East Wawanosh 150th Anniversary

East Wawanosh th 150 Anniversary 1867 ~ 2017

A Keepsake Commemorative Edition published by

The Citizen

PAGE 2, EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017

Ambassadors preside over weekend events Young women crowned at May kickoff

Agenda for East Wawanosh 150th June 30-July 2, 2017 in Belgrave Friday, June 30, 2017 9 am 6 pm 7 pm

7:30 pm 9 pm-1 am

The East Wawanosh 150th reunion committee named its two ambassadors May 27. Lindsay Shiell and Candice McDowell gave their speeches and were named to the positions. Former reunion ambassadors Janice Robinson, who held the title in 1967, and Dawn Kewell, 1992, crowned the two local women. From left: Shiell, Kewell, Robinson and McDowell. (Photo submitted)

By Denny Scott The Citizen Two young local women will preside over the activities during the East Wawanosh 150th celebration June 30 to July 2.

Caroline McDowell and Lindsay Shiell were crowned in a ceremony by the reunion organizing committee, May 27, where they gave speeches and helped with the planting of the special daylilies for the celebration.

Janice (McDowell) Robinson ambassador for the 100th reunion in 1967 and Dawn (Dow) Kewell, who was named to represent the 125th reunion in 1992 crowned Shiell and McDowell as co-ambassadors.

The two entered the competition for similar reasons, saying they felt a connection to the community. Their responsibilities will include being at as many of the events as possible leading up to the celebration and then being a part of the parade and ceremonies at the reunion. Shiell said she is looking forward to that.

“Being a part of the reunion, getting to see people I went to school with and families that don’t live around here anymore is going to

be exciting,” she said. “People are going to be coming for it.

“I wanted to represent my family and my road, the 10th concession,” she said.

McDowell explained her family had always lived in East Wawanosh and it seemed like a great idea for her to be involved.

Shiell graduated from F.E. Madill Secondary School and is currently in the paramedic program at Cambrian College in Sudbury.

McDowell is also a Madill graduate. She went to Westervelt College to study hotel, restaurant and casino management and has returned to Huron County and is working in her field.

As far as the speeches were concerned, Shiell spoke on a volunteer trip she took to Ecuador last July.

“I spoke about the experience I had then,” she said. “The community supported me a lot.”

For McDowell, her speech was all about the familial connections that made her want to be ambassador.

“They are big influences in my life. Talked about how each one of them made me who I am,” she said, adding that the family connections continued that day. “Janice

Robinson, who was the 1967 Queen, she is a distant relative of mine, so that’s pretty cool.”

For Robinson’s part, she said it was nice to be included in the event.

“It was quite an honour to be called back to do that after 50 years,” she said. “I was a McDowell, so it was kind of neat that I got to crown Caroline.”

Robinson said her term as ambassador was a little hard to remember as she was 14 years old at the time.

“We had a little celebration and I was there to talk to people and shake hands,” she said. “I didn’t have to speak or do anything.”

The East Wawanosh 150th Reunion is set for June 30-July 2 this year. For more information, find it on Facebook or visit eastwawanosh150.com.

Golf Tournament (start time may change) Wingham Golf & Curling Club Registration (arena, pick up packages, souvenirs) Opening Ceremonies Beard Growing Contest Beer Garden Slow pitch co-ed tournament begins Band TCU (The Containment Unit)

Saturday, July 1, 2017 Registration continues 7 am - 10 am Belgrave Kinsmen Breakfast 11 am Parade Beer Gardens Open after Parade 12:30 pm Slow Pitch Tournament continues 1 pm - 4 pm Children’s Activities 2 pm - 4 pm Jam Session School Reunion 5 pm - 8 pm Pine Ridge Chicken BBQ 9 pm - 1 am Karli June Band Sunday, July 2, 2017 8 am - 12 noon Breakfast – Wingham Firefighters Association 11 am Church Service Beer Gardens Open after Church Service 12:30 pm Slow Pitch Tournament continues 2 pm Brandon Cemetery Decoration Service at Cemetery 4 pm - 7 pm Blyth Lions Supper 7:30 pm Moonlight Walk 8 pm - 11 pm Farewell Family Dance with DJ

Congratulations East Wawanosh!

Wishing everyone a warm welcome and a successful reunion

Township of North Huron www.northhuron.ca

EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017, PAGE 3.

East Wawanosh plans 3-day party Organizing committee plans contests, parades, dances, reunions

By Denny Scott The Citizen The committee planning the East Wawanosh 150th Anniversary celebrations has put together a full schedule for the June 30 to July 2 weekend.

The first event scheduled for the reunion is a golf tournament at the Wingham Golf and Curling Club, Friday at 9 a.m..

Registration for the anniversary begins at 4 p.m. at the Belgrave Community Centre on Friday, June 30 and runs until 7 p.m. when the opening ceremonies will be held.

At the same time, the results of the beard growing and arts and photography contests will be announced and the beverage garden will open.

At 7:30 p.m., a baseball tournament will begin, which will continue throughout the weekend.

Committee representative Margaret Vincent explained that the tournament has filled up and should provide exciting entertainment throughout the reunion.

Friday night will be the first of three dances for the three-day event.

Friday features The Containment Unit, a band featuring Brussels native Joshua Gropp. The dance is an age-of-majority event.

Saturday starts with a breakfast

by the Belgrave Kinsmen from 7-10 a.m.

At 11 a.m., a parade will start from west of Belgrave near the former East Wawanosh Public School and make its way through the village.

Entry forms for the parade are located at the North Huron Township Office, Huron Bay Co-op in Belgrave and The Citizen’s office in Blyth. The form is also available online at the East Wawanosh Anniversary website at eastwawanosh150.com.

The baseball tournament will continue after the parade and, at 1 p.m., special youth-focused events will be held at the Belgrave Community Centre.

“There will be face-painting as well as a zip line set up for the children,” Vincent said.

An hour later, visitors to the reunion can attend the jam session in the beverage garden or take in the school reunion at the community centre. Both events run from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday.

“The school reunion will be for all grads of schools in the municipality,” Margaret Vincent of the organizing committee explained.

“That includes everything from the concession schools to East Wawanosh Public School.”

Pine Ridge, a caterer from southern Huron County, will be catering a barbecue chicken supper

from 5-8 p.m. followed by another age of majority dance from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. featuring the band Karli June.

Sunday will start with a breakfast put on by firefighters from the Wingham station of the Fire Department of North Huron from 8 a.m. to noon.

A multi-denominational church service and family picnic will start at 11 a.m. with the baseball tournament continuing throughout the day.

At 4 p.m., the Blyth Lions will host a smoked pork chop supper at the community centre. Dinner will run until 7 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. a moonlight walk will be held.

Participants are encouraged to don their favourite costumes and the event will be led by a local piper.

The final event for the anniversary

is the farewell family dance with a DJ hosted by Longhorn Productions.

Vincent said that history books will be available throughout the celebration. The books, which are updated from the 125th anniversary books, cost $50 and Vincent suggested pre-ordering the books.

“We’re over half sold-out now,” she said.

To pre-order, contact Linda Logan or Sylvia Nonkes-Verburg at 519357-1602 or 519-523-9456.

Vincent also said that souvenirs and decor are available online.

Souvenirs include baseball caps and sweaters, while the decorations include bows and wreaths. Tickets for the various activities throughout the weekend are also available through the anniversary’s website.

Congratulations East Wawanosh on your 150th Anniversary!

Congratulations East Wawanosh on your 150th Anniversary Box 252 Londesborough, ON N0M 2H0

Municipality of Central Huron www.centralhuron.com

519N523N9390 cell: 519-525-7178

URON

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Congratulations East Wawanosh on your 150th Anniversary!

At all levels of government, we work to promote and protect Huron farmers and their families and our rural communities.

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Welcome Home!

VINBRO FARMS We wish to congratulate the many volunteers who are contributing to the success of the East Wawanosh 150th Anniversary Celebrations

519-357-2336 RR #3, Wingham, Ontario N0G 2W0

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Lisa Thompson, MPP

This photo, (also on front cover) thought to be taken prior to 1910, shows the Third Line women’s baseball team. Back row, left to right: Mable Caldwell, Annie McGowan, Maggie Marshall, Janet McGowan.

Front row: Maggie McGowan, Della Marshall, Olive McGill, Kate Marshall and Grace Radford.

Neil, Joan and Margaret Vincent

is published by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. P.O. Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 Tel.: 519-523-4792 Fax: 519-523-9140 Email: info@northhuron.on.ca Sales: Brenda Nyveld Heather Fraser

Proudly representing Huron Agriculture

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Welcome Friends: Old, new and ones we haven’t met yet

East Wawanosh 150th Anniversary Salute

I look forward to joining the celebrations!

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PAGE 4, EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017

The school bell rings no more in E. Wawanosh Township’s last school closed in 2012 In the days of the one-room school house, there were as many as 13 schools that served students from East Wawanosh. As the former township celebrates its 150th anniversary it has no schools left within its boundaries.

The East Wawanosh Public School at Belgrave said goodbye to its last students in June 2012, as did Blyth Public School which had served students from the southern part of the township. Both, along with the Brussels Public School, Wingham Public School, Grey Central School and Turnberry Central Public School had been part of an accommodation review by the Avon District School Board, which has jurisdiction over schools in Huron and Perth Counties.

Most Grade 7 and 8 students from the township now attend a new elementary wing at F. E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham.

Students from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 6 attend a newly-built Maitland River Elementary School, next door to F. E. Madill in Wingham.

the school did indeed offer facilities the smaller schools couldn’t provide.

There were nine classrooms (one of which later became the library), a combined gymnasium and auditorium, offices for the principal, secretary and health nurse, storage and janitors rooms and washrooms.

In 1990, two classrooms and a resource centre were added.

All this could have been only a dream for the early settlers of the township.

For them, the establishment of schools was one of their highest priorities once they had cleared enough land to provide a living for their families. To form a School Section (S.S.), local ratepayers would hold a meeting, duly advertised, elect officers and a board of trustees, usually comprised of three of the most prominent men of the area (no women allowed in those days).

It would be up to this board to select a site for the school, raise money to build a school by selling debentures, and hire teachers at a salary ranging up to $400 a year. By 1861 there were eight schools

from the first days schools served as centres for community activities.

In the early days students attended school only when they weren’t needed at home and attendance fluctuated from season to season. The emphasis was on the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic and teachers administered discipline with a birch rod. There were few books. Students wrote on slates.

Because of the primitive conditions, most school districts were eager to replace the log schools with frame buildings as quickly as they could afford to. Most of these buildings later gave way to brick schools. Wilderness to Wawanosh, the 1992 township history, for instance, reprinted an old post card from 1925 which showed the original S.S. No. 13 (known as Scott’s School on what is now Nature Centre Road) as a log building in 1863, with a frame replacement in 1876 and a brick school built in 1914.

The first steps toward regionalization were taken in 1944

One school, S.S.#10 (McGowan’s School on Moncrieff Road) through the years. Left, as the school looked in 1874. Centre, covered with insulbrick in 1958. Right, moved to a new location on the same lot it now serves as a barn on the property of Andrew Toll.

For many, the closure of East Wawanosh Public School was a sad end to a proud history. Community pride was high when the school, west of Belgrave, opened for the first time on Jan. 1, 1967, Canada’s centennial year. Its construction was part of a movement to centralize the old one-room schools in the hope of improving the quality of education that could be offered to students.

Construction had begun in May 1966 on land purchased from Gordon Bosman. When it opened,

Congratulations to East Wawanosh on your 150th anniversary!

serving the area that would become East Wawanosh (East and West Wawanosh were split into two municipalities in 1867). At this early point most of these schools were made of hand-hewn, squared logs, often with a single window and long benches along each side of the room at which students worked. The school would be heated by a wood stove and drinking water brought in from the well in a bucket from which students could drink using a dipper.

Despite the lack of comfort, even

when East Wawanosh Township Council passed a bitterly-divisive bylaw to bring all school sections in the township under one board of trustees. That December, Frank Thompson, Abner Nethery, Mason Robinson, Walter S. Scott and Douglas Campbell were appointed to the board, with Thompson named as chairman.

In 1947 the new board began installing electricity in those schools which didn’t have any. The average salary of a teacher then was $1,600.

Chamney’s School (32 students); Isabel Garniss, Currie’s School (41 students); Margje Koopmans, McGowan’s School (37 students); Mary Wightman, Scott’s School (29 students); Beth Lansing, Toll’s School (23 students) and Mary Chamney and Isabelle Henry, Belgrave’s two-room school (78 students). By the time East Wawanosh Public School opened in 1967, teachers made salaries in a range of $4,000 to $4,600.

Eventually the old school buildings were sold off by the new Huron County Board of Education.

Many still remain today, converted into homes while the former McGowan’s School on Moncrieff Road now serves as a barn on the property of Andrew Toll.

Following the closure of East Wawanosh Public School the building was sold to Euro-Parts Canada and in September 2013 it opened a new showroom, call centre, office and storage area at the site, offering quality European-made appliances.

Compiled with information from Wilderness to Wawanosh.

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Controversies came along as times changed. In 1954 when girls were beginning to wear jeans and pants instead of skirts, the board passed a motion that it did not “favour or encourage” such attire but it did not ban this clothing outright. In 1955 Christmas concerts in schools were banned but the backlash was so strong concerts were reinstated by 1956.

That same year the board began a five-year plan to improve and redecorate the township’s schools, installing toilets, furnaces, new desks and new playground equipment. By the early 1960s, when it became obvious that centralized schools would be coming soon, the board halted making further improvements unless they were urgently needed.

The final township board, which served until January 1967 included as trustees J.R. Coultes, Mason Bailey, Jack Currie, Howard Walker and Eldon Cook.

The last teachers of the township’s one-room schools were: Bernice McDougall, Westfield School where there were 19 students; Louise Bosman,

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EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017, PAGE 5.

School fair adapts to changing times Nearly 100 years old, the school fair continues to be an important community event at a time when most such fairs are long gone

go ahead with Richard Procter Sr. of Morris Township serving as the first president and John Wightman of East Wawanosh as the first secretary.

The directors included the teachers of each school and two representatives from each school section.

The first fair was held in the Foresters’ Hall and the sheds of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches.

To encourage participation, the Department of Agriculture gave a package of vegetable or grain seeds to each student and 10 packets of flower seeds to each school section. For a time each school was even given three settings of Barred Rock eggs.

To raise money to support the fair a fundraising concert was held in 1921 which became a tradition for the next 45 years with first children,

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In 2012, with the closure of the three schools that it had served for years (East Wawanosh Public School, Belgrave; Blyth Public School and Brussels Public School) the future of Belgrave’s school fair, begun more than 90 years earlier, was very much in doubt. Such was the importance of the fair to the community, however, that volunteers came forward to find a way to keep the fair going.

The first Belgrave School Fair had been held on Oct. 5, 1920 with eight of the one-room schools in the Belgrave area taking part. The provincial government encouraged such fairs in those days and S. B. Stothers, the first agricultural representative for Huron County, had met with trustees from the local schools about the possibility of a school fair. The trustees decided to

Hallahan of the Westfield area told The Citizen in June 2012. “I would hate to see it die after over 90 years,” said Hallahan, who accepted the position of fair president.

Also on the first executive for the newly named Elementary School Fair were Margaret Vincent, vicepresident; Ron Taylor, second vicepresident; Erin Gaunt, secretary, and Rob Gordon, treasurer. A big proponent of keeping the fair going was Alice McDowell, the last principal of the Blyth Public School and the first principal at Maitland River Elementary School.

Among the innovations was the Elementary School Fair Ambassador competition. Grace Caldwell was the ambassador for 2013, Clarissa Gordon for 2014, Emily Bieman for 2015 and Austin Bieman for 2016.

Compiled with information from Wilderness to Wawanosh.

Wor me rs

The emphasis at the revamped Elementary School Fair is on fun and education as this youngster demonstrates at the 2014 fair, learning how cows were milked in the days before robotic milking machines.

and later adults, from the various school sections providing the entertainment.

The fair faced its first crossroads in 1940 when the Department of Education withdrew its financial support for school fairs and many fairs across the province were discontinued. Not Belgrave. The local enthusiasm for the fair had been demonstrated in 1934 when Belgrave’s fair had more entries than in any school fair in the province: 1343.

So the Belgrave Fair Board decided it would buy one packet of vegetable seeds and one packet of flower seeds for each pupil in area schools. The board also compiled its own prize list, selected judges and added a sports program that continued until 2011.

In 1945, the 25th anniversary of the fair, a two-day music festival was added. Also in 1945, the East Wawanosh School Area was formed and thereafter all the schools in that township participated in the school fair, along with school sections 3, 5 and 7 from Morris Twp. which had taken part ever since 1920. When the Morris School Area was formed in 1946, all Morris schools also exhibited at the fair, bringing the number of schools participating to 21.

With more students taking part, the number of entries jumped to 1,600 in 1946 and set a record in 1949 with 2,818. That was also the year that saw completion of the Belgrave Community Centre which provided a much better home for the fair.

But the era of the one-room school house ended in the 1960s with the building of central schools.

East Wawanosh students were split between a new Blyth Public School in the south and the East Wawanosh Public School just west of Belgrave that opened Jan. 1, 1967, which also served students in the nearby parts of Morris Twp. Students from the eastern part of Morris went to Brussels Public School. With the changes, the fair also got a new name: The Belgrave, Blyth and Brussels School Fair.

The fair continued under that name until all three of those schools were closed at the end of the 2012 school year, with the township’s students going to the new Maitland River Elementary School in Wingham. Once again the fair faced a crossroads but the local community stepped up.

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PAGE 6, EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017

The Belgrave branch of the Huron Bay Co-operative began as a farmers’ buying club in 1914.

A century of working together Huron Bay Co-op is the latest example of farmers uniting

By Pete Allison For The Citizen Most residents of East Wawanosh are familiar with the concept of a cooperative but to me, having lived in the city all my life and only recently moved to rural Ontario, the Huron Bay Co-Op in Belgrave was simply a great place to buy mulch for my flower garden. It was only recently that I had the opportunity of finding out what really went on “behind closed doors” at this location and many others operating under the Huron-Bay banner. The Belgrave Co-op has a long history of serving the residents of this area of Huron County.

I found out that there has been a co-operative business in Belgrave since before the First World War. It started out as a farmer’s social club at the turn of the century but by 1914, several local farmers had pooled their resources together in order to give them better buying power when purchasing supplies and equipment and when selling their products.

The history of the business, which grew to 567 members by the late 1980s, was well documented in an article that appeared in The Citizen for the July 1, 1992 edition. By the 1990s the Belgrave Farmer’s Club had gone through several changes. It had changed its name to the Belgrave Co-operative Association in 1944 and then had initiated a new business at Auburn in 1981 to better serve customers at the southern end of East Wawanosh as well as nearby Hullett and Colborne townships. In 1970 the

decision was made to dissolve the local co-op and become part of United Co-operatives of Ontario, a move that took effect on January 1, 1971.

In 1992, at the time the article in The Citizen appeared, UCO was facing some financial difficulties that suggested reorganization and, it was thought that some of the local branches might become independent again. Another chapter in the life of the local co-ops was about to begin.

The Teeswater District Cooperative, an independent member owned co-operative, had been established in 1951. It had started out simply as a feed business and over the years had added many more products to serve the local farming community. The business was incorporated in 1985 and then in 1993 it purchased the co-op operations of Belgrave, Auburn and Mildmay as well as the crop production centre at Walkerton from UCO. Within the next six years with rapid growth and an amalgamation with Grey-Bruce Co-operative Inc., the business name was changed to Huron Bay Co-operative Inc. with its head office at Teeswater.

The farmer’s co-op businesses in Auburn and in Belgrave are now supported by a large organization that serves North Huron, Bruce and western Grey Counties supplying farmers and residents in all those areas with a great variety of agricultural, petroleum and consumer products. Both sites, on the very perimeter of East Wawanosh, offer a retail store, bagged feed, bulk feed orders, chick

days, propane exchange and a garden centre. At Auburn there is a certified chemical storage facility and the Belgrave site offers a full crop centre, bulk and bagged fertilizer, crop inputs, custom applications and bulk fertilizer delivery.

Although the month of May is a very busy time of the year for the Huron Bay staff, Steve Caldwell, the Manager of both the Auburn and Belgrave stores agreed to meet with me. Having worked with the co-op for many years, Steve knows the business well. He has been a resident of East Wawanosh all his life and he and his wife Joan still live on the old homestead on Moncrieff Rd. The serious implications of UCO’s financial troubles in 1992 must have been a heavy burden on the minds of their employees and Steve feels he was very fortunate to have been one of those taken on by Teeswater and offered continued employment in a familiar setting.

He told me he had seen many changes in the business since he started in 1979. Of course the business itself, although still a cooperative, has been streamlined and is now run like any other large corporation with an elected board of directors and a professional management staff including a general manager. But the focus of the business has also changed so that it not only includes the shareholders as its customers but also the general public. Evidence of this is seen in the stores where the shelves are stocked with many items desired by the general consumer such as gardening tools, birdseed, work

gloves, fertilizer and mulch, propane exchange, etc. and both the Auburn and Belgrave stores offer excellent

garden centres in the summer including a large variety of annuals and perennials.

For the farmers in the area, it was interesting for me to learn that the services offered include a full crop centre providing expertise and assistance in the planning, ordering, delivering and application of all the crop necessities. Steve encouraged me to look at the Huron Bay website and read the Mission Statement which reads as follows: 1. Huron Bay Co-operative Inc. is a community-based entity, committed to supplying quality products and optimal services by utilizing leading edge technologies.

2. Through a focused Board of Directors and Staff, growth and economic benefit will be realized by all customers in an ever changing marketplace.

I now look on the co-op as not just a place where I can pick up some garden mulch and a few bedding plants but as a large sophisticated and well-run operation that serves the needs of area farmers, the people that put food on my plate every night! And, it’s not often that you find a successful business that has been at the same location for over a hundred years.

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EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017, PAGE 7.

New history ‘A Snippet in Time’ of township Book updates 1992’s Wilderness to Wawanosh

Linda Logan (left) and Sylvia Nonkes-Verburg hold a mock-up of A Snippet in Time, the update of the township’s history which is scheduled to arrive just in time for the 150th Anniversary.

By Keith Roulston The Citizen The word “snippet” sounds short and simple. Creating A Snippet in Time proved anything but either of those things for Linda Logan and Sylvia Nonkes-Verburg who took up the challenge of the updated history of East Wawanosh.

The committee planning East Wawanosh’s 150th Anniversary

Homecoming knew they couldn’t undertake a whole new history book for the anniversary. After all the massively thorough 1992 history Wilderness to Wawanosh had taken a large committee headed by Robert Charter more than five years to put together and was nearly 500 pages long.

So the idea, said Logan, was to outline what changes had taken place in the 25 years since

Wilderness to Wawanosh, hence the title A Snippet in Time. The new book was to be about “what’s happening at this point in time”.

But “It was way more work than we thought,” said Nonkes-Verburg.

“It became a huge project.”

With neither of them having experience in publishing, they started out with simple ideas. “You think you collect the stories and that’s it,” said Logan. They were to

learn that persuading people to send in the stories was only the beginning of a long process.

The process began just over a year ago when the idea for the book took hold. Nonkes-Verburg took photographer Telfer Wegg around the township to take some photos for the book.

Over the summer flyers were sent out to all homes in the township and articles in local newspapers invited people to send in updated stories.

Those stories began arriving in September.

Some of the stories were exceptionally well written and very entertaining, remembered Logan.

Others were in point form and needed to be rewritten. “Sometimes it took a bit of prodding, getting back to people two or three times to get more information.”

In some cases, Nonkes-Verburg said, people had intended to submit stories but hadn’t been able to get them in before they hit the deadline to print the book in time.

One of the memorable parts of the task for Logan was meeting the people of the township. “When I went to knock on somebody’s door they just opened and said ‘Come in’,” she remembers of her warm welcome. “We made new friends and met neighbours we didn’t know.”

Along the way they also discovered favourite stories such as the experiences of the late Howard Walker who died this past spring. He had started out farming walking behind a horse and plow but as late as last fall, now in his 90s, he still came back to the home farm to help with the plowing, this time driving a

large automated tractor.

As they collected stories and photographs, the book grew to 200 pages, larger than they had first thought.

They had a lot of help and advice from Wegg and Bonnie Sitter who had published the spectacular The Beauty and Bounty of Huron County and Agriculture Today, featuring photos by the two photographers and others. They helped them find a publisher and recommended their own book designer, Barb Durand of Bayfield. They were fortunate to get a grant from the Huron County Arts and Heritage fund.

“The publisher says it’s a beautiful book,” said NonkesVerburg. Some of that is due to Wegg’s photos, she feels, but many family photos are also included.

The committee had more modest expectations of sales than the people behind the 1992 history which had a print run of 2,000 copies, more than 1,000 of which were pre-sold. They had originally planned on 400 copies but then people began ordering four or five copies per family and they decided they needed more. They ended up ordering 550 copies. “It’s so hard to know how many to order,” said Logan. “We’re in a different time than 1992.”

The publisher has promised the books will be delivered on June 27, in time for the anniversary celebration (“We’re a little nervous,” Nonkes-Verburg admits.) The books will be on sale at the homecoming headquarters at the Belgrave Community Centre, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 30-July 2 or can be ordered by contacting Logan or Nonkes-Verburg at 519357-1602 or 519-523-9456.

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PAGE 8, EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017

Back to nature Former McDowell farm becomes Wawanosh Nature Centre, educating all ages

The barn on the former Harvey McDowell farm and an added portable classroom host students learning about the natural world at the Wawanosh Nature Centre.– photo by Keith Roulston

By Nicole Duquette For The Citizen Driving down Nature Centre Road south of Belgrave on a sunny spring day is a vision of Huron County perfection. It’s a long seven kilometers of gravel road from London Road to the Wawanosh Nature Centre, but those who take heart will be rewarded with the sight of vast farm land becoming interspersed with dark green foliage and patches of forest until arriving at a reclaimed barncompletely surround by mature pine and spruce plantations.

When I arrived at the Wawanosh Nature Centre, I was greeted by Jayne Thompson. Her title with the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority is Communications Coordinator, but her demeanor is less corporate and more Ms. Frizzle meets Susanna Moodie. I find her engaged in removing a “scourge” of vine weeds from the newly planted Monarch Butterfly Waystation. The garden in front of the Nature Centre was replanted last fall with native shrubs and perennials to give the extremely endangered Monarch butterfly population a welcome stopping point during their annual migration.

Jayne’s knowledge of plants and wildlife extends well beyond the protection of butterflies and their habitats. She is also eager to talk about soil health, water quality, natural diversity, erosion control and conservation issues. All of these topics, including how to create a Monarch friendly garden, are featured in the various education programs offered at the Nature Centre. Providing environmental education is the focus of the Wawanosh Nature Centre. They offer numerous spring and fall programs for children and youth – kindergarten through grade 12 – both in-school and on site at the Nature Centre and other locations throughout the Maitland watershed.

The programs are tailored by age group and correspond with school curriculums making it an excellent resource for teachers.

The youngest students who attend educational programs are encouraged to explore nature and develop a positive attitude towards the environment. The Boots, Bubbles and Bugs program invites kids to pull on big wellies and wade into the Belgrave creek.

There they observe tiny invertebrates (aka. bugs) living in the creek, learn about the food chain and gain an understanding of water health.

Older students in middle grades are given an introduction to environmental issues. In the SOS (Save our Soil) program students get their hands dirty touching and observing humus, topsoil, subsoil,

and the creatures that live in each layer. They learn to take water samples, calculate quality, and discover how water quality is affected by landscape and people in the Water in the Environment Program.

Youth in upper grades are asked to think more critically about environmental issues and consider solutions. They witness some of these solutions first hand by visiting

demonstration projects the MVCA works on with landowners. Students observe bank erosion, flood areas, and explore buffer areas where new trees and shrubs have been planted to prevent nutrients from entering the water supply.

The Belgrave Creek is a common feature in many of the education programs offered at the Nature Centre. It is a showpiece for all programs regardless of age group

because it is an example of successful conservation efforts. In the 1980s, the water quality and ecosystem health of the creek was quite poor.

Working with landowners on erosion control and tree planting projects to create buffering areas the Conservation Authority has restored the creek back to health. It is now an active cold water fishery with both salmon and trout populations.

The creek is only a short walk away from the Nature Centre building which is a reclaimed barn housing two accessible classrooms, washrooms and supplies, such as boots and snowshoes. As Jayne and I walk to the water, the diversity of the property is quickly evident. The parking lot and building is surrounded by mature forest plantations, the path to the creek features long grass and field which gives way to marshy wetlands that require us to cross a short boardwalk

to reach the edge of the creek.

Standing on the bank, observing the shallow creek bed through the clear, quick moving water and listening to it gurgle over small rocks, it’s easy to imagine the joy of exploration generations of children must experience when immersed in this picturesque natural setting.

The diversity of habitats contained within the Wawanosh Valley Conservation Area is what makes it unique and ideal for education. The 300 acre property contains the Maitland River, Belgrave Creek, meadows that were formerly used as grazing pastures, wetlands, upland mixed deciduous forests made up of beech trees, cherry trees and sugar maples, and wet forests made up of white birch, hemlock and cedar trees. And, it is home to a variety of plants and wildlife, including turtles, bats, multiple bird species, rodents and deer.

Continued on page 9.

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Nature Centre brings kids, adults to nature programs working on improved soil health and erosion prevention.

During the assessment period, the Wawanosh Valley Conservation Area will remain open to the public and will go ahead with current improvement projects, like upgrading the boardwalks (thanks to the Maitland Conservation Foundation’s three-year funding commitment) and establishing a new trailhead map. Plus, new adventures await first time and returning visitors. Several geocaches have been established in the park in the past few years and visitors of all ages are encouraged to practice their orienteering skills to locate them and add a new aspect to their exploration.

After visiting the Nature Centre

and Conservation Area for only an hour, I already feel more relaxed by the peace of the setting and inspired

by Jayne’s extensive knowledge to come back, learn more and explore.

The Wawanosh Nature Centre and Conservation Area truly has something for everyone. It’s not your average park!

To book education programs contact Erin Dolmage at edolmage@mvca.on.ca or 519-3353557. The Maitland Valley Conservation Authority is active on Facebook and Twitter. Follow @maitlandvalley.

To support conservation efforts contact the Maitland Conservation Foundation at foundation@mvca.on.ca or 519335-3516.

Happy 150th Anniversary East Wawanosh KEN & ANNETTE MARKS 519-530-9205 www.naturecentreantiques.ca

NATURE CENTRE ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES A class of students celebrates being out in nature on a glorious fall day during a visit to the Wawanosh Nature Centre near Belgrave. Other events include the annual fall colour tour held in early October. The land has changed greatly since it was a farm in the early 1970s. - photo MVCA chance to see the splendor of the presentation of a variety of options Continued from page 8. autumn season as the leaves change. for improvements and/or alterations.

Access to all this natural bounty And, the Conservation Area is All the spring education programs isn’t reserved only for school groups available to host events and can for the 2017 season were held at the and educational programs. The provide entertaining and informative North Woods Elementary School Wawanosh Valley Conservation Area sessions tailored to each group. and Falls Reserve Conservation Area is open to the public, free of charge, As we head back to the Nature near Benmiller. during daylight hours year round. Centre from the creek, Jayne The MVCA has a long history of The area provides opportunities for explains that the property that is now providing high quality natural hiking on the extensive trail system, the conservation area was originally education experiences bolstered by a birdwatching, cross country skiing, purchased in 1973. During the first unique natural setting. And while the snowshoeing (snowshoes are few years work was done to prepare building assessment requires a available in winter), and fishing. the land and build the Nature Centre. change to usual operations, it is also Visitors are welcome to use the It first opened in 1984 with one a chance to look to the future and picnic areas and washrooms located classroom and a second was added examine how to best combine near the Nature Centre. Jayne says it in 1990 when the Huron Perth education with the MVCA’s other is not uncommon for neighbours to Separate School Board donated a priorities: to build and strengthen enjoy an al fresco lunch at the picnic portable classroom. Each year 5,000 flood forecasting services and area. And, the presence of runners visitors attend programs at the strengthen landowner stewardship enjoying the trails during my mid- Centre meaning that in its more than week visit shows just how well used 30 years of operation approximately and loved the property is.

150,000 students have benefitted There are also special events from environmental learning and hosted annually that are suitable for fostered a connection with nature. adults and families. The Night Hike However, a new chapter in the is hosted each August to give visitors Nature Centre’s history is about to a chance to see the trails, habitats begin. 2017 will see an assessment and wildlife in the dark – a different done on the Nature Centre building. world from the daytime. The Fall There is some concern over the Colours Tour, held each year on the safety of the building and the result Saturday before Thanksgiving, is a of the assessment will be the

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A national treasure East Wawanosh native George Agnew Reid has work in National Gallery

East Wawanosh native son George Agnew Reid’s painting “Mortgaging the Homestead” is featured in ads for the National Gallery of Canada’s “Our Masterpieces, Our Stories” exhibit.

The work of East Wawanosh’s most famous artist is part of “Our Masterpieces, Our Stories”, the National Gallery of Canada’s

celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary that continues until Sept. 4.

While the gallery’s website does

not name the works included in the show, George Agnew Reid’s painting “Mortgaging the Homestead” is prominently displayed in the collage of art works in advertisements for the exhibition.

That’s the same painting that was used on the commemorative plate issued for the township’s 125th anniversary in 1992. The original painting was donated to the National Gallery by the Royal Canadian Academy of Art. The painting may have been inspired by Reid’s memory of the time when his father, Adam Reid, was forced to mortgage the family homestead on the concession now known as Reid Road.

George Agnew Reid was born on July 25, 1860 in East Wawanosh. His father was a Scottish immigrant farmer who settled in the township in 1840. George attended S.S. # 11 (Shiell’s School). By the time he was 17 he was winning prizes at local fairs for his drawings.

But in those pioneer times, his father was not impressed with George’s passion for art and the history of Canada. To prevent him from going to art school in Toronto,

his father legally apprenticed him as a draftsman to a local architect, J.B. Proctor. In 1878, however, Proctor’s business failed, freeing George from his contract. That fall he went to Toronto to study art.

He returned briefly to Wingham in 1880, setting up a small studio where he took orders for portraits of leading figures from the region and working on still lifes and figure pieces. But by March 1882 he returned to Toronto and that October he began studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. There he met another young student, Mary Hiester, and in early 1885 they married, leaving Pennsylvania to travel in Europe and study abroad.

In 1886 they returned to Toronto to open a studio together. Soon they began giving lessons. That same year, while visiting back in Wingham, Reid painted his first large farm scene: “Call to Dinner”.

Experts refer to this as his “folklore in paint” period when he created a number of works depicting contemporary and pioneer life in Huron County, In 1906 Reid was appointed president of the Royal Canadian Academy. Using this office he helped launch a campaign to create a National Gallery of Canada.

In 1912 the Ontario College of Art was founded and Reid became its first principal, remaining in that office until 1929. He was commissioned by the government to create works of art for the War Records Office in 1917 and 1918 and was also part of a committee responsible for donating a collection of paintings to the Patriotic Fund.

His wife Mary Heister Reid died in 1921. The following year he married another artist, Mary E. Wrinch. George Reid remained active in the art he loved until his death in 1947.

E. Wawanosh’s inspiring house It’s not the most impressive house in East Wawanosh and it’s certainly not the newest, but a little insul-brick-clad farm house on Currie Line southwest of Belgrave will soon be viewed by more people than any other house in the area.

Last fall the house and yard bustled with activity as the actors and crew filmed the movie version of the hit play The Drawer Boy. The movie will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

When the production team of Aviva Armour-Ostroff, co-producer and associate director, and Arturo Pérez Torres, co-producer and director, obtained the rights to film The Drawer Boy, they began to look for suitable locations that would have already seemed time-worn way back in 1972. That’s because in The Drawer Boy, playwright Michael Healey created a fictional story based on the real-life creation of The Farm Show near Clinton in 1972.

That summer a group of actors from Toronto’s Theatre Passe

Muraille, led by director Paul Thompson who grew up near Listowel, took up residence in an abandoned farm house and went out to interview farm families in the neighbourhood and collect the stories of their day-to-day lives.

From these tales, the actors improvised a play that became a phenomenon in Canadian theatre.

The Drawer Boy imagines one of these actors called Miles (Miles Potter in The Farm Show cast) interviewing, and becoming involved in, the lives of two bachelor farmers.

Originally commissioned by the Blyth Festival, The Drawer Boy was first produced at Theatre Passe Muraille before becoming an international hit, headlining several U.S. theatres. It returned to its Huron County roots for Blyth Festival productions in 2000 and 2002.

In searching for suitable locations, the producers turned to Paul Thompson who didn’t have to think too hard to come up with the house on Currie Line. He and his

wife, actress Anne Anglin and their daughters had spent several summers in that house in the 1980s and 1990s before they bought a house a few miles away in Morris Twp. After that, they had turned the house over to Janet Amos, twice artistic director of the Blyth Festival, and her husband Ted Johns, the Festival’s most popular playwright over the years.

But the house has an even longer association with the area’s cultural heritage. Before the Thompsons lived there, the house had been the summer residence for the Blyth Festival’s founding artistic director Continued on page 12

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Belgrave arena began through volunteer activity when area residents came together (above) to build the original building in the summer of 1949. Volunteers still make the centre tick today.

By Lauren Walker For The Citizen For 68 of the 150 years that East Wawanosh has been in existence, the residents of Belgrave and the surrounding communities have gathered to play, eat, organize and celebrate at the Belgrave Community Centre. And for just as long, the Belgrave arena has relied on the generosity of the people who run and maintain it.

The first public ice in Belgrave was an outdoor rink. It was built in 1934 in the low-lying area at the front of George Cook’s farm, which is now owned by Ron and Margaret Cook. This land was leveled by volunteers, flooded with water from the Belgrave Creek, and was used as the local rink for 15 years.

In 1948, C.R. Coultes, George Cook and other prominent members of Belgrave decided that an indoor rink should be built. The land was donated by the Coultes family and trees for lumber were donated by local farmers. The original arena was built over the course of several workbees in the summer of 1949, when over 75 per cent of the construction was completed by volunteers.

On October 27, 1949 the first Fowl Supper was held to celebrate the opening of the new community

centre. Over 1000 people gathered for a hot turkey supper. The event was so popular that it is still held every October to raise money for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the arena.

Disaster struck in 1963 when part of the arena roof buckled under the weight of heavy snow. The hoop barn arena had to be torn down, but the front of the building remained.

The new arena was built in 1964 and still stands today, although it has been renovated several times. The roof trusses have been reinforced with steel, benches for players and spectators have been removed, the concrete rink slab has been repoured, and the building has been updated to meet the ever-changing building, fire and accessibility codes.

The new front of the building was built in 1991 by the Belgrave Kinsmen. The old front was demolished by a team of volunteers and the old community centre sign was rehung inside the arena. The new community centre is more accessible and has more activity space, with a kitchen and hall.

The Belgrave arena is one of the few remaining natural ice arenas in Ontario. Not so long ago the ice had to be shoveled and flooded using barrels of water every night after of shinny hockey, recalls Ron Cook,

who now serves on the Belgrave Arena Board. Although warmer winters prevent the arena from being used for organized hockey, the arena is used in the summer months for ball hockey.

The community centre is the venue of choice for church suppers, fundraisers, buck and does and weddings. Regular Coffee and Conversation events also happen at the arena every Wednesday from 2:00-4:00 pm. All are invited to come out and meet their neighbours over coffee and refreshments.

The Belgrave Community Centre has been able to grow and adapt thanks to the commitment of those who run and maintain the facility.

The community centre relies on people like Gordon Pengelly, who passed away in 2009 after 25 years of tying skates, running the booth and tending to the ice. The dedication of organizations like the Belgrave Arena Board, the Kinsmen and the women who organize the Fowl Supper have allowed it to remain central to life in East Wawanosh.

The Belgrave Community Centre is the focal point of the upcoming East Wawanosh 150th Anniversary, which will take place from June 30 to July 2, 2017. For a full listing of events visit eastwawanosh150.com

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PAGE 12, EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017 seated and eats at the same time 7:00 p.m., so it’s an event that requires many moving parts, and helping hands to implement successfully.

Harry Brydges concludes that the supper has raised “an incredible amount of money [for the arena] through the years”. The Belgrave Fowl Supper is the largest event for the arena, and is instrumental in funding the arena updates and keeping it operational. While the Belgrave Community Centre and Arena is supplied with some small grants and township funding, its events are truly influential in the success of the arena and allow it to run largely autonomously. For example, VanCamp shares that the new generator outside the arena was largely funded and provided for through money raised from events such as the Fowl Supper.

2017 marks Belgrave’s 69th Fowl Supper and is always hosted the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Tickets can be purchased at select stores in Wingham, Belgrave and Blyth. If you’d like to attend this year watch for tickets to go on sale in the fall, and be sure to get them quick! Residents of Belgrave and area know, tickets sell out, and they sell out fast!

The Belgrave Fowl Supper is so popular that tickets are sold out well in advance. This October will see the 69th edition of the supper which is a major fundraiser for the Belgrave Community Centre.

Feeding the multitudes Every autumn the whole Belgrave community works together to feed nearly 1,000 people at one sitting.

By Kirsten Paschier For The Citizen It’s Belgrave’s biggest community event and it’s been happening for almost 70 years. The Belgrave Fowl Supper is a testament to the village of Belgrave and surrounding area, and the residents’ commitment to supporting their community.

Since hosting its inaugural dinner in 1949, the Fowl Supper has grown to be an annually anticipated event, however that wasn’t always the case.

Harry Brydges, long-time resident of Belgrave, was in attendance at the very first Fowl Supper in 1949. Only twelve years old at the time, Brydges age group was given the job of

Local house location for upcoming movie Continued from page 10. and his co-founder wife, playwright Anne Chislett.

While living there, they had hosted playwright Peter Colley as he worked on a script. Colley, a city boy, was so spooked by the rural darkness, quiet and isolation of the old house that he wrote a comedy thriller set in a lonely farmhouse: I’ll Be Back Before Midnight. First produced at the Blyth Festival in 1979, the play became the most popular play ever created at Blyth, still being produced somewhere in the world every year.

So now the old house gets to star in a movie and who knows how many people will see it. Not bad for a house that might have bit the dust years ago if some artistic types hadn’t made it their temporary home.

keeping the guests’ water glasses filled. He surmises that it’s likely the only job they trusted to people so young. Even so, he remembers being extremely nervous that he was going to dump a glass all over someone!

According to Harry Brydges, while the first Fowl Supper concluded as an extremely successful event, he recalls that there were a lot of sceptics when the supper was in its planning stages.

There was talk at the time that the supper was going to be a disaster and a major flop. Nothing had been done previously of that magnitude, so as Byrdges states it was a “huge deal – a massive undertaking”.

The supper was the brain child of Clarence Hannah and George Cook.

Cook was an area farmer, but was known to have a “brilliant mind for construction, and way ahead of his time”. He designed and engineered the arena, and came up with the idea of the Fowl Supper as a way to raise money for the construction. In the end the first supper was a huge success, and the energy in the building was full of excitement by those who were in attendance.

The Belgrave Fowl Supper was designed as a true community event

and continues to be one. A representative for each area contacts residents to sell tickets and ask for and collect donations. While the committee purchases parts of the supper, the pies, cranberries, and salads are still donated by members of the community. However, some things have changed since the first supper, in that volunteers are no longer asked to bring the plates, glasses, or silverware. Harry recalls that often plates, and silverware got so mixed up at the end of the supper, that sometimes it was a year later at the next supper before people would get all the pieces of their set back – and no one went home with all their glasses, some were always broken before the end of the evening.

The supper was organized for a number of years by a board of volunteers, however, the Arena Board took over co-ordinating the supper approximately five years ago and President Jonathan VanCamp recognizes how important the event is to the Belgrave community. Last year’s supper in 2016 filled 52 tables, and fed around 900 people, and the number is likely higher if you include all the kitchen and serving volunteers. Everyone is

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EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017, PAGE 13. and thresh right in the field. At first it was drawn by a small tractor (30 hp. or less), but later most were selfpropelled with working capacity increasing.

Other privately-owned threshing outfits also operated in the township throughout the years. Some of these threshers were the Coulter family of St. Helens, George Jordan, James R. Coultes, George Cook, Jim Martin, Charles Robinson, the Boyle brothers, ,Fred Davidson, Russel Walker, Bob and Lorne Scott, the Hallahans, Sam Thompson, Robert Golley, Fred J. Cook, Albert Gower, Sam Walsh and Pat Murphy.

Today the world of threshing machines, steam traction engines and other farm equipment from the last century is alive only at events like the Huron Pioneer Threshers Reunion, held each September in Blyth. The reunion has been taking place annually now for almost 60 years and it’s perhaps no surprise that many of the names involved in East Wawanosh’s threshing gangs were key members in the creation of what is now one of the biggest annual celebrations in Huron County.

Today about the only place to see threshing equipment in use is at the Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion in Blyth but a century ago farmers got together to bring in their crops.

In the days of threshing East Wawanosh farmers formed a syndicate to acquire the equipment needed to harvest their crops In the days before modern combines and forage harvesters made harvesting crops something that one man or woman could do on their own, East Wawanosh, like all rural townships, was a much different place.

In a labour-intensive time, farmers had to work together to get the crops safely into the barn.

In 1916 the farmers of the sixth and seventh concessions in East Wawanosh (now Westfield Road and Nature Centre Road) decided to form a threshing syndicate.

About 20 farmers each paid a share of a set price for the secondhand steam engine, separator and corn cutting box bought from Fred J. Cook. Three men were hired: an engineer, separator operator and a tank man with a team of horses. The threshing operation was called the Silver Creek Syndicate.

The shareholders set a per-hour price which the farmers paid for threshing and silo filling. A meeting was held each November where all outstanding bills were paid and the profit was divided among the shareholders.

Business soon expanded. In 1919 the syndicate purchased a new George White engine. The organization could now do the threshing of at least 40 farmers and continued to do so for several years.

Rain or dew was not a hindrance to work back then because grain was brought in from the fields and stored in the barn. The threshed grain flowed into two-bushel boxes. Two men had to dump these into bins in the granary.

After the first heavy frost, the corn box was put into action. Four to six teams of horses and wagons and a crew of about 15 men loaded wagons, pulled the corn off and fed it into the corn box at the silo.

Knives inside the corn box chopped the corn into one-inch pieces and a fan blew the chopped pieces into the silo. Two or three men in the silo levelled the corn off and tramped it down.

In the fall of 1927, Simon Hallahan took on the job of

managing the syndicate. Bill Hallahan was the separator operator and Hugh Blair was the tank man.

Simon Hallahan continued as engineer and Hugh Blair became the separator operator through the fall of 1937. A new Waterloo separator had been purchased in 1935.

Threshing directly from the stooks in the field instead of taking the shieves into the barn became gradually more popular and more threshing outfits began to operate.

Half the shareholders bought out the others.

Hugh Blair took over the syndicate

in 1938 as Simon Hallahan decided to work full-time on his own farm.

A second-hand Waterloo engine was purchased in the fall of 1939 and was used until the fall of 1942, when Hugh started using his own John Deere tractor. He operated the syndicate himself until the late 1960s. He purchased a forage harvester which chopped corn and loaded it into forage wagons in the field. The wagons were selfunloading, reducing labour.

In the 1930s combines were being manufactured with cutter bars attached. This machine could cut

Simon Hallahan, Robert Thompson and Hugh Blair are seen at the 1963 Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion. East Wawanosh farmers were a big part of creating the event.

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PAGE 14, EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017

East Wawanosh once known for cheese Cheese factories dotted the township in the late 1800s when farmers couldn’t take their milk far for processing cans to feed the pigs.

Later some of the farmers had tanks on the wagons similar to threshing tanks with a step across on the back of the wagon.

The milkmen used beam scales to weigh each farmer’s milk. Before the milk was emptied into the truck, a sample was taken.

In 1895 the Blyth Cheese and Butter Company built a cheese factory on the southeast corner of Lot 41, Conc. 3 on the farm now occupied by David Marshall. Before the construction of the factory, Robert Marshall drew milk to the cheese factory on Lot 42, Conc. 9 near Belgrave for three or four years.

The new factory operated for six

In the 19th century East Wawanosh residents were fortunate enough to have their own cheese factories in the area. Several were built between 1875 and 1890.

One of the first cheese factories was built on Lot 31, Conc. 11. It was a frame building near a creek close to the Maitland River. A spring was close enough to supply water to the factory.

Some of the milkmen used wagons with flat racks to gather the milk.

Each morning the farmers would set the large milk cans on milkstands at their gateways for the milkmen to pick up. The empty cans were brought back again. Some farmers brought back whey in the emptied

years. In 1901 it closed when the price of cheese was only eight cents a pound.

Farmers started discussing building a cheese factory in Belgrave in 1881. One acre of land was purchased from Matthew Brandon on the south half of Lot 42, Conc. 9 for $100. L.S. Brandon and George Hood were the first directors. The site was chosen, the building erected, a well dug, all the necessary equipment purchased, and a cheesemaker hired. Milkstands were erected at the gates of all the patrons.

In 1885 the Belgrave Cheese and Butter Factory opened.

Paddy McCasey was the first milkman on the sixth line of East

The story behind the party East Wawanosh came into being in 1867 when Wawanosh township was split into two municipalities one township. Before the townships separated in 1867, that township had one East Wawanosh man, Robert Currie, as reeve and another, Hezekiah Helps, as deputy reeve.

They took up the same offices in the new township. Other councillors were David Scott, Lancelot Nethery and Thomas H. Taylor.

The first meeting of East Wawanosh township council was held on January 21, 1867 at Peter Porterfield’s house at Marnoch. The first decision councillors had to make was on the hiring of a township clerk. Six men tendered for the job and two men, Wm. Bengough and David Williams both tendered to do the job for $60 and the tie led to conflicting emotions with Mr. Help and Mr. Taylor in favour of Mr. Bengough and Mr. Nethery and Mr. Scott favouring Mr. Williams. When Mr. Williams offered to do the job for $50, council agreed to appoint him.

So what’s the celebration? 150 years of what?

The 2017 150th anniversary celebration in East Wawanosh isn’t a celebration of the first settlement or the first municipal government, but the celebration of the creation of East Wawanosh, along with West Wawanosh from the large township that had been called simply Wawanosh.

While Huron County marks 175 years of county government this year, the Wawanoshes, along with Morris, Turnberry and Howick, weren’t part of Huron as it was in 1842 when the first county council session was held in the upstairs of the old country gaol in Goderich.

Huron County stopped at what is now County Rd. 25, but went farther south and east than today to include parts of Middlesex and Perth.

Those southern townships had been part of the Canada Company tract of land that had been opened up

by John Galt, William “Tiger” Dunlop and Col. Anthony Van Egmond. The section that is now East Wawanosh and the other townships had been crown land and settlers needed to pay cash up front for the land rather than being able to put down a small down payment and pay overtime. With the Canada Company accepting credit, most settlers chose to take up land in the south. A change in government policy in 1849 to allow settlers to pay over time brought a flood of pioneers into the bush in the 1850s.

When the area now comprising East and West Wawanosh was first admitted to Huron County, it was as

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HONOURS - Pg. 7

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Nearly 200 Huron County women honoured at event

‘The Citizen’ continues its countdown to IPM 2017

Jim Prior becomes second Brussels Lions to win award

The

Volume 33 No. 25

Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Council supports Blyth 140

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Step by step Not all the fun at Hullett Central Public School happens on the ground. Some students opt to climb and get some air under them. It’s not quite a voyage to the stars, but whether it’s the jungle gym or a snow pile in the winter, some

students find the climb exhilirating. Last week it was, from left, Ashley Kuntz, Macey Adams and Sophie Greydanus who were enjoying the altitude on a warm June day on a slightly higher level than their fellow students. (Denny Scott photo)

New OPP detachment to be built in Clinton

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Central Huron Council gave the construction of a new Ontario Provincial Police detachment in Clinton the go-ahead at Monday night’s council meeting.

The new station will be located at 325 Albert Street, which is in the north end of Clinton on the east side of the main street, across Beech Street from the newly-constructed fire station.

Representatives of the IBI Group, working with Infrastructure Ontario on behalf of the OPP, were at the meeting on Monday night to speak to the project.

Amy Shepherd from IBI said that the Clinton site is just one of nine other sites across the province that are part of a sweeping “modernization” project

for the OPP’s buildings.

Due to the Clinton building being just one piece of the puzzle, Shepherd was asking for an extension on the construction deadline. The traditional timeline for such a project is 18 months, but planner Laura Young saw fit to extend the deadline to 24 months, not the 36 months the group was requesting.

Shepherd, however, spoke to council and asked for the 36-month extension, explaining that because the project includes nine sites, there are large group tenders that will need to be awarded and a massive amount of co-ordination required.

Councillors saw fit to grant Shepherd and the group their request. Deputy-Mayor Dave Jewitt said that it was likely that the group would get to the end of its 24-month

period and then return to council and ask for a 12-month extension, which council would then grant because the group would be in the middle of the project and it wouldn’t make sense to stop it at that point.

The property will be zoned as a community facility with a proposed front yard setback of 19 metres, which required a three-metre setback from the initial setback of 16 metres. The site would also need a setback of one metre on its exterior side yard as well, expanding it from five metres to six.

The site will include a parking lot for the detachment’s staff and the police department’s fleet for 112 vehicles, as well as a 12-space visitor parking area.

Young also told council that the application met the requirements for a minor variance, which include

meeting the intent of the Central Huron Official Plan, meeting the intent of the Central Huron zoning bylaw, the project is desirable for the appropriate development of the lands in question and it is minor in nature.

The conditions recommended for the application are that the police detachment be located within the footprint provided on the sketch in the planner’s presentation.

The variance approval period was originally set for 18 months, but was extended to 36 months by council at the request of the applicant.

Council approved the application with the extended deadline.

The new Huron OPP detachment had been a point of contention that arose from discussion at a MorrisContinued on page 14

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to last until spring.

Abe Katchebaw was hired as cheesemaker after John Ross moved on a few years later. He was assisted

by Ed Vincent.

Creameries began to become popular and the farmers thought it was more profitable to keep skim milk at home to be fed to the calves and the pigs. This soon damaged the cheese factory’s business and it closed down in 1897.

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Mr. Williams was then authorized to accept tenders for the positions of assessor, treasurer and collector.

However, Mr. Williams himself only lasted one meeting as clerk after councillors objected to the way he had recorded the minutes of the first meeting. A motion to appoint a new clerk was made. Wm. Bengough was again supported by two councillors but two other councillors supported James Tisdale who had originally asked $80 to do the job but now agreed to match Mr. Bengough’s offer of $60. Mr. Tisdale got the job and served as clerk until 1870.

Donald McGibbon became assessor at a salary of $35, James McGowan, treasurer for $48, and Joseph Dunbar, collector for $24.75.

Estimates of expenditures for that first season were: $3,890.03 for county purposes; $582.17 for township purposes; $400 for salaries and incidentals; for a total of $4,872.20 to be raised through taxes.

Wawanosh. He and his one-horse wagon were always on time. He was a good-natured Irishman, but he didn’t like to be kept waiting. If the milk wasn’t there when he arrived, he carried on without it.

John Ross was the first cheesemaker. Patrons loved his cheese and could buy it at wholesale prices. Families were very large in those days and they would often buy 30 or 60 pounds of cheese in the fall

The Blyth 140th committee has received the support it sought from North Huron Township, however, questions arose as to the exact plans of the committee during a recent North Huron Council meeting.

In a report presented by Director of Recreation and Facilities Pat Newson to council on June 19 it was explained that, as a result of bylaws held by the Blyth Lions Club, the group may need to move some events back to the Blyth Community Centre, where they had previously been planned.

Newson explained that, since she made the report, information about the Lions bylaws came forward, and that had a bearing on her recommendation.

“The Lions already have their own bylaws that there is no loud noise in the park after 11 p.m.,” she said. “We can’t waive our noise bylaw until they waive theirs and they haven’t had a meeting yet.”

Newson explained that the park, which is surrounded by residential property, might not be an ideal location for the event due to the Lions not meeting in time to waive the bylaw for the event.

Newson’s recommendation, however, was that North Huron Council agree to waive fees for renting municipal space for the celebration. She amended that, adding that North Huron could waive the rental of the upstairs hall at the community centre if the group needed it for the dance. She then said she knows it goes against council’s previous direction.

“I realize that waiving the fee is not what the fee waiving and donation bylaw [implemented by this session of council] recommends, however, had this group had more time to focus on planning and delivery, we likely would have insisted they come to us with a terms of reference,” Newson said, pointing out the group is a subcommittee of the Blyth Business Improvement Area, a committee of council. “We could create a terms of reference, as we did with the [Musical Muskrat Festival in Wingham] to waive some of their expenses.

“This is council’s choice, but the group is hoping to have the event at no charge or by donation,” she said.

Newson said if council does waive the fees, the town will track time and expenses and those costs will be posted to the general ledger in the economic development Continued on page 19

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Bill and Maxine Seers Gail, Faye, Carol & families

EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017, PAGE 15.

150th anniversary commemorated with lily where they would consume much of his day-to-day life, something he says he’s fine with, because he thoroughly enjoys it.

A specially-bred daylily East Wawanosh Gold marks township’s anniversary

Congratulations East Wawanosh on your 150th

“East Wawanosh Gold” has been developed especially for the 150th Anniversary.

Mike Falconer, (right) breeder of East Wawanosh Gold, describes the flower at an event in May while Jamie McCallum, chair of the 150th Anniversary planning committee, holds a photo.

Long after East Wawanosh’s 150th anniversary celebration is over there will be a vivid reminder of the event in gardens across the former township: a bright yellow daylily called East Wawanosh Gold.

The idea was brought to the committee organizing the anniversary homecoming by Vicky Bremner, a Moncrieff Road resident, after she’d seen the daylily developed for the 2017 International Plowing Match organizing committee by Mike Falconer of Falhaven Farms in Central Huron.

Congratulations East Wawanosh on your 150th Anniversary Celebrations!

After committee members embraced the idea, they approached Falconer to develop a unique flower for East Wawanosh. The result is a golden yellow flower. Because this is a custom-bred flower only a limited number of the plants are available at this point. Bremner says she has about 60 orders for the new flower and it will likely be distributed in the fall.

Falhaven Farms, has been called one of Huron County’s best-kept secrets.

Falconer has described his interest

in daylilies as a “hobby gone wild” in the years following his time as a funeral director and as a farmer, which he currently still remains.

The lengthy process of breeding lilies, Falconer says, begins, of course, with the seeds.

Falconer first pollinates the lilies and then collects the seeds, which will then remain in a refrigerator over the course of the winter. The following spring, the lilies will be ready to be planted. That first year, however, can be, at times, a bit of a crap shoot, Falconer said.

“Daylilies don’t really stabilize until their second year,” he said.

What stabilization means, is that the design of the flower doesn’t necessarily settle until the second year it’s planted and then it grows.

While in that first year, most flowers tend to be stabilized, it’s not guaranteed, and changes could very likely happen from the first year to the second.

Falconer says that breeding daylilies takes a “bit of science and a bit of luck”, a process to which he has been wholly committed for 15 years now.

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Since he was a kid, Falconer said he has been interested in the world of gardening.

He says his interest in daylilies began when he was over at a friend’s house and saw them for the first time. He was immediately intrigued by them and soon set out on a path

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PAGE 16, EAST WAWANOSH 150TH ANNIVERSARY SALUTE 2017

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