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the georgetown herald georgetown ontario saturday evening december 22nd 1956 second section georgetown first to use industrial power by hydro whtn lrcol a a kennedy officiated at the opening of the new hydro building on december 15th he confirmed two hiitori cal first which put george town name prominently in the hydro hall of fame the barber papermill he said provided the world with the first practical example of long distance transmission of electric energy and by employing the power to light his mill john barber is re puted to be the first person to use hydro electricity for indus- trial purposes colonel kennedy included oth er interesting bits of local his tory in his remarks and the her aid has pleasure in printing the text of his talk which will be of interest to all readers before cutt ng the ribbon to do clare this f ne niv building offic lally open i would first like to make a few remarks which i feel are appropr lie to the occis on i would also like to let j u kno i how pleased and honoured i was at receiv ng the invitation from mr a g farnell cha rman of georgt towns hydrohectric comm ss on to come down here today and car ry out this pleasant task i am sure mr farntll was una wart when he extended that nvita tion of the two slight connect ons i feci i have vith the early h story of this town the first of these lies in the fact that the man who foun ded georgetown back in 1820 had the surname of kenned the samt surname i bear myself the chris tian name of th s particular ken nedy was george and i would like to think that the citizens of th s community gave that name to the r town in his memory however his torians disagree on this point and it seems more likely that george town was named in honour of king george iii who reigned in the late 1700 s and early 1 800 s wherever the name georgetown comes from it is certainly better than that of the original settle ment which was as you probably all know called hungry hollow a most inappropriate title for the prosperous town you have here today after telling you all this you may think it something of an anti climax when i admit that i can trace no relationship between your founder george kennedy and my self however my other connection with georgetown s origin is some what stronger the barber family who arrived here about 1837 es tablishcd a woollen mill then in 1854 built what is amongst the first if not the first paper mills in canada in the 80s the firm with which i am connected wra kennedy and sons at that time op erated by my great grandfather and his sons supplied hydraulic tur bines to help power the plant a short time later they built a hydro electric plant about two miles downstream from the mill with turbines supplied by the kennedy firm coupled to direct current gen erators this plant wit a capacity of less than 100 kilowatts was by to days standards a very small one indeed but there were two things about it which have asssured geor getown of a permanent place in the annals of electrical history one of these was that john barber built a twomile long transmission line from the plant to his mill and by sending power over this line provided the world with its first practical example of longdistance transmission of electric energy in addition to this by employing that power to light his mill and the community john barber is rcpu ted to have been the first person to use hydro electricity for indus trial purposes at the risk of boring you i should like to review briefly a bit of georgetown s history and i am told that this week is one of special significance for those who live here and in saying that i am referring not only to the open ing of the new headquarters of your local hydroelectric commis ion but also to the fact that geor getown was first recognized as a separate community in its own right just 92 years ago last thurs day before december 13 1864 it was considered part of the town hip of esqucsing but on that date the county council granted a peti tion to have georgetown incorpora ted as a village no doubt the citizens who pres entcd that petition reasoned that in view of the growing importance of the place as a manufacturing centre it would be to their advan tage to have the management of local affairs in the hands of local men of their own choice this cer taioly proved to be the case by continued on inside page avoid traffic accidents a personal responsibility the christmas season having arrived with all it means in good will and thoughtfulnesa the hon james n allan ontario minister of highways today expressed his sincere wish for the happiness of the people of the province it is a season of hope and promise he said more than any other it is a season of happiness much of which depends on our relationship with our fellows hsppiness is invariably des troyed when a motor vehicle acci dent occurs at this season with its many distractions huge in creases in travel shopping and other activities unfortunately the chances of being involved in an accident increase avoiding accidents is largely a personal responsibility the fine example of one and three quarter million ontario men and women who will drive throughout the year without a single mishap is very convincing the care and atten tion needed to create this fine re cord is surety building a tradi tion of good road behaviour up on this we depend in our work towards accident free road travel in this province two years ago in 1054 the number of fatalities in the final tenday period of the year was cut in half to 22 from the pre vious year s experience of 45 killed we were greatly encour aged by this evidence that the toll can be rcducd unfortunatty the experience was not repeated last year when 52 people were killed in 39 accidents the individual driver or pedes trian is finally the person who can prevent or avoid an accident last year 85 of the fatal accidents in the final ten days of the year involved only single motor vebl cles there were 21 people kill ed in 17 accidents whero the ve hicle left the roadway and crash cd seven railway crossing colli sions took 12 lives and 12 pedes trians were struck and killed a driver attempting roadside re pairs was hit by a passing car four occupants lost their lives when two cars one on the wrong side of the road met head on two died when a vehicle stopped suddenly and a following vehicle about to pass had to swerve abrup tly and crashed out of control for the most part pedestrian fatalities occurred when people ori foot were neglecting a simple safety precaution they entered the roadway around parked or moving vehicles crossed against traffic lights and walked in the roadway at night or crossed roads incautiously to help make this holiday sea son a happy one for ourselves and others mr allan urged let us all be determined to act with good sense and care when walk ing or driving christmas customs vary as world marks the day as different as the clothes we wear are the ways in which peo ple around the world traditionally celebrate christmas south afri cans for instance take to the beaches to escape the summer heat and eat a picnic lunch for their christmas dinner in the cities santa braves the sunny streets in his heavy robes and points the way to the elaborate department store toylands for the natives of that land christ mas is the beginning of a week long carnival of singing dancing and parading the streets with pipe and string bands that invite lilt ing hearts as well as dancing steps in the netherlands saint icolaas day is held on decern ber 6 old nick himself robed in ecclesiastical red and white gar ments not the white trimmed red suit known to american and canad an boys and girls comes to to v h s attendant is a younj moorish servant zwarte p et who leads nicks white horse and tarries his bag full of presents this is the time when kinfolk ga ther for gay festivity with all the trimmings and the traditional ex change of gifts in greece the blessing of the waters following epiphany on january 6 is probably the most closely related event to christmas at nauplia the archbishop throws a wooden cross into the water and the fishermen dive and struggle to possess it for the one who does may visit all the houses in the village and levy a collection whan often brings in a large sum ai d in america too feasts nil arity and the usual exchange of gifts are the order of the day a far cry from the quiet worship and solemn adoration of the shep herds when jesus was born is the noise gaiety and brilliance of the worlds social whirl at christ mas lest we forget christmas is the birthday of a saviour who gave to mankind the greatest of all gifts the gift of eternal life for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have ever lasting life john 3 16 asked to write the ode for the jubilee year of queen victorias reign rudyard kipling composed the immortal poem lest we for get with dignity and power he exalted god instead of the jubil ant occasion he warned that un less britain remembered god her empire would some day crumble lest we forget and for the sake of our american and cana dian heritage let us keep in mind that christmas is the birth day of gods son who died for our sins and rose that we might have eternal life by believing on his name names that have gone to the dogs by mary moor scott in th roclcwood bulletin the surveyors had come to lay out the district and the settlers wife was pleased to have them stop a few days at her home what are you going to calt our township she inquired please give it a pretty name the other townships around us hnve such ugly ones one of the surveyors smiled what would you consider a pret ty name i think indian names are beau tiful she replied warmly wouldn t it be nice to give this place an indian name itemembenng the dead dog which he and his companions had seen vhen they first entered the district the surveyor thought the ind an name for dead dog is era mosa what about calling this place eramosa he suggested waggish ly what a beautiful musical name exclaimed the woman yes do call our township eramosa and so eramosa in wellington county was named we wonder if the settlers wife was ever infor med of the meaning of her pretty indian name however eramosa is not the on ly name in ontario which has gone to the dogs for a name simcoe county too has its dog story in fact three dogs are involved they were the pets of lady sarah mait land her husband lord pergnne mailland was one of upper cant das lieutenant governors if you look at the map of sim coe county you will find three townships called after lady sar ah s pet dogs they are flos tiny and ty did we miss your organization in reporting christmas parties if so the herald would appreciate a call with the details