICH .524.7532
Crown Lynn
GIGANTIC
DINNERWARE SALE
1
PATTERN
Ponui
,REGULAR PRICE
STOCK ITEMS ONLY
TIL NOV,. 15*
NO. OF REG.
PIECES PRICE
20 39:50
Charmaine 20*
45
SALE
s2635
42.00,
$L���
$7000
52397
$3200
.s3335
$8335
s2800
$70oo.
105.00
Filigree 20 35.95
Focus
Radiance
20 48.00
20 50.00
;45 125.00
Emerald - 20 42.00
45 105.00
ti
Twenty piece set .includes four dinner plates, four bread
and butter plates, four cups, four saucers and four
cereal bowls.
Forty-five piece set includes eight, dinner plates, eight
bread and butter plates, eight cereal bowls, eight
saucers, eight cups, one covered sugar, one cream, one.,
salad bowl and one large platter:
THE SQUARE
BOOK STORE
GODERICH
•
•
� 1
,v 0 / 4
0
M
0 03
\43
N
"""-":::100'"1"
�/71- 1:y
0
; wiw � en,/
•
� ; N
r� I iii, r/i./
tiji S r %
,1 .3 b/.L S
T_w
i
1
/v y.7'. tei1
available at the