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THE OSHAWA DAILY TIMES, SATURDAY, JULY 7, 1928 Veterans Give Reminiscences of Days Long Past a nd Gone Man Who Laid First Type In Cases To Print Reformer Recalls Early Days Of Paper Former Oshawa Postmaster Reviews Half Century of Progress--Politics Played Large Part In Early Days ~--Valuable and Interest. ing Contribution From Esteemed Citizen Is Re- published, By J, F. TAMBLYN (Reprinted from the City Souvenir Edition of the Ontario Reformer, March 8, 1924.) * Learning that you are about to publish an historical issue of your paper I have been thinking that at this period in the history of Oshawa, some of the facts in connection with the origin and career of The Ontario Reformer, and its part in the past life of the town might be of interest to your readers. Back in 1870 in South Ontario and in Oshawa particularly, there were more politics to' the square yard than can be found in a square mile today, in fact politics were uppermost in every undertaking, municipal, social and otherwise. Even the church did not escape. In the fall of 1870, there was a general election for the Ontario Legislature, and in South Ontario, two local residents were the candi- dates: Dr. McGill for the Conserva- tives and Abraham Farewell Esq, for the Liberals or Reformers as they were usually called in those days. In the previous general election Dr, Mc- Gill had been elected to the Legisla- ON STAFF 30 YEARS JOHN F. TAMBLYN Whom most residents recall as Post- master of Oshawa, but who was also distinguished by reason of having laid the first type in the cases for printing The Reformer. Mr. Tamblyn continued on the staff for thirty years. ture as a Reformer but during the session had transferred his support to the Conservative Government. This act on the part of the Doctor called forth the ire of the Reformers and the contest was most bitterly fought, There was only one news- paper--The Vindicator--being pub- 1 its lished in Oshawa at the time, and 1t was sup, the ative "| party, but notwithstanding this handi- cap Squire Farewell was elected much to the delight of his followers. Shortly after the election a meeting of Reformers was held, and it was decided that the party should no er labor under the disadvantage aving no newspaper to advocate platform. As a result of this meeting, steps were taken immedi- ately by the stalwarts of the party to place the Reformer on an equal footing with their Conservative ad- versaries as far as newspaperdom was concerned, and on Friday, April 15th, 1871, "The Reformer" was born, The First Publisher The first paper was published by Mr. W. R. Climie, then editor and proprietor of the Bowmanville States- man, the printing office being locat- ed in part of the store now occupied by A. Martin & Co. on Simcoe street south. The equipment was very limited, consisting of a Washington hand press, and a number 3 Gordon press, with a small quantity of type. Oshawa at this time was a village with a population of 3,500, and being overwhelmingly Conservative in its political leaning "The Reformer" had a very precarious existence for a time. The first paper printed was secured by the late F. W. Glen, al- though at the time he was one of the prominent Conservatives, and much opposed to the establishment of the paper. But in those days, the same as now, men often changed their party allegiance, and only two or three years had passed when Mr, Glen became an active Reformer, owner of "The Reformer," and sub- sequently became a representative for South Ontario in the House of of e-- SUPERINTENDENT OF JOB. PRIN TING DEPT, AND ASSISTANT A. G, Newnham is in charge of commercial jo bh printing and his duties are numerous and varied. EE -- J CE 11 1-2 Simcoe St. S. "Times" New Building Now Complete In Every Detail ! VERY DETAIL in connection with this modern newspaper building has been care- fully planned even to the Fire Insurance when again good judgement was used as a tion of this insurance was placed with V.'A. Henry INSURANCE large por- Phone | 198w or 1858; a HIN Commons during the life of the Mac- kenzie Government, being re-elected 0 de ut Lavy Mis Though only a village in name, Oshawa was at this time known far and wide as a manufacturing centre. Its industries included a General and icultural machine shop, two cabinet factories, two mills, three tanneries, three $ sash and door factory, two car worl, and a scythe and fork 1 at Cedardale, where now the Robson Leather Co. is situated. In those earlier days the principal trading was with the farming community, so Osh- awa manufacturers endeavored to cater to its requirements and the made-in-Oshawa goods consisted of portables machines, threshing ma- chines, clover mills, mowers, reapers, seed drills, water wheels, fanning mills, horse rakes, household furni- ture, tinware, scythes, forks, hoes, rakes, barrels, wagons, buggies, etc, as well as a full line of general ma- chinery, so the needs of the farmer it will be seen were amply supplied. Second the Paper "The Reformer" after an existence of about eighteen months changed hands, being sold by Mr. Climie to the Reformer Printing Co., whose stockholders were principally the strong men of the party in the neigh- borhood, mostly farmers. The print- ing office was moved to more com- madious quarters in the third flat over what was then Trewin's Dry- gods store on King St, now part of the Dominion Bank Building. While located here a rather amusing inci-! dent occurred. Mr. Glen had come menced his first political campaign and being short of election literature, he appeared at the office on publi- cation day, seized the whole issue of the paper, and carried it off for dis- tribution at one of his meetings. The next issue, of course, contained an apology for the non-receipt of the papers by the subscribers, and, for the good of the cause the omission was forgiven, The stockholders of the company soon discovered that publishing a newspaper was not raising barley, at least, it was not so profitable a call ing. The career of the company was short lived, Early in 1875, the paper passed into the hands of Mr. Glen who moved the plant to more con- venient premises in the store now occupied by Mr. Detenbeck on King St, and from this office the paper was published for about 35 years. The new proprietor added two new presses to the printing equipment-- a cylinder press, and a small Gordon press--and thereafter the office was better able to supply the require- ments of the community in the printing line and for a time a very successful business was con- ducted, This prosperity was short lived however. A great commercial depression fell upon the whole coun- try, lasting for several years. This was very much felt in Oshawa and among the numerous failures was that of the Joseph Hall Manufactur- ing Co, of which Mr, Glen was the principal stockholder and manager. Although many business firms went C. J. HORN ONE OF OLDEST READERS THIS NEWSPAPER Has Taken Reformer And Times Almost From Its Inception One of the oldest subscribers, if not the oldest, on the subscription lists of The Oshawa Daily Times, is Mr. C. J. Horn, who is now living in Orillia, Mr. Horn, whose picture is reproduced on this page, first sub- scribed to the old Ontario Reformer soon after it was, established in 1871, and he has been a faithful reader of Oshawa's newspaper since that time. Mr. Horn first came to Oshawa in March, 1856, when it was a town of about 2,000 population. He resided here for thirty yea-s, then spent 18 months in Battle Creek and about two years on his old home farm in Quebec, living since that time in Oril- lia. One of his sons, Norman Horn, READER MANY YEARS 0. J. HORN Who has been a subscriber to The Reformer and Times almost since the inception of the paper. lives at 263 Mary street, while Mr. Horn also has six daughters and an- other son living. When he came to Oshawa, Mr. Horn made the journey from his birthplace, Coaticook, Quebec, via Point St. Charles to Montreal by sleigh, across the ice of the St. Law- rence river, this being in the days before the Victoria bridge was built. He boarded the train at Montreal at eight o'clock in the morning, arriv- ing here at ten o'clock at might. The train comprised a wood-burning loco- motive. and one coach, that stopped frequently for fuel. Mr. Horn still vividly remembers the two box stoves used to heat the car, and the Single windows that rattled incessant- Upon arriving in this city Mr. Horn secured employment with the Joseph Hall machine works. Other industries in the town included Pat- rick Wall's and Mr. Regan's cooper shops, on Prince street, where flour barrels were made, two flour mills operated by Wm. and T. . Gibbs, one of them being on King street west; Hiram Taplin manufactured carri- ages, wagons and sleighs, employing two blacksmiths, five woodworkers and two painters, and Mr. Beach did various kinds of ornamental work at Harmony. All shipping was done by Port Oshawa, coal being handled in wa- gons from the docks to the town. Forty years ago an elevator was used to ship barley to Oswego. J. W. Fowke owned a general store at Harmony. A teacher's salary at the Harmony school was $350 per year, the first teacher, in 1857, being Al- bert Henry, sor of the late Thomas Henry, who lived on the property that is now Lakeview Park, In 1870 the first vote after Con- federation was polled by open voting, two days being required to record the vote. The residents of the townships voted at Columbus, On the first Confederation Day, in 1867, Sir John A. MacDonald addressed a gathering in Whitby, the Markham cavalry being present. Stirring times were seen in the elections of this period, F. W. Glen and Hon. T. N, Gibbs being chief figures in the po- litical life of this riding at the time. Mr. Horn remembers that, on one occasion when Mr, Glen defeated the Hon. Mr. Gibbs, an ox was roasted at King and Simcoe streets as part of a celebration of the event. During his residence in Osha Mr, Horn bought the first pair o double bobsleighs manufactured by the late Robert McLaughlin. He als so remembers the old hand press used in the Reformer office, and, in going through the modern plant re- cently, was amazed at the many changes that have taken place in the business during his acquaintance with it. WHERE OSHAWA DAILY TIMES out of existence many others com- promised with their creditors and among the latter was the Joseph Hall Manufacturing Co.,, by which means it was enabled to recommence opera- tions much to the satisfaction of the citizens of the town, who celebrated the re-opening of the works by roasting an ox at the corner of King and Simcoe streets, Two Institutions During the depression, Survive Oshawa uring line--the Ontario Malleable Iron Co.--which although established only in 1872 carried on an extensivi business during the whole time, much to the benefit of the town, Among the institutions suryiving the depression was "The Ontario Re former," but in 1877 it again changed hands and was purchased by Luke & Larke, the publishers of "The Vin- dicator," This firm paper for a short me and on July 1st, 1878, it passed into the hands of the late Edward Mundy, who pub- lished and held a controlling interest in the paper for over 40 years, until his death, Oshawa maintained the status of a village until 1879, when it was in- corporated as a town with the late W. H. Gibbs as the first mayor. He was followed by such outstanding men as Dr. Rae, W. F. Cowan and no, Cowan, the first two of whom eld the chair for seven years each, It was through the careful handling of the municipal affairs by these and other prominent gentlemen that Osh- awa today can boast of her prosperi- ty, Oshawa Wins Out For years there existed a rivalry among the three towns, Oshawa, Whitby and Bowmanville, for su- premacy, but through the persever- ance of her citizens and the man- agement of her town affairs. Oshawa gradually outgrew her neighbors. Two of the most outstanding incidents which have led to the growth and advancement of the town were the building in 1894 of the Oshawa Street Railway, and the coming to the town in 1878 of the late Robert McLaugh- lin. There is no doubt that the car- riage industry which Mr. McLaugh- lin built up and which developed into the present General Motors Ltd, of Canada, is the leading factor in mak- ing Oshawa a city today. hrough all the vicissitudes of the life of Oshawa during the past 50 years, "The Ontario Reformer" has made its re to the conducted the | had one mainstay in the manufac- | gular contribution A limited number of extra copies of today's special number of The Oshawa Daily Times printed and are available for sending away to friends. The usual price of 2 cents per copy applies. Copies may be had at the office of publication or from any mewsdealer. A rainbow lasting all day long was seen in Siberia, it being caused by reflection of the sun on fine par- ticles of snow in the air. IS "MADE UP" EVERY DAY This is a general view of the newspaper composing room, show ing the iron tables on wheels, which name of 'turtles', the make-up tables, proofreader's desk, etc, I SI ---- are known by the Deouia Ey THE Staff of Campbell's Studio, who are respon- sible for all pictures appear- ing in this issue, with one or to exceptions, - Campbell's Studio Oshawa [4