Village Squire, 1974-06, Page 55Scot's welcome out
BY KEITH ROULSTON
Every small community has its own
identity, its own spirit, but what is there
about some communities that makes that
spirit so strong?
There are some towns and villages
throughout the country that just seem to have
that something extra, that something that
makes people call them home long after they
have left for city jobs or greener pastures.
One such community is the village of
Lucknow, which will be calling home sons and
daughters from across the continent for a
reunion on June 28, 29, 30, and July 1 and
unless things have changed in the past few
years, the call will be answered by thousands.
Those born and raised in Lucknow seem to
carry it's brand forever. I've heard of people
of the second generation of settlers in
Saskatchewan, whose parents left the little
village on the Huron -Bruce county line late in
the last century to settle in the great
northwest, who still refer to the village as
home. Sons and daughters have gone on to
become doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists,
professors, writers and professional hockey
stars, but they still seem to have a strong tie
to their home community and to come back
frequently to see how things are changing.
for visitors at Lucknow reunion
The last big occasion for the old natives to
gather was in 1958, the one hundredth
anniversary of the surveying of the village
into Tots. As a youngster, it was all a fanatic
event to me (1958 doesn't seem very long ago
until ono recalls just how old he was then).
J ust about every relative we had who had
ever lived in or near the village, and a good
deal who hadn't, dropped in to visit during
the four-day event. There were big parades,
huge crowds, and of course for a youngster,
the midway, going for days at a time, not like
the annual fair where it lasted only for a few
hours. There was the most impressive
fireworks display 1 can ever remember
(somehow at that age fireworks are more
impressive than when one grows older).
And, there were bagpipes...and bagpipes
...and bagpipes. And just in case there wasn't
enough Scottish culture for you there was
Scottish dancing and highland games.
For this, in case you don't know it, is the
heart of the territory settled by the Scots.
Strangely, the first man to settle on the site
of what is now the village was a German from
Waterloo called Eli Stauffer. Eli built a rough
saw mill in 1856 and received 200 free acres of
land for his trouble. Two years later lots were
offered for sale and the event was c PI.'hrated
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by a 21 -gun salute, the guns being holes
bored in the sides of elm trees and filled with
gunpowder.
Then came the Highlanders. They came,
many of them, from the shires of Argyll and
Sutherland, the same area as did the soldiers
who were busy in India at this same time
crushing the Sepoy rebellion. They celebrated
the bravery of their comrades by naming the
village Lucknow, after Lucknow India where
the Highlanders had been responsible for
lifting the siege of Lucknow. It became known
too as the Sepoy town and the streets were
named after generals who led the
Highlanders. Still today you can see these
men commemorated in street signs like
Campbell, Havelock, Rose, Canning and
Like most of the towns in the area, the
village grew early, but has not increased in
population much since the turn of the
century. In 1891 the population was 1300.
Today it is about 1000.
Yet the village has always prospered. It is
the centre of a good farming area and has a
large service area. It has few industries but
depends on buying and selling from farmers
for most of its livelihood. 1' h.:s a small, but
wide-ranging commercial listrict.
But most of all it has this intense Scottish
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VILLAGE SQUIRE/JUNE 1974, 17