Huronia Museum – Looking Back 60 Years ago in North Simcoe – June 1st to 7th 1956

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2006 0020 2364 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.

 2006 0020 23342006 0020 2332Gleaming 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.

 2006 0020 2377 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. 

 2006 0020 2379 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.

 2006 0020 2303 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.

 2006 0020 2367 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.

 2006 0020 2371 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.

2006 0020 2372 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.

 2006 0020 2374 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.

Huronia Museum – Looking Back 60 Years ago in North Simcoe – May 24th to 31st 1956

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1994 0132 0069 Msgr Castex 85th Monsignor Castex celebrates his 60th anniversary in the priesthood. Over 100 clergy of the Roman Catholic Church attended. Most Rev. B. I. Webster, D.D. Bishop of Peterborough, Rt. Rev. J. M. Castex, James Cardinal McGuigan of Toronto and Rt. Rev. E. Brennan Toronto, toastmaster.

 1994 0132 0067 Msgr Castex 85 year old Monsignor Castex at a reception for his 60th Anniversary in the priesthood. Chatting with Crown Attorney Wm. Thompson, QC. (Monsignor Castex died in 1971 at age 99.)

1994 0132 0047 Foundry PartyMr. A. L. Fitzgerald’s retirement as superintendent of Beatty Bros. Foundry. Mr. Fitzgerald is speaking to Alf Atkins, on left, one of three men who were working at Beatty Bros. when Mr. Fitzgerald started 32 years ago. The other two were Jack Russell and Archie Cote.

2006 0020 2300 Girl Guide Cookies. Doreen Moreau, 2nd Midland Guides, Mrs. Thomas Shaughnessy district commissioner and Ann Davidson 3rd Midland Brownie Pack get ready for the annual event which takes place in Midland this Saturday.

 2006 0020 1845 Looking deserted because of the unseasonable weather is John Deako’s (Johnny fries) new park store at Little Lake. All cement block construction is a big improvement over the wooden booth that occupied the site for many years. Band shell in the background.

 2006 0020 2288 Seventy year old Mrs. Midas King was found by her son Clifford at Basswood Point on Gloucester Pool Channel early Sunday afternoon. Wet from the rain and wearing only her underclothes and no shoes she was found some eight air miles from her home, she had been missing for over 48 hours.

 2006 0020 2318 Searchers helping to locate Mrs. Midas King, nee Simons, near Honey Harbour over the weekend. Soldiers from Base Borden, local police, neighbours and relatives all tromped the wet bush between Honey Harbour and Gloucester Pool. Mrs. King had been spotted twice over the three days in the area of the new Trans Canada Highway and was finally found by her son Clifford near Gloucester Pool Channel. Andy Simons Mrs. Kings brother, Adam King, Mrs. Dave Tobey (a sister), Mrs. Violet Simons and Larry Simons.

 2006 0020 2285 Sixty-six members of the RCASC  (Royal Canadian Army Service Corps) School at Camp Borden regroup to resume the search for Mrs. Midas King along the route of the new Trans Canada Highway north of Port Severn.

 2006 0020 2279Excavator owned by contractor Thomas G. Wilcox & Sons loads waiting dump trucks as they prepare the site of the new municipal building on Dominion Ave.

 2006 0020 2461 Top athletes at MPDHS honoured at an awards banquet in the new cafeteria Thursday night. Marlene Gouett was the top girls athlete and Mel Windover the most valuable player on the senior boys basketball team.

 2006 0020 2295 Five MPDHS athletes receive their letter at the athletic dinner Thursday night. Letter awards are based on an accumulation of points over your high school career. Carol Cowan, Judy McIntyre, Frank Holmes, Bob Marshall and Bruce Calvert. Not present, Angela Cronin.

 2006 0020 2294 Donna Kinnear (Mrs. Jim Nicholson) receives the J. J. Robins trophy for competition between Georgian Bay Schools junior basketball teams from Mr. Robins the former MDHS principal. Donna is the captain of the Midland team which won this past season. Since first awarded in 1935-36 Midland has won it all but six times.

 2006 0020 2315 Result of a crash on Bay Street early Saturday morning, two identical model cars with near identical damage. Total cost was estimated at $1,400.00 by Midland police. 

  • Midland council OK’s $27,000.00 contract to repave Kings Street from the town limits to the CNR tracks; from King west on Yonge to Fifth; from King west on Bay to Fourth and thence north to the junction of Vinden Street and the county road. Brennan Paving Co. will begin immediately as they are now completing the paving of Highway 27 from Wyebridge to Elmvale.
  • Three seaman’s unions sign new wage agreement with the Lake Carriers Association after a nine day strike. 5,000 men are affected by the new agreement that sees the monthly rate for a deckhand go from $190 to $284.
  • Tourist promotion fizzles, 21 Midland merchants met a week ago and enthusiastically called for a promotion planning meeting Thursday morning but only four members showed up.
  • Georgian Bay Hunters and Anglers members plant five thousand Scots Pine and one thousand permanent trees including Larch and White Pine on their new club site below the Martyr’s Shrine.
  • Tomato plants and a good selection of annuals for sale at Vivian Gardens, 365 Hugel Ave. W.
  • Waitresses wanted, both full time and summer help, Totem Pole, Penetang.
  • Last of a series of narratives written by Rev. James Evans, a Methodist missionary, 120 years ago. “Called to Council, the Ottawa’s and Chippewa’s , each of whom claimed the Munnedoolin Island, relinquished the same on condition that the Governor should secure it to both and their heirs forever. It was likewise proposed that the Chippewa’s from Saugeeng should relinquish all title to their extensive territory on Lake Huron, retaining only the peninsula between the said lake and the Georgian Bay, the line to commence at the bottom of Owen’s Sound and to extend directly across the peninsula. Thus the Indians again were removed from the spot to them dearest on earth and constrained to give place to those who, receiving greater encouragement, make consequently greater improvement.” Rev. James Evans took exception to a great many statements in Sir Francis Head’s official reports regarding these transactions and published a series of articles in the April 11 and May 9, 1838 issues of the Christian Guardian.
  • For the first time in the history of organized ski competitions in Canada, one club has been granted the Canadian Championship two years running. Midland Ski Resorts Limited will again host the Canadian ski jumping contests February 23 and 24, 1957.
  • Ten Years Ago – 1946- A Tiger Moth plane, en route from Oshawa to the Muskoka Airport, made a forced landing in the field back of Regent School; The Small Holdings Branch of the Department of Veterans Affairs announced the purchase of the 43 acre M. J. McCullough farm on Highway 12 (Yonge Street) west of Midland. The land was to sub-divided into 2 acre lots for a veteran’s housing development; Midland High School track star Doug Kettle captured three firsts in an Ontario Athletic Commission meet at Geneva Park, Orillia. With entry limited to three events, Doug chose high jump, running broad and hop step and jump, easily winning all three; The SS Capt. George Hindman ran aground on a sand bar at the entrance to Midland harbour; Henry Gauthier, 34 year old Penetang veteran, was appointed Indian agent at the Christian Island Reserve.
  • Cartoon section of this weeks paper includes Blondie, Muggs and Skeeter, Elsworth and POGO.
  • Over 400 attend the unveiling Sunday afternoon in Bradford the plaque honouring Prof. W. H. Day. originator of the Holland Marsh.
  • Midland Council orders dog catcher Jos. Proulx to crack down on dogs running loose. Any dog unclaimed within 24 hours will be destroyed.
  • Deaths on Simcoe County roads totalled 45 in 1955 and 1,111 provincially. (In 2015 there were 299 deaths on OPP patrolled roads in Ontario. There were 1.5 million vehicles registered in Ontario in 1955, in 2015 there were 11.5 million.)
  • Penetang Bottling Co. Ltd. announces the new “King-Size” bottle. King-Size, 6 bottles for 41 cents and Standard-Size, 6 bottles for 36 cents (plus deposit). Actual volume of the bottles is not given in the ad.
  • Boyce Garage at 190 Dominion Ave E. is advertising the new Studebaker models.
  • 87% of Ontario farms are served by electricity in 1956
  • Anthony Van Steedon, 41, captain of Toronto furrier Jack Creed’s luxury yacht drowns in the Haystack Rapids on the Musquosh River, local Capt. T. O. Light survives as their small boat capsizes.

The Renowned Fleet of Passenger Ships between 1913 and 1965

Join us for an event here at the Huronia Museum, June 17th, 2016 at 6:30 p.m.

THE RENOWNED FLEET OF PASSENGER SHIPS BETWEEN 1913 AND 1965 John Henry, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., is a journalist and author based in New York City whose articles on travel and transportation have appeared in major newspapers in the United States and Canada. He has also been published in the quarterly journals of the Steamship Historical Society of America and Great Lakes Historical Society.

Come and partake on a journey that offers a visual into an intriguing lost way of life.
FRIDAY, JUNE 17 TH 2016 at 6:30 PM
Location: Huronia Museum 549 Little Lake Park, Midland ON
Tickets $15/seat with wine & cheese provided

A Talk by John Henry Featuring a talk with Steven Duff; author of “The Rime of the Moderne Mariner”

Please find posters for this event, and purchase your tickets here at the Huronia Museum, we are open 7 days a week 9-5.

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