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THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2002. PAGE 7.
Last remnant of old business comes down
Removing the past
After more than 55 years, the old bus barn which once hous
Blyth was demolished. (Janice Becker photo)
Elliott said building material was
very scarce. In the summer of 1947,
he purchased an old shed from Jack
Currie in East Wawanosh. The shed
was dismantled, with the help of
two local boys, David and Derrick
Slorach, and the used timbers used
in the construction of the bus barn.
The boys' father, Frank, a farmer
and barn framer who had moved to
Blyth from Saskatchewan,
spearheaded the construction, said
Elliott.
Some new pieces were needed to
finish the building including the
doors and exterior shingles.
From one 60-passenger bus,
which he acquired from the London
transit system, Elliott Bus Lines
eventually expanded to 15, taking
students to Clinton and Wingham
high schools, and East Wawanosh,
Vanastra and Hullett elementary
schools.
"The pupils were really good," he
said. "They were exceptionally
good kids, well-behaved."
As the number of buses grew,
Elliott looked for more space. In the
early 1960s, he purchased a piece of
By Janice Becker
Citizen stqff
The last remnants of a long-time
Blyth business were removed from
the main street last week when a
two-bay bus barn was demolished.
Situated just north of the
Christian Reformed Church on
Queen Street. the old barn once
housed the first 75-passenger bus
owned by Frank Elliott.
When the area school board
decided to close Blyth Continuation
School ill 1946, and bus the
students to Clinton High School,
Elliott was awarded the contract.
Though he had never been in the
busing business, he owned a
Sunoco garage on the site of
Seasons Restaurant. "It fit in well
with his business," said wife
Dorothy.
Looking for a central location at
which to pick up students, Elliott
purchased a vacant lot owned by
Robert Newcombe, who lived in a
home on land adjacent to the then
Presbyterian Church.
As it was so soon after the war,
ed buses for Elliott Bus Lines in
land south of Blyth. Part of the
Sparlings Propane operation now
sits on that land.
A couple of building were
constructed and two mechanics
hired to maintain the fleet.
For more than 30 years, Elliott
drove the big bus to Clinton and
hired "exceptional drivers" for his
other routes.
"I had wonderful drivers, both
men and women who were very
capable."
That ability is evident in the
collective driving record, with not
one accident in all those years, for
any driver, said Elliott.
With winters in Huron County
often' bringing treacherous driving
conditions, Elliott said he has to
credit CKNX for announcing route
cancellations. "I would be in
contact with them at 6 a.m. and they
would get it on the radio."
He also notes the importance of
the local phone operators. Often
parents would call them to find out
if they had heard any news and the
operators would pass along the
latest information. •
"Sometimes they would even call
people," he said.
Elliott retired from the busing
business in 1977 when he sold
Elliott Bus Lines to Keith
Montgomery of Wingham.
Though post-war use of that lot
had been for a bus barn, the same
piece of land had once been the
home of the Blyth firehall.
After the first firehall in the
stable of the Queen's Hotel at the
present location of Seasons
Restaurant was taken out of use, a
permanent fireball was established
north of the Methodist Church
(Presbyterian, then Christian
Reformed Church). The bell from
that building was relocated to the
roof of Memorial Hall when it was
constructed in 1921.
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