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WIITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1980, PAGE 9 Our historical heritage By EUGENE HENRY, Whitby's foremost historianj The Goldring Farnily had a quiet but pervasive impact on Port Whtby 11e in earlier times and this was 80 because their Brock Street store was the socIal.centre of thehli, ý -as long asit was T>.ý ý cotvt;.. -ithei 1855 clapbua-rd linuse Ih, a store prernisses in 1912 andi( waç a timely move, because soi alter the Ontario Gov,-r ninent started construction on- the big lake-shore psychiatric hospital across the bay. The project brought f ull employment to Port Whitby, new residents to the harbor area and a modest degree of prosperity to the Goldring farnily. Because the Goldring store was centraily located and operated by responsible people it became the post of- fice for Port Whtby and the distribution point for Toron- to newspapers in the ares. As a result, Goldrings was the action centre, for the lit- tle community from early mornlng hours till closing Uime at night. Runnlng a family business ike the Goldring store placed grest and on-going burdens on those who had to be on hand every day to meet the public and serve its needs. At one Urne or another, al of the Goldings helped in running the store. As time passed, howeyer, respon- sibilities gravltated towards Olive who acted as post mlstress for more than hall a century and to Ernie who ran the grocery product side of the store. The Goldrlngs were civilzed people. They showed both patience and restrait.i deallngs with each other and the customers as well. They neyer became in- volved i arguments and they neyer ralsed their volces. It was not only a fie display of good manners, but It was no doubt, good for business as well.' 1in pre-World War I days everyone walked. The automobile was present but a novelty. The cars that were i Whitby were uptown and flot "lown at the bay". A walk to Goldrlngs for the mail was therefore the way to start the day. It was there, you met your friends and neighbors. The Goldrings had one of the few telephones in Port Whitby and it was a mixed blessing. Poor Ernie, who answered the phone, took countless messages for neighbors living nearby, and neyer complained. Store records were kept in a massive two-door safe, that stiil retained the firm nae, Port Whitby Harbor Co., on its face. Captain, Goldring rescued it and the Goldring's had impact on Whitby ~xJu heritage item is now in the Town's marina building, back on the harbor where It belongs. There were unwritten rules for shopping and picklng up the mail at Goldrig's store and they contrlbuted to, the social usages of the times. If you only wanted your mail and didn't -want to buy somnething, you remained on the sldewalk outside the store. If the-mail was late, you waited there and ex- changed news and views with others. Sometimes qulte a crowd gathered. A* cluster of playful boys and a few impatient men. They waited and waited quietly, because both Ermie and Olive frowned on boisterous behaviour. The Port Whitby com-> munity in the twenties and thirties was very small and there were no multi-storey structures as there are today. As to population, 400 tops, perhape, and residents of the llttle harbor com- munity were largely concen- trated between Charles Street on the west and Duf- ferin Street on the east going down to the harbor from the C.N.R. tracks. The following nemes corne to mind and I endeavor to recail those who gathered at the Goldring store or went swimming in the summer suns of days gone by.- There were the Gilîs, Youngs and Southwells, the Northam family, the- Wat- sons: Harry, Schell and the good looking girls Leva and Effie. There was also Jack Watson, the harbor master. On Charles Street there there was the Galbraith family who live next to the Goldrings with the fisher- men nearby, Hughie Cam- pbell and the Stevens brothers. Jack Proudfoot, Seymour Whitney, Tom Greenaway and others, such as the Sleeps,d the Ken- nedys, Thorndykes and Pin- dars. The Blow family requires special mention because they lived l-orth of the C.N.R. tt-;àLks, where the Whitby Go Station Is now located. Technically they were not Port Whitby people but they ail were falthfull members of St. John's 4nglican Church, smre were educated at the Brock Street school and smre are burled i St. John's Cemetry. AUl these people had one thing i common, the Goldring store, it proved tt; be the catalyst of coin- munlty 11e i old Port Whit- )y in earlier Urnes. was Henry and bella Lawrence, the McLeods, Joe Taylor, Patsy Geene and later the Peebles. Over on Dufferin Street Society flower show "The Brooklln Hor- ticultural Society wiil be welcomlng Sharon Lloyd from Lloyds Nursery at their Wedensday, Septem- ber 24rmeeting. Lloyd will speak on the growing & arranglng of chrysarnthemums. A flower show featuring the "Mum"i will be judged and on display during the evening. the society holda its meetng at the Brooklih United Church at 8:00 p.m. and welcomes mumbers, fedsand ail plant en-. thusiasts. Are you sick of reaching for your wallet everytimne your car begs to be ted? Then leave your car at home and GO Transit. You'll save on gas, parking and rush-hour hassies. And you'II get there fast. Here's how to GO and enjoy it. LOCAL GO BUS services between«Oshawa and North Metro provide frequent daily service via Hwys. 2 and 401 to Scarborough Town Centre, York Milis Subway and Yorkdale Bus Terminal. Also rush hour Express. GO BUSES from Oshawa, Whitby and.Ajax conneot with ail GO Trains at Piokeri ng.for service to downtown Toronto. INFORMATION 57 9-4224 or 1-800-268-1983 toli f ree Hon. William Davis Premier Hon. James Snow Minister -AND SAVEAS 10U GO TYEWITR REAIS& ERIE. * e.. e e eE