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.

Monarch Butterfly!

 We hadn't seen any Monarchs for a week or two, though we did see some caterpillars.  We never did see a chrysalis, but the adult butterflies seemed to have disappeared.  Then out of the blue we've been seeing a couple of Monarchs fluttering around the garden the past two days.  I'm making the assumption that these are newly hatched butterflies.

Then one landed on a Verbena flower, though it was 50 feet away, so the photo is blurred around the edges.  I thought it must have a preference for the Verbena.

I waited patiently until it opened its wings and got a good shot.  It was brilliant orange, like a newly hatched butterfly!

But then it flittered around until it landed on a Mexican Sunflower.  If I hadn't seen it land I wouldn't have spotted it.

Again I waited a few minutes until it spread its wings.  Beautiful!

Actually the second shot I got for the entire morning was this one, a perfect capture of early fall.  Sorry, Blogger just won't allow me to space this correctly.

Unique Flowers Down the Street

 We've got some pretty interesting flowers down our street at this time of year, none of which grow a5t our place.  I have to give the neighbours credit for the plants they grow, and they all seem to be in bloom at once, in August.

First are the Hibiscus, the enormous, some say 'dinner plate' size flowers that don't look as if they can be rea;!  These ones in light pink. 

These are a darker violet colour, but just as huge!

Another really unusual flower is this Cup Plant, about 7 feet tall.  

This is a plant of the tall grass prairie that once extended into southern Ontario.  The large opposite leaves meet each other wrapping around the stem and catching a tiny bit of water.

Much more commonly it's the season for Hydrangeas, in all their varieties.

Finally this is a beautiful Rose tree in a gorgeous red colour.