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Page 10 COMMUNITIES WEDNESDAY 1JU6 Telephone came to Georgetown In 1881 when residents leased telephone from Bell Company Tor use private lines Georgetown drat telephone exchange was established In 181 at Jackson s book and stationery store File photo Georgetown is named after Niagara region loyalist The man after whom Georgetown is named George Kennedy was one of a group of settlers who came to Township from the Niagara region Georges father like many others in that neighborhood had been a United Empire Loyalist and George along with several brothers had par ticipated In the War of fll2 George legacy of a stint In the llllery was partial blindness in both eves After the war older brother Charles Kennedy was hired to survey part of one of the new townships the had pur chased from the Indians In the pro cess he dent Hied some of the best land and shortly before the survey was completed about five Kennedy brothers claimed land in the neighborhood of Georgetown George Morris Charles Samuel and John In addition their brother In law Williams to settle in the area now known as CI en Williams As the community grew up around the Kennedy settlement George ex panded his activities to Include not just farming but milling using power provided by Silver Creek subsidiary of Credit River He to to have run one of the first mills In the area and in the 1840s was complimented for some prizewinning wool produced at his local factory When Georgetown was booming In the IBSOs George had much of his land surveyed Into town lots and named the streets after his children He died In 1B70 having seen the com muiiily grow from a wilderness Into a thriving centre of farming and commerce The Kennedy family would not build Georgetown on their own n 1B3T the Barber brothers moved to the area from the first of several generations who would con tribute to the history of the com munlty In the 1850s the Barber Mills produced more wallpaper Ihnn any other place In the province and by the late 1880s the Barbers may have been the first to harness hydro trie power for manufacturing in North America Other pioneers in eluded James Young grain and general merchant the villages first reeve and founder of the local leather industry Georgetown became the railroad centre of the area after the opening or the Grand Trunk Railway In 1856 and the Hamilton and Northwestern Railway some years later A third rail connection was the Toronto Suburban Railway Inaugurated in 1917 These brought plenty of business to hotels like the Railroad change and the Clark and Ben Houses where travelling salesmen would rub elbows at the bar with local farmers who come to town to sell their produce and pick up supplies Georgetown continues to flourish today with a charming older style downtown area surrounding Main and Mill Streets served as a set ting for several motion pictures and television dramas in recent years From the days of the pioneers Georgetown grew rapidly Into an im portant community Nearly TOO had arrived by and when Georgetown was finally in corporaled as a village in there were about 1 people rivalling as the largest community in Hallon County Over the following century the community grew ly becoming a town In 1922 By the end of World War II almost people called Georgetown home This rapidly changed In the next Tew years after the arrival of Ilex and the transformation of the farms on the eastern edge of town Into the Delrcx subdivision A second population boom followed many residents now com muting to jobs in Ma I Ion and to By the time regional governmcnl was introduced in 1974 Georgetown had expanded into a sizable centre and today Georgetown Acton Nor and surrounding Esquesing Township make up the larger cor the Townof Hills Within the community social and cultural sen ices kept pace with the growth By the 1850s various religious denominations were well established Later the Church upon merging with other congregations donated its sanctuary to be used as the town library this hiving started as a Mechanic s In Haltons history 30 years ago About 100 people attended the an Georgetown Chamber of Com dinner dance Chamber dent Harold spoke about brochures on local business and in The Joe Marchmcnt trio performed the music