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• Tiny Township council, at a special meeting, adopt Daylight Saving Time, following the lead of Midland & Penetang
• Hundreds motor to Medonte or Midhurst to see the CPR’s new streamlined passenger train “The Canadian”
• Over two thousand local grade one, two and three students are eligible to receive the free polio vaccination, Simcoe County Health Unit will start program next week
• Sir James Dunn, first ship into Port McNicoll with 607,000 bushels of wheat
• Gammon Tires, Dominion Ave. East is offering re-treaded tires for $10.49.
• Measles cases on the rise, April report from the Simcoe County Health Unit, 452 cases, 10 times the March total
• Weather changes but never changes, 25 years ago on April 23rd North Simcoe was blanketed with several inches of snow and a week later the temperature was 78 degrees.
• Midland Park Commission calls for tenders on three more cottages to be built in the tourist park this year. Designed by the town engineer R. M. White, the 18 by 22 foot structures will feature a picture window and shower facilities.

Obituaries;

 Napoleon (Paul) Lagree died of a heart attack while fighting a grass fire at his home. Born and educated in Victoria Harbour, married in St. Mary’s Church to local girl Stephannia DeCaire, the couple lived in the Harbour all their married life. Paul worked for Waldie Lumber then the CPR in Port McNicoll.

 Alfred Gingras, area resident for fifty years, died at his home 238 George Street (now 262 George) on April 17th in his 71st year.

Melina, Mrs. Israel Dumais nee Chevrette, died at the Beechwood Nursing Home on March 22 at the age of 82. Survived by daughter Annie and sons Ernest, Marcel, Gilbert, Peter and Alfred.

This floating boarding house will provide accommodation for 20 hydro linemen when completed. Seen here in Penetang Harbour having the superstructure built is the 12 ton scow constructed by Daniels Welding Service, Midland. Art Ridout, Balm Beach, has the contract for the building. When complete it will contain a galley and dining room on the lower floor and ten double deck bunks upstairs.

Despite difficulty getting material to the construction site good progress is being made on the new Midland Penetanguishene District High School. Fortunately much material was moved while Hugel Avenue was still frozen. Fred Lalonde of Midland is seen spraying a protective coat of paint on the steel work.

MPDHS students from Bob Joyce’s grade 10B class cook up the few smelt they caught at Dault’s Bay Thursday night. The smelt weren’t running too well but everyone got a taste. The Free Press cropped the photo for publication so we do not have the names of the two boys on the left or the man on the right. Kneeling, Rodger Gray, Alice Campbell, Mary Ann Wheeler,  Marlene Burnett, standing, Norma Lyle, Ron McQuaig, Glen Mitchell and Marion Shaw.

Another photo of the MPDHS smelt fishing excursion which was published but the students were not identified. Anyone remember?

Navigation season officially opened in Port McNicoll when Capt. J. W. Scarrow of Hamilton brought the Sir James Dunn to harbour with 607,000 bushels of wheat for the nearly empty CPR elevator. The Dunn was the last ship to leave Port McNicoll this spring, having wintered there. Left, R. E. Stephens  chief engineer, Captain and Mrs. Scarrow and George Burns, the new Port McNicoll harbourmaster. Betty Jane Zummach, daughter of councillor John Zummach presented Mrs. Scarrow with flowers. Captain Scarrow has been a master for 34 years and this was his first top hat. He also commended the village for recognizing the chief engineer as” he deserves as much credit and is often overlooked.”

Midland Lions Club safety committee members are busy attaching red reflective tape to the rear and silver reflective tape to the front of the bicycles of all public and separate school students in Midland. Bob Stanway, Jack Frame, Jim Moss and Don Swinson at Regent School.

Robert Rhodes of Sixth Street School watches while Walter Woods and Dan Nicholls apply safety reflective tape to  his bike.

In doing this cataloguing for Huronia Museum I see the photo before the description and to me part of the challenge is trying to guess the reason for the photo. The location was obvious by observing our cenotaph through the window, between the tree trunks, but I had to drive by to identify the exact house which was 347 King and is now 437 King.  The interior of a well kept living room of the time, a chance to peek inside someone’s home. The portable phonograph, mantle radio, stand ashtray, leaded glass window, old style phone, but why a pistol and a tobacco cutter.

Toronto born William Steggles, former CNR yardmaster in Midland, demonstrates how tobacco used to be cut from plugs for pipe use. The cutter he is using was made from wood salvaged from the first passenger coach used on the old Northern Railway into Penetang. It was presented to railway president F. C. Cumberland who gave it to Steggle’s father when he quit smoking, the nickel plated fitting that holds the cutting knife was made from a valve off one of the locomotives. Williams father was paymaster for the Northern and Northwestern Railway and for protection carried the revolver that William now proudly possesses.

Head Table guests at the annual dinner of the Georgian Bay Hunters and Anglers Club, held at the Legion hall in Waubaushene. Lorne “Smokey” Woods, Chris Armstrong,  Department of Lands and Forests biologist and guest speaker, Bill Russell club president and Jack Prentice of Toronto, president of Zone 5 of the association.

Huronia Museum offers condolences to the family of the late “Smokey” Woods  on the passing of his wife Mary Woods nee McKinley on Monday May 4th, 2015 at the age of 103.

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•  Drive-In opening April 22 – children under 12 free – come as you are, no need to dress up. “Ride Clear of Diablo” Audie Murphy; “Paris Playboys” with the Bowery Boys
• Margaret Wice of Penetang, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. C. S. Wice receives her gold cord certificate in Guiding, only girl in area known to reach this level
• Georgian Bay Hunters & Anglers seek a permanent location for a club house and rifle range states club president Bill Russell at their annual meeting in Waubaushene
• Catherine Richardson and John Arpin performing together on two grand pianos to raise money for the St. Andrew’s Hospital Building Fund
• WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) elects new officers at their April meeting
• Grand opening of Midland’s newest hairdressing establishment, Cosy Corner Hairdressing, 288 Midland Ave. (now 316) o/o Mrs. Pauline Koziol
• Daylight savings time, advance clocks one hour on April 25th until September 25th
• Rural hydro to build 17.5 miles of new lines and service 407 new customers this summer
• Penetang town foreman Ovilla Cascagnette rescues an infant and a two year old from the burning home of Alcime Light on Robert St. Wednesday morning
• 10 year anniversary of the death of D. L. White at 86, one of the big four responsible for the beginnings of Midland’s industrial history; D. S. Pratt, F. L. Grant, James Playfair and Mr. White
• Frank Harpell of the Midland built Gordon C. Leitch wins the top hat at Port Arthur and Capt. Sam Bell also of Midland and skipper of the Superior claims the top hat at Wallaceburg
• Two local youths charged with the assault of Phillip Contois of Concession 18, Tiny Twp., Ed Dorion who came to Mr. Contois aid was also attacked
• Barn of Grenville Doan on the 8th concession of Flos Twp. was completely destroyed by fire after lightning strike, 56 animals lost
• 137 homes in the Wireless Hill area to get home mail delivery as soon as 90% have mail boxes or mail slots and house numbers
• Bell Telephone calls tenders for their new dial exchange building to be built at the corner of Hugel and Midland Avenues, to be ready next summer.
• Cancellation of recent powder box contract causes the lay off of fifty men at the C. Beck Company in Penetang
• Penetang town hall undergoes renovations to allow both fire trucks to be parked inside. Main street sewer being lowered to eliminate costly pumping arrangement, sewer will be over twenty feet deep in some places
• Funeral service for Mrs. Amelia Johnston, 71, of Victoria Harbour, who died after her dress caught fire while burning leaves in her yard

Jack McKee piles salvaged bricks from the burned out Central School. He estimates there are 200,000 usable bricks that are being sent to the new high school and the St. Andrews Hospital addition to be used as inside layers affecting a huge savings in material costs.

Familiar sight to several generations of tourists and North Simcoe residents, the City of Dover has been sold to John Belmore of Sault Ste. Marie. Exact fate of the veteran cruise ship is not known but the new owner is expected in town later this month to move the Dover to its new home. (Not to worry she comes back to Midland again)

Captain Linden Burns receives his first top hat as a Great Lakes Captain as his ship the Prindoc of the Paterson Line is the first ship into Midland Harbour with 5900 tons of coal. Mrs Burns hold his regular hat while A. C. McCaul of the Midland Chamber of Commerce and Reeve W. H. Keller, far left, look on.

Jim Radley, formerly of Liverpool, sorts life rings on the Ashcroft in preparation for her spring departure. This is Radley’s second season on the Great Lakes, Ray Denis, helmsman, is also in the photo. Many Midland men were familiar with the fitting out process, the scraping,the painting and the polishing.

Canada Steamship Lines freighter Ashcroft departs harbour past the Century Coal Dock at the foot of William Street, the first ship to leave this season. Large pipe is the sewage outflow before the sewage plant was built at this corner.

Hundreds of hockey fans gather on  King Street to watch the NHL final on television in the window of Beauchamp’s Electric at 308 (now 354) King Street. Traffic on King was down to one lane at times. The TV was connected to Midland’s new Tower TV system and except for a few interruptions from lightning reception was excellent.

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 From Midland and Penetang, tops in the Midland Music Festival these 19 musicians were awarded scholarships at the “Stars of the Festival” concert, March 31st. Back row; Fred Gaviller, Gary Flynn, John Arpin, Peter Bramah, Doug Setterington, Mary Popple and Doris Hyde. Front row; Keith Craig, Jim Cleaver, Jane Crawford, Andy Zgudziak, Maureen Belfry, Eleanor Boden, Elizabeth Cleaver, Eleanor Paice, Maureen Jeffery, Anne Webster, Elizabeth Cowan and Robin Ann Allsopp.

 

 Champion egg hunters. Y’s Men sponsored a huge Easter egg hunt in Little Lake Park Saturday morning. Metal tokens were hidden throughout the park, exchangeable for prizes later. Several of the tokens were punched with a series of holes entitling the finder to the main prizes. A large candy firm had donated 7,000 chocolate Easter eggs, chocolate rabbits and kiddy-pops to towns from Montreal to Windsor, such as Sudbury, Peterborough, Guelph, Acton, Brantford, etc. Public and separate school children up to grade six were allowed to participate.

Margitta Litchtenfeld got the main prize, Lynn McAllen, Ricky Hanes and Bob Mathis received main prizes, everyone who took part took something home.

 

Midland District High School Glee Club perform at the “Stars of the Festival” on March 31st at the YMCA. Called the “Choraleers” their director is Alex Docherty.

 

• Lewis Livingston, well known Midland businessman dies in car crash north of Barrie, survived by his wife and three sons, Leo, Herman and Mike. Mike was the first Midlander to enlist in WW2.
• Penetang contractor Howard W. Way awarded $25,000.00 contract for flooring, siding and roofing on 186 homes to be built at CFB Borden.
• Henri (Harry) Carriere, 65 year old Highland Point resident drowns when his wooden boat is crushed by the ice in Penetang harbour
• Council told that 46 Dollartown properties average only $22.00 in taxes compared to the norm of $80.00. Assessments from $260.00 to $100.00.
• Effective May 1st nursing rates have been raised; $10 for 8 hour regular cases, $11 for 8 hour Psychiatric, Alcoholic and Communicable disease cases.
• Obituaries; Walter Drinkill nee Alice Jane Moody, Waverley aged 72; Stephen Lahey, Perkinsfield; Mrs. Joseph Lortie nee Philomene Bourgeois; Mrs. Nelson Ambeau Midland, born 1882 at French River; Harry A. Barnett, born December 8, 1876 in Waubaushene, married Clara E. Grant, predeceased by son Len, survived by grandchildren Bill & Gwen.

 

Young orators speak to Midland Y’s Mens Club at their regular meeting. Alice Campbell, Midland, Martin Gouett, Waubaushene, Nancy Rose, Fesserton, teacher Frank Powell MDHS, back row, Hartmut Bezner and Ron Blair both of Midland.