HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-06-30, Page 104Page 64
The "Curzon House" on the Huron road twavt of Goderich is
noted for its lfalianate architecture, said to 'resemble that of
Osborne House, bullion the Isle of Wight by Prince Albert
for Queen Victoria. This Maitland Concession house was
built in 1860 for Richard Hawley, of Detroit, who owned a ,
salt well here. In 1893 it was acquired by Arthur Wardlaw
(Curzon, a member of a titled English family. It has
belonged for some years to Stanley Freeman.
Hawley family had salt plant......
•from page 63
Queen Victoria." By chance,
it was the younger son of a
titled English family who
later owned this copy of a
royal residence. The Curzon
house --nobody now
remembers Hawley --has l2 -
foot ceilings in ground -floor
rooms. Originally there were
10 fireplaces, some of Italian
marble, but a number of them
now adorn Goderich homes.
Basement walls are of
Maitland River stone. There
is a built-in bakery, a wine
cellar, vegetable ' storage.
Servants quarters were in a
large wing at the north end of
the house. There were or-
chards, and flower beds, a
shooting gallery, and a games
room which has long been the
packing room of Laithwaite's
Apple Park, across the high-
way. Completion date of the
house is accepted as 1860
because the numerals appear
in colored glass over the west
(carriage) door. That would
be the Hawley carriage en-
trance; one old resident
recalls seeing Curzon in town
when "his shoes were grey
with dust, for he always
walked in, and the Huron
road then was gravel."
Rock salt had been
discovered in the Goderich
area in 1866, and Hawley got •
into the industrial picture. By
1872 there were 12 operating
wells, Hawley's producing 200
barrels a day. Salt was
shipped to Chicago in small
vessels. "Goderich coarse
salt" was quoted there at $2 a
barrel, the Huron Signal
reported in 1875. Whether or
not they loaded any cargoes is
pure speculation, but the
Signal of April 16, 1873,
reported that Mr. Hawley's
steam barge Heralehas been
rebuilt and will be prepared
to go out as good as new on
,the opening of navigation."
Herald was not listed as a
product of the Marlton yard,
so perhaps was built in
Detroit. Hawley may have
used her for travel between
Detroit and Goderich, in view
of the primitive roads and
almost .equally primitive
railway accommodation at
the time. The London Huron
Bruce had not been built in
1870.
Haw;ley's salt plant was one
of only five still operating in
1878. Its site is not now
known, but drilling was to 967
feet, the Signal stated.
Wherever it was, Hawley's
presumably was in charge of
a manager when in 1877. he
ran again, successfully, for
the House of Representatives,
from Detroit's First District.
He must have had a
manager or stockman for his
farm. also, for an 1882 ad-
vertisement of cattle ist
signed "R. Hawley, Lot 7,
Maitland concession, per
George S. Gorham". This
advertisement offered "at
reasonable prices a number
of choice young Shorthorn
bulls and heifers" from a
herd headed by "the splendid
young bull Beaconsfield II."
Said to have been un-
fortunate in the stock market,
Hawley in 1883 borrowed
$9,000 on mortgage from
Sarah A. Scott. He died in the
following year, leaving half
the estate to his wife,
Evangelia, and half to his
children, two sons and three
married daughters. Also, he
bequeathed to his wife books,
pictures and silver,
carriages, farm stock and
implements, hay, grain and
fruit "from my farm,
Maitland Place",
The mortgage obviously
contained a power -of -sale
clause, but this would not
have been exercised" by
September, 1884, when Mrs.
Hawley came to Goderich
and at the law office of
Cameron & Garrow filed a
sworn declaration that the
household goods, farm im-
plements, horses and
carriages were valued at
$500. On Sept. 2, 1893, Arthur
Curzon acquired the property
from Thomas H. Christian
.and William B. Thompson,
"executors" presumably of
the'Scott Estate.
In 1889 the Hawleys were
succeeded in occupancy, not
ownership, by the George M.
Doe family from Boston,
evidently a family con-
nection. The Huron
Expositor. Seaforth, reported
in. 1889 that Doe, "who now
occupies the Hawley farm
near Goderich, is going ex-
tensively into the breeding of
first-class carriage horses,
for which he says there is an
unlimited market in New
York. Boston and other
eastern American cities. He
has just imported a very
superior carriage stallion
from Kentucky, and intends
• keeping from 15 to 20 good
mares."
Doewas still there in 1891,
for the Signal'reported him as
spending, holidays with his
family in''toderich.
The property has chan
hands only a half-dpzenti
since the Canada'Com
obtained the Huron T
from the Crown. Lot 7 in
Maitland Concession
Goderich Township w
purchased in 1833 by Willi
Fisher Gooding, who t
with the Indians .here
the Goderich settlement
Turn to page
Goderich
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