Click on photos to enlarge

 Apple Day headquarters 1956 is a room in Knox Presbyterian Church. Scouts Gary Blake and Jerry Berriault receive their apples and money cans from Assistant District Commissioner Harvey Boyd and Cubmaster Ida Gardiner. In the back row are Cubmaster Wilf Hamelin, Scoutmaster Tom Gilbert, Assistant Cubmaster Art Richards and District Scoutmaster Charles Roberts look on.

  Saturday was Apple Day for Cubs and Scouts all over Ontario. Billy Cameron and Billy Graham tidy up their baskets before continuing their rounds of Port McNicoll homes. They are members of the 1st Port McNicoll pack.

 Yeggs’ strike local IGA store. Manager George MacFarlane points to the tiny hole drilled into the store safe in an unsuccessful attempt to open it. The safe was embedded in concrete at the front of the store. Two display stands had been moved to conceal their activities. Stealing is hard work and the would-be thieves had to take a break, consuming two pops and a large chocolate bar.

  Midland’s new municipal building is taking shape on the old Central School grounds between Second & Third Streets on Dominion Ave. Late in arriving, steel for the new building has been erected this week , which will permit other work to proceed.

  Getting ready to feed the hundreds of guests expected at the opening of the new public school in Coldwater are members of the Home and School Association, Mrs. Mervin Abott, Mrs. Clem Swailes and Mrs. James Emslie, convener of the group.

  This new addition, on the left, to the Waverly United Church was dedicated at services Sunday afternoon. Termed a Christian Education and fellowship room, it will also serve as a general auditorium. Many members of the congregation provided volunteer labour on the addition which cost around $8,000.00.

  Well equipped kitchen is included in the new addition to the Waverly United Church  which will be dedicated Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Elmer French and Mrs. Reg Drinkill examine a storage rack under the serving window which will hold more than 65 pies. First customer at the counter is Rev. Wesley Glazer.

  Homeowners in the new Ingram Subdivision of Tay Township were all smiles Saturday as workmen completed the first layer of pavement  for the new street, a continuation of Hugel Ave. The street is now more than two miles long and runs from William Street in Midland’s east end to Highway 27 in the west.

 The girls, members of the Tironae Club of Midland YMCA, are sorting rubber footwear for cleaning and repairing before sending it to the Salvation Army. Elsewhere in the room another group is sorting clothing for the same destination. Carol Fox, Karen Robinson, Mary Ann Nicholson, Sheila Barber and Shirley Ann Silver.

  The young lads are getting a few pointers on how to build up muscles through exercises on the parellel bars. They are one of the many groups who receive weekly instructions on gymnastics at the Midland YMCA. Boys are David Carpenter, Ronnie Gosselin, John Thomas, Randy Jones, Paul Henderson, Jerry Beteau, instructor Alex Owen, Edo Wensveen and Gerald Karch.

  There were seldom any empty seats during the five days that Loblaws held their cooking school in the Capitol Theatre, King Street, Midland, last week.

  In a rustic setting, these white washed stones direct the visitor to the Simcoe County Camp of the Ontario Department of Reform Institutions near Hillsdale. In spite of the open gateway there were no escapes attempted this summer at the experimental project where 50 prisoners worked under a few unarmed guards.

  This sturdy bridge on the conservation farm was built by prisoners in nine days at a cost of about $15.00. With the extensive rockery lining the stream, dammed up when the photo was taken, it will add much to the scenic beauty of the Kiwanis property.

  Caretaker at Parkview School, Len Wiles, boards up another broken window, part of a long string of senseless vandalism occurring in Midland recently. Window to the right has a hole in it as well, just to the left of the pumpkin.

  Good progress is being made on Midland’s newest industrial building, that of Pinecrest Products Limited. Located at the extreme easterly end of Bay Street, the new factory will produce unfinished furniture.

  Dressed for initiation these four students are attending the Collingwood vs. Midland junior football game last week. Members of the HiY Unamotus Club the boys are; Ernie Somers, Ron Parker, Gary Woods and kneeling, Bill Swann.

  Simcoe District teachers inspect a new text book during a meeting at Regent School, Midland. Henry Bergen of Christian Island; Ken Cowan, Midland; Wesley Anderson and Walter Black of Christian Island. 

  Barbershoppers are featured in this week’s “Pot Luck” in the editorial column of Wednesdays paper. Bottom, Glen Campbell, Ray Trew, Lloyd Atkinson and Archie Campbell.

MPDHS almost beats Collingwood junior football team, lose 22-16 despite Larry Leroux on the left catching three touchdown passes thrown by John Dubeau on the right.

  Keri Beteau pulls the winning ticket at the recent cooking school sponsored by Loblaws and H. J. Thompson and Sons Ltd. at Midland’s Capitol Theatre. The winner of a new stove supplied by Thompsons was Mrs. Charles Robb of RR 2 Penetang. With Keri on stage are sponsor Bill Thompson, Mrs. Elsie Clay Rogers, who conducted the school and E. G. Saigle, a promotion official with Loblaws.

  October 17th was a happy day for downtown shoppers in Midland as the public works staff began the job of removing and storing all of the parking meters until spring. Ken Walker, left, smiles as Constable Tom Currie tells him to put his money away. Removing the meter is Sam Butineau.

  St. Andrew’s Hospital board member H. G. W. Paice, left, receives a cheque for $1,000.00 from Lions Club president Bill Jeffery.

  Midland’s newest nonagenarian is Philip Henry Blake who marked his 90th birthday at his Yonge Street home Saturday. A native of Ottawa, Mr. Blake has been a resident of Midland for 51 years, most of which time he was engaged as a lumber inspector. 

  People from all walks of life attend the funeral services at St. Paul’s United Church for A. D. Tushingham, recently curator of Huronia Museum and retired manager of the Bell Telephone Company in Midland. Mr. Tushingham died of a heart attack while on a motor trip with his wife and daughter to the east coast, he was 73. 

   Big thermometers on the corner of King & Hugel and King & Colborne will indicate the progress of Midland YMCA’s campaign for $8,500.00 with which to operate its many services during the coming year. With the hammer is Jack Courtemarche, Haig Abbott, Alex Owen and Frank Hartman. By Wednesday noon the amount was $2,432.00, eventually $9,500.00 was raised. [Note the Pentecostal Assembly Church in the background on Colborne St., now with a second storey it is an apartment complex.]

  No trouble cleaning this fish as the owner is a butcher by trade. Isadore Arbour of 242 King (now 264) caught this 12 pound, 36 inch Northern Pike off  the Tiffin Elevator last week with a Canadian Wiggler. Guy Hebner and Clarence Cowie were in the party.

  Workmen applying a new “all metal” roof to the Midland Arena Gardens. 

• Msgr. Castex throws the first ball to open Penetang’s new bowling lanes.
• Grew Boats receives an order for two, 50 foot RCMP patrol boats. Manager Andy Morrison feels that extra staff will need to be hired and full staff will be needed all winter to supply current orders. The new patrol boats feature twin 350HP gasoline engines and sleeping quarters for the crews.
• Consumers Gas Company seeks a franchise from Midland Council to provide natural gas to the community. Supply will be available as soon as the Trans-Canada pipeline from Alberta passes east of here, sometime in the spring of 1958. The company is supplying American natural gas from Toronto as far north as Richmond Hill.
• Two towns plan joint interlocking schedules and administration for the coming Little Hockey League this winter. It is expected that 400 boys will take part in the Penetang league sponsored by the Penetang Boys Club and 450 to 500 in the Midland League sponsored by the Lions Club. Penetang will play in the Arena Gardens until the natural ice is available in Penetang.
• 1st Battalion The Canadian Guards will be holding a recruitment drive at the Midland Armouries, Thursday October 25th.
• Injured recently when his overalls became entangled in the shaft of a wood cutting machine, Robert Mosely Jr. awoke Thursday morning to the sound of tractors in his farm yard. By nightfall all of his fall plowing had been finished. While his neighbours worked Mr. Mosley remained in the fields on his crutches and his wife prepared lunch for the men.
• Resident of Penetang for 51 years, death came unexpectedly to Prosper Beausoliel on Saturday, October 20th at his Robert Street home. Born in Lafontaine he moved to Penetang in 1905 and has been a funeral director for the past 32 years.
• Sixty students, largest class ever, have enrolled in the Midland Business College.
• John Henry Reynolds of Penetang marks his 90th birthday, he has been a resident for 74 years. “Everywhere I worked you never got holidays, six days a week, often twelve hours a day, I guess I will take them now that I am retired.” His daughter-in-law with whom he lives says he is up every morning at five and until two years ago cut and split nine cords of hardwood every year for the furnace.
• The new James Playfair wing of St. Andrew’s Hospital will be officially opened by his brother Stewart Playfair of Toronto on Wednesday evening.
• Attendance at “Kitchi” hits a 37 year record.
• Father of three small children, Clarence Cousineau 28, of Honey Harbour, died in St. Andrew’s Hospital early Sunday morning from a gunshot wound received in a hunting accident 15 miles north of Honey Harbour about 4 p.m. Saturday. Mr. Cousineau was sleeping in the front of a fifteen foot boat when the shotgun of one of his two companions discharged.
• Party of ten ready for deer hunt. Ten members of the Midland Hunt Club will leave this week for their camp at Eagle’s Nest bay on the French River. Madore Latour, Gerrard Berriault, Elmer Contois, Peter Clause, Rex Downer, Charlie Scott, Stan Brooks, Gerry Gammon, Bill Johnson and Stan Sturgeon.
• Rumour is that a group is planning to petition the town to take a vote on a brewer’s warehouse and liquor store in Midland. Midland has been dry since January 7, 1907. An attempt to repeal the by-law during a municipal election in 1915 was unsuccessful. In order to force a vote the signatures of 25% of eligible electors is needed, that would be 1,155 names. 
• Believed to be the town’s oldest native citizen, Mrs. S. A. Jelly recalls early days, written by Ken Somers, Free Press, Wednesday, October 24th, 1956.

     “Although she makes no claims to the fact, perhaps the oldest native resident of Midland is Mrs. Simon A. Jelly of 306 Fourth Street (now 352 just off Yonge). Daughter of the late Mr. & Mrs. H. S. Ruby, who themselves were among the earliest residents of Midland, Mrs. Jelly was born here 78 years ago, August 30th, 1878.       
      Three years earlier her father, one of Midland’s first bakers, had moved his family to Midland from Barrie. The Ruby’s had eight children, all of them girls but one. Mrs. Jelly is the last survivor of that big family. Born Mabel Louisa Ruby in the home that adjoined her father’s bake shop on Midland Ave., she started her schooling in the old Manly Street School, the only one in the town at that time. The old Central School that burnt a few years ago, was being built then, and Mabel Ruby also attended that school for a few years.
    The Manly Street School was a four room frame building on the site of the brick school built some years later and now occupied as a dress firm. [Glen Mohr Frocks then Fabulous Formals and now a private residence] The Baptist Church was right next to the school. The principal at Manly Street was Tom Truman, who also taught at Central.
     Midland was pretty much a lumber town in Mabel Ruby’s younger days. Most of the buildings and what sidewalks there were had been built of wood. The area around her home on Midland Ave. was one of the busiest in town, with her father’s bake shop on one side and a grist mill and a woolen mill just across the street.
     In addition to his bake shop , where he sold huge loaves at 10 cents each, Mr. Ruby also had an ice cream parlour and china shop in the downtown section at the north end of King Street. Crawford’s Men Shop is located on the same site at present. There was only one flavour, vanilla, which Mrs. Ruby made in her own home. Nearly all of Midland’s stores back in Mrs. Jelly’s childhood were located in the two blocks between Hugel Ave and Bay Street. There was one hotel she remembers away up at the corner of King and Yonge.
    The young people of that day often passed the old hotel, especially to go swimming on a hot summer afternoon after Sunday School. Little Lake, then as now, was a popular spot with the younger set, although getting to it was a different matter than it is now. There was just a trail in from the south end of King Street, with several stiles to climb and a marshy path to thread. The area around the lake was not cleared for some years after it was given to the town by Squire Fraser.
     Mable Ruby was married to Simon Jelly on January 31st, 1917. Although her husband’s employment took him to Toronto for many years, Mrs. Jelly always stayed in Midland. The couple had no children of their own but Mabel has nieces and nephews that visit her frequently. They have no trouble finding her as she has lived at 306 Fourth Street since 1910 and has no intention of moving.”

[Mable Ruby died in Midland on March 13th, 1962 at the age of 84 and her husband Simon “Andrew” Jelly followed her 19 days later.]

• Midland YMCA’s Camp Kitchikewana received one of only eight citations awarded in the British Commonwealth this year from the Royal Life Saving Society in London for promoting and furthering the aims of the society. The citation was signed by Admiral the Earl of Mountbatten of Burma, K.G., P.C., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., K.C.B., D.S.O.
• A Barrie man, James Lynn, has purchased the former Bishop Funeral Home in Elmvale from William P. Hutchinson. It will now be known as the Bishop-Lynn Funeral Home. [James and wife Joan eventually moved to Midland and operated the James H. Lynn Funeral Home on First Street]
• Chris Gardner, Midland’s man of mystery, this year celebrates his 52nd year in magic, 32 of them in Midland.
• Penetang taxi operators announce a fare increase commencing November 1st. Town trips .50 cents, one stop, .10 cents for additional stops.

Click on photos to enlarge

  Grey and Simcoe Foresters from North Simcoe participated in “Operation Mandible” a training exercise at the Meaford tank range. Pictured is a formidable line of Sherman tanks. Over 700 men from Canadian Army militia units of the Central Command were involved.

 Photo of four Free Press newspaper carriers in front of the Free Press office on King Street, Wallace Crawford, Gary Blake, Elizabeth Cowan and Graham Shaw.  Midland Free Press employs 38 carriers, each running their own business. Every publishing day they draw their quota of papers and at the end of the month they are billed for the number they have purchased. Then they collect 35 cents from each customer and out of this monthly amount they average about 14 cents per customer.  

Beautiful cheerleaders Elmvale style pictured at the fair last weekend, kneeling, Stephanie Shaw and Betty Marcellus, standing, Bonnie Flotron, Lois Rowntree and Myrna Ingleton.

  Bill Swann is seen winning the heat in the junior 100 yard dash during the MPDHS track and field meet last week. Bill later won the final in the same event and will represent his school at the Tudhope Meet in Orillia.

   A true Thanksgiving is in store for the family of Pat Arthurs who was killed in a car accident August 30th. His wife and six children were left destitute and have been living in this tar paper shack just off Second Street in Port McNicoll. A fund administered by Rev. Leo Austin reached nearly $1,600.00 and made possible the new home where Father Austin is pictured with five of the children. The house was built with volunteer labour.

  Port McNicoll Parish Priest Rev. Leo J. Austin is seen offering good wishes to his successor on the left, Rev. Frank Sullivan, former chaplain at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Toronto. Father Austin left Saturday to become pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Whitby.

  Adeline Carpenter married Peter Smith at the age of 20 and they farmed most of their lives, over 50 years, on a farm on the 2nd concession of Tiny Twp., moving to Midland 20 years ago. Mrs. Smith is ninety-two.  Several of her nephews still live in the Waverly area, Walter, Jack and Fred Carpenter, Mrs. Frank Reynolds in Waverly, Mrs. Henry Reynolds in Wyebridge and Mrs. Percy Woods in Ebenezer are nieces. It has only been the last 12 years or so that Mrs. Smith has been sightless but continues to knit hundreds of pairs of socks and mittens for local children.

   New taxi with 1,300 miles on it ends up in the bay off the town dock. The driver was Dalton Crawford who went down with the car but managed to roll down a window and escape. Owner of the taxi is Bert Martin. Several attempts had to be made by Ken Beatty before the heavily damaged vehicle was salvaged.

  New MPDHS cheer leading squad bolstered by the addition of two boys. Front, Gerald Sibbald, Sheila Barber, Linda Contois, Shirley King, Janice Switzer and Don Biggs, rear, Sylvia White, Marilyn Thompson, Gail Gamna, Gail Marshall, Lucille Duquette and Rosemary Shields.

  Often called the greatest invention of the 20th century and credited with saving hundreds of lives, workers paint the white lines on the newly surfaced highway through Victoria Harbour.

  New choir leader and organist at Knox Presbyterian Church Midland is Stanley Harman seen relaxing in his Manly Street home. Recently retired after serving 30 years as an official with the CNR in Toronto and Montreal.

  Huge boulders and lots of stone were encountered by contractors as they extended the Tiny Township portion of Hugel Ave. out to Highway 27. Many of the larger boulders were re-buried in pits alongside the new road. 

• Midland Parks Commission crews are removing and cutting into firewood about twenty mature trees in Little Lake Park which have been considered unsafe. Chairman W. J. Murray said that sixty, four year old pine, larch, elm , maple, polar, oak, walnut and butternut trees have been moved from the arboretum at the park’s west end and transplanted. Two photos below from 1953 show the planting of the arboretum.

  Scouting youth and leaders as well as Midland Parks Commission staff are seen examining newly planted seedlings on the North side of Little Lake. Twenty two different varieties have been planted, signs mark Norway Spruce and European Larch. St. Margaret’s Scout group help weed the Midland Parks Board arboretum seed bed. Men in the photo are Scoutmaster Ted Johnstone, Park Board Chairman William Murray , Parks Superintendent Harold (Mac) McAllen. Boys in the group are John Barber, Francis Cadieux, Lloyd Kaus, Bill Deschamp, Larry Deschamps, George Johnstone, Doug Blake, Phillip Charlesbois and Ronnie Dalziel.

  Rover Scouts Bill Lavigne and Guy Johnstone; Scouts, Ross Lavigne and Ronnie Larmand and Cubs Bernie Montgomery and Wayne Lavigne weed seedling trees. Little Lake is in the background. 

• Courses in basic English and citizenship for new Canadians operated by the Midland – Penetanguishene High School Board will open Tuesday October 9th. Registration begins at the YMCA at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 5th.
• The board of the Protestant Separate School in Penetang has found it necessary to open a new classroom this term and has been successful in finding a new teacher. Board chairman Ed Webster said attendance at the school has increased by 42 students during the past three years, from 172 to 214.
• CKVR TV in Barrie seeks to increase the power of its transmission much to the dislike of many local viewers. While few viewers were happy with the allocation of channel 3 to Barrie because of the virtual block-out of channels two and four from Buffalo, the increase in power will extend that interference to a larger part of the province.
• Lawrence Fournier of Penetang, while playing cribbage with fellow Beatty employees, was dealt a perfect hand.
• Wood for sale; 4′ lengths $10.00 per cord, 16″ lengths $12.00 per cord.
• Perkinsfield farmer fined $25.00 by magistrate K. A. Cameron for not filing his 1952 income tax return. His defense included, “I don’t know whether I made a dollar or spent one, I don’t keep any records. It’s all the same to me, I can’t read or write anyway.”
• At the Pen, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in “The Long, Long Trailer”. 
• At the Roxy; Gary Cooper, Charles Bickford, Ralph Bellamy and Rod Steiger in “The Court Marshall of Billy Mitchell”.
• Advertisements: Hillsdale – Waverly Bus Line to Midland, daily except Sundays. Parkside Pavillion, A Jamboree of Country Rock & Roll starring the fabulous Red Monroe and the Country Mainliners. Bourgeois Motors, see the magnificent 1957 Meteor today at our Vinden Street showroom. Fall Fashion Show accompanied by live models, put on by Edwards and held at the community hall in Wyevale. Mrs. Olive Brunelle wishes to announce that the Chalet Beauty Salon at 248 King Street will no longer be open for business. Thanksgiving Dinner at Bourgeois Lakeshore Dining Room, $1.50 for either turkey, fried chicken, roast beef or pork chops and $1.75 for T-Bone steak. Gammon Tires, 189 Dominion Ave., Don’t wait until the snow falls, winter tires, 670-15’s, $29.00 a pair. Cottage Lots, now available for lease on Christian Island Reserve. Opening October 15th, Major Hairdressing at 215 King Street, Gertrude Major proprietress. G&M Shoppe and Watson’s Ladies Wear , Elmvale, are promoting “Teena – Paige” fashions sizes 7-15 and “Harbrook” English sweaters.
• Plastics division of Percy Harmant Co. becomes the Plastic Division of Midland Industries Limited, 36,000 square foot addition to Elizabeth Street plant to start immediately. Harmant has been in the plastics business for 20 years operating from a six storey factory on King Street in Toronto.
• H. J. Payette, son of Mr. & Mrs. Napoleon Payette and a native of Penetang, received papal honours when he was elevated to knight commander of St. Gregory the Great in a ceremony in London Ont. where he now works for the Catholic School Board.
• Ontario vehicle registrations in 1955 were 1,617,000, forty percent of Canada’s total. In 2015 the total was 7.9 million, thirty six percent of the national total.
• Doug Strathearn moves his jewellery business from 215 King to 245 King, the former site of Ted McKillens clothing store. The store operated by his grandfather, George Strathearn, was originally located near the Queen’s Hotel at the corner of King and Bay and was advertising in the Free Press in 1872. It then moved to where the Bank of Montreal is located, then to 215 King where it has been for 28 years.
• Jim O’Hearn is to manage the Knights of Columbus bowling alley that is to be officially opened Friday night.
• St. Andrew’s Hospital Auxiliary is holding a “Pantry-shelf Pick Up” Thursday and Friday. Includes Jams, Jellies, Juice, Fruit, Vegetables, Pickles, etc. Labelled contributions to be placed in a conspicuous spot on your veranda by 10 a.m. Sealers only will be returned empty, if name and address is on the label.
• Georgian Bay Propane formerly situated on the town dock has moved to 207 Hugel Ave. E., the Georgian Block.
• 25 YEARS AGO, 1931 – Foundations for the new $34,900 post office and customs building at Main and Robert Streets in Penetang, had been started. May 1932 was the date set for completion. Stanley Dobson of Midland broke his own junior shot put record in the eight-pound event at the track and field meet at the Barrie Fair. He also won the 12-pound event. In a relay race from Victoria Harbour to Midland, a Victoria Harbour team defeated a Midland aggregation. First lacrosse game in Penetang in 20 years , saw Penetang gain a 3-2 win over a team from Barrie. Midland council, under the direction of Mayor Roebuck, held a special meeting to draft a program of work for the town’s unemployed. Fire which broke out in Lionel Bourgeois’ service station in Victoria Harbour about 9.30 a.m. October 7th, completely destroyed the building. Only the cash register, a desk and chair were saved. A severe electrical storm swept across North Simcoe causing major damage to hydro lines in Midland. Transformers at St. Andrew’s Hospital, Midland Shipyard, on Queen, Johnston, William and Yonge Streets were in some cases damaged beyond repair.
• Keith Preston of Midland out-fiddled nine other contestants last week at Elmvale to win the old time fiddlers contest at that community’s fall fair.

 From sugar bush to super school, only a few short months ago George Ingram’s sugar bush occupied the land on which sits this million dollar building, the new Midland Penetanguishene District High School. Pressed into use last January the building will be officially opened Wednesday (Oct 3, 1956) afternoon and evening.

 

The official opening and laying of the cornerstone by former MHS principal J. J. Robins for the new MPDHS high school in Tay Township just west of Midland.  Mr. Robins had been principal of MHS for 32 years prior to his retirement. At an evening function Mr. Robins was presented with a television set in recognition of his long service to the community. Rev. B. G. Brightling of Penetang conducted the dedication service.  J. J. Robins speaks at the official opening.

J. J. Robins, retiring principal of MPDHS was once a pupil of the Hon. W. J. Dunlop, minister of education for Ontario. The two men and spouses met again during the official opening of the new MPDHS in Tay Township.

 Relaxing on the lawn after the serious business of laying the cornerstone of the new MPDHS, officials are Tom M. McCullough, chairman of the board and W. H. Morrisson vice-chairman; Dr. W. J. Dunlop, minister of education for Ontario; board members, Clarke Edwards and Dr. J. R. Parrott. Facing sideways on the right is Rev. B. G. Brightling of Penetang who conducted the dedication service.

• Program for the official opening was; Laying of the corner stone before the entire student body at 2:45 PM. Rev Arthur J. Lewis of Penetang to perform the dedication. [He was taken ill and replaced by Rev. B. G. Brightly of Penetang] Ex-principal J. J. Robins will lay the cornerstone followed by the presentation of the trowel by trustee Dr. J. R. Parrott. Following a banquet for invited guests, the evening program begins at 8 p.m. with selections by the school glee club, directed by R. C. Ireland. Guests will be introduced by MPDHS board chairman T. M. McCullough. Trustee Clarke Edwards will make a presentation to J. J. Robins. Trustee W. H. Morrison will introduce the guest speaker, Hon. Dr. W. J. Dunlop, Minister of Education for the province of Ontario. Principal L. M. Johnston will address the gathering, after which the public will have an opportunity to inspect the school. Light refreshments will be served in the cafeteria.
• Clarke Edwards presented the gift of a TV and Tower TV hookup to retired MHS principal J. J. Robins with these words. “As a representative of the board, it is my pleasure to express appreciation to J. J. Robins, who retired as principal of MPDHS 2 years ago, after 33 years in the position. Mr. Robins began teaching in the MHS in September, 1920. In 1923 he received his high school principal certificate and was appointed principal of the school, the youngest high school principal in the province at that time. In the beginning he had 110 pupils and 5 staff and over the years this increased to 18 teachers and 575 pupils. During this time two additions were built on the school. Mr. Robins achieved the amazing record of not missing one day of school for the first 30 years, and then only due to an operation.”
• The first high school board in Midland consisted of chairman W. J. Parkhill, and members James Playfair, Peter Potvin, F. J. McCallum, F. W. Jeffery, A. A. Osborne, I Freeman and T. I. Trueman. That was in 1904 when E. Simpson was engaged as the first principal of the new four roomed building on Sixth Street south. Midland’s first venture into secondary education. Eighty-five students enrolled in the first school, built by J. M. Wallace and A. Cook. D. Patchell was supervisor of construction and T. J. Campbell installed the heating and ventilation system. Principal Simpson died in 1909 and was succeeded by W. A. Glass who resigned in 1922. Miss E. M. Boyle , who had been in the school for seven years, was the next principal followed a year later by J. J. Robins. Contractors Webb and Cumming built a new wing on the school in 1923. That year also saw the first edition of the year book the “Tattler”. Never to be forgotten, are the 28 young men who gave their lives in World War II and the scores of former members of the school cadet corps who served in time of war.
• In June, 1953, Midland and Penetang councils first approved the building of a joint high school for the Georgian Bay area in Tay Township. Strong support in promoting the decision to the councils came from W. H. Morrison and Msgr. J. M. Castex in Penetang, and T. M. McCullough in Midland.
• School cost estimates close. When the MPDHS board met in mid May of this year, it had about $3,500. “leeway” after raising and spending just over one million dollars on the new school building.

  Jane Lippert, young Toronto artist works on the huge mural that will decorate the main hallway of the new Midland Penetanguishene District High School in Tay township. School board members Tom M. McCullough, chairman Clarke Edwards and Karl Bertrand.

 

We have no names for these five. The photo was used in the paper but the boys were not identified. They may be grade eight students on orientation. Please comment if you know any of them.

 Serving counter in the new cafeteria at MPDHS.

  Bright sunny classrooms like this one on the west side of the new Midland Penetang District High School are designed with a new type of move-able desks that add to the adaptability of the room. 

Midland Penetang District High School new combination gym and auditorium can seat 1,000 people and be divided in two by giant folding doors for various functions. The fine stage area will feature a grand piano and in the future will host many events. (When I attended we used the gym also as a cafeteria and it was informally called the cafatorium)

  Midland Penetang District High School industrial arts wood working room.

• Penetang High School, in fifty years, produced its full share of pupils whose names are heard daily in the professions, on Parliament Hill and in many countries of the globe. Set high on a hill to the East of Church Street, the old school commanded a beautiful view of Penetang Bay and the hills beyond. Today (1956) the old school , now owned by the municipality, is still dispensing education. Since September 1955 it has been used to take the overflow of boys from the Public Schools. A Mr. Allingham opened high school classes in the town hall in 1905 while the new school was being built. Mr. Keoh and Mr. Hutchinson were teachers in the new school with Mr. Allingham the first principal. A short time after the opening R. D. Keefe, father of Midland’s Beverley and Neville Keefe, assumed the duties of principal. In the early thirties Mr. Keefe moved on to the Department of Education and W. H. Bolger became principal. He was followed by Emmett Doris. The last principal was R. C. Gauthier, now assistant principal at the new MPDHS.
• Many contractors and suppliers placed ads in the newspaper congratulating the school board and community on the completion of the new high school. T. G. Wilcox, of Midland, excavating, grading and sodding. Cuthbert Annand of Midland, roofing and flashing. A. Barrie & Sons of Midland, furniture for the ladies staff room and dining area. Sutherland-Schultz Electric Co. of Kitchener, electrical work. Page & Steele architects. Wood’s Sanitation for the Nation, janitorial equipment. Edwards of Midland, flooring, draperies. Preston – Noelting Co. of Stratford, office furniture. National Show Case Co. Ltd., laboratory desks, teachers desks, all office fixtures. George Price & Co. Ltd. of Coldwater, plumbing and heating. Hospital & Kitchen Equipment Co. of Toronto, kitchen and cafeteria equipment. Ball Bros. Ltd. of Kitchener, general contractors. Gestetner Canada Ltd. of Toronto, duplicators. Terrazzo Mosaic & Tile Co. Ltd. of Toronto, tile and terrazzo.