Unrecognized History

After all my digging, I found several other places that in my mind merit a historic plaque, or at least an information board to explain who they are.  There are two parks, one statue and then there's Beautiful Joe, a special case if there ever was one!  I'm sure the stories behind these names would be of interest to most residents, but I only figured them out with the help of Wikipedia and the museum staff.

The first is Fred Raper Park.  Fred was one of Meaford's early settlers, and lived for a time on the shore where the park is located now.  He and his wife worked to have a park established here.  His son was involved with the 31st Grey Regiment, and was one of the first to volunteer when WWI started.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

McCarroll Park was purchased by the McCarroll family, and was named after Tom McCarroll specifically.  Tom was a pharmacist in Barrie, but came to spend his weekends in Meaford.  He had a passion for trees, and planted most of the trees in the park.

Down in the corner of McCarroll Park is an old millwheel.  Museum staff report this comes from one of the mills in Walters Falls.  Judging from the millwheel itself, I'd say this is from the grist mill, which is a fascinating story in its own right.  The Walters Falls mill is one of the last water-powered mills in Ontario.

I'm sure many people have wondered about the story behind Schubird!  This is a 4 foot statue created and donated by Gunter Neumann in recognition of the long-running Scarecrow Festival, which over the years has attracted an enormous volunteer effort.  The name comes from Meaford's apple orchard heritage, and means 'schoo bird'!

Right beside Schubird is the famous Meaford 'Big Apple', now used as a tourist information booth during the summer months.

Then there's Beautiful Joe.  Beautiful Joe Park is located a few blocks away from downtown, on the Bighead River.  Unfortunately it is not wheelchair accessible, so I've relied on the website for these two pictures.  Because it's located elsewhere I'm not sure many tourists realize it's there either.

The story of Beautiful Joe is amazing.  It's based on a novel by Margaret Saunders, a book which contributed enormously to awareness of animal cruelty.  And it's based on the story of a real dog of the same name, here in Meaford.  To underscore the popularity of the book, this was the first Canadian novel to sell over one million copies!

Beautiful Joe was abused severely by his owner, and rescued by a Mr. Moore,  Saunders learned of the dog while visiting Moore daughter, Louise, and wrote the book as autobiography, as Beautiful Joe talking.  It was published in 1893 and was an immediate best seller.  Beautiful Joe Park was established along the Bighead River, Beautiful Joe should be celebrated by Meaford,  but I'm not sure we do.

A Few More Historic Plaques

 As I've looked around downtown Meaford, I've found more historic plaques that were in place before the Tidbits project even started.  These ones all provide the information we might need to know to appreciate them.  There are five of these, so let's go!

The first of course, and the best known is the Cenotaph, the war memorial.  A ceremony is held here every Remembrance Day, and a number of wreaths are placed in memory of the men who gave their lives in service.

Down the street is a provincial historical plaque recognizing the founding of Meaford, though unfortunately the plaque itself is in poor shape.

Beside this plaque are three information panels that describe the building of Meaford Hall, which became at an early stage the 'heart of the community', then was restored and renovated starting in 2003.  The new hall opened for business in 2006, operating largely as a concert hall.

Closer to the bay, in McCarroll Park, is a second provincial historic plaque, in recognition of Sir Lyman Duff, who was born in Meaford and served as Canada's Chief Justice from 1933-1944.  He was on the Supreme Court for a total of 37 years, the longest serving Supreme Court Justice in our history, though he did leave Meaford while still an infant.

Some distance down the shoreline is a substantial monument to William Stephenson, Meaford's first Postmaster.  This monument was erected as a Centennial project by public school teachers and pupils in 1967.

William Stephenson was not only Meaford's first Postmaster, he also opened the first inn and tavern.  The settlement was commonly know as Stephenson's Landing before it was incorporated as Meaford in 1874.

Finally, this large boulder sits in Fred Raper Park, and holds a small recognition plaque.

It's for the Apple Harvest Craft Show Committee, recognizing the enormous effort put in by these volunteers to hold this popular event every year.  The show has donated funds to support a number of causes in Meaford.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted.  I'm enjoying this historical research, but it's taking awhile.  Thanks to the Museum staff who have been very helpful.

Credits to the Tidbits Project!

The other day I finally found the GUM Gallery, that's 'Gallery of Unsellable Masterpieces;'!  It's a store inside a store sort of, but it is accessible and I enjoyed looking around.  This is the headquarters of the Tidbits Project, spearheaded by 

I have to give enormous credit to these two, who have pulled together an enormous amount of information about Meaford's historic past and found a unique and creative way to share it with the community.  I can only say 'Well done!'

My eyes were immediately drawn to four scale models, what a museum would call dioramas I expect.  These are actually three dimensional models, painstakingly created by the artists (or are they architects?).  This is the hardwood flooring factory run by Stanley Knight, who also published 'Pictorial Meaford', and at one point was the popular mayor of Meaford.

The second factory around that now long gone railway was Mclagan's Furniture Factory, which made a wide range of high quality furniture for outlets such as Eatons.  Only a small portion of these buildings remain today.

And the third factory was Meaford Steel Products, which made wheelbarrows and all sorts of other metal scoops such as road grader blades.  About half of these buildings remain.

The people leading this project obviously enjoy making scale models!  Here is a model showing the former grain elevator, a lake freighter docked beside it, and the former train staion in the background.

Wnndering the downtown and reading the Tidbits website I found two other bits of history.  One is a plaque about Andrew Gawley, who lost his hands in a shop accident when he was 17.  Undaunted, he created prosthetic hands and went on to a career as a machinist and bicycle shop owner, as well gradually improving the prosthetics themselves.

Finally, the information on the Tidbits site also highlights disasters.  in the case of Meaford these were fires and floods.  This is the Royal Hotel which stood where the TD Bank is now.  It burned down in 1883.  Rebuilt, it as later demolished in 1921 to become the bank.

The Bighead River has been reasonably peaceful for the past few years, but has certainly flooded in the past.  The worst flood was in 1912, when a number of buildings and a portion of the old wool mill were destroyed.

All in all I have to give a lot of credit tot he Tidbits Project.  I've learned a great deal doing this, and I hope you've enjoyed it.

Meaford's Industrial Past

 The evidence of Meaford's industrial past is mostly hidden from the average person, but the Tidbits project is making it more visible.  All the main factories of the earlier 20th century were in waterfront locations, and I'm not sure if any of them are still standing.  I've already shown you the 'blue box', built on the site of the old foundry.

A block over, down at the bottom of nelson Street this vacant lot is the site of the old Planing Mill.

The little Tidbits plaque links to an excellent description, complete with before and after photography.  You can even use the QR code directly off the computer screen.  If you've been hesitant to learn how, try it now; just point your phone's camera at the QR square on the screen and look for the yellow bar that appears below.

In the years since the factory was torn down nature has started reclaiming the property.  Even just a few years ago I remember seeing this property crowded with sailboats up for winter storage.  I'm sure that in a few years fancy apartments will rise here, overlooking the bay.

Although I can't access the far side of the harbour without driving over a rough gravel stretch, there was once a grain elevator for storing and shipping grain.  It was built in 1901, but sadly, it burned down only 12 years later   It's been some years since a ship that size could visit the harbour!

This is approximately the same view today.  The grain elevator would have been right in the center of this photo

Approximately where the Rotary Pavilion sits today was the old train station.  Originally the railway line came straight into town from the southeast, ending on top of 'Station Hill'.  Once there was a demand from the factories around the shoreline it was redesigned down a gentle grade into the harbour and around the outer shoreline to a turntable where engines could be turned to head back down the line.  

This was the passenger station built at that time.  Passenger service continued until 1965, with freight service for a few years after that.  There were three further factories around the outer shoreline, well beyond wheelchair reach.  I'm not sure much is left of them today, and one of them was on a site now being redeveloped for residential use.  The Tidbits site has more detailed information on these three sites .  They were all wood-working factories, making respectively hardwood flooring, general furniture and cabinets, and wheelbarrows.

 

There aren't any active factories left today, but I shouldn't leave out the last commercial fishing boat, the H.G. Wheeler, a boat that is often seen here.  It's down from the Saugeen First Nation community on Cape Croker, and appropriately has their 'Every Child Matters' flag flying. with Orange Shirt Day coming up soon on Sept. 30th.

Historic Public Buildings in Meaford

 I've only been able to think of three public buildings in Meaford that are particularly historic, Meaford Hall, Station 87, and the museum.  There has been considerable restoration of each of these buildings in recent memory, most recently the remarkable transformation of fire hall, Station 87, into a popular restaurant..

Meaford Hall is actually the old town hall, but now it has been renovated to include meeting rooms, an elevator, and  a conert hall.  The new main entrance is at what would have been the back, but it works.  It's a great community resource. 

This is the Tidbits plaque for the building.  Reading this QR code with your smartphone's camera will taake you to much more information.

 The old fire hall, complete with tower where the hoses were hung to dry, has been transformed into a popular restaurant.  The 'Station 87' name is the original fire hall number.  At the time, all fire halls in Ontario were given a number.  The tower also had a bell that would call the volunteer firefighters to the station in case of fire.  Meaford's fire department is still mostly volunteers.

This is the plaque for the fire hall.  It takes you to a website with plenty of detailed information about  fires and fire-fighting.  

The plaque wasn't very close to the sidewalk though, so of limited use to a wheelchair user, except that I used my camera to zoom in.

This is the local museum, crowded with artifacts and displays.  In its original life it was the pumphouse for the town's water supply, built in 1885.

And here is the Tidbits plaque.  If you compare them you can see the building was expanded when it became the museum.  The original pumphouse was built in 1885, and an auxillary electric pump added in 1924.  The Public Utilities Department relocated to the building in the 1930s, but it was vacated in the 1940s, and sat vacant for some years.  

In 1960 the world traveller C.R. Sing donated part of his extensive collection, on the basis that it would be used to start a museum.  With that starting point the Power House was converted to a museum the following year.  It's well worth stopping by to see.

Historic Buildings in Meaford

You may remember about two years ago I reported on a number of temporary signs that appeared around Meaford, entitled 'Tidbits', meaning tidbits of local history.  Well I'm reminded of these again as more permanent signs have started appearing.  I have no idea who is behind this effort, nor who is paying for them, but I think they're a great addition to the town.  They'll provide a starting point for a few posts on local historic buildings.

Here's the first one I shared two years ago, a picture of Paul's Hotel which used to stand where the library is now.  These signs wear the same sign as typical election signs.

And here's the new more permanent plaque, considerably smaller but the same content and the same picture.  Easy for a pedestrian to read.

***** I must put in a caveat here - I certainly could not read the white lettering on the right hand side, nor have I figured out how to use a QR code, though I can just google the website anyway. *****

Here's another, the new plaque marking the site of the old Foundry.

And here is the condo building known locally as the 'blur box' which replaces the old Foundry.  It was this foundry that made the well known local cannon now sitting on the waterfront about four blocks west.

This is the cannon that was forged in that foundry, presumably to fend off the attacking Americans!

And here is the plaque hi the cannon.

Over the next two or three weeks I will share a few more of these and seek some good pictures of the new buildings that replace them

Meaford Ag Society Fall Fair

 Before we move to some local history I must post about the Fall Fair, which happened yesterday.  Although we live in the town of Meaford, there's a large rural area, the former townships of St. Vincent and Sydenham that have been amalgamated to the town, so it's largely that large rural area that the fair draws on for volunteers and attendees.

Hanging on the wall right in front of the entrance are the quilts.  Because of Mrs. F.G.'s involvement in quilting I know a little about the work that goes into them, and an embroidered quilt like this one takes a LONG time!  I was impressed.

Another adult category was the preserves, jams, pickles and such.  I immediately noticed the canned tomato sauce, since Mrs. F.G. has spent a good chunk of this week doing the same thing!

And of course there are the acres of tables showing different veggies, like these first class tomatoes.

This was an enormous pumpkin, given the fair is held in late August.

And this sunflower was just enormous, I think at least 18" across.

There was a big banner from the local school, and lost of exhibits from school children.

There was a whole category of veggies grown by children.

There were numerous arrangements of flowers.  I liked the colourful glads best.  The annual fair, always on Labour Day weekend, is well worth visiting.