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Whitby Free Press, 24 Mar 1993, p. 12

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Page i2,V#iitby Frèe Prbgs, WednîeàdaY, MarcIh 24.g, 'iug Philanthropist, famous political cartoonist among notable characters in Whitby's history Whitby archivist Brian Winter recently made his second presen- tation about interesting charac- ters from Whitby's history. This is the second in a three- part series about those charac- ters. The third part of the series will be in an April edition of The Free Press. Fred Browne, philanthrop- ist Retiring in 1936, after making a considerable fortune, Whitby's Fred W. Browne made consider- able donations te various local organizations. A former grocery store owner in Toronto, Browne, in 1936, donated a plaque, in honour of the 100th anniversary of his fam- ily in Canada, to St. Thomas Church in Brooklin. He also donated an electric organ. He donated flags to Mount Zion Masonic Lodge, Brooklin on his 50th anniversary of member- ship, in 1942. In 1951, he donated $1,000 te help build the new Masonic Hall in Brooklin. Browne paid for the resto- ration of Bible Christian ceme- tery in Columbus in 1946. In 1947, he donated the Fred W. Browne memorial prizes at Whitby District High School. The prize is still awarded for Grade Il mathematics. In 1950, he donated the Tre- maine map of Ontario County (1860) te county council. The map isnow at Durham Region headquarters. In 1952, Browne purchased, at an auction in London, England, the original address, on parch- ment, of the Town of Whitby te FRED BROWNE, shown in 1930 photograph. whitby Archives photo the Prince of Wales in 1860. The original address is now in the Whitby Archives. Browne was born in a log cabin in Columbus on Oct. 12 1870. He was one of five sons of William H. Browne, an Irish pioneer. He won first prize for pro- ficiency at Columbus public school, and won prizes for art, penmanship and geometry at Whitby Coillegiate Institute in 1887. He started his business career as a grocery clerk in Lindsay where he was in charge of the liquor department, at $5 a week. He was then a clerk for Whitby grocer Thomas Lawler before moving to Toronto in 1894 when he oined thegrocery department of obert Simpson Co. He later became assistant manager. In 1898, he married Annie McIntyre, a clerk in the Simpson store. Browne then got a raise of $1 -- increasing his salary to $9 a week. In 1905 Browne opened his own store at Carlton and Ontario streets in Toronto. He died in Willowdale on June 9, 1956 at age 85. Norman MacCarl, Gardens first shareholder Norman Russell MacCarl of Whitby was the first shareholder in Maple Leaf Gardens. A great sports fan especially of hockey, he foliowed the Toronto Maple Leafs and was an authority on the team. In 1931, he heard that Conn Smyth was trying to raise money to build Maple Leaf Gardens. MacCarl said he would donate a considerable sum if he could purchase the first share in the Gardens. He then paid Smyth $1,000. MacCarl was born in Whitby on Oct. 26, 1884. At age 7, he lost one of his legs from compli- cation from an infected knee. He had an artificial leg the rest of his life. He took a business course at Shaw's Business College in Toronto. He then worked for the Toronto Street Railway Company (now TTC) for 27 years. MacCarl would visit the Leaf dressing room after each game, talking to team members and encouraging them. At each annual meeting of Maple Leaf Gardens he would move a vote of confidence n the directors and management. He would send Maple Leaf programs to his friends and brothers' children in Whitby. He died on March 20, 1939, at age 55. He was buried in Osh- awa Union Cemetery. A full-page tribute written by Conn Smyth appeared after his death in Maiple Leaf Hockey News, the Gardens' Magazine. J.W. BENGOUGH, in 1900. Whitby Archives photo J.W. Bengough, political cartoonist John Wilson Bengough, who grew up in Whitby, was Canada's most famous political cartoonist in the 19th century. He was born in Toronto on April 7, 1851. His grandfather. John Bengough was a ships' carpenter in Whitby, and his father, Capt. John Bengough, was a carpenter who built houses and was streets foreman. John Wilson Bengough studied Thomas Nast's cartoons in the American publication Harper's Weekly. As a teenager he worked as a printer's devil for George H. Ham, editor of the Whitby Gazette. J.W. Bengough got a chance to write when Ham published a daily edition of the Gazette durign the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. He wrote a story entitled, 'The Murder's Scalp, or the Shrieking Ghost of the Bloody Den,' to fi extra space in the paper. The article provoked much comment (the daily edition lasted only a few weeks). He also started drawing cari- catures of people nt the trials in the Whitby Court House. Bengough left Whitby for Toronto in 1871 to work as a reporter for The Toronto Globe. In 1873, the first issue of Grip, a magazine of social satire, was published. The magazine made Bengough famous for bis cartoons of Sir John A. MacDonald at the time of the Pacific Scandal. Later, he gave 'chalk-talks' throughout Canada, including a stop in Whitby. He died on Oct. 2, 1923, at age 72. Council approves warehouse outlets FROM PAGE 2 Fox told council he was in the U.S. only just last week. "I saw lots of Price Clubs and they were right next door to K-Mart, Walmart and all were succeeding,"he said. "And the ones benefitting the most were the consumers," said Fox. Pointing out that the Invar proposal first came before council a year ago, Fox wondered why formal opposition has only surfa- ced in recent weeks. "If we believed anyone would be hurt, council wouldn't even consider it," he said. 843 KING ST. WEST 721 (West of Thon on souti side) 72m2 5 When this remark prompted some laughter from the audience, Fox replied, "Laugh if you want, but that's the truth. "We're not out to put anyone out of business." Picking up on one of Fox's points, councillor John Dolstra said he had yet to see proof that local business will suffer. "To date we've not received any documentation from any lawyers or consufltants about los- ing money,U said Doîstra. Referring Co Oshawa's plan- ning department report, Dolstra added, "if this was to go to Oshawa thev would gobble it up in a minute.. According to Drumm, council had to "either fish or cut bait" on the matter. "This council is obliged to bring jobs into the community," said Drumm. "This will bring in jobs and it will bring in assessment we don't have and it will bring in tag- a-long business as well," he said. As an example, Drumm said that since the Invar application was filed, White Rose Nurseries bas indicated a desire to expand their operations to a location near the site at Thickson and Consumers Drive. Drumm said Whitby may have a battle on its hands when Invar's application comes before regional council's planning com- mittee next month. "If they located elsewhere in the region it would draw away our dollars, our jobs and our assessment,"he said. Councillor Marcel Brunelle said council could only deal with the matter from a planning pers- pective. But he said fears that the development will detrimentally affect existing businesses "are being blown out of proportion." "If people are afraid of free market competition, you better sharpen your pencils because that's what free enterprise is all about]" said Brunelle. "It's not our job to get into the marketplace, it's to do with plan- ning prmnciples," he said.

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