2018 Tales of Our Town
The following Tales of Our Town were published in 2018
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December 2018 - Middlesex Furniture: part of our heritage by Janet Cummer
When I took up my job as Strathroy librarian in 1970, I inherited a stereo console donated by Clairtone to mark the opening of the new library in 1965. Not only did it produce great sound, it was a beautiful piece of furniture. And it was made at the Middlesex Furniture factory in Strathroy.
Furniture factories were a common feature of Ontario towns in the late Victorian era. The economy was stable, people had jobs, and furnishing homes with quality furniture was a goal of any family starting out in life. Companies came and went, but the market remained firm for about 100 years. One of the manufacturers with early roots was the Middlesex Furniture Company.
The Middlesex factory was a four-storey yellow brick building “of great character”, tucked away on Caanan Street just off Caradoc. Constructed in 1909, it was originally the Colonial Furniture Company. About 1913, it merged with the Dymond Upholstery Company, becoming the Colonial Dymond Furniture Company. In 1917, a group of local citizens headed by Herbert Mihell purchased this business and formed the Middlesex Furniture Company. The excellent quality of its dining room, living room and bedroom furniture made it a leader in the trade.
These were prosperous days for Middlesex Furniture. The Depression of the 1930s seemed to have a minimal impact on the company. In 1937, the opening of an addition was “attended by furniture buyers and others in the furniture trades from all sections of Ontario and beyond”, with the public invited to the event as well. (Age Dispatch, Nov. 25, 1937) The 1938 furniture designs were on display in enlarged air-conditioned areas emphasizing the latest in lighting and presentation. It’s possible, however, that some of this prosperity was due to the financial troubles of its competitor, the Strathroy Furniture Company, which closed in 1936.
By 1953 a new chapter was opening, when Middlesex was absorbed into a conglomerate called Strathroy Industries. In 1962 it was bought by Clairtone Sound Corporation. Clairtone, a rather high-flying electronics company out of Toronto, wanted to make stereos and TVs with beautiful cabinets, and Middlesex Furniture could provide the high quality of craftsmanship that Clairtone sought. As the Age pointed out (Jan. 10, 1963), there was great optimism at the time. “A $3,000,000 expansion program was predicted by Deputy-Reeve Campbell MacKinlay. It is expected that the firm will eventually be in a position to supply cabinets to companies in the U.S.” These were heady days for the company. One of Clairtone’s promotions had crooner Frank Sinatra listening dreamily to sounds coming from a Clairtone stereo: “Listen to Sinatra on Clairtone stereo. Sinatra does”.
During its time here Clairtone maintained a payroll of 120 to 130 workers and operated in the Strathroy Furniture building on Caradoc Street south of the CNR tracks. Stereos were put together on the first floor, and the upper three floors made the cabinets. However, in the end Strathroy became a stopover to a huge plant in Nova Scotia. In 1970 mounting company debt and a decrease in demand for console TVs and stereos led Clairtone to announce the closure of the Strathroy plant.
This news came the same week as the shutdown of Craftmaster in town. Gloomy rumours abounded. It was predicted that Strathroy would become “a ghost town”, and the search began for new industries to take over the plant. What became of the workers? Some were absorbed by other factories, some may have moved away. Later, the furniture business operated out of three locations in Strathroy under the name “Philips”. The administrative offices remained at the Canaan Street location and some manufacturing continued there. In its last few years this building was probably vacant, until in 1993 a demolition permit was issued by the Town.
Today Canaan Street is the site of Progressive Countertops, which manufactures a different product for the modern home. But memories of Middlesex Furniture have not entirely faded away. The furniture survives on the internet and at Museum Strathroy-Caradoc. Check it out…
When I took up my job as Strathroy librarian in 1970, I inherited a stereo console donated by Clairtone to mark the opening of the new library in 1965. Not only did it produce great sound, it was a beautiful piece of furniture. And it was made at the Middlesex Furniture factory in Strathroy.
Furniture factories were a common feature of Ontario towns in the late Victorian era. The economy was stable, people had jobs, and furnishing homes with quality furniture was a goal of any family starting out in life. Companies came and went, but the market remained firm for about 100 years. One of the manufacturers with early roots was the Middlesex Furniture Company.
The Middlesex factory was a four-storey yellow brick building “of great character”, tucked away on Caanan Street just off Caradoc. Constructed in 1909, it was originally the Colonial Furniture Company. About 1913, it merged with the Dymond Upholstery Company, becoming the Colonial Dymond Furniture Company. In 1917, a group of local citizens headed by Herbert Mihell purchased this business and formed the Middlesex Furniture Company. The excellent quality of its dining room, living room and bedroom furniture made it a leader in the trade.
These were prosperous days for Middlesex Furniture. The Depression of the 1930s seemed to have a minimal impact on the company. In 1937, the opening of an addition was “attended by furniture buyers and others in the furniture trades from all sections of Ontario and beyond”, with the public invited to the event as well. (Age Dispatch, Nov. 25, 1937) The 1938 furniture designs were on display in enlarged air-conditioned areas emphasizing the latest in lighting and presentation. It’s possible, however, that some of this prosperity was due to the financial troubles of its competitor, the Strathroy Furniture Company, which closed in 1936.
By 1953 a new chapter was opening, when Middlesex was absorbed into a conglomerate called Strathroy Industries. In 1962 it was bought by Clairtone Sound Corporation. Clairtone, a rather high-flying electronics company out of Toronto, wanted to make stereos and TVs with beautiful cabinets, and Middlesex Furniture could provide the high quality of craftsmanship that Clairtone sought. As the Age pointed out (Jan. 10, 1963), there was great optimism at the time. “A $3,000,000 expansion program was predicted by Deputy-Reeve Campbell MacKinlay. It is expected that the firm will eventually be in a position to supply cabinets to companies in the U.S.” These were heady days for the company. One of Clairtone’s promotions had crooner Frank Sinatra listening dreamily to sounds coming from a Clairtone stereo: “Listen to Sinatra on Clairtone stereo. Sinatra does”.
During its time here Clairtone maintained a payroll of 120 to 130 workers and operated in the Strathroy Furniture building on Caradoc Street south of the CNR tracks. Stereos were put together on the first floor, and the upper three floors made the cabinets. However, in the end Strathroy became a stopover to a huge plant in Nova Scotia. In 1970 mounting company debt and a decrease in demand for console TVs and stereos led Clairtone to announce the closure of the Strathroy plant.
This news came the same week as the shutdown of Craftmaster in town. Gloomy rumours abounded. It was predicted that Strathroy would become “a ghost town”, and the search began for new industries to take over the plant. What became of the workers? Some were absorbed by other factories, some may have moved away. Later, the furniture business operated out of three locations in Strathroy under the name “Philips”. The administrative offices remained at the Canaan Street location and some manufacturing continued there. In its last few years this building was probably vacant, until in 1993 a demolition permit was issued by the Town.
Today Canaan Street is the site of Progressive Countertops, which manufactures a different product for the modern home. But memories of Middlesex Furniture have not entirely faded away. The furniture survives on the internet and at Museum Strathroy-Caradoc. Check it out…
Middlesex Furniture employees, 1935.
Front Row, Left to Right: Howard Calkins, Ted Talmey, Earl Humphries, George Brockbank, Harry Greenwood, Earl Gibson, Glenn Harnett, Fred Plank, Ogle Mackey, Percy Elliott, Sydney Lazenby, Morden Snelgrove, Steve Brabeck, Joe Snelgrove, Rudy Hallam, Ken Matrin, Robert Gough, William Quackenbush,
Second Row, Left to Right: Douglas Wagstaff, Mark Wagstaff, Joe Calkins, ? Murdoch, Jim Wilcox, Watson Latimer, Herbert Murdock, ? Murdock, Paul Kuszko, Frank Stacey, Ernie Emmons, Barney Dell, Melvin Routley, Frank Campbell, ? Wilton, Jim Bates, Steve Banovsky, Frank Hendry, Alvin Lightfoot, James Manton,
Third Row, Left to Right: Chester Fifield, William Newton, Bert Haldane, Harold Brooks, Edsel Ford
Photo: Museum Strathroy-Caradoc
November 2018 - The Great War ends and our soldiers return by Libby Dawson
One hundred years ago Canadian and Allied troops won a major victory against Germany at the Battle of Amiens, August 8-11, 1918. This was the first in a string of successes during the “100 Days” that led to the end of the First World War and the November 11 armistice. Following the win at Amiens the German army was forced out of the trenches in retreat.
The Canadian army, under the leadership of Strathroy’s General Arthur Currie, had earned a reputation as skilled soldiers who fought with discipline and determination. In the last 100 days of the war they fought in all the major battles, often in deadly door-to-door action. As the Allied armies advanced, capturing towns and villages in a series of hard-won battles, the four Canadian divisions defeated sections of 47 German divisions. They lost more men during that period than in the better-known battles at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.
The final line of advance had been sectioned off and allotted to various allied armies. Canada’s section was near the middle, in line with the Belgian town of Mons. On November 11, 1918 General Currie and the Canadians entered Mons in victory. The town where the British had lost the first battle of the war and were driven into defensive lines of trenches was finally taken back and the guns fell silent. Along with Currie, many other Strathroy and Middlesex men serving along and behind the battle lines celebrated on that day. They had been doing the hundreds of jobs necessary to keep an army supplied and fighting.
The Age Dispatch published lists of Strathroy area soldiers who were coming home during late spring of 1919. Many had experienced the horrors of the new war technology: artillery shells packed with shrapnel, tanks, high speed and high capacity machine guns, chemical gas weapons and airplanes with bombs and machine guns. Those returning soldiers were the lucky ones – their names would not be engraved on the local war memorials.
Among the returnees was Pte. William Samuel Cowan, who enlisted June 15, 1916 and sailed to England on the S.S. Olympic with the 135th Battalion, “The Pride of Middlesex”. He later served in the CFA (Canadian Field Ambulance) where he transported the wounded to field hospitals behind the lines. He was wounded several times himself and after each recovery was sent to a different unit. His father, Leslie Cowan, lived on Metcalfe Street.
Pte. Wellington McCoy was born in Lucknow Ontario and worked in a furniture factory in Strathroy as a cabinetmaker. He was 29 years old when he enlisted in the 135th in April 1916. In May, 1917 he was wounded in the wrist by shrapnel at Ypres. He was re-assigned to duty in June 1917, in the Canadian Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, which defended against German war planes. He returned to Strathroy in April 1919.
Gunner Albert Victor Gough was born in Strathroy in August 1896 and worked in the furniture factory as a furniture finisher. He enlisted in May 1916 to “C” Battery of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, and arrived in England in April 1917 aboard the S.S. Missanabie, a Canadian Pacific passenger ship. By the end of April, he was in France with the DAC (Divisional Ammunition Column) which unloaded shells and ammunition at the railhead to be delivered and distributed in horse-drawn wagons. His records show that he spent time in hospital for a leg injury after being kicked by a mule. In June 1918 he was awarded the “Good Conduct Badge”. He arrived home in May 1919.
We know that these men were welcomed home to Strathroy just over 100 years ago. Although little is known about them after their return, they and all the others who enlisted interrupted their lives and risked injury or death to serve in the deadliest war ever. While Strathroy’s Generals, Arthur Currie and W.B. Lindsay, served in important leadership roles, no jobs were insignificant. So each November, as we honour the names on our cenotaphs, we should also remember all those who returned. They too were part of a generation that served our country with bravery and patriotism.
One hundred years ago Canadian and Allied troops won a major victory against Germany at the Battle of Amiens, August 8-11, 1918. This was the first in a string of successes during the “100 Days” that led to the end of the First World War and the November 11 armistice. Following the win at Amiens the German army was forced out of the trenches in retreat.
The Canadian army, under the leadership of Strathroy’s General Arthur Currie, had earned a reputation as skilled soldiers who fought with discipline and determination. In the last 100 days of the war they fought in all the major battles, often in deadly door-to-door action. As the Allied armies advanced, capturing towns and villages in a series of hard-won battles, the four Canadian divisions defeated sections of 47 German divisions. They lost more men during that period than in the better-known battles at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.
The final line of advance had been sectioned off and allotted to various allied armies. Canada’s section was near the middle, in line with the Belgian town of Mons. On November 11, 1918 General Currie and the Canadians entered Mons in victory. The town where the British had lost the first battle of the war and were driven into defensive lines of trenches was finally taken back and the guns fell silent. Along with Currie, many other Strathroy and Middlesex men serving along and behind the battle lines celebrated on that day. They had been doing the hundreds of jobs necessary to keep an army supplied and fighting.
The Age Dispatch published lists of Strathroy area soldiers who were coming home during late spring of 1919. Many had experienced the horrors of the new war technology: artillery shells packed with shrapnel, tanks, high speed and high capacity machine guns, chemical gas weapons and airplanes with bombs and machine guns. Those returning soldiers were the lucky ones – their names would not be engraved on the local war memorials.
Among the returnees was Pte. William Samuel Cowan, who enlisted June 15, 1916 and sailed to England on the S.S. Olympic with the 135th Battalion, “The Pride of Middlesex”. He later served in the CFA (Canadian Field Ambulance) where he transported the wounded to field hospitals behind the lines. He was wounded several times himself and after each recovery was sent to a different unit. His father, Leslie Cowan, lived on Metcalfe Street.
Pte. Wellington McCoy was born in Lucknow Ontario and worked in a furniture factory in Strathroy as a cabinetmaker. He was 29 years old when he enlisted in the 135th in April 1916. In May, 1917 he was wounded in the wrist by shrapnel at Ypres. He was re-assigned to duty in June 1917, in the Canadian Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, which defended against German war planes. He returned to Strathroy in April 1919.
Gunner Albert Victor Gough was born in Strathroy in August 1896 and worked in the furniture factory as a furniture finisher. He enlisted in May 1916 to “C” Battery of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, and arrived in England in April 1917 aboard the S.S. Missanabie, a Canadian Pacific passenger ship. By the end of April, he was in France with the DAC (Divisional Ammunition Column) which unloaded shells and ammunition at the railhead to be delivered and distributed in horse-drawn wagons. His records show that he spent time in hospital for a leg injury after being kicked by a mule. In June 1918 he was awarded the “Good Conduct Badge”. He arrived home in May 1919.
We know that these men were welcomed home to Strathroy just over 100 years ago. Although little is known about them after their return, they and all the others who enlisted interrupted their lives and risked injury or death to serve in the deadliest war ever. While Strathroy’s Generals, Arthur Currie and W.B. Lindsay, served in important leadership roles, no jobs were insignificant. So each November, as we honour the names on our cenotaphs, we should also remember all those who returned. They too were part of a generation that served our country with bravery and patriotism.
October 2018 - Deadly: the Spanish Flu of 1918 by Larry Peters
In March 1918, a deadly form of influenza suddenly appeared. It would ravage the world in three waves over the next two years - then disappear as mysteriously as it had arrived. No one understood what caused it, how it spread or how to contain it. By late summer, it showed up in France and infected soldiers on both sides of the conflict. World War I had brought people from all over the world to the front lines. When the war ended, these infected soldiers carried the disease back to their home countries. By March 1920 at least 500 million people, about a third of the global population, had contracted the disease. Estimates of the death toll vary from 50 to 100 million people. The variation reflects the fact that many parts of the world lacked the ability to keep accurate records. By comparison, World War I saw 17 million deaths and World War II 60 million.
For Canada, the worst period was mid-September to mid-November of 1918. The flu was selective in choosing its victims: males aged 20 to 40, pregnant women and people suffering from other illnesses were most at risk. Most cities experienced increased deaths in this period - some by 50%. Hamilton had 500 flu deaths. In Regina, where 330 residents died of the flu, twenty funerals a day were recorded during November 1918. Funerals were limited to 15 minutes and gravediggers were forced to work every day of the week. Regina’s closed schools became hospitals. Across Canada churches, schools, barbershops, pool halls and restaurants were closed in an attempt to limit the spread of the flu. The 1919 Stanley Cup final between Montreal and Seattle was cancelled when most of the players fell ill. Joe Hall, a Montreal player, died. In four years, 66,000 Canadians died in World War I; in two years, the Spanish Flu claimed 55,000 Canadian lives.
The October 17, 1918 Age newspaper gave the first hint of the flu’s presence. In an ad, the Provincial Board of Health outlined precautions to lessen the flu’s effects. On October 31 the Age reported that the area had many flu cases, but few deaths. The local Board of Health imposed the closures mentioned in the previous paragraph. Very few children went trick or treating for Halloween; most parents entertained their children at home. This fear of public gatherings was interrupted for the parades and services on November 14, to celebrate the end of the war. Gradually, meetings were allowed and the churches re-opened. The November 28 Age reported the flu death of Alice Nettleton, who was nursing flu patients in Alberta. Her brother, Fred, would die of the flu in December. On December 12 the paper stated that Strathroy’s stores were open despite rumours of a local epidemic. Christmas-themed meetings and church services were being allowed. Mrs. Mary Currie’s death from flu-related pneumonia appeared in the December 19 Age. By December 24, all public gatherings, except dances, were permitted. However, the homes of flu victims would be quarantined.
In January 1919, a somber report in the Age noted that North America had experienced 500,000 flu deaths since September, 1918. The second wave of the flu was passing, but no one knew if other waves would follow - or if the deaths would ever end. So far all efforts to stop the spread of the deadly disease had failed. How to bring it under control was still an unsolved mystery. Yet compared to other areas Strathroy was very lucky. With the help of Bill Groot and Chris Harrington, I was able to find only nine area deaths caused by the flu. For whatever reason, we seem to have escaped the most severe consequences of that epidemic 100 years ago.
One of my earliest memories is hearing about the Spanish Flu from my mother, who was a student teacher at Ottawa Normal School when the flu hit the city. She and many of her class-mates were hospitalized for a significant period. Her most emotional memory was the resumption of classes. The empty desks of class-mates who died haunted the survivors for the rest of their lives.
In March 1918, a deadly form of influenza suddenly appeared. It would ravage the world in three waves over the next two years - then disappear as mysteriously as it had arrived. No one understood what caused it, how it spread or how to contain it. By late summer, it showed up in France and infected soldiers on both sides of the conflict. World War I had brought people from all over the world to the front lines. When the war ended, these infected soldiers carried the disease back to their home countries. By March 1920 at least 500 million people, about a third of the global population, had contracted the disease. Estimates of the death toll vary from 50 to 100 million people. The variation reflects the fact that many parts of the world lacked the ability to keep accurate records. By comparison, World War I saw 17 million deaths and World War II 60 million.
For Canada, the worst period was mid-September to mid-November of 1918. The flu was selective in choosing its victims: males aged 20 to 40, pregnant women and people suffering from other illnesses were most at risk. Most cities experienced increased deaths in this period - some by 50%. Hamilton had 500 flu deaths. In Regina, where 330 residents died of the flu, twenty funerals a day were recorded during November 1918. Funerals were limited to 15 minutes and gravediggers were forced to work every day of the week. Regina’s closed schools became hospitals. Across Canada churches, schools, barbershops, pool halls and restaurants were closed in an attempt to limit the spread of the flu. The 1919 Stanley Cup final between Montreal and Seattle was cancelled when most of the players fell ill. Joe Hall, a Montreal player, died. In four years, 66,000 Canadians died in World War I; in two years, the Spanish Flu claimed 55,000 Canadian lives.
The October 17, 1918 Age newspaper gave the first hint of the flu’s presence. In an ad, the Provincial Board of Health outlined precautions to lessen the flu’s effects. On October 31 the Age reported that the area had many flu cases, but few deaths. The local Board of Health imposed the closures mentioned in the previous paragraph. Very few children went trick or treating for Halloween; most parents entertained their children at home. This fear of public gatherings was interrupted for the parades and services on November 14, to celebrate the end of the war. Gradually, meetings were allowed and the churches re-opened. The November 28 Age reported the flu death of Alice Nettleton, who was nursing flu patients in Alberta. Her brother, Fred, would die of the flu in December. On December 12 the paper stated that Strathroy’s stores were open despite rumours of a local epidemic. Christmas-themed meetings and church services were being allowed. Mrs. Mary Currie’s death from flu-related pneumonia appeared in the December 19 Age. By December 24, all public gatherings, except dances, were permitted. However, the homes of flu victims would be quarantined.
In January 1919, a somber report in the Age noted that North America had experienced 500,000 flu deaths since September, 1918. The second wave of the flu was passing, but no one knew if other waves would follow - or if the deaths would ever end. So far all efforts to stop the spread of the deadly disease had failed. How to bring it under control was still an unsolved mystery. Yet compared to other areas Strathroy was very lucky. With the help of Bill Groot and Chris Harrington, I was able to find only nine area deaths caused by the flu. For whatever reason, we seem to have escaped the most severe consequences of that epidemic 100 years ago.
One of my earliest memories is hearing about the Spanish Flu from my mother, who was a student teacher at Ottawa Normal School when the flu hit the city. She and many of her class-mates were hospitalized for a significant period. Her most emotional memory was the resumption of classes. The empty desks of class-mates who died haunted the survivors for the rest of their lives.
September 2018 - Hard times in Strathroy by Libby McLachlan
Clarence Mitchell, one of our oldest residents and a well-known plumber on Metcalfe Street, has many stories to tell. Originally his family lived on a farm near Cairngorm in the 1920s. But in 1929, about the time Clarence started school, his father contracted scarlet fever leading to permanent brain damage. With his father committed to the psychiatric hospital in London, the farm and everything they owned was sold to cover the costs of his long-term care. Mrs. Mitchell had no idea what she would do. At that time, there were only family and one’s own resourcefulness and hard work to fall back on. So Clarence remembers walking toward Strathroy with his mother and brother after their eviction. Arnold Linton picked them up in his Model T Ford, and they lived for many years with her Uncle Dave Bolton, a bachelor, in his small white house on Albert Street across from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
It was the beginning of the Depression, and the family earned money however they could. Uncle Dave, despite a knee and leg injury from WWI, shovelled coal at Carter’s coal yard, unloading and bagging coal from train cars for home delivery, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., for $1 per day. And Clarence, with his little wagon, would get two or three big chunks of coal at Sutherland’s coal yard and deliver it to Ford’s bakery on Frank Street several times a week. Clarence’s mother, Edith, took in laundry. On Sunday nights she earned fifty cents clearing up after the supper meal at Ernie Wright's McKellar St. home while the family was at church. And she found economical ways to feed the family. She would get bargain-priced wilted vegetables at Charlie Gill's grocery store and soup bones at the Avery butcher shop. Her big pot of soup cooked away on the old wood stove, lasting most of the week. Clarence was proud that there was always oatmeal before school in the morning - though no sugar or milk.
Brothers Roy and Clarence earned money cutting grass, raking leaves and spading gardens. They cleared driveways, shovelled porches and steps for five cents or maybe a dime, delivered mail to neighbours from the post office for 5 cents, and telegrams from the office on Frank Street. On Saturdays they helped sort livestock for the auction at Lambert’s stockyards (on the current TSC site, behind Bixel’s Brewery), dragging pigs in by the tail for 10 cents apiece. They sold turtles from the ‘dead hole’ behind Strathroy Creamery to Len Wong's Restaurant for his excellent soup for 5, 10 or 25 cents, depending on the size. Sometimes the brothers went to the golf course at night, stripped, and retrieved golf balls from the mud at the bottom of the river; after scrubbing them up, they sold them back to the golf course next day. During the week, farmers coming to the market kept their horses in the sheds behind the Presbyterian Church. The boys pumped water for the horses and fed them hay, earning 5 or 10 cents each for up to 20 horses, perhaps earning a dollar towards the family's expenses.
By about age ten Clarence was delivering groceries for A & P (on the north side of Front Street West) before and after school and at noon hour. He knew the names of all the families he delivered to, including their kids, cats and especially their dogs. On Saturday nights A&P stayed open until the movie at the King Theatre was over. The first show ended around 9:30, the second about 11:30. Moviegoers would then come across the street to order their groceries, and Clarence would deliver them to homes around town into the wee hours, sometimes until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. Nobody locked their door, and a coal oil lamp, turned low, was left on the kitchen table. At some point Howard Statham sold Clarence a bicycle for delivering groceries, which he paid off at 50 cents per week.
Clarence lived on the boundary between the Maitland and Colborne school areas, which meant that he sometimes moved from one school to the other if student numbers changed for either school. In any case, he spent so much time working that his attendance was poor and he left school about grade six. But he went on to serve in Canada’s wartime Navy and later earned his master plumbing and heating license and operated his own business.
Along with Janet Cummer, Mary Daniel and Barry Mitchell, who sometimes accompanied me, I am grateful to Clarence for the hours he has spent sharing his stories. Now in his nineties, he recounts them with good humour and a twinkle in his eye. And he helps us appreciate how fortunate we are to have today’s social safety net!
Clarence Mitchell, one of our oldest residents and a well-known plumber on Metcalfe Street, has many stories to tell. Originally his family lived on a farm near Cairngorm in the 1920s. But in 1929, about the time Clarence started school, his father contracted scarlet fever leading to permanent brain damage. With his father committed to the psychiatric hospital in London, the farm and everything they owned was sold to cover the costs of his long-term care. Mrs. Mitchell had no idea what she would do. At that time, there were only family and one’s own resourcefulness and hard work to fall back on. So Clarence remembers walking toward Strathroy with his mother and brother after their eviction. Arnold Linton picked them up in his Model T Ford, and they lived for many years with her Uncle Dave Bolton, a bachelor, in his small white house on Albert Street across from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
It was the beginning of the Depression, and the family earned money however they could. Uncle Dave, despite a knee and leg injury from WWI, shovelled coal at Carter’s coal yard, unloading and bagging coal from train cars for home delivery, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., for $1 per day. And Clarence, with his little wagon, would get two or three big chunks of coal at Sutherland’s coal yard and deliver it to Ford’s bakery on Frank Street several times a week. Clarence’s mother, Edith, took in laundry. On Sunday nights she earned fifty cents clearing up after the supper meal at Ernie Wright's McKellar St. home while the family was at church. And she found economical ways to feed the family. She would get bargain-priced wilted vegetables at Charlie Gill's grocery store and soup bones at the Avery butcher shop. Her big pot of soup cooked away on the old wood stove, lasting most of the week. Clarence was proud that there was always oatmeal before school in the morning - though no sugar or milk.
Brothers Roy and Clarence earned money cutting grass, raking leaves and spading gardens. They cleared driveways, shovelled porches and steps for five cents or maybe a dime, delivered mail to neighbours from the post office for 5 cents, and telegrams from the office on Frank Street. On Saturdays they helped sort livestock for the auction at Lambert’s stockyards (on the current TSC site, behind Bixel’s Brewery), dragging pigs in by the tail for 10 cents apiece. They sold turtles from the ‘dead hole’ behind Strathroy Creamery to Len Wong's Restaurant for his excellent soup for 5, 10 or 25 cents, depending on the size. Sometimes the brothers went to the golf course at night, stripped, and retrieved golf balls from the mud at the bottom of the river; after scrubbing them up, they sold them back to the golf course next day. During the week, farmers coming to the market kept their horses in the sheds behind the Presbyterian Church. The boys pumped water for the horses and fed them hay, earning 5 or 10 cents each for up to 20 horses, perhaps earning a dollar towards the family's expenses.
By about age ten Clarence was delivering groceries for A & P (on the north side of Front Street West) before and after school and at noon hour. He knew the names of all the families he delivered to, including their kids, cats and especially their dogs. On Saturday nights A&P stayed open until the movie at the King Theatre was over. The first show ended around 9:30, the second about 11:30. Moviegoers would then come across the street to order their groceries, and Clarence would deliver them to homes around town into the wee hours, sometimes until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. Nobody locked their door, and a coal oil lamp, turned low, was left on the kitchen table. At some point Howard Statham sold Clarence a bicycle for delivering groceries, which he paid off at 50 cents per week.
Clarence lived on the boundary between the Maitland and Colborne school areas, which meant that he sometimes moved from one school to the other if student numbers changed for either school. In any case, he spent so much time working that his attendance was poor and he left school about grade six. But he went on to serve in Canada’s wartime Navy and later earned his master plumbing and heating license and operated his own business.
Along with Janet Cummer, Mary Daniel and Barry Mitchell, who sometimes accompanied me, I am grateful to Clarence for the hours he has spent sharing his stories. Now in his nineties, he recounts them with good humour and a twinkle in his eye. And he helps us appreciate how fortunate we are to have today’s social safety net!
Both Alice Nettleton and her brother Fred died in the influenza epidemic in 1918, and were buried in the family plot in Strathroy Cemetery. Alice’s name also appears on the Strathroy Cenotaph, as she was serving in the Volunteer Aid Detachment of the Canadian army at the time of her death.
Photo: John Sargeant for the Virtual War Memorial Project, Museum Strathroy Caradoc
August 2018 - Telling Our Story by Libby McLachlan
Local organizations get their start in odd ways. Sometimes an idea is ready to be pursued at just the right time. When Lynda Rozek suggested that her newly retired husband, Jerry, needed a ‘project’, Janet Cummer, Strathroy Library supervisor, decided to act on her long-held belief that Strathroy should have a historical society. She gathered people that she knew had an interest in local history (including Jerry) to informal meetings in the Library staff room over a period of months to discuss the possibilities of starting a group.
Eventually, at a February 25, 2008 meeting, there was a consensus to proceed with developing a “Strathroy & District Historical Society”, with the goal of setting up a structure and holding a public meeting in September. Present at that February session were: Janet Cummer, Terry Gentleman, Brianna Hammer, John Mackey, Libby McLachlan, Andrew Meyer, Anne Pelkman, Larry and Olga Peters, Jerry Rozek and Visjna Scripnick. It led to our first meeting in the Seniors Centre lounge, 137 Frank St. on September 22.
Over the next few years an annual pattern evolved of monthly meetings with speakers for seven months, a ‘show and tell’ meeting in January and a ‘tour’ in June.
We have had so many engaging speakers! In our first years Mary Wright reminisced about the Wright Piano Company and growing up with her four brothers in the E.J. Wright family; and Blake Hughes shared his pen and ink drawings of a number of old homes in Mt. Brydges. More recently, Brenda Gallagher focused on 20 tree species in our area and how they were used by early settlers. Other guests have had a broader theme. Zenon Andrusyszyn told us about his work with the CANADIGM project to capture 3-D images of carvings on the walls of chalk caves by soldiers waiting to go into battle at Vimy Ridge in 1917. At another meeting Dr. Patricia Skidmore, a retired UWO history professor, suggested guidelines for collecting ‘oral’ history and encouraged us to document the stories of people in our community.
Our June tours have proved to be popular, beginning in 2009 with Bill Groot showing us through the cemetery of St. Mary’s Anglican Church near Napier, followed by a potluck picnic at Vaughan and Carol MacPherson’s home. A few years later we visited sites in the village of Napier with Doug and Debbie Smith and Dana Bernier. Some of our tours involved original research by our members, including a walk along Front Street West in 2011 and a visit to the 4th Line Cemetery in 2014. This June we travelled to the Donnelly Museum in Lucan.
The Society’s first project, a fundraiser, was an attractive 2009 historical calendar produced by Andrew Meyer and Brianna Hammer, with the support of Vaughan MacPherson. In September 2008, the month the Society was formed, Janet Cummer and Libby McLachlan began editing a monthly column in the Age Dispatch with stories covering people and events over the town’s history. The column continues to this day, and will have published 124 Tales written by various authors by the end of 2018. In 2013 the first 64 of these were collected, with additional material, as Tales of our Town: Strathroy and area stories. A second volume is being prepared for publication. Two other SDHS books have helped to fulfil our mandate of “preserving and interpreting the history of Strathroy and area”. Bill Groot’s Strathroy stories: the early years (2010) provides a wealth of source material, mainly from local newspapers. Memories of old Strathroy; the Stewart Lamont letters (2017) is based on a series of letters to the Age Dispatch in which Lamont describes the town during his growing up years in the 1870s and 1880s. Photos and information were added by the Society’s publication committee.
Many people have contributed to the success of our first ten years, including presidents Terry Gentleman, Jerry Rozek, Paul Long, Brian Angyal and Crystal Loyst. We have had
wonderful support from both the Museum and the Library. The average membership is about 45, with meeting turnouts that justify the investment made in a digital projector and a sound system. There is a website <[email protected]> and, since January 2016, a Facebook page. Bill Groot and Aileen Cnockaert are constantly searching for items to keep posting on Facebook five days each week. And members receive a quarterly newsletter to keep them up-to-date.
Our September 17 meeting will be a special celebration with speaker Andrew Meyer, the Museum Strathroy-Caradoc curator when he helped to get SDHS off the ground. Still a Strathroy resident, Andrew’s current position is Cultural Officer for Lambton County. Join us for cake and refreshments at the Strathroy Seniors Centre at 7:00 pm!
Local organizations get their start in odd ways. Sometimes an idea is ready to be pursued at just the right time. When Lynda Rozek suggested that her newly retired husband, Jerry, needed a ‘project’, Janet Cummer, Strathroy Library supervisor, decided to act on her long-held belief that Strathroy should have a historical society. She gathered people that she knew had an interest in local history (including Jerry) to informal meetings in the Library staff room over a period of months to discuss the possibilities of starting a group.
Eventually, at a February 25, 2008 meeting, there was a consensus to proceed with developing a “Strathroy & District Historical Society”, with the goal of setting up a structure and holding a public meeting in September. Present at that February session were: Janet Cummer, Terry Gentleman, Brianna Hammer, John Mackey, Libby McLachlan, Andrew Meyer, Anne Pelkman, Larry and Olga Peters, Jerry Rozek and Visjna Scripnick. It led to our first meeting in the Seniors Centre lounge, 137 Frank St. on September 22.
Over the next few years an annual pattern evolved of monthly meetings with speakers for seven months, a ‘show and tell’ meeting in January and a ‘tour’ in June.
We have had so many engaging speakers! In our first years Mary Wright reminisced about the Wright Piano Company and growing up with her four brothers in the E.J. Wright family; and Blake Hughes shared his pen and ink drawings of a number of old homes in Mt. Brydges. More recently, Brenda Gallagher focused on 20 tree species in our area and how they were used by early settlers. Other guests have had a broader theme. Zenon Andrusyszyn told us about his work with the CANADIGM project to capture 3-D images of carvings on the walls of chalk caves by soldiers waiting to go into battle at Vimy Ridge in 1917. At another meeting Dr. Patricia Skidmore, a retired UWO history professor, suggested guidelines for collecting ‘oral’ history and encouraged us to document the stories of people in our community.
Our June tours have proved to be popular, beginning in 2009 with Bill Groot showing us through the cemetery of St. Mary’s Anglican Church near Napier, followed by a potluck picnic at Vaughan and Carol MacPherson’s home. A few years later we visited sites in the village of Napier with Doug and Debbie Smith and Dana Bernier. Some of our tours involved original research by our members, including a walk along Front Street West in 2011 and a visit to the 4th Line Cemetery in 2014. This June we travelled to the Donnelly Museum in Lucan.
The Society’s first project, a fundraiser, was an attractive 2009 historical calendar produced by Andrew Meyer and Brianna Hammer, with the support of Vaughan MacPherson. In September 2008, the month the Society was formed, Janet Cummer and Libby McLachlan began editing a monthly column in the Age Dispatch with stories covering people and events over the town’s history. The column continues to this day, and will have published 124 Tales written by various authors by the end of 2018. In 2013 the first 64 of these were collected, with additional material, as Tales of our Town: Strathroy and area stories. A second volume is being prepared for publication. Two other SDHS books have helped to fulfil our mandate of “preserving and interpreting the history of Strathroy and area”. Bill Groot’s Strathroy stories: the early years (2010) provides a wealth of source material, mainly from local newspapers. Memories of old Strathroy; the Stewart Lamont letters (2017) is based on a series of letters to the Age Dispatch in which Lamont describes the town during his growing up years in the 1870s and 1880s. Photos and information were added by the Society’s publication committee.
Many people have contributed to the success of our first ten years, including presidents Terry Gentleman, Jerry Rozek, Paul Long, Brian Angyal and Crystal Loyst. We have had
wonderful support from both the Museum and the Library. The average membership is about 45, with meeting turnouts that justify the investment made in a digital projector and a sound system. There is a website <[email protected]> and, since January 2016, a Facebook page. Bill Groot and Aileen Cnockaert are constantly searching for items to keep posting on Facebook five days each week. And members receive a quarterly newsletter to keep them up-to-date.
Our September 17 meeting will be a special celebration with speaker Andrew Meyer, the Museum Strathroy-Caradoc curator when he helped to get SDHS off the ground. Still a Strathroy resident, Andrew’s current position is Cultural Officer for Lambton County. Join us for cake and refreshments at the Strathroy Seniors Centre at 7:00 pm!
July 2018 - Highway 402: 102 kilometres of history by Crystal Loyst
It may not be Route 66 or the Trans-Canada Highway but the history of Kings Highway 402 is an extensive one, although it has only been an active highway since 1982. At it’s creation Highway 402 meant something different to everyone – from rural families and construction workers to politicians and activists.
After the completion of the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia in 1938 a six-kilometre highway named the Blue Water Bridge Approach was constructed leading up to the bridge. However, with the onset of World War II construction stopped. Between 1950 and 1974, ‘the Golden Age of Roads’, highway travel throughout Canada increased dramatically, and in 1953 the Blue Water Bridge Approach became the 402, a “400 series” designation, indicating that it would be a four-lane highway. And in 1957 it was announced that the 402 would be extended from Sarnia to Highway 401 in the London area.
Finding the most cost efficient and appropriate route for the highway was extremely important and took years to finalize. Land had to be expropriated and purchased to allow construction to go ahead. From Sarnia to Strathroy-Caradoc the 402 followed a straight route, in most cases going between farms rather than cutting through them. Once the highway reached Strathroy-Caradoc it took a turn to the southeast until meeting the 401. This was partly due to the angle of Strathroy-Caradoc’s original survey and the existence of environmentally sensitive areas. The route would close a number of concession roads, cutting neighbours off from each other, affecting people on Walkers, Century and Falconbridge Drives.
Over ten different routes for the 402 from Strathroy to the 401 were proposed: there was opposition to each of them. 1973 was a pivotal year for public demonstrations and concerns over the location of the highway in the Strathroy-Caradoc area. Residents were most concerned about preserving farmland and community identity. The ratepayers in Campbellvale, just east of Mount Brydges, objected to the 402 corridor plan that would cut through their community. Government officials conceded that it “might” be possible to retain Campbellvale through careful engineering. In the end the chosen 402 route went just to the east.
“Citizens for Reconsideration of the Freeway Route/402 Bypass” was organized by concerned citizens. One of the leaders was Bill Siegel, a Western University Professor living in Caradoc. In January 1974, Bill and the group went to Queen's Park. They pointed out to officials that agricultural productivity would be damaged, handing out fruits and vegetables to make their point and suggesting other options, including widening existing roads and improving the rail system. But it was too late. By 1974 the shovels were ready to go in the ground, and the group gave up its battle against the highway.
The highway was completed in sections. As with many construction jobs there were potential hazards. On July 9, 1981 a worker was hit and killed by an earth mover just east of Highway 81 while directing traffic and counting loads of dirt. Mike Rose lived on the 9th Concession in Caradoc and had a wife and two children; he was only 39 years old.
November 1982 saw the last section of the 402 completed, with a ribbon-cutting under the overpass on Centre Road (interchange 65). Despite the difficulties along the way the opening brought an enhanced transportation network and increased opportunities for economic development to communities along the route and has been a boon to the Strathroy area ever since.
It may not be Route 66 or the Trans-Canada Highway but the history of Kings Highway 402 is an extensive one, although it has only been an active highway since 1982. At it’s creation Highway 402 meant something different to everyone – from rural families and construction workers to politicians and activists.
After the completion of the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia in 1938 a six-kilometre highway named the Blue Water Bridge Approach was constructed leading up to the bridge. However, with the onset of World War II construction stopped. Between 1950 and 1974, ‘the Golden Age of Roads’, highway travel throughout Canada increased dramatically, and in 1953 the Blue Water Bridge Approach became the 402, a “400 series” designation, indicating that it would be a four-lane highway. And in 1957 it was announced that the 402 would be extended from Sarnia to Highway 401 in the London area.
Finding the most cost efficient and appropriate route for the highway was extremely important and took years to finalize. Land had to be expropriated and purchased to allow construction to go ahead. From Sarnia to Strathroy-Caradoc the 402 followed a straight route, in most cases going between farms rather than cutting through them. Once the highway reached Strathroy-Caradoc it took a turn to the southeast until meeting the 401. This was partly due to the angle of Strathroy-Caradoc’s original survey and the existence of environmentally sensitive areas. The route would close a number of concession roads, cutting neighbours off from each other, affecting people on Walkers, Century and Falconbridge Drives.
Over ten different routes for the 402 from Strathroy to the 401 were proposed: there was opposition to each of them. 1973 was a pivotal year for public demonstrations and concerns over the location of the highway in the Strathroy-Caradoc area. Residents were most concerned about preserving farmland and community identity. The ratepayers in Campbellvale, just east of Mount Brydges, objected to the 402 corridor plan that would cut through their community. Government officials conceded that it “might” be possible to retain Campbellvale through careful engineering. In the end the chosen 402 route went just to the east.
“Citizens for Reconsideration of the Freeway Route/402 Bypass” was organized by concerned citizens. One of the leaders was Bill Siegel, a Western University Professor living in Caradoc. In January 1974, Bill and the group went to Queen's Park. They pointed out to officials that agricultural productivity would be damaged, handing out fruits and vegetables to make their point and suggesting other options, including widening existing roads and improving the rail system. But it was too late. By 1974 the shovels were ready to go in the ground, and the group gave up its battle against the highway.
The highway was completed in sections. As with many construction jobs there were potential hazards. On July 9, 1981 a worker was hit and killed by an earth mover just east of Highway 81 while directing traffic and counting loads of dirt. Mike Rose lived on the 9th Concession in Caradoc and had a wife and two children; he was only 39 years old.
November 1982 saw the last section of the 402 completed, with a ribbon-cutting under the overpass on Centre Road (interchange 65). Despite the difficulties along the way the opening brought an enhanced transportation network and increased opportunities for economic development to communities along the route and has been a boon to the Strathroy area ever since.
Save our Community and other signs mirrored the feelings of nearly a hundred South Caradoc Township residents who turned out for a rally at the Mount Brydges Community Centre on Wednesday evening, June 20. The residents were protesting the fact the new 402 study corridor runs through their area. The last of a series of 402 information meetings was in progress in the hall when the residents arrived.
Age Dispatch, June 28, 1973
Photo: Museum Strathroy-Caradoc; Strathroy Age Dispatch negative collection
June 2018 - Mount Brydges calls in the Frontiersmen by Chris Harrington
In the summer of 1956, the village of Mt. Brydges had a policing issue on its hands. The front page headline of the July 19 Age Dispatch read “Mt. Brydges People Angry Over Exaggerated Stories”. A few days earlier, London and Toronto daily newspapers had beaten the local weekly to the news punch, reporting complaints by some villagers of rowdyism and petty crime committed by ‘teen-agers’. Although several residents informed the Age that the city newspaper reports were greatly exaggerated, the London Legion of Frontiersmen was sworn in by Emerson Farrow, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, to act as special part-time constables to police Mt. Brydges.
The Legion of Frontiersmen was a voluntary uniformed peacetime field intelligence corps founded by Roger Pocock in Britain in 1904. Pocock was Welsh and came to Canada when his father, Charles, accepted a posting as a Church of England clergyman. Charles Pocock suggested that his son should join the North West Mounted Police. Roger was accepted and served during the 1885 Riel Rebellion, and later saw action in the Boer War. Pocock’s Legion of Frontiersmen was guided by founding principles based primarily on his idealized concept of the untamed frontier and a romanticized vision of the blessings of imperialism and colonialism. Frontiersmen had basic training in policing, fire protection, first aid, and emergency preparedness.
According to the city newspapers Mt. Brydges was being “ravaged” by a gang of juvenile delinquents. They reported a litany of criminal activities including the shooting of streetlight bulbs, vandalism of road signs, vulgar language, public drinking on street corners, and the “stripping of a young boy and girl on a public thoroughfare”. One of the most vocal residents was druggist Lloyd Mahler who owned Mahler Drugs and Mahler’s Lunch Bar. In a Canadian Press story picked up by the Toronto dailies, Mahler said that the gang “boasted that they had closed two restaurants and when I got tough with them they told me they’d close me down too.” He also complained about the teenagers tossing firecrackers, playing catch with ashtrays, and throwing salt shakers in his establishment.
Several Mt. Brydges residents took issue with some of these reports. An unidentified villager said, “It’s true there has been some mischief done by the boys here, but it’s no worse than in other places. It’s just that in a small place everyone hears about it, and the stories get exaggerated.” In a Globe & Mail article dated August 3, 1956, Edward J. Dausett, president of the Royal Canadian Legion, said that driving habits were his biggest concern: “The boys come back from a Junior Farmer’s dance and go tearing up and down the street until two or three in the morning, disturbing everyone’s sleep.” Dausett added, “As for the rest, I think they are making a mountain out of a molehill.” But the majority of residents agreed that the occasional patrols of the village by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) out of the Strathroy and Glencoe detachments were no longer adequate.
Caradoc Township thought they had met all the legal requirements when they swore in nine members of the Frontiersmen on July 19. However, challenges to the legitimacy and authority of the Frontiersmen policing the town were almost immediate. When three area men were charged with minor driving related offences, Middlesex County Magistrate Frederick G. McAllister threw out all charges, ruling that the Frontiersmen had no legal authority to act as a municipal police force. McAllister said that Caradoc Township Council and township clerk John Crawford had made several errors, including failing to appoint the Frontiersmen police force by passing a bylaw as required by the Municipal Act. William Bowman, from the province’s Attorney General’s Department, ruled that the Frontiersmen needed to be sworn in by an OPP commission, a judge, or a magistrate. Emerson Farrow had acted as “chief magistrate” of the village; this was determined to be insufficient authority to grant the Frontiersmen legal police officer status.
By the end of summer 1956, the concerns with area youth had subsided and so had the Frontiersmen patrols. But after a daring kidnapping, a car theft, and robbery of the Royal Bank in Mt. Brydges on December 7, 1956, the Frontiersmen patrolled once again for a short time. It would take until July 12, 1990 for a permanent OPP detachment under the ‘community policing model’ to be established in the village.
In the summer of 1956, the village of Mt. Brydges had a policing issue on its hands. The front page headline of the July 19 Age Dispatch read “Mt. Brydges People Angry Over Exaggerated Stories”. A few days earlier, London and Toronto daily newspapers had beaten the local weekly to the news punch, reporting complaints by some villagers of rowdyism and petty crime committed by ‘teen-agers’. Although several residents informed the Age that the city newspaper reports were greatly exaggerated, the London Legion of Frontiersmen was sworn in by Emerson Farrow, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, to act as special part-time constables to police Mt. Brydges.
The Legion of Frontiersmen was a voluntary uniformed peacetime field intelligence corps founded by Roger Pocock in Britain in 1904. Pocock was Welsh and came to Canada when his father, Charles, accepted a posting as a Church of England clergyman. Charles Pocock suggested that his son should join the North West Mounted Police. Roger was accepted and served during the 1885 Riel Rebellion, and later saw action in the Boer War. Pocock’s Legion of Frontiersmen was guided by founding principles based primarily on his idealized concept of the untamed frontier and a romanticized vision of the blessings of imperialism and colonialism. Frontiersmen had basic training in policing, fire protection, first aid, and emergency preparedness.
According to the city newspapers Mt. Brydges was being “ravaged” by a gang of juvenile delinquents. They reported a litany of criminal activities including the shooting of streetlight bulbs, vandalism of road signs, vulgar language, public drinking on street corners, and the “stripping of a young boy and girl on a public thoroughfare”. One of the most vocal residents was druggist Lloyd Mahler who owned Mahler Drugs and Mahler’s Lunch Bar. In a Canadian Press story picked up by the Toronto dailies, Mahler said that the gang “boasted that they had closed two restaurants and when I got tough with them they told me they’d close me down too.” He also complained about the teenagers tossing firecrackers, playing catch with ashtrays, and throwing salt shakers in his establishment.
Several Mt. Brydges residents took issue with some of these reports. An unidentified villager said, “It’s true there has been some mischief done by the boys here, but it’s no worse than in other places. It’s just that in a small place everyone hears about it, and the stories get exaggerated.” In a Globe & Mail article dated August 3, 1956, Edward J. Dausett, president of the Royal Canadian Legion, said that driving habits were his biggest concern: “The boys come back from a Junior Farmer’s dance and go tearing up and down the street until two or three in the morning, disturbing everyone’s sleep.” Dausett added, “As for the rest, I think they are making a mountain out of a molehill.” But the majority of residents agreed that the occasional patrols of the village by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) out of the Strathroy and Glencoe detachments were no longer adequate.
Caradoc Township thought they had met all the legal requirements when they swore in nine members of the Frontiersmen on July 19. However, challenges to the legitimacy and authority of the Frontiersmen policing the town were almost immediate. When three area men were charged with minor driving related offences, Middlesex County Magistrate Frederick G. McAllister threw out all charges, ruling that the Frontiersmen had no legal authority to act as a municipal police force. McAllister said that Caradoc Township Council and township clerk John Crawford had made several errors, including failing to appoint the Frontiersmen police force by passing a bylaw as required by the Municipal Act. William Bowman, from the province’s Attorney General’s Department, ruled that the Frontiersmen needed to be sworn in by an OPP commission, a judge, or a magistrate. Emerson Farrow had acted as “chief magistrate” of the village; this was determined to be insufficient authority to grant the Frontiersmen legal police officer status.
By the end of summer 1956, the concerns with area youth had subsided and so had the Frontiersmen patrols. But after a daring kidnapping, a car theft, and robbery of the Royal Bank in Mt. Brydges on December 7, 1956, the Frontiersmen patrolled once again for a short time. It would take until July 12, 1990 for a permanent OPP detachment under the ‘community policing model’ to be established in the village.
May 2018 - Cassie Chadwick: a very double life by Lindsay Kernohan
In the spring of 1902 James Dillon received a delightful surprise when he ran into Mrs. Cassie Chadwick, the wife of a dear friend, in the lobby of a New York hotel. She explained that she was on her way to her father’s house. Would he escort her there?
The pair took a carriage to the mansion belonging to Andrew Carnegie on East 91st Street. Chadwick, leaving Dillon behind in the carriage, requested to speak to the head housekeeper, explaining that she was there to check the references of a potential new maid. The housekeeper insisted that there must be a misunderstanding – no one by that name had ever worked there. Cassie thanked her and, as she walked back to the carriage, pulled a large envelope out of her coat. Dillon, embarrassed, awkwardly asked who her father was. Cassie explained that she was Andrew Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter. He provided for her and she would inherit millions when he died. Cassie showed him the contents of her envelope, filled with promissory notes signed by Carnegie himself.
It was a fantastic, brazen story – with only one problem. Not only was she not Carnegie’s daughter, she had never met the man. Cassie Chadwick was just one of many names used by imposter Elizabeth Bigley.
Elizabeth Bigley was born in the late 1850s and grew up on a small Ontario farm. There is little information available about her early years, and much of it is contradictory, due in part to Elizabeth herself continually lying and changing stories to evade the clutches of the law. Many accounts list her birthdate as October 10, 1857, although her gravestone states 1859. Alternate sources list her place of birth as Strathroy, Eastwood in Oxford County, or Woodstock. The 1861 census identifies an Elizabeth Bigley, age 3, living in East Oxford.
Elizabeth perpetrated her first fraud as a teenager when she opened a bank account in Woodstock using a dubious letter of inheritance from an uncle, then wrote worthless cheques on the account to various merchants. She was caught but released due to her youth. But her escapades continued and more of her fraudulent schemes were exposed locally and then in Cleveland. From there, Elizabeth went on a journey of re-invention, living in boarding houses and adopting new aliases. There were multiple short marriages, including one to a man named Hoover, who left her an inheritance of $50,000. The pair had a son named Emil, who was sent back to Canada to be raised by her parents. She then moved to Ohio as Mme. Linda Devere, where she tricked Joseph Lamb into cashing forged cheques for her. She raised $40,000 with this scheme before being arrested. Sentenced to 9.5 years, she served only 3.5.
Elizabeth returned to Cleveland as Cassie Hoover and married Dr. Leroy Chadwick, a wealthy widower. The marriage shocked his friends and family; no one had met her, and rumours swirled that the pair had met while she was working in a brothel. Thanks to the Chadwick family, Cassie was now wealthy enough to enjoy a lavish lifestyle and lived quietly with her husband for years. By 1902, however, she was back to her old ways. Using her faked promissory notes from Carnegie, Chadwick defrauded several large banks, taking out loans and paying them off with money from other loans. As she defaulted on her debts, family members and old acquaintances stepped forward to confirm she was not related to Carnegie.
Chadwick was arrested in November 1904. In March 1905, she was found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to ten years in prison, where she died in October 1907. Before her death, she arranged for a portion of her hidden funds to be sent to Canada to purchase a tombstone. She is buried in Woodstock’s Anglican Cemetery.
While the total amount of Cassie Chadwick’s spoils is unknown, it is estimated at around $16.5 million in today’s dollars. She caused the bankruptcy of the Citizen’s National Bank of Oberlin and ruined the personal fortunes of many. Con artist, fraudster, charlatan. Was Cassie Chadwick indeed one of Strathroy’s own? Numerous sources state that Bigley was born in Strathroy, although there is little documentation to back this claim. While the truth about her early years may be lost, her exploits as an adult have cemented her into the historical record as one of North America’s greatest imposters.
In the spring of 1902 James Dillon received a delightful surprise when he ran into Mrs. Cassie Chadwick, the wife of a dear friend, in the lobby of a New York hotel. She explained that she was on her way to her father’s house. Would he escort her there?
The pair took a carriage to the mansion belonging to Andrew Carnegie on East 91st Street. Chadwick, leaving Dillon behind in the carriage, requested to speak to the head housekeeper, explaining that she was there to check the references of a potential new maid. The housekeeper insisted that there must be a misunderstanding – no one by that name had ever worked there. Cassie thanked her and, as she walked back to the carriage, pulled a large envelope out of her coat. Dillon, embarrassed, awkwardly asked who her father was. Cassie explained that she was Andrew Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter. He provided for her and she would inherit millions when he died. Cassie showed him the contents of her envelope, filled with promissory notes signed by Carnegie himself.
It was a fantastic, brazen story – with only one problem. Not only was she not Carnegie’s daughter, she had never met the man. Cassie Chadwick was just one of many names used by imposter Elizabeth Bigley.
Elizabeth Bigley was born in the late 1850s and grew up on a small Ontario farm. There is little information available about her early years, and much of it is contradictory, due in part to Elizabeth herself continually lying and changing stories to evade the clutches of the law. Many accounts list her birthdate as October 10, 1857, although her gravestone states 1859. Alternate sources list her place of birth as Strathroy, Eastwood in Oxford County, or Woodstock. The 1861 census identifies an Elizabeth Bigley, age 3, living in East Oxford.
Elizabeth perpetrated her first fraud as a teenager when she opened a bank account in Woodstock using a dubious letter of inheritance from an uncle, then wrote worthless cheques on the account to various merchants. She was caught but released due to her youth. But her escapades continued and more of her fraudulent schemes were exposed locally and then in Cleveland. From there, Elizabeth went on a journey of re-invention, living in boarding houses and adopting new aliases. There were multiple short marriages, including one to a man named Hoover, who left her an inheritance of $50,000. The pair had a son named Emil, who was sent back to Canada to be raised by her parents. She then moved to Ohio as Mme. Linda Devere, where she tricked Joseph Lamb into cashing forged cheques for her. She raised $40,000 with this scheme before being arrested. Sentenced to 9.5 years, she served only 3.5.
Elizabeth returned to Cleveland as Cassie Hoover and married Dr. Leroy Chadwick, a wealthy widower. The marriage shocked his friends and family; no one had met her, and rumours swirled that the pair had met while she was working in a brothel. Thanks to the Chadwick family, Cassie was now wealthy enough to enjoy a lavish lifestyle and lived quietly with her husband for years. By 1902, however, she was back to her old ways. Using her faked promissory notes from Carnegie, Chadwick defrauded several large banks, taking out loans and paying them off with money from other loans. As she defaulted on her debts, family members and old acquaintances stepped forward to confirm she was not related to Carnegie.
Chadwick was arrested in November 1904. In March 1905, she was found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to ten years in prison, where she died in October 1907. Before her death, she arranged for a portion of her hidden funds to be sent to Canada to purchase a tombstone. She is buried in Woodstock’s Anglican Cemetery.
While the total amount of Cassie Chadwick’s spoils is unknown, it is estimated at around $16.5 million in today’s dollars. She caused the bankruptcy of the Citizen’s National Bank of Oberlin and ruined the personal fortunes of many. Con artist, fraudster, charlatan. Was Cassie Chadwick indeed one of Strathroy’s own? Numerous sources state that Bigley was born in Strathroy, although there is little documentation to back this claim. While the truth about her early years may be lost, her exploits as an adult have cemented her into the historical record as one of North America’s greatest imposters.
April 2018 - Tiny Crandon Remembers Canadian Tire by Paul Long
In 1947, Wilfred ‘Tiny’ Crandon walked into the Farmers Outfitting/Canadian Tire Store at 9 Front Street West intending to make a purchase, and left with a job offer from owner Mandus Bice. Tiny, who had returned from the War the previous year with his bride Rose, was delighted with the offer. Nowadays he fondly recalls his 39 years of employment with the store, under several owners.
The Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) was started by the Billes brothers in 1922 in a Toronto garage. The first mail order catalogue was published in 1928, the first associate dealership opened in Hamilton in 1934. Ray Brown’s garage in Adelaide Township (on the 2nd Line SER, near Browns Line) may have been the first Strathroy area CTC supplier. Only limited auto supplies were handled, but Ray’s son Vern remembers travelling to the Toronto CTC warehouse where clerks retrieved orders from the stockroom on roller skates. The Canadian Tire head office wanted wider exposure of their catalogue products in downtown Strathroy, so it appears that by 1940 Mandus Bice was carrying Canadian Tire batteries, tires, fan belts and oil products, along with workmen’s clothing and the services of harness maker Gord Grundy in his Farmers Outfitting Store. An Age Dispatch ad (Sept. 24, 1942) claims: “A wide range of CTC merchandise in stock. If we haven’t what you wish, let us order it for you. All orders at catalogue prices. Alex Jackson Mgr Farmers Outfitting Store CTC Associate Store.”
After the War Saturday nights in downtown Strathroy were very busy, with a 10 p.m. closing. Mr. Bice was very clear that Tiny was always to make a sale, even if it took until after 11 p.m. to convince the customer. And if a sign advertised low priced shoes (with only one pair available), it was Tiny’s job to sell a more expensive pair! Sometime during his first years of employment, CTC head office demanded that all the store’s merchandise be supplied solely by Canadian Tire, with such brand names as Motomaster and Mastercraft. Consequently, all the clothing was sent across the street to a new Farmers Outfitting Store. The original store expanded its inventory of automotive supplies and added electronics, hardware and small appliances.
The Hamryli family owned the CTC associate store in the 1950’s and continued to build the business. Past customers will remember the long narrow store with two aisles and well stocked shelves. The two-car garage at the back of the store was accessed by the rear alleyway. There was a car pit and, although there was a mechanic on staff (Mel Laker or Bill Raithby, among others), all employees were expected to change tires and fill batteries, even outside in winter weather. There were few tools for changing tires - just a tire iron and your shoes for pushing the tire onto the rim. Originally Mansfield tires were sold, but their Flying Cloud model was of such poor quality that they switched to Goodyear. When Canadian Tire money was introduced in 1958 Tiny remembers marking all merchandise up 5% to cover the cost of the new coupons.
Ed Higgins came from Sturgeon Falls CTC in 1959 and operated the Strathroy CTC associate store until the mid-1960s, when Henry Sullivan assumed ownership until 1998. The CTC remained downtown until about 1970 when it was relocated in the former Steinberg’s grocery store at the corner of Front St. E. and Head St. (now Shoppers Drug Mart). This location had four bays. Tiny remembers an employee, an American lad from the local hockey team, pulling into the garage but confusing the gearshift and reversing into the neighbour’s wooden fence. In 1977, the Canadian Tire Store moved to a new and substantially larger building at 425 Caradoc St. near the current Canadian Tire gas bar. The present location at 24614 Adelaide Rd., with an even larger building (which includes Mark’s Work Wearhouse), opened in 2005.
Tiny Crandon retired in 1986, after years of serving customers with a smile and calling them by their first names. In his last ten years with the store he sold tires and batteries. Over his career he saw average tire prices increase from $16 to $65 and car batteries from $20 to $60. Canadian Tire has survived many changes in retailing, in a sense coming full circle. In 1948, you could order items by mail from the catalogue and have them delivered to your home or local CTC store. In 2018, you can choose to order online for delivery to your local store. After almost 80 years Strathroy’s Canadian Tire continues to be a valued business in our community.
In 1947, Wilfred ‘Tiny’ Crandon walked into the Farmers Outfitting/Canadian Tire Store at 9 Front Street West intending to make a purchase, and left with a job offer from owner Mandus Bice. Tiny, who had returned from the War the previous year with his bride Rose, was delighted with the offer. Nowadays he fondly recalls his 39 years of employment with the store, under several owners.
The Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) was started by the Billes brothers in 1922 in a Toronto garage. The first mail order catalogue was published in 1928, the first associate dealership opened in Hamilton in 1934. Ray Brown’s garage in Adelaide Township (on the 2nd Line SER, near Browns Line) may have been the first Strathroy area CTC supplier. Only limited auto supplies were handled, but Ray’s son Vern remembers travelling to the Toronto CTC warehouse where clerks retrieved orders from the stockroom on roller skates. The Canadian Tire head office wanted wider exposure of their catalogue products in downtown Strathroy, so it appears that by 1940 Mandus Bice was carrying Canadian Tire batteries, tires, fan belts and oil products, along with workmen’s clothing and the services of harness maker Gord Grundy in his Farmers Outfitting Store. An Age Dispatch ad (Sept. 24, 1942) claims: “A wide range of CTC merchandise in stock. If we haven’t what you wish, let us order it for you. All orders at catalogue prices. Alex Jackson Mgr Farmers Outfitting Store CTC Associate Store.”
After the War Saturday nights in downtown Strathroy were very busy, with a 10 p.m. closing. Mr. Bice was very clear that Tiny was always to make a sale, even if it took until after 11 p.m. to convince the customer. And if a sign advertised low priced shoes (with only one pair available), it was Tiny’s job to sell a more expensive pair! Sometime during his first years of employment, CTC head office demanded that all the store’s merchandise be supplied solely by Canadian Tire, with such brand names as Motomaster and Mastercraft. Consequently, all the clothing was sent across the street to a new Farmers Outfitting Store. The original store expanded its inventory of automotive supplies and added electronics, hardware and small appliances.
The Hamryli family owned the CTC associate store in the 1950’s and continued to build the business. Past customers will remember the long narrow store with two aisles and well stocked shelves. The two-car garage at the back of the store was accessed by the rear alleyway. There was a car pit and, although there was a mechanic on staff (Mel Laker or Bill Raithby, among others), all employees were expected to change tires and fill batteries, even outside in winter weather. There were few tools for changing tires - just a tire iron and your shoes for pushing the tire onto the rim. Originally Mansfield tires were sold, but their Flying Cloud model was of such poor quality that they switched to Goodyear. When Canadian Tire money was introduced in 1958 Tiny remembers marking all merchandise up 5% to cover the cost of the new coupons.
Ed Higgins came from Sturgeon Falls CTC in 1959 and operated the Strathroy CTC associate store until the mid-1960s, when Henry Sullivan assumed ownership until 1998. The CTC remained downtown until about 1970 when it was relocated in the former Steinberg’s grocery store at the corner of Front St. E. and Head St. (now Shoppers Drug Mart). This location had four bays. Tiny remembers an employee, an American lad from the local hockey team, pulling into the garage but confusing the gearshift and reversing into the neighbour’s wooden fence. In 1977, the Canadian Tire Store moved to a new and substantially larger building at 425 Caradoc St. near the current Canadian Tire gas bar. The present location at 24614 Adelaide Rd., with an even larger building (which includes Mark’s Work Wearhouse), opened in 2005.
Tiny Crandon retired in 1986, after years of serving customers with a smile and calling them by their first names. In his last ten years with the store he sold tires and batteries. Over his career he saw average tire prices increase from $16 to $65 and car batteries from $20 to $60. Canadian Tire has survived many changes in retailing, in a sense coming full circle. In 1948, you could order items by mail from the catalogue and have them delivered to your home or local CTC store. In 2018, you can choose to order online for delivery to your local store. After almost 80 years Strathroy’s Canadian Tire continues to be a valued business in our community.
March 2018 - A Pioneer and His Weather by Morley Thomas
Pioneers from the British Isles who came to Adelaide township in the early decades encountered extremes of weather they had not known at home. Extremely cold spells in winter and long very hot humid periods in summer do not regularly occur in England and Scotland but they do in southern Ontario. . . [and] even more violent weather – thunderstorms with heavy rain and powerful winds in summer and blizzard-like conditions with snow, strong winds and low temperatures in winter.
One pioneer who recorded these [weather] events was John Jamieson, a school teacher from Ayrshire in Scotland, who came to Adelaide and kept a diary from April 1852 to June 1854. While some people may dismiss many of his diary entries as “stereotyped observations on the weather,” they do reveal the hardships caused by our weather 150 years ago. The weather has not changed that much but the facilities and conveniences we use today to combat the weather have improved markedly – modern power equipment, well-kept roads, heating and air conditioning, new building materials and of course a health service system.
John Jamieson did not have any meteorological instruments, not even a thermometer. Consequently his weather notes are limited to such entries as “hard frost, wind east and very bleak,” “clear, sunshine, very fine day,” “a few drops of rain,” “excessive hot,” “thunder and lightning last night with a little rain,” and so on. . . (Incidentally. there were no weather maps in the 1850s as daily weather reporting by telegraph did not begin until the 1870s. A weather observing program was commenced at Toronto in 1839 but few instrumental data are available from southwestern Ontario prior to 1870.)
In pioneer days there was a great hazard from the strong winds. . . While there were no power or telephone lines to bring down, falling trees did considerable damage to pioneer buildings and fences. In 1852 Jamieson notes such occurrences in July thunderstorms and again during “an awful storm of wind and rain” on September 25. Many trees were blown down when an “almost hurricane” wind occurred in an April 1853 storm. In a snow and wind storm of February 1854, “trees fell in the woods as if a hundred choppers were at work.”
Because of the weather, travel by road was much better in winter than summer. The first winter there was good sleighing by the New Year and after some thawing weather, Jamieson notes that a snowfall on January 23 would “mend the roads for sleighing.” However, no one would attempt to travel for the next few days as there was a blinding, heavy snowfall with drifting (the word “blizzard” had not yet entered the local language). In December 1853, with nearly a foot of snow on the ground, sleighing was excellent and there was “the sound of bells constantly on the road.” But, after an early January thaw, there were “more wagons on the road than sleighs.”
A major weather related hazard in pioneer times was fire. This danger was at its greatest during hot, dry and windy weather conditions. When clearing the forest, great log piles and heaps of brush were produced and these were fired when dry enough. One Saturday early in September 1853 Jamieson set fire to a brush pile which, two days later, got out of control when the wind strengthened and changed direction, burned his fences and threatened the house. Since cattle ordinarily ran wild and, without fences, would destroy the crops, he had to watch them as well as get help to split rails and erect new fences as quickly as possible. . .
Inspection of [John Jamieson’s] diary would be a real treat for anyone interested in weather and other natural events and the effects of these on pioneer life.
Morley Thomas, September 1995
Pioneers from the British Isles who came to Adelaide township in the early decades encountered extremes of weather they had not known at home. Extremely cold spells in winter and long very hot humid periods in summer do not regularly occur in England and Scotland but they do in southern Ontario. . . [and] even more violent weather – thunderstorms with heavy rain and powerful winds in summer and blizzard-like conditions with snow, strong winds and low temperatures in winter.
One pioneer who recorded these [weather] events was John Jamieson, a school teacher from Ayrshire in Scotland, who came to Adelaide and kept a diary from April 1852 to June 1854. While some people may dismiss many of his diary entries as “stereotyped observations on the weather,” they do reveal the hardships caused by our weather 150 years ago. The weather has not changed that much but the facilities and conveniences we use today to combat the weather have improved markedly – modern power equipment, well-kept roads, heating and air conditioning, new building materials and of course a health service system.
John Jamieson did not have any meteorological instruments, not even a thermometer. Consequently his weather notes are limited to such entries as “hard frost, wind east and very bleak,” “clear, sunshine, very fine day,” “a few drops of rain,” “excessive hot,” “thunder and lightning last night with a little rain,” and so on. . . (Incidentally. there were no weather maps in the 1850s as daily weather reporting by telegraph did not begin until the 1870s. A weather observing program was commenced at Toronto in 1839 but few instrumental data are available from southwestern Ontario prior to 1870.)
In pioneer days there was a great hazard from the strong winds. . . While there were no power or telephone lines to bring down, falling trees did considerable damage to pioneer buildings and fences. In 1852 Jamieson notes such occurrences in July thunderstorms and again during “an awful storm of wind and rain” on September 25. Many trees were blown down when an “almost hurricane” wind occurred in an April 1853 storm. In a snow and wind storm of February 1854, “trees fell in the woods as if a hundred choppers were at work.”
Because of the weather, travel by road was much better in winter than summer. The first winter there was good sleighing by the New Year and after some thawing weather, Jamieson notes that a snowfall on January 23 would “mend the roads for sleighing.” However, no one would attempt to travel for the next few days as there was a blinding, heavy snowfall with drifting (the word “blizzard” had not yet entered the local language). In December 1853, with nearly a foot of snow on the ground, sleighing was excellent and there was “the sound of bells constantly on the road.” But, after an early January thaw, there were “more wagons on the road than sleighs.”
A major weather related hazard in pioneer times was fire. This danger was at its greatest during hot, dry and windy weather conditions. When clearing the forest, great log piles and heaps of brush were produced and these were fired when dry enough. One Saturday early in September 1853 Jamieson set fire to a brush pile which, two days later, got out of control when the wind strengthened and changed direction, burned his fences and threatened the house. Since cattle ordinarily ran wild and, without fences, would destroy the crops, he had to watch them as well as get help to split rails and erect new fences as quickly as possible. . .
Inspection of [John Jamieson’s] diary would be a real treat for anyone interested in weather and other natural events and the effects of these on pioneer life.
Morley Thomas, September 1995
On November 1, 2016, at age 98, Morley Thomas made a day trip from his home at Seasons in Strathroy to Downsview in Toronto for a very special occasion. He was honoured at a gathering of over 60 people, including senior climatologist Dave Phillips (shown with Morley, above), for outstanding contributions during his 66-year career in the Meteorological Service of Canada. The hard copy history collection that he organized after his retirement was named the Morley Thomas Meteorological Archives of Canada. In 2005, York University Archives was named after his late wife, Clara Thomas.
February 2018 - Robbery at the King! Aileen Cnockaert
January 16, 1953 started off as an ordinary Friday evening in downtown Strathroy. However, by the end of the night, there would be three suspects on the loose, one young woman who was shaken up, and one young man who made a wise choice. The King Theatre, located at the corner of Front and Thomas Streets, was showing an Abbott and Costello movie, “Jack and the Beanstock”, with an added feature, “Apache War Smoke”.
Shortly after 9:30 p.m., after the second movie had started, a lone bandit wearing a false nose held up the King Theatre ticket clerk, Marilyn Richardson, pushing a gun through the window of her wicket and demanding money. He told her “This is a holdup! Give me the cash - all you’ve got.” Marilyn pushed about $127 (most of the night’s receipts) toward the man, who stuffed it in a paper bag and fled, disappearing around the corner to Thomas Street. About six people witnessed the robbery, but only two, Marilyn and an usher who was close to the wicket, knew what was taking place. The other witnesses saw the bandit outside the theatre. And most of the movie patrons had no idea what had occurred until the next day. Usually, after the second show began the night’s receipts were removed from the cage to a safer place. If the robber had arrived five to ten minutes later the cash drawer would have been empty.
Police soon arrived and conducted an immediate search of the theatre and streets. Police Chief George Tanton directed the investigation with the help of Constables Frank Hendry and Austin Gibson. A description of the suspect was broadcast over the provincial police network, but at the end of the evening, no arrests had been made. The usher told police he thought the gun was a German 9 mm automatic Luger pistol. Police were convinced that the thief was a local man or someone who knew Strathroy quite well.
Marilyn’s friend, Keith Wilton, was in the theatre that evening waiting for her. When she showed up late to meet him she told him “I’ve been held up!” At first Keith assumed that was her explanation for being late, until he realized she was serious. He remembers that she was quite shaken and white as a sheet. After things settled down Keith drove Marilyn home and headed home himself. On his way he came across a hitchhiker and, recognizing him as an acquaintance, stopped and picked him up. While they were driving, the hitchhiker pulled out a Luger gun and wondered if Keith would be interested in buying it for $5.00! Keith said he held the gun and was tempted, but made the wise choice to turn down the offer. Later he learned that it was the gun used in the heist, stolen in a previous break-in.
A few weeks later police arrested three youths, two from Strathroy and one from Caradoc Township, and charged them with the armed robbery of the King Theatre. One of the accused told police that two other young men waited in a running car on Thomas St. One was the driver, the other crouched in the back ready to open the door when the thief ran from the theatre. They had planned their daring holdup while living together in a trailer just outside St. Thomas. The three were part of a gang of eight who had been rounded up for thefts and break-ins throughout Western Ontario. Police had found the Luger at the home of a brother of one of the three young men charged.
A short time later, the three were convicted, each receiving reformatory terms of two years less a day. They were also convicted for their part in break-ins at 15 district schools as members of the larger gang. Keith remembers that the young men were sent to the Ontario Reformatory in Guelph where they learned trades and, as far as he knows, went on to lead good productive lives.
The King Theatre had opened in Strathroy as “The Regent” on July 1, 1927. The theft in 1953 was the third in its history. In the early 1940s, a local youth was convicted of stealing money from the theatre, and about the end of World War II, a trio from Montreal were jailed for break-in and theft. The King finally closed in March 1960 after several owners and renovations and no more robberies.
January 16, 1953 started off as an ordinary Friday evening in downtown Strathroy. However, by the end of the night, there would be three suspects on the loose, one young woman who was shaken up, and one young man who made a wise choice. The King Theatre, located at the corner of Front and Thomas Streets, was showing an Abbott and Costello movie, “Jack and the Beanstock”, with an added feature, “Apache War Smoke”.
Shortly after 9:30 p.m., after the second movie had started, a lone bandit wearing a false nose held up the King Theatre ticket clerk, Marilyn Richardson, pushing a gun through the window of her wicket and demanding money. He told her “This is a holdup! Give me the cash - all you’ve got.” Marilyn pushed about $127 (most of the night’s receipts) toward the man, who stuffed it in a paper bag and fled, disappearing around the corner to Thomas Street. About six people witnessed the robbery, but only two, Marilyn and an usher who was close to the wicket, knew what was taking place. The other witnesses saw the bandit outside the theatre. And most of the movie patrons had no idea what had occurred until the next day. Usually, after the second show began the night’s receipts were removed from the cage to a safer place. If the robber had arrived five to ten minutes later the cash drawer would have been empty.
Police soon arrived and conducted an immediate search of the theatre and streets. Police Chief George Tanton directed the investigation with the help of Constables Frank Hendry and Austin Gibson. A description of the suspect was broadcast over the provincial police network, but at the end of the evening, no arrests had been made. The usher told police he thought the gun was a German 9 mm automatic Luger pistol. Police were convinced that the thief was a local man or someone who knew Strathroy quite well.
Marilyn’s friend, Keith Wilton, was in the theatre that evening waiting for her. When she showed up late to meet him she told him “I’ve been held up!” At first Keith assumed that was her explanation for being late, until he realized she was serious. He remembers that she was quite shaken and white as a sheet. After things settled down Keith drove Marilyn home and headed home himself. On his way he came across a hitchhiker and, recognizing him as an acquaintance, stopped and picked him up. While they were driving, the hitchhiker pulled out a Luger gun and wondered if Keith would be interested in buying it for $5.00! Keith said he held the gun and was tempted, but made the wise choice to turn down the offer. Later he learned that it was the gun used in the heist, stolen in a previous break-in.
A few weeks later police arrested three youths, two from Strathroy and one from Caradoc Township, and charged them with the armed robbery of the King Theatre. One of the accused told police that two other young men waited in a running car on Thomas St. One was the driver, the other crouched in the back ready to open the door when the thief ran from the theatre. They had planned their daring holdup while living together in a trailer just outside St. Thomas. The three were part of a gang of eight who had been rounded up for thefts and break-ins throughout Western Ontario. Police had found the Luger at the home of a brother of one of the three young men charged.
A short time later, the three were convicted, each receiving reformatory terms of two years less a day. They were also convicted for their part in break-ins at 15 district schools as members of the larger gang. Keith remembers that the young men were sent to the Ontario Reformatory in Guelph where they learned trades and, as far as he knows, went on to lead good productive lives.
The King Theatre had opened in Strathroy as “The Regent” on July 1, 1927. The theft in 1953 was the third in its history. In the early 1940s, a local youth was convicted of stealing money from the theatre, and about the end of World War II, a trio from Montreal were jailed for break-in and theft. The King finally closed in March 1960 after several owners and renovations and no more robberies.
January 2018 - Wet vs. Dry (Round 3) by John Brennan
Strathroy voted to end all local liquor sales in 1910, and by 1916 the entire province was Dry with the passage of the Ontario Temperance Act. Provincial referendums were held in 1919, 1921, and 1924. All failed to repeal province-wide prohibition until 1927 when the Liquor Control Act established the Liquor Control Board of Ontario - the LCBO. As well, government-regulated sale of liquor became a local option, giving hope to Strathroy tipplers.
And so, in 1953, the Age Dispatch reported, once again, that Strathroy would address the liquor question after a lull of almost thirty years. A local referendum offered voters a choice on two questions. Would the town allow the opening of either a branch of the LCBO, or of the Brewers Retail? Vincent Grogan chaired the Wet forces and maintained that local prohibition had failed to curb drinking and bootlegging. If Strathroy voted “Yes” to local liquor and beer sales “We will at least bring the sale of beverages into the open where it can be controlled.” The Strathroy Citizens Committee and the Strathroy Ministerial Association, the Drys, both wanted to retain local restrictions. “Strathroy is a nice town. Let’s keep it so. On both questions on the ballot vote No” ran their slogan in the Age Dispatch. “Mothers don’t want any of the family funds worse than wasted by the purchase of a narcotic poison” echoed an ad by Middlesex Building Ltd.
Under local option rules the Wet forces needed to win 60% of the vote to allow liquor and beer sales in town. They failed on both questions, as headlined on May 21st, 1953: LOCAL OPTION RETAINED. VOTE LOST. SLIM MARGIN FOR DRYS. According to unofficial returns the liquor store vote was lost by 9 votes and the beer store by 14. Of 2,444 eligible voters 85% had taken the time to cast a ballot. On May 28th the Age Dispatch editorial read: “Minority Imposes Will”, but made a prediction - “We haven’t the least doubt that when another vote is taken on these questions the verdict will be favourable to stores.”
And Strathroy had to wait only three years to face the same issue - the establishment of government stores in town to allow the sales of liquor and beer. Once again the local newspaper was the battleground for the Wets and the Drys. A member of the Mount Brydges Women’s Christian Temperance Union wrote, “Now we are asking for the full support of all the people who do NOT drink, as we know how the drinker will vote, because he is unable to resist the very thing that will destroy him. He is abnormal in thought and deed, and remember GOD is going to hold you and yours responsible for the weak ones.” The Age Dispatch mused, “We doubt that the Town will go to the dogs as a few fanatic opponents of legal sales have contended. The present local option laws are not only antiquated, they are undemocratic. Forty per cent of the population should not be in a position to dictate to more than 50 per cent. We believe…with the stores there will be less bootlegging.”
On June 11th, 1956, Strathroy voters went to the polls in record numbers - 89% of 2,419 eligible voters cast a vote and the Age Dispatch’s prediction was fulfilled. The establishment of a liquor store was approved by 6 votes, and the opening of a beer store was passed by a slightly wider margin of 21 votes. And so, in February 1957 the Brewers Retail Store opened on the corner of Metcalfe and Adelaide Streets, and in August 1958 a branch of the LCBO opened at 55 Frank Street, opposite the Town Hall, on the old site of the Frank Street Methodist church. An adult could once again walk into a store and legally purchase beer and liquor in Strathroy. They could not, however, drink publicly in a tavern or order a drink in a restaurant. That would be the next battle.
Strathroy voted to end all local liquor sales in 1910, and by 1916 the entire province was Dry with the passage of the Ontario Temperance Act. Provincial referendums were held in 1919, 1921, and 1924. All failed to repeal province-wide prohibition until 1927 when the Liquor Control Act established the Liquor Control Board of Ontario - the LCBO. As well, government-regulated sale of liquor became a local option, giving hope to Strathroy tipplers.
And so, in 1953, the Age Dispatch reported, once again, that Strathroy would address the liquor question after a lull of almost thirty years. A local referendum offered voters a choice on two questions. Would the town allow the opening of either a branch of the LCBO, or of the Brewers Retail? Vincent Grogan chaired the Wet forces and maintained that local prohibition had failed to curb drinking and bootlegging. If Strathroy voted “Yes” to local liquor and beer sales “We will at least bring the sale of beverages into the open where it can be controlled.” The Strathroy Citizens Committee and the Strathroy Ministerial Association, the Drys, both wanted to retain local restrictions. “Strathroy is a nice town. Let’s keep it so. On both questions on the ballot vote No” ran their slogan in the Age Dispatch. “Mothers don’t want any of the family funds worse than wasted by the purchase of a narcotic poison” echoed an ad by Middlesex Building Ltd.
Under local option rules the Wet forces needed to win 60% of the vote to allow liquor and beer sales in town. They failed on both questions, as headlined on May 21st, 1953: LOCAL OPTION RETAINED. VOTE LOST. SLIM MARGIN FOR DRYS. According to unofficial returns the liquor store vote was lost by 9 votes and the beer store by 14. Of 2,444 eligible voters 85% had taken the time to cast a ballot. On May 28th the Age Dispatch editorial read: “Minority Imposes Will”, but made a prediction - “We haven’t the least doubt that when another vote is taken on these questions the verdict will be favourable to stores.”
And Strathroy had to wait only three years to face the same issue - the establishment of government stores in town to allow the sales of liquor and beer. Once again the local newspaper was the battleground for the Wets and the Drys. A member of the Mount Brydges Women’s Christian Temperance Union wrote, “Now we are asking for the full support of all the people who do NOT drink, as we know how the drinker will vote, because he is unable to resist the very thing that will destroy him. He is abnormal in thought and deed, and remember GOD is going to hold you and yours responsible for the weak ones.” The Age Dispatch mused, “We doubt that the Town will go to the dogs as a few fanatic opponents of legal sales have contended. The present local option laws are not only antiquated, they are undemocratic. Forty per cent of the population should not be in a position to dictate to more than 50 per cent. We believe…with the stores there will be less bootlegging.”
On June 11th, 1956, Strathroy voters went to the polls in record numbers - 89% of 2,419 eligible voters cast a vote and the Age Dispatch’s prediction was fulfilled. The establishment of a liquor store was approved by 6 votes, and the opening of a beer store was passed by a slightly wider margin of 21 votes. And so, in February 1957 the Brewers Retail Store opened on the corner of Metcalfe and Adelaide Streets, and in August 1958 a branch of the LCBO opened at 55 Frank Street, opposite the Town Hall, on the old site of the Frank Street Methodist church. An adult could once again walk into a store and legally purchase beer and liquor in Strathroy. They could not, however, drink publicly in a tavern or order a drink in a restaurant. That would be the next battle.
The LCBO store on Frank Street in 1965. The rear door, off the alley, was the one actually in use. It offered easy access from a small parking area, and perhaps, in the early days, made some customers more comfortable shopping for liquor in a town still quite divided on the issue of liquor sales.
Photo: Museum Strathroy-Caradoc