“The Rising Village”

Brett said Wilson built a large, two-storey building – right around where the Libro Credit Union and RBC are today. The second floor was a public hall, which was named Wilson Hall. He had a store on the first floor referenced as both Wilson Store or Essex House.

Wilson also built a grain elevator, called Wilson Warehouse. It was destroyed in the 1907 railway explosion.

Streets in Essex Centre have been named after both individuals.

“I think it is fascinating that we have streets named after people of some importance to our history, but we don’t even really know who those people are,” Brett said.

Russell Street, she added, was named after the first individual to live on the road, W.H. Russell. He was a school teacher,

In its early days, many issues that would have financial implications for the settlement, would go to the electorate for a vote to approve the sale of the debenture, Brett said. The electorate would not always see eye-to-eye with Council.

The book also details the toll road, and the burning of the toll gates in 1896.

During this time-period, Brett said there was a demand for brick. The first brickmaker in Essex was James Hitch, the second was Cyrus Gardner.

Gardner started a brickyard in the area of what is now Sadler’s Pond.

“As he excavated the clay, he created an enormous crater that is Sadler’s Pond today,” Brett said. When she was a kid, she would sit with friends on old cement boxlike structures with lids, and never knew what they were until she began reaching the book. They were brick-molds.

Iler Lodge is now located where Hutchie’s Pond used to be. It also became a pond, due to being a brickyard that Thaddeus B. Scott started.

Initially, Brett wanted to research up to the point Essex became a village. As she got writing, she believed the story she was capturing did not end there and it needed to go a little further to being incorporated as a town.

The book includes over 30 pages of footnotes, maps, and a section on the streetscape and how it has changed.

Information about the book and where to find it can be found on social media.