Yesterday And Today, A Salute to Blyth's 125th Anniversary, 2002-07-31, Page 5ORCHILL
150th Anniversary
1852-2002
Ball family were early pioneers of Hullett Township
Built in 1864, the stone house that still stands on the west side of Base
Line south of Auburn was the first permanent house in the area, built
from stone quarried from the Maitland River near Ball's Bridge and
copying designs from William Ball's native Devonshire, England. Below,
the house of Amos Ball (standing at right) with Ephrium Snell (left) who
married Mary Ball. Bill Palmer (seated) and Sarah (Mrs. John) Ball, Bill
Palmer's daughter.
William and Jane Ball travelled to
Canada with five sons and two
daughters from Barnstoppel,
Devonshire, England sometime in the 1840s.
Arriving in Huron County, they travelled north
from Clinton (then Ratterbury Corners), on what
is now Base Line but then was only cleared and
gravelled for the first mile. They picked the top
of a very steep hill to build their log house_on
Lot I Maitland Block Concession of Hullett
Twp. The Ball family took up 600-700 acres in
the area. They took on a tall order as Canada
Company requirements were that 40 acres on
each 100-acre parcel had to be cleared before the
land could be purchased. All this land was
purchased by the 1850s.
As each son married, he received a farm and
a new house was built. (Each daughter received
$1,000.) By 1859 there were three log houses, In
1864 the stone house high on the hill
overlooking the Maitland was built with stone
taken from the Maitland River below. Fourth-
born' child John Ball married Sarah Palmer and
they raised eight children in that house.
Ball's Church (top) was built in 1869 to
replace a previous log church. The cem-
etery was created on land purchased from
William Ball for five shillings. The first bur-
ial in the cemetery was on Sept. 16, 1957.
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The house that was Amos Ball's on Balls
Line is now owned by Daryl Ball. Some of
the descendants of Amos Ball gathered
there recently.
Before Ball's Bridge was built in 1885 on a
road for which the family donated land, the
Ball wives had to wade the river and walk
to Goderich to sell butter and homemade
candles.
William Jr. married Anne Corbet and they
built first a log house and later a large brick
house on the corner of _Base Line and
Londesboro Road where they raised 12 children.
James moved his family to Chatham. Henry Ball
married Sarah Bush and they farmed in the area.
perhaps on the farm that's today Gordon Daer's.
Little is known of George Ball.
Mary Ball married Ephrium Snell and they
farmed on the road to Londeshoro. Ann married
a Cottle and moved to northern Michigan.
THE CITIZEN, YESTERDAY and TODAY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2002. PAGE 5.
Community spirit• bri ngs Hall's future into doubt
Continued from page 3
Board of Trade's President Helen
Gowing, decided to clean up the
hall. sweeping away the dust and
adding a coat of paint.
Ironically this act of community
spirit brought the whole future of the
building into doubt. There had been
many changes in fire and other
regulations since the hall was built in
1920. If it was going to go back into
use. for instance, a fire escape was
needed.
Cleaning and painting could be
paid for with enthusiasm but a fire
escape was beyond the scope of the
volunteers. They turned to village
council. Council agreed to build the
fire escape but had second thoughts
when someone wondered about the
safety of the old electrical wiring.
Next came concern about a sagging
of the roof. An engineer's test
proved there was a structural
Blyth in three years as a
competitor in the Communities in
Bloom contest has been a provincial
winner • (in its first year) and h
national victor (last year).
When judges visited in late
summer of 2001 for Blyth's second
run at a national title, they were
impressed by the community effort
in the town.
The judges toured several home
gardens in Blyth, walked the
Greenway trail and were guided
through the cemetery, landfill site
and water treatment plant.
For the national prize Blyth
competed against 10 other towns
from across the country with a
population of 1-1,000.
problem in the design of the original
roof and it would have to be
replaced.
Now came a time for soul-
searching for village councillors.
Was it worth spending several times
the original construction costs to
replace the roof so the auditorium
could be used once or twice a year?
Given that the greatest use of the '
building, was the basement meeting
room, could the auditorium be
blocked off and beams be put up
through the theatre area to support
the roof? Or should council listen to
some people in the community who
said the greatest need was for a
larger dance and banquet hall and
the building should just be torn
down and replaced?
In the end the community rallied
once again behind the old hall. The
senior citizens went after a grant.
People recalled that this was a
In September five members of the
local organizing committee, Bev
Elliott, Eleanor Babcock, Anne
Elliott, Elaine Scrimbeour and
Nancy Snell, were on hand in Saint
John, New Brunswick to hear the
exciting news.
Blyth had been awarded five
blooms as the winner in the 2001
national edition of Communities in
Bloom.
With that recent success came a
decision for this year. The
committee had three options, go
international, America in Bloom in
which the committee would mentor
a municipality in the U.S. or
compete in the Canadian Classic
division.
memorial and should be kept a living
memorial and a poll in The Blyth
Standard showed near-unanimity
that the hall should be saved.
So, after two years of debates,
councillors went ahead and replaced
the roof, though they couldn't know
that Memorial Hall was about to
enter the busiest decades in its
history. Renovations were competed
in late 1974. In July 1975 the Blyth
Festival held its first season and
since then the use of the Hall has
been increasing.
After a successful first season, the
Festival undertook a small-scale
renovation which saw the floors and
woodwork refiniShed and the seats,
which had proved sticky in the heat
of the first season, repainted. By
1979 air conditioning had been
added and in 1980, an addition to the
north side added dressing rooms and
a fire escape that allowed the
This is when a national champion
can invite a community that has
never competed before to join
them.
With the recently amalgamated
North Huron, which comprises
Blyth, Wingham and East
Wawanosh, the latter seemed the
logical step.
The judges were set to arrive July
29 in Blyth then Wingham July 30.
The marks were to be combined
then compared against other
Canadian Classics. North Huron
wards were up against Williams
Lake and Langley, B.C.; Viking and
Tofield, AB; Birtle and Gimli, MN
and Meaford and Thornbury-
Clarksburg, ON.
balcony to be put back into use. That
addition .also contained space for
offices and an art gallery which later
became the library.
The growth of the Festival brought
more changes when construction
began in the late 1980s on a huge
addition to the south.
The "old library" addition was
removed and Memorial Hall was
joined to the Festival's
administration building to the south
by "the link" which contains a new
lobby area, new washrooms,
handicapped access to all levels of
the building, The Bainton Gallery
and new box office facilities.
Outside, main street gained a
graceful courtyard.
Today tens of thousands of people
walk by the plaques that bear the
names of the fallen of two World
Wars. Memorial - Hall remains a
living memorial to their
community's appreciation of their
sacrifice.
Orchill Farms & Orchards
Walton, Ont.
523-9279
83140 Martin Line
Owned cC Opotatect
:Boyd d Aftwiiet 5.aytax
Blyth a National winner
Established in 1852 by John Boyd Taylor and Christine. McBain originally
from Scotland where they took up 200 acres of land, Lot .10 & II, Cone. 9 of
Morris Twp. Price paid was 62 pounds, 10 shillings. The first post office for
the area was located on the farm "Orchill" as it was known, later to be moved
to what is now Blyth in December 1856, The stone house was built in 1868.
The original deed granted by the crown is in the possession of the
owners. The present owners are 4th generation. Members of
the 5th and 6th generation live on adjoining farms. Today '
the 300 acre farm comprises of a registered dairy herd, ;1400 'I
dwarf apple orchard and numerous farm-related crops. qie seirsooporl
n
d.
as
is
a
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