HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1966-04-21, Page 15e
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(Continued from bast week)
of
Market Building
On February 2, 1866, William C. Gwynn sold
James . Dickson, M.11,, 27,400 square links for a publl
market. The building erected that year, in the middle
of the -read at Market and Jarvis St. intersection, wa
a large common -looking two-storey frame structure
with no tower and no bell. George Forsythe was mark
Clerk. .
eaforth .. ,
a History by ' Isabelle Campbell
also moved up from Egmondville and took over Dr
r
to Vercoe's home, and onithe west part of the lot 1)141tt o
c blackanxjth, and woodworking shop. William Grasaie
followed Dorsey, and by 1895 Sidney Jacobs had it for
his tinsmith shop till he tore it down and took the
$. material to his new home on Ord Street in 1906.
et Pump Factory
This market building was used as town hall, fire
hall, drill hall, council chamber, and also in it were
booths in which varipus wares were sold. The. town
scales were here, and also in the spring of 1891 a new
street watering tank was erected at the south end of
the building. It was not till February, •1882, that the
town clerk's office was moved from Main Street to a
room in the northeast corner of the Market House.
q This was an economy measure -no rent had to be paid.
It was here in the late 60's and early 70's that
Oliver C. Willson sold grain crushers, ete. Shearson &
Co. our Mill gave prompt service to orders received
at their office here; John Beattie sold seeds; George
Ewing had a meat stall, and William Charters purchas-
ed grain. William Malcolm's egg depot was quite, close
to the building.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on the night of August 28,
1891, the citizens were aroused -by the unearthly strains
of the steam fire alarm whistle at the waterworks. By
the time they arrived at the scene of the fire, the old
market building, an eyesore to many, was a mass. of
flames and very soon was consumed to a heap of ashes.
The total lost to the town was about $4,000. The only
insurance held; was $1500 on the contents. Incendiarism
was suspected! ;but ,the $300 reward offered by the town
council was never claimed, •
Very soon the road was changed, but no 1
settlement was made till a by-law was passed A
21, 1953, dedicating Lot 121 as a public highway,
ordering that part of Jarvis St., the Market Squ
permanently closed. Council after the fire for tem
ary quarters went to Thomas Kidd's Hall on Main
for which they paid a rent of $100 per year.
New Town Hall
Once the old was gone, a new hall must be erected,
but where? ' It was a year before 'the citizens finally
decided upon a Main St. location, but this by no means
ended the disagreements and heated discussions on the
type and cost of the new building. Finally, in March,
1893, another vote of the ratepayers was taken which
gave a final decision in favor of a three-storey building,
rather than a two-storey. In April the contract was
awarded to Messrs. Young & Causey, of Stratford, at
$8,250.00 for a red-pressedbrick building. Johnson
Bros. got the heating contract for $233.00. It was not
till May; 1894, that the move from the temporary quar-
ters above Thomas Kidd's store, now Sills' Hardware,
was made. When the new hall was completed the cost
was approximately $10,000.00. In 1955 a small build-
ing, containing jail cells and quarters to accommodate
the police force, was added to the north of the Town
Hall, and in 1957 an extensive program of remodelling,
which cost approximately the original cost of the build-
ing, was carried out. The modernizing of the hall added
much convenience to all concerned.
Broadfoot & Box Furniture Factory
The year the "Market House" was buil t•-- .1.866-
-John H. Broadfoot opened his planing mill near the
northeast corner of Market and Jarvis Streets. From
1869 till 1871, Adam Gray was a partner and by this
time sashes, doors and blinds wore being made.,
In 1866 William Qrassie . moved. down from Har- r
purhey and opened a cabinet shop next to the Anglican s
rectory. Early in the 1870's, Thames Bell used it 'as n
a furniture shop and wareroom. James Sparling, build- t
er,' and Walter Scott in 1874 were using it for the same
purpose and were offering to take lumber in exchange e
for furniture. In' 1875 Scott sold the building -and stock d
to J. H. Broadfoot, vvho carried on as an addition to
"his other factory.
It was in 1876 William T. Bbx joined Broadfoot,
and from then the business expanded. In 1878 they
had a planing mill 18' x 30' and the two-storey factory
was 110' x 24'. The first floor of it was filled with.
furniture, and all except the chairs were of their own
manufacture. Upstairs were the finishing, upholstery
and general workrooms. Fifteen workmen were em-
ployed. The undertaking business ilvhich they. carried
on for a few years was given up in 1881. In February,
1883, the company received an order from Winnipeg,
Man., for over $10,000 worth of doors, window sashes
and other manufactured building materials.
A fireproof engine house, detached from the other
buildings, was erected in 18$5, and also another storey
with flat fireproof roof was added to the factory. The
• next year a large white brick warehouse ,and finishing
rooms were built and the old warehouse was moved to
lots ' across the street, where William' Malcolm earlier
had his egg depot. On MalcoIm's plot was a stable and
another large frame building. Broadfoot made the
frame building into a duplex home. This h$use, later
owned by John Muir, was burned February 3, 1961.
That same. Year he had it replaced by a modern house
of the ranch type. On the other lots at the corner,
Broadfoot & Box stored lumber.
W. F. Wilson, in 1887, became the Manitoba part-
ner .of the firm, By the 1$90'x, the Broadfoot & Box
Co. • was made up of the following: J. H. Broadfoot,
W. T. Box, George Fitzgerald, J. 0. Rose and J. S.
Porter.
In 1901 the Canadian Furniture' Manufacturers,
with headquarters in Woodstock, bought the complete
holdings of the Broadfoot & Box Co. Office desks were
made in ,this factory. When an addition was being con-
structed in. 1906, -the-w-hele-was- described as being "a
white brick building which will be immense when fin-
ished."` In 1911 a dry kiln . was added, which extended
to High St. This C.F.M.. Company continued in busi-
ness till December, 1931, but it was not till/ 1936 that
Ernest L. Box purchased the building., No use was made
of it till Hesky Flax Co. took it over in 1941. From
1953, Ontario Textile Ltd., The Ontex Toy Co., Rose-
dale Plastic Co., and a few others used the main build-
ing for various uses, but only for short periods.
From the early 1950's, Seaforth Concrete Products'
used the dry kiln portion till "955, but, when the busi-
ness expanded it was moved to Harpurhey. Since No-
vember, 1959, it has been used by Genesco Steel Co.
and• Huron Canadian Fabricators.
On the property across.•the street, Joe Hugill, con-
tractor,. has his supply warehouse, and on the West part
a bowling alley was built in 190 by J. G. !Selly. Gor-
don C. Noble is now the owner and operator.
On the lot east of I•lugill's warehouse, Dr: H. L.
Vercoe, ma, late in 1869, Came up Froin Egrnondville
and had his honie and office here. John Dorsey, in 1878,
egal
pril
and
Williams Bros. -Thomas and Joseph --had a pump
factory in the late 1860's on the corner of North Main
and Franklin Streets, where Lorne McDonald now lives. -
Noble Cluff and James R. Williams were in business
together a short time, but dissolved partnership in
January, 1876. Williams carried on alone till Cluff
bought the business in 1877. The price paid was $1,150.
Noble Cluff and Samuel Bennett joined forces in 1889
andsoon had a new planing mill running east of their
pump factory. Here they made window sashes, doors,
cisterns, etc. They also took contracts for buildings.
John S. Walsh, of Walton, took over the pump factory
in 189X, and the' next year he moved his business to
Goderich St., east of the Queen's Hotel.. The old' factory
was torn down by Cluff and he used the vacant lot to -
store lumber, as well as on land he owned across the
street where Adam Gray and William H. Scott had
their -Huron Planing Mill and lumber yard for a few
years in the 1870's, where they made laths, shingles,
farm gates, hay racks, sashes, doors, blinds, mouldings,
etc.
Cluff and his sons, John and Bert, carried on this
business from 1903 on Goderich St., but did not move
the planing mill from here for nine more years. Gor-
don M. Ritchie, in January, 1946, bought Cluff's busi-
ness, including these lots. In May of the next year a
company was formed, known as the Seaforth Supply
& Fuel Co., and it took over from 'Ritchie. This com-
pany, in the summer of 1947, had six new frame houses
built on the vacant lots here.
are, Cheese Factory
St,St.
W. Scott Robertson, by I.hke... early 1870's, had a
.
cheese factory in Seaforth at the end of North Main St.
By 1874 he had joined with E. Hickson & Co., and in
addition to making cheese, -they also opened a pork
packing and curing establishment. Two years later the
business was sold to the Seaforth Cheese Manufacturing
Co. The price paid was $4,200. W. S. Robertson was
retained as manager and -salesman. In April, 1882,
this :company and the West End Cheese Factory am-
algamated. The reason? Too many cheese factories,
and not -enough 'milk to supply all. This factory was
run then by a Board of Members chosen from both of
the former companies. John Hannah was appointed
the manager. Also at the same time a decision was
made to make butter instead of cheese. From 1884
Hannah owned the business till he sold the property . to
Thomas Dickson in 1888. No use had been made of
the building from the fall of 1896, and on April 13,
1897, it was burned• from an unknown cause. From
here Hannah moved his creamery to the east part of
the foundry building on Main St.
Flax hill
Benjamin Shantz by 1872 had Seaforth's first flax
mill, built on the corner of Coleman St. and Huron
Road. John Beattie took it over in March, 1874. In
1577 he built a large pork packing house near the flax
mill built on the corner of Coleman St. and Huron
business was carried on by Beattie & Armitage Co.
That year the firm. packed $15,000 worth of pork.
In the flax mill they regularly employed 20 to 25
hands. l ,lax seed was supplied to the farmers who
planted it, and in return received a stated amount of
emuneration for each acre. During the harvesting
eason the company employed from 75 to double that
umber, with an annual outlay of around $10,000. At
he trill the flax was manufactured into "dressed flax",
`coarse tow" and "fine tow", and ;then sold to the Unit -
d States market. Son1 went to Baltimore and Phila-
elphia, but the bulk of it went to Boston and Paterson,
New .Jersey manufacturers.
(To be continuedi
!?UBUNN "WS
Michael D.enizQiiie, ,Druz-
des, wrtb Mr.° and Mrs, borne
Pronin,
Mrs. Loretta Schmidt is a pa-
tient in Stratford General Ros-
pital.
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Ma-
loney and= -fancily with Mr. and
Mrs, Petgrt Maloney.
Rev. Arthur Looby, C.S,B„
of Windsor, with ).,rirs. A. M.
Looby.
Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley Beale_
returning from Chicago to
their home .in Montreal, called
on friends in Dublin.
Mrs. Joseph Stapleton in Lon-
don with Mr. and Mrs. `Allen.
Lt. -Col. and Mrs. Edward Toz-
er and family, of Davison, Mich„
ith Mrs. Patrick Ryan.
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred MacDou-
gall and family, London, with
Mrs. Joseph Jordan.
Mr. and Mrs. Don Klinkhani-
Waitress: "Shall I cut your
pizza into eight or sixteen oleo -
:es?„
Customer: "Make it eight; I
don't 'think I can eat sixteen."
Classified ads pay dividends.
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THE
HURON
EXPOSITOR
OF THE WEEK
er, ', Xitehener, and. Mr, , Tack;
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and Mrs Martin .alinkhaM:eA
Mr. and Mrs, 7Seith Kelly axial'
family, (Kitchener, with 14r. and
Mrs. Fergus Kelly.
' Miss Marie IKrauskopf, 11am
ilton, with Mrs. Catherine
•rauskopf,
Mr. and Mrs. Charles O'Neil,
Windsor, and Mrs.. Ben Blonde,
Chatham, with Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Delaney.
71'M E HI RON EXPOSIT. 4; ;lEA 11 F,.+LI 'M APRIL, 211. iN is •
RQY'. BENTLEY
Flak Accauntiott
4 Hri!tannia Road East
,� +�oM�ex�ck
Phone 6244021
ALL TYPES
INSURANCE
Donald G. Eaton
Office In Masonic Block
•' Main Street _
Phone 527-1670 Seaforth
ti
COAL-
WILLIAM M,
Phone 527-0870 - Seaforth
•PROCLAMATION:
DAY
Town of
SEAFORTH
LIGHT SAVING TIME
The Cou
to declare
Town of. S
ncil of the Town of Seaforth has instructed me
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME, adopted for the
eaforth, during the periods of
Sunda
y, April 24.th, 1966
at 12:01 a.m.
•--- to --
Sunday,.. 0
at
•N
ctobi r 30th, 1966
1.2:01 a.m.
and respectfully request
t the citizens to observe the same.
JOHN FLA
"GOD SAVE
NNERY, Mayor
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