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Trafalgar Township Historical Association "Documenting, celebrating and preserving the agricultural heritage of North Oakville" Spring Newsletter Board report: The new board has had its first meeting and we have a full year planned! We want to thank Clayton McDuffee who is taking a break from the board for all his work this year! The new board of directors is .. Chairperson - Stuart McCulloch Vice Chair- Gordon Kaitting Treasurer- Mario Testa Secretary- Michelle Knoll Membership- Jane Watt Archivist- Ross Wark Member at Large- Mike Tzekas Member at Large- vacant- Please email Michelle if you are interested in filling this vacant position. michelle@tths.caor905-257-9080 Please see below the first two in our bi monthly speakers series. We are very excited about this new endeavor and want to thank Matthew Wilkinson for making it happen! We hope to see you there! We have been told that the waterproofing request for the schoolhouse has gone to tender and will be completed this month! We are very excited that after several years of waiting for this to happen we are in the home stretch. Our volunteer architect Michael Spaziani has completed drawings for the renovations and the next step is further drawings (mechanical, electrical & structural). Since the schoolhouse is now designated historical we will need to present the renovation drawings to the Oakville Heritage Committee, and then they will make a recommendation to council. After that we need building permits. We Will be meeting with various departments at the same time (planning, building, heritage and accessibility represented), to discuss our next steps. So we are in the home stretch! Membership renewals Renew your memberships for 2009 ($25) made payable to Trafalgar Twp Historical Society. Send to Jane Watt, 3089 Jaguar Valley Drive, Apt. 82, Mississauga, Ont. L5A 2J1 Doors Open This year we are participating in Doors Open Oakville on Saturday September 26th. We will hold our annual Fall fair on that day. If you are able to help us out as a volunteer or are interested in having a heritage display please let us know. Speaker Series Tuesday, April 2lst, 2009, 7pm- Palermo School House Richard Collins, President of the Mississauga South Historical Society and Interpreter at the Museums of Mississauga "Trafalgar Township: Coming and Going" Riverboats, railways, radials and roads. Richard Collins will have a presentation on the lines of communication that linked Trafalgar Township to the rest of the world, and others that never got that far. Richard will tell the story of how Halton County got its first railway on a technicality and of the wanted criminal who built it. He will also reveal some of the landmarks of the radial days that still remain in the Oakville area. Speaker Series Continued ... Tuesday. June 3lst, 2009, 7pm- Palermo Schoolhouse Alan Skeoch, Author & Historian "Your Home on Native Land" A chance crossing of the First Nation barricade at Caledonia in 1006 and an almost missed comment about a First Nations boy by his mother led Alan Skeoch to write YOUR HOME ON NATIVE LAND, an imaginary dialogue between Born With Eyes Open and a female elder in which the whole sorry history of aboriginal history from first contact to the present land claims controversies is discussed. At heart of it all is the land we call Canada. Whose land is it? Issues and people: Legends of Creation, Pontiac, Brant, Tecumseh, Amherst, smallpox, buffalo, wolfers, war, numbered treaties, reserves, Frank Calder, the Lubicon Cree, and more. The Lost Village of Ash Thanks so much for responding to our questions about Ash in the last newsletter! We did get some answers and we now have a picture of the schoolhouse. Our newest board member- Ross Wark even went out to do an interview and came back with a wealth of information. We can't wait to have the Palermo schoolhouse finished with our archive room and research table in place so we can share all of this with you! Here are a few of the notes from Ross ..... Ash #17 schoolhouse was located in the North east corner of Tremaine Rd. and Lower Baseline Rd. It was first a wooden frame school built in 1875 that burned down in 1932. It was replaced in 1934 by a brick building. It was similar in size to our Palermo schoolhouse but had a little entrance at the front with a peaked roof. The school closed in 1957. The school was attended by children from Nelson and Trafalgar Townships. Snider's Corners Schoolhouse If you live close by and have a chance then drive to Ninth Line & Burnhamthorpe for your last glimpse of Sniders schoolhouse before it is torn down. The Region needs the land for road widening. We were able to stop the demolition and asked for a heritage study and for the siding to be removed to see the original features of the building. Our new Heritage Planner at the Town - Michael Seaman supported this request and you can now see the outlines of the old windows and a bit of the hand painted circle at the peak with the school number in it. We have requested the boards that have the school number painted on and hope to have them put together as a feature in the Palermo schoolhouse when it is renovated. The picture below is from Sybil Rampins collection. Oakville & Trafalgar War Memorials In the winter newsletter we asked for your help in finalizing the names for the war memorials. We could not have anticipated how many of you decided to pitch in and do some research and call friends, family and neighbours. We are happy to say that because of all your help the list is going to include many soldiers that we were not going to include because we did not have enough details to add them. The lists should be completed in the next week or so! The names will be published in the local Oakville papers one final time before the plaques are completed. We will post the updated WW1 list with all the research on our website at www.tths.caonce it is finalized. The WW2 list will only have the list of names and not the detailed information. Research We are going to try and include in each newsletter some information that we have recently researched that you may find interesting. This past month, Irene Saunders found the Gazeteer online and typed out the following information for us. Please feel free to send us any information that you think our readers may be interested in. Of course every thing you send us will also be included in our growing archives collection that is presently located in Michelle's home awaiting its permanent home at the Palermo Schoolhouse. The Province of Ontario Gazeteer and Directory - 1869 - by Henry McEvoy Cities, Towns, Villages and Post Offices in Ontario PALERMO - A Post Office in the Township of Trafalgar, County of Halton, 8 miles from Milton, and 20 miles from Toronto. Land in this vicinity averages $40 per acre - Money Order Office Population 300 Buck, Anson, M.R.C. 8., London Campbell, Bernard, butcher Dolmage, Robelt, general merchant Hager, A., hotel keeper Hanis, Henry, tailor Lawrence, Jacob & Son, Iron Founders Lawrence, Jacob, J.P. Switzer, H.M. J.P., postmaster & Gen. merchant Teezdale, William, gen. merchant Vanallen, John, hotel keeper TRAFALGAR - A Village in the Township of Trafalgar, County of Haltom, 12 miles from Milton the County Town, 4 miles from OakvilJe and 16 from Georgetown Station Grand Trunk Railroad. Population 80 Applebe, James, J.P., Postmaster Applebe, John R., insurance agent Bayne, William, butcher Elliot, George, J.P. Keating, William, fanner Kilgour, William, flour and gtist mill Kindree, Amos, hotel keeper, farmer McDuffe, Daniel, farmer McWilliams, William, hotel keeper, farmer Pettit, William, farmer HORNBY - A Village in the township of Esquesing, County of Halton, 6 miles from Milton, the County Town and 23 miles from Toronto. Stages daily to Georgetown Station, Grand Trunk Railway, 8 miles. Population - 80 Anderson, John, carpenter Anderson, William, carpenter Brain, Bros., brewers Cook, George, lumber dealer Cowan, Richard, J.P. Fox, Anthony, M.D. Galloway, Rev. Mr. (Baptist) Hall, Robel1, J,P, Lindsay, James B., hotel keeper McCaHan, Thomas, hotel keeper McColland, Mrs.& c. Pickard, William, cheese manufacturer Robertson, Thomas, tailor Rutledge, Robert, shoemaker Stewart, Rev. Mr., (Presbyterian) StOlY, John, ehee8e maker Thurston, Hiram, shingle maker Tremaine, Rev. Mr. (Church of England) Lyon, Thomas, G., teacher McCloskey, Henry, potter Wallace, James, shoemaker DRUMQUIN ~a Post Village in the Township of Trafalgar, County of Halton, Distant from Milton, the County Town, 8 miles. Population - 50 Bell, William, faImer Brown, Charles, blacksmith Cottherd, John, farmer Hood, William, farmer Tolstoy W. 1., Postmaster, hotel keeper