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 Four of more than 200 grade eight pupils who toured the new MPDHS building get their first taste of higher math from Mrs. J. Cardenas. Bernadette Hamelin, Penetang; Claudia Reynolds, Parkview; Donald Daoust, Perkinsfield and Karen Blair, Regent.

   Midland ‘s main street gets a much needed face-lift, new asphalt from the CNR tracks to Yonge Street.

  It Was Only Three Days   –  When the re-surfacing was being done last week several local wags offered odds on how long it would be before the new pavement was torn up again. It was just three days. The work shown is being done by Bell Telephone, installing cable for the new dial exchange coming in July.

 

Last Rites for a War Hero  –  One of the five drowning victims in the Southern Georgian Bay region this year Captain Anthony Van Steeden of Vancouver was accorded military honours at his internment in Lakeview Cemetery Midland. Holder of the OBE, MC and MM, Capt. Van Steeden was engaged in secret service work during World War II. Members of Branch 80 Royal Canadian Legion and the OPP detachment at Victoria Harbour attended the service. Bugler at right is Norman Jackson of Midland.

  Mrs. Walter McMann (Helen) of 392 (516 new) Russell Street shows a white tulip that produced five blossoms on one stem.

  Public School Field Day Champs  –  The girls are, Ellen Barber on the left, intermediate champ; Lynn McAllen junior champ; Carolyn Bath won the senior title but was not present for the photo. Boy’s winners were Gary Carr, intermediate; Gerald Wotherspoon, senior and Tom Jenkinson junior.

  Thirty years ago, Fred Mitchell, an MPDHS student, would have been the envy of all his classmates, for this 1926 Auburn was then an elegant limousine. The Prince Albert suit he is wearing is the one his grandfather, Henry Gouett of Waubaushene, bought  for his wedding in 1900. Fred purchased the car recently, it hadn’t been run for three years but started right up with a fresh battery. Purchased by the late Fred Hill for $3,400.00 back in 1926 when the average price of a car was under $1,000.00. The car has 36,000 miles on it. Fred lives at 338 (402 new) Frederick Street.

 Midland Lions Club members attending their annual meeting at the Delawana Inn in Honey Harbour, relax on the front lawn.

(We have no names for this photo, help would be appreciated, I recognize Jean Somers,  Marg and Harold McAllen)

 Officials of the Midland Friendship Club check over the program during a picnic held at Little Lake Park Saturday, Jack Moore president and Mrs. James MacLeod are seated, Ted Rivers, Mrs. George Whitaker and Robert Wiles secretary treasurer, standing.

  Four top golfers from each of the four towns competing in the ladies county cup match at the Midland Golf & Country Club Thursday are seen gathered around the big scoreboard. Mrs. Keith Robinson, Collingwood, who had a 91 gross; Mrs. J. A. Hepburn, Orillia, 97; Mrs. John Ough, Barrie, whose 85 was the best score of the day; Mrs. Sandow, representing MG&CC and Mrs. Ken Lewis who headed the Midland contingent with a 90.

  A fine example of the new homes being built in the Ingram Subdivision in Tay Township near the new high school. This one, well advanced towards completion,  is being built for Mr. & Mrs. Jack Argue of Midland.

  The new Loblaws store at the corner of King and Elizabeth Streets is slated to open Thursday, June 21st, 1956. Shelves are being stocked and last minute items completed in the building. Note the H.S. St. Amant & Sons panel truck parked in front, the well known local business provided all of the plumbing and heating for the new building. Other local suppliers included Walker’s Electric, Jeffery’s Hardware and Midland Planing Mills.

  Getting ready for the big opening, Bill Howard, right, manager of Midland’s new Loblaws store, makes last minute checks with his chief superintendent A. R. Wallace of Toronto. All of Mr. Howard’s seventeen years with the company have been in Midland including five as store manager.

  Over one thousand customers attend the grand opening of the new Loblaws market on King Street with hundreds lined up to receive free gifts distributed to the first thousand shoppers. 

• National Cancer Institute of Canada holds its second national conference at the Delawana Inn. One hundred of the finest doctors and research scientists in the world are attending, including guests from Israel, France, England and the United States. The conference discussion has been divided into five categories; the cell, Leukemia, chemotherapy, hormone and cancer immunity.
• A hole was burned in the wall of a classroom in Elmvale District High School last week when some chemicals exploded.
• Ernst Leitz Sr. head of Ernst Leitz, Wetzlar, died at Wetzlar Friday in his 86th year. Dr. Leitz was the second generation of his family in the optical company and when his elder brother Ludwig was killed in 1898, he took over at the age of 27 the direction of the firm that now employs more than 6,500. Surviving are three sons, Ernst and Ludwig of Wetzlar and Guenther of Midland.
• The twice-weekly CPR boat train is back in operation for the summer season, leaving Toronto at 12:01 PM Wednesdays and Saturdays and connecting with the Assinaboia and Keewatin at Port McNicoll.
• IGA is offering a taxi ride home for with your order if you live in town and your order is $10.00 or more, cost .15 cents.
• Newest item for building patios, the concrete patio slab is being produced in North Simcoe by Wyevale Concrete Products.
• $8,462.00 worth of cigarettes stolen from DeNure and Sons Transport warehouse on Easy Street. $5,000.00 worth of cigarettes were stolen from the same warehouse on May 9th.
• 300 children attend St. Paul’s United Church Sunday School picnic at Little Lake Park Wednesday afternoon.
• Polio vaccine proving successful, only six cases reported in Ontario so far this year, none in a vaccinated child.
• Simcoe County council spent Thursday afternoon cruising Georgian Bay on the Penetang Eighty Eight.
• Wrestling at the Arena Gardens Monday June 25th at 8:445PM. Pat O’Connor vs. Lord Athol Layton. Special midget tag team match, Fuzzy Cupid and Sky Hi Low vs. Little Beaver and Cowboy Bradley.
• Esteemed wife of United Church pastor, Mrs. W. R. Auld dies. The former Mary Elizabeth Clark was born at Mountain Ont. in 1889.
• Midland PUC introduces lawn watering restrictions. New hours are 7:30 to 8:30 AM and 6:30 to 7:30 PM.
• The Dam Busters and The Glenn Miller Story are playing in local movie houses.
• Leitz constructing another 2,000 square foot addition.
• Port McNicoll School Board decides not to join MPDHS area, cites full complement of teachers in place and classroom space available. Port McNicoll students who wish to gain their senior matriculation (Grade 13) will continue to enroll for their final year at MPDHS.
• Every issue of the paper has “gossip” columns from the area’s towns and villages, the “who visited whom” section, submitted by local correspondents. This is the Honey Harbour report from the County Herald, Friday June 22, 1956. As I read it many of the names were very familiar, how many do you recognize? ‘Mr. & Mrs. Henry Gamelin of Victoria Harbour week ended with their son-in-law and daughter Mr. & Mrs. Ed Boucher Jr. – Miss Yvonne Boucher and Ronald Murphy of Toronto were weekend guests of Miss Boucher’s family, Mr. & Mrs. Ed Boucher Jr. – Miss Beatrice Macey and Bob Massey of Toronto  week ended with Mr. & Mrs. Frank Macey. – Floyd Oulette of Peterborough visited his mother, Mrs. Margaret Oulette, over the weekend.  – Jack Gillard and Cal Cook visited Mr. & Mrs. Frank Rourke (O’Rourke) over the weekend.  – Miss Carol White who has been attending Nardin Academy School for girls in Buffalo N.Y. for the past year, and Mrs. Louise Parish will spend this coming weekend with Mr. & Mrs. Art White. – David Jacques of Preston visited his brother and sister-in-law, Mr. & Mrs. Joe Jacques during the weekend.  – Mrs. Tom Curry and son have returned from the Bahamas and are residing in Honey Harbour for the summer with Mrs. Curry’s brother-in-law and sister, Mr. & Mrs. Joe Jacques. – Mr. & Mrs. Clifford Paradis, caretakers at Brebeuf lighthouse, and their daughter and son-in-law Mr. & Mrs. Herman Lacroix of Midland, visited Mr. & Mrs. Wilfred Paradis during the weekend.’
• Basic salaries of municipal employees has nearly doubled in the last eight years, mayor tells local Kiwanis Club. Police Chief $2,370 in 1948 to $3,700 in 1956. Senior constables $1,800 to $3,300. Fire chief $2,100 to $3,200, senior firemen $1,920 to $3,000. Public works labourers .55 cents per hour to $1.05, truck drivers .66 cents to $1.15. Public school teachers $1,870 to $3,350.
• Over thirteen million trees have now been planted in Simcoe County forests since 1922, 401,000 in 1955. This far sighted project has been a huge success and a great benefit to the residents of Simcoe County. http://www.simcoe.ca/dpt/fbl/about#ui-id-1

 

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 While regular MPDHS students stayed home to prepare for exams, 243 public school pupils from the area visited the new school in Tay Township for orientation. Glendola Haliburton of Hillsdale tries her hand at the modern sewing machine in the home economics room while instructor Mrs. I. Rayner looks on. Watching are June Elliot of Parkview School, left, and Gail Brand of S.S. #8 Tay, Port Severn.

  New instructor of instrumental music at MPDHS, W. A. “Bill” Bartlett explains the operation of the euphonium to local grade eight students during the recent orientation day at the new high school. Listening are Lynn Johnston, Regent School, Lois Cowan, Parkview, Yvonne Cheetham, Waubaushene and Ken Copeland, Hillsdale.

  On the same orientation day Perkinsfield twins Lorraine and Ellen Lalonde enjoy lunch from their matching dinner pails. Daughters of Mr. & Mrs. Herb Lalonde.

  Grade eight students visit the shop area of the new MPDHS while on orientation day. R. C. (Dick) Moffatt, instructor, explains the use of a “Brake” to bend metal to Orland French, Waverly, and Maurice Dusome, Penetang Public School, both seated and Tom Smith, Moore’s Corner and Winston Gillespie, Regent School.

  The Martyr’s Shrine has an extensive program to increase the natural beauty of their large property on the Wye River. William Doney, head gardener digs the holes while his assistant George Leduc transplants white lilies along a newly opened path. At 72 Mr. Donley was assistant head gardener at a large Cornwall, England estate before taking up farming in Saskatchewan forty years ago. After one year of retirement he took on the job at the Shrine. The men have 1,500 bedding plants to put out in the next two weeks.

  Eight pound nine ounce pickerel, one of forty caught by Ted Holder,  pictured in the photo, Alex Smith and Harold Fox at the Port Severn lock last week using minnows. The men kept fourteen of the forty.

 Jim Stephenson, who this week opened Midland’s newest industry, Bay Meat Packers on William Street, is seen in his large walk-in cooler surrounded by pork carcasses and freshly strung sausage.

 

 Canadian Tire Store on Bay Street, built only a few years ago, has been completely remodeled to give a wide open effect on the display floor. Dave Finch, proprietor, checks fishing gear with manager Murray McComb.

  Canadian Tire Store on Bay Street (north side of Bay between King and Midland Ave.) has been remodeled including the lawn and garden display. Vic Denise is seen arranging a display of the new style plastic garden hoses.

 Eight graduates of the citizenship classes sponsored by the MPDHS School Board and held at the YMCA are seen with two of their teachers. Six achieved marks between 95 and 99 percent in English and civics and the other two were over 90 percent. Front left, Mrs. D. H. Wray instructor, Mrs. Frans Wensven, Mrs. J. W. Smith instructor, Mrs. Paul Wittig, Mrs. Guenther Hille, back row, Horst Befort, Frans Wensven, Frank Van Putte, Paul Wittig and Guenther Hille. 

• New Bank of Nova Scotia opens in Penetang June 11th on the site of the former Pen Bowling Alley.
• J. S. Corcoran (Helen) was re-elected president of the Midland Home & School Association. She will be assisted by Mrs. Leonard Reynolds and Mrs. James Cowan.
• Miss Barbara Hanes receives her nursing diploma from the RVH Nursing School in Barrie with a prize for the highest standard in bedside nursing. Iris Wilson and June Church, both of Midland, also graduated.
• Eleven Cubs of the First Penetang Pack receive their first star and are considered to have “One eye open to wisdom”. Bill Robbins, Stephen Galt, David Hook, Harry O’Hearn, Donald Caughey, Rex Mason, Bob Binkley, Gary Bryant, Robert Larmand, Terry Lapere and Eddie Svoboda.
• New vibrated cement blocks available at Penetang Concrete Products, Louis Gignac proprietor.
• The old North Simcoe Baseball League disappeared from the sports picture at a meeting in Stayner Tuesday night. In its place, a Bruce League grouping will accommodate the Midland Indians, the lone survivor of the North Simcoe.
• Delawana Center books seven conventions this summer.
• Retreads by Gammon’s Tire Shop, 189 Dominion Ave, phone 1740.
• Midlanders to use old phone books until dial system comes on line in July, other areas in the same book such as Barrie and Collingwood have the new book already.
• The Phys-Ed department at MPDHS announced that participants in their programs will need to refrain from smoking entirely during the playing season. They are prepared to withdraw their teams from competition if needed.
• Pepsi-Cola Canada has a full page ad thanking Midland and district for making their product the fastest growing beverage in Canada. Ad was placed by the Hinds Beverage Company Orillia.
• National Employment Service office manager at Midland, Harold Humphries told this newspaper he has 40 unfilled jobs in applications from local employers and doesn’t know how they will be filled.
• Three and a half year old Stewart Duncan, son of Mr. & Mrs. Russell Duncan, Midland Ave., is listed in satisfactory condition after being run over by a car on King Street and suffering multiple chest and head injuries.
• Penetang Tourist Information booth moved to a new site at the entrance to town near the Penetang Bottling Company.
• Expect 1,000 attendees at annual Alcoholics Anonymous picnic to be hosted by the Midland chapter and held for the ninth time at Little Lake Park.
• Pete Lepage’s Eighty-Eight is almost ready to begin another season among the 30,000 Islands and features many improvements made over the winter.
• Fifth drowning victim in the area and only the middle of June; 9 year old boys drowns in a pond near Waverly, two boys drowned in the open bay off Tiny Twp, one man drowned at the Musquosh River and another in Orr Lake.
• Peggy Turcotte, nee Watson, wins award as a top ornamental swimmer in Toronto. Peggy holds swimming instructor certification and a silver medal in lifesaving.
• TEN YEARS AGO THIS WEEK JUNE 1946 — Mayor William Thompson of Penetang informed council that considerable headway had been made with the Wartime Housing Corporation for the erection of 30 houses in Penetang, each to cost about $4,000.00. — Fuel dealers in Midland & Penetang were stock-piling wood for winter use as coal supplies from the United States appeared uncertain. — Citizens of North Simcoe communities were making a concerted drive for clothing, to be sent to destitute people in Europe.–  An estimated $1,000.00 in cash and postal orders was stolen from the Elmvale Post Office.
• An incensed gardener in Flos shoots three of his neighbours cattle after months of trying to stop them from entering his property. Fined $100.00.
• Items from the Midland Public Schools Board monthly meeting; resignation of Alex Docherty accepted with regret, accounts totalling $14, 724.56 were ordered paid, truant officer was called once to Sixth Street School, twice to Parkview and nine times to Regent in the previous month, Parkview principal James Robinson was authorized to purchase two new radio record layers at a cost of $100.00, Fenton’s Welding were contracted to supply three 30 foot flagpoles at a cost of $208.35 and Don Brickett of Parry Sound and Leslie Davidson of RR 2 Midland were officially engaged on the full time teaching staff.
• Victoria Harbour staff removed two fences along the public beach at Robbins Point Friday morning as directed by council, Friday afternoon they were back up, Sunday afternoon a group of irate citizens again removed them.
• Embassy Theatre in Coldwater closes.
• Auto Races every Saturday night under the lights at Wasaga Beach Speedway
• Harbourmaster D. G. Hewis told this paper that the scheduled visit next Tuesday of the U.S. cruise ship North American had been cancelled.

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 Lumberman’s Safety Association presents Joe Charlesbois a Turtle Club award certificate. Joe won the exclusive award while employed by Mr. Ed Copeland in forestry operations. A heavy limb fell 20 feet striking him on the head but he was saved by wearing his safety gear, the hard hat.

 Gleaming OPP pennant displayed by Corporal Blake Ball will identify three new craft delivered by Grew Boats, Penetang, for service in Simcoe and Muskoka waters. The boats are the “Seamaster” type, 20 feet long with an 8 foot beam and 105 horsepower Buchanan motor giving speeds of 27 mph. One will be stationed in Midland, one in Baysville and one in Bracebridge.

  Pat Ivey, a University of Western Ontario student holds one of the native masks that will be on display this summer at the Y’s Men’s Club Indian Village in the Little Lake Park. 

  Mrs. D. H. Wray and Mrs. W. H. Cranston arrange Iroquoian masks in preparation for the opening of Huronia House Museum on June 1st for the 1956 season.

  Tom Shaughnessy Sr. caught this seventeen pound, forty inch pike Sunday while fishing with Murray Wagg and Joe Trottier near Fred Hewitt’s Camp in the Minnicog area. Tom Shaughnessy Jr. stands beside his granddad Robert Thompson of Waubaushene who is holding the fish which is almost as long as Tommy is tall.

  Eight pound, twenty seven inch Pickerel caught on Sunday by Bev Day above the locks at Port Severn using a minnow from the dock. His mates Ted Holder and Alex Smith caught three between them.

  Midland Penetang Huronias play in the Simcoe Soccer Association league, team members are; front row, Andy Clapperton, Wolfgang Jaenisch, Ernst Schneider, Eugen Engelsberger, Siegfried Zingel; back row, Karl Lehr, Gerd Dobkowitz, Wilhelm Schwartz, Berhard Baumann, Rudolph Sindermann and Horst Hasenier.

 The formal gardens at the CPR passenger dock in Port McNicoll are readied for another season. Mike Tersigni, assistant to head gardener John Bell, does the work. Staff are inspired by Superintendant S. F. Malin’s interest in the gardens.

  Mrs. N. J. Carlson chairman of the CLGU par committee for the Ontario Division has just knocked four strokes off the official ladies par at the Midland Golf & Country Club which now stands at a tough 72. Front row, Mrs. F. H. Bell, Mrs. Carlson, Mrs. Ken Lewis, Miss Jean Wallace, Mrs. Verne Wilson, back row, Bob Sandow, former pro at the club, Mrs. Sandow, Bob Sandow’s father Marc,  Mrs. Charles White and Mrs. Gord Moss. 

• Mary Ann Charlesbois, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. P. Charlesbois, Penetang, received her degree of Doctorate of Dental Surgery from the University of Toronto last Friday and will practice in Toronto.
• Penetang merchants find the change from Saturday to Friday night opening has not hurt their trade and in some cases such as the grocery store, business has increased.
• At the Roxy, “Guys & Dolls” with Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and Vivian Blaine. “Forever Darling” with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
• At the Pen, “The Naked Spur” with James Stewart and Janet Leigh. “You’re Never Too Young” with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
• Kenneth Wells and Lucille Oille return from their 6,000 mile journey in “Moonstruck ll” their 18 foot outboard cruiser. Leaving Toronto last November, the Wells cruised down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, to New Orleans, Gulf of Mexico and Florida. After spending six weeks in the Caribbean they headed up the inland waterway to New York, the Hudson River, Erie Canal, Buffalo, Welland Canal to Toronto. As the Trent-Severn waterway is closed, the boat will be returned to Midland by truck.
• Pro wrestling returns to the Arena Gardens Monday June 4th and every Monday night. Main event is Pat O’Connor vs. Fred Atkins.
• Ad rates for the Midland Free Press and the weekend County Herald are .75 cents for the first 15 words and extra words are .03 cents each.
• Coldwater Dairy ups the price of milk by 2 cents per quart, from 18 to 20 cents, citing increased cost of production.
• Victoria Harbour council orders cottagers to remove fences obstructing beach front at Point Beach. (Robbins Point)
• Leo “Lefty” St. Amant has been promoted from parts department manager to salesman at Gropp Motors, joining Ken Tannahill on the sales team.
• Alex Docherty, for seven years the supervisor of music in Midland’s public schools and high school, and organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s United Church, has resigned. Mr. Docherty will take up new duties at Simcoe District High School in September. Main reason for moving was the loss of vocal music beyond grade nine in Midland.
• “Heavy Rains Cut Runnels in Tiny Roads” (In sixty years many words have fallen out of common use in Canada, including runnels. The Free Press often uses the word “yeggs” to describe burglars.)
• Unable to purchase the final two properties needed to build a road from Hwy 27 to the new high school, Tiny Township has started expropriation procedures.
• 25 YEARS AGO, June 1931 — The Ralph Budd docked at the Midland Simcoe Elevator with a cargo of wheat from Fort William. She towed the Glen Bogie also loaded with wheat. It was her fourth trip in a month. —  Two softball fields had been constructed in Little Lake Park for the use of campers. —  The Bijou Theatre in Penetang had announced its re-opening date. The renovated theatre had installed sound equipment. Leslie Letherby, brother of owner Arthur E. Letherby of Barrie, was to be manager.  —  A resident of Port McNicoll for nine years, Gabriel Gardy was electrocuted when he attempted to cut power on a switchboard near the docks.  —  The Letherby-Terry-Nicholson mill was to be reopened . Between 140 and 150 men were to be employed for several months.
• First orientation day set for 240 grade eight students to visit MPDHS. Regular students will be home studying for exams (maybe).
• Tests made by the Simcoe County Health Unit revealed that the water in Little Lake is in A-1 condition. Tests were taken in eight locations.
• County Road 6 between Elmvale and Penetang to be paved.
• Huronia Museum opens June 1st for the season with curator Arthur Douglas Tushingham and Dr. Arthur Douglas Tushingham, director of Archeology at the Royal Ontario Museum, performing the ceremonies.
• Do you remember “Sunbeam Bread” with Miss Sunbeam on the wrapper.
• Announcing the opening of a Brewer’s Retail at Port Severn June 1st.
• Midland Citizens Band will perform in their new uniforms Tuesday evening when they march from the band hall at Dominion and Midland Avenues to the Parkside Inn where they will perform concert.
• Highways Minister James Allan has let tenders for the grading, culverts and granular base on Highway 103 from Waubaushene to Port Severn. Contractors are now engaged in re-surfacing Highway 12 between Waubaushene and Midland and into Port McNicoll.