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Progress split get married again Replies to the Free Press request for a name for the new town in North have been coming in dribs and drabs The majority of them have either favored Esquesing North Halton or a composite to designate the three municipalities of Acton and Georgetown Some new names have also been suggested such as Scotsdale Ontario City Granada and the Town of North such as used in Montreal for the Town of Mount All have merit and should be given consideration by the com bined councils of the three municipalities when they pick the name for the new town We have gone on record as favor ing as the name for the new town because it has always been associated with the area Reeve Pat McKenzie of Acton who has not committed himself to any name as yet did a little research on Esquesing and he notes that the Land of the Tall Pines was first settled in and many of the early settlers names are still are still scattered through the township and the two towns They include names such as Hume McDonald McColl Stand Reed Nickell Thompson Stewart Laid law Campbell Barbour Kennedy Robertson and Swackhammer most of them were from the British Isles and Ireland The first town meetings were held in Thomas Thompsons tavern on the Seventh Line now Halton Road 3 on January l with the clerk Col John Murray First members of council must have found the tavern refreshing because subsequent meetings were also held there At that time Esquesing was part of the Gore and governed by the Gore District Council Population of Esquesing in A DISMAL SWAMP a world of grey which the sun barely penetrates This one near Speyside provides sanctuary for gnarled limbs limp reflections in a placid pool dotted with clumps of vegetation Stephen Borowsky caught this through the lens of his camera near his own home on 15 Editorial Pagr The Acton Free Pre Wednesday July 1973 Back Issues of The Free Press 20 years ago President Mac Sprawl and Clarence J Jenny of Acton fair Hoard proposed to council that the fair board would repair he grandstand in the park and buy required material They pointed out the loss of the stand would greatly interfere with the fair program Council had only received one tender for removal of the stand for and it was not accepted Councillor asked council con deration for a wider territory for phone service from Acton Brit I on and Charles Thompson married July with bridesmaid Belt MUnlyn Lorraine and Charles Kmgsnull married July Attendants were Mullin Jean Donna Ktnneth Allan Herb Ben nick and William James Miss t mm a Hawthorne was the good friend and neighbor honored on Alan Ma i Hand Roses Rose Brand program on recently letter about Miss Hawthorne was sent by Mrs Frank Wale the former Ruth Jennings or Acton Two cases of poliomyelitis have already been reported In this year In there were only six cases with no fatal ties and a total or in Sonny has been working on The Breeze In his spare time and now it is a beautiful picnic site J MackemicandSonfor was accepted for the building of a new high school in Acton by the North High School District Board at a meeting In Thursday That school will have seven rooms Tenders for MUton and Georgetown were not accepted being considered excessive Trie junior swimming pool will open soon 50 years ago The numbers of the Orange Order held their annual parade to Si Alban Led by Acton Band the Orangemen and Lady True Blues numbered nearly and filled the church to the door It is a number of years Ihcre was work done to improve Ihe roadway of Church The street has an excellent foundation but the top is worn down to the flake stones Councillor Harrison has per council to make an allowance in vear s for the repairing of this stmt Acton School again had the gratification of seeing all the pupils who at he examinations for High School pass passed with honors This result is a high compliment to Miss I Bennett Ihe principal as well as to the pupils Among them Irene Dunn Hon Margaret Kelly Franklin Bauer Florence Dorothy John Charles Gibbons Frank Gibbons Clarence Hen derson Olive Precious Jessie Augustus Clifford Gordon Huffman One of our citizens remarked the other day that it Will be a good thing when motor cars will all be run by steam instead of gasoline the cars nowadays at least those old that make more noise than a Catling gun when they arc running make such an infernal racket on our streets In Burlington complaints were received that some persons played lawn tennis on the courts on Sunday morning The Ladies Ball Team are to the fore in They played two games and won both An outstanding feature was a fine running catch by Miss Marguerite Ryder Home runs were made by Misses Hazel Mason and O McLaughlin Miss Haxel Mason pitched steady games Sand All old home folks will be cordially welcome 75 years ago There were five drowning accidents on Ontario Sunday The first miners to Come out of he Klondike this season have gold dust and drafts estimated at The new Free Library opening Monday was a most encouraging success iv hours there was a procession of citizens down the corridor of the town hall t th library room and courteous and attentive librarian Miss Laird was kept busy in receiving applications for member ship The library will be open every Man day from to a clock Mr It Holmes drover informs us that during the past six months has paid the farmers of this vicinity for stock shipped at station During the hot months pastor of the Mtthodist church pur poses giving twenty sermons and services within the hour No objections to the arrangement were heard A wheeling party in charge of Misses Holmes and Ada made a very enjoyable trip to Ceorgetown Tuesday evening The scholars of the Baptist Sunday School were entertained to strawberries and cream at the home of Mr John Warren A new issue of postage stamps has been made It was found the Tack of a figure in a denomination caused confusion among nglish speaking people while among the wholly French the new stamps were unintelligible The new scries remedies the deficiency the maple leaf design being replaced with Arabic figures Miss engaged as teacher in the third department at a salary of per annum The school will be cleaned and whitewashed during the summer and the closets put in sanitary con ditlon hardy souls June was designated as train day and every male 18 years and over was obliged to present himself for drill This was a time when the threat of American sion was still present The settlers recognized the need for defence although quite likely weapons were limited to scythes and farm which could be used for clobbering an opponent was also a hotbed of sympathy for the red headed agitator William Lyon McKenzie fiery advocate of responsible government and foe of the notor Family Compact The area known as the Scotch Block seethed with rebels who were really men with more liberal views than those who controlled the province at the time through privilege and heredity It was to the Scotch Block that came when he visited Esquesing It was also there that the first Presbyterian minister came in The Rev Peter Ferguson later moved to Milton In 1840 the Congregationalists erected a church on Swack hammer s Hill and as a result the area became known as Churchill The church is still in use and the Swackhammers now with one still live nearby on land the family settled The first reeve of was John deputy reeve was Lindsay and councillors were Jim Young S Hall and William Thompson Henry Fyfe was the first postmaster his post office was located on Lot 9 Concession 7 below but was moved to 1840 still known as Esquesing Georgetown the first municipality which came out of the township was settled by George Kennedy in 1820 but in there were still only three fami liesthe Goodenows Garrisons New roads not for speed Residents of Acton welcome council decision to resurface the streets around own before another winter rolls around damage this year was extensive and lie patches on some streets exceeded the amount of original pavement In a highly mobile society such as exists today good roads are important Smooth surfaces cut down on dust arc easier on vehicles and add to the general appearance of community However there are a so temptations for drivers to exceed posted speed limits when roads ore and unencumbered with bumps and potholes Some car Jockeys use the streets to race up down after dark now screeching tires with standing starts and raving power engines through deep- ted mufflers designed to keep everyone awake We will see numbers and noise in ircast when the roads are in better shape It has been said that the prime social blotch on the middle ages was smell People threw their garbage out on the streets and resulting stench led to disease and foul which must have been hard to bear Today society is afflicted with noise in much the manner become immune to most noises rough years of being exposed to it but for light sleepers there is nothing more than being awakened by a throbb ing ingine screeching tires and speeding unities through long warm summer even Some streets in town such as Church and Bower have more than their shore of noise and a peed violators Residents are getting sick of it It is lime motorists in town had some consideration for those who are trying to sleep If they want to race and thrill to the speed of a powerful engine let them take cars to a track and get it out of their system against those with the same ambitions MiniComment We find it difficult to catch the meaning of those political figures who say regional government will be more efficient and then in the next breath observe but of course it will cost the taxpayers more in the first few years If it Is more efficient it should cost the taxpayers less One reason why It could be more costly is salaries paid to appointed heads which immediately arc adjusted so they attract the top men For Instance in the region of Waterloo it was discovered salaries for appointed officials came to a year The chief administrator receives an annual salary of the commissioner of health and social services and medical officer or health receives the commissioner of engineering and on down the line to the director of finance who gets the same salary he received as clerk of Waterloo County and Kennedys Known as Hungry Hollow it was later christened Georgetown after its first settler It was part of until 1864 when county council passed the by law incorporating it as a village The first reeve was James Young The village grew after the Barber Brothers opened a woollen mill harnessing the waters of the Credit River to supply power Known earlier as Danville after a clerk and Adamsville after the first settlers brothers Rufus and Ezra Adams Acton was incorporated as village in 1873 A post office was established in and it was then Robert Swan an Englishman sponsored a motion that passed designating the community as Acton The first reeve of Acton was H Storey and the council was com posed of John Speight Asa Hall C T Hill and The Hal ton county Atlas notes that Acton at the time had one of the finest public schools in the county built of stone and opines There is no subject in which the inhabitants take more interest and are more liberal than in the education of the young which has ever been in a high state of efficiency The growth of the tiny was stimulated by the tanning industry and the manufacture of gloves and ploughs making it the industrial town of the north Since the three municipalities split and went their own way there has always been a link and a competitive spirit which appeared mainly at sporting events but it has never really had the combat that has marked other feuds The early settlers and those who came later spread out through North and often it was a case of cousin against cousin or even brother against brother in the hockey baseball and lacrosse wars It is ironic perhaps that just over years after the three communities started to split they should once more be gathered into one municipality But that progress THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Busmessand Editorial Office FREE PRESS CARTOONIST Dave suggests it wasnt a timetable which kept the Queen and Prince Philip moving when they passed through Acton recently