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Lawn and Garden C cpn^syg^ CURRENT POWER MACHINERY INC 1661 Lakeshore Rd. W. Mississauga (2 Mock east o! Southdown . Q O O > 1 0 4 4 Road in Clarkson) g O H a it * l l Repairs and Paris for Most Makes Editor: Wilma Blokhuis Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 250) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: blokhuis@haltonsearch.com VVKDNESI)AY. SEIyni\1BKR 17. 200.J · fv rige HI FOCUS ON OAKVILLE FOURTH LINE AUTO ^ oooo/ y ea h For A li Your Car's Needs Drive Clean Emission Testing Government Safety Inspection Tune-Ups · Brakes · Exhaust · Coofing Systems CAA Approved Shop 559 Speers Road (905) 842-3001 __________ Custom House celebrates 20th year as museum By Wilma Blokhuis BEAVER F O C U S EDITOR / t's been more than 100 years since the door to the Custom House creaked open to w elcom e an anx ious public. Long before the C ustom H ouse opened as O akville's first year-round com munity m useum 20 years ago this fall, new im m igrants would walk up the hill after disem barking a boat to pass through C ustom s before settling in town. Oakville was a Port o f Entry. The tow n's first custom s officer w as its founder. Col. W illiam C hisholm , ippointed in 1834. His jo b w as to stop cholera and typhus (ship's fever) from entering Upper Canada. He also had to collect duty and stop smugglers. Chisholm appointed his son. Robert Kerr Chisholm - w ho w as known as R.K. - as Deputy Custom s O fficer in 1838. Four years later, at the tim e o f his father's death. R.K. becam e Custom s Officer, a position he held until 1894. hence serving in that capacity for 56 years. In 1856 he constructed the Custom House, a two-storey red brick building at the foot o f Navy Street. The south room w ould serve as the C ustom s Office, the north room housed the Bank o f Toronto and the upstairs was the bank m anager's residence. T he opening o f the Bank o f Toronto branch reflected O akville's prosperity at the time. After R.K. died in 1899. the C ustom House was no longer used to inspect new imm igrants com ing through town. Local historical actor M ichael Brown, dressed as R.K.. greeted about 100 people who came to celebrate the Oakville M useum at E rchless' 20th anniversary' on Saturday after the ribbon was cut and the door opened to m ark the `opening' o f the Custom House. That door had never been used dur ing the 20 years the Custom House functioned as a museum. Patrons enter via the lobby built in 1983. Jill Kitchener · Special to the Heaver L ocal h isto ric a l a c to r M ich ael B ro w n p lay ed R .K . C h ish o lm , O a k v ille 's C u s to m 's O ffic er fo r 56 y e a rs to 1894, at S a tu r d a y 's `o p e n in g ' o f th e C u s to m H ouse to c e le b ra te th e la u n c h o f E rc h le ss as a y e a r-ro u n d m u seu m 20 y ea rs ago. It w as th e First tim e th e d o o r to th e C u sto m H o u se h ad been o p en to th e p u b lic in m o re th a n a ce n tu ry . Inside the Custom House, the carpet ing had been removed to reveal the original w ooden plank fldOr, and a fundraising cam paign is under way to restore the fireplace that had been rem oved in 1983. The Erchless Estate was built in four stages. The north section was built in 1820 followed by the middle section in 1939 and the south portion in 1858 by R.K.. tw o y ears after he built the C ustom House. Six generations o f the Chisholm family lived at Erchless. W hen H azel C hisholm M athew s m oved into the Custom House in 1930, "I w alked through a sea o f papers which proved to be those o f my great uncle R.K .." she wrote in O akville a n d the Sixteen, a book her sister. Dr. Juliet Chisholm , encouraged her to write. Erchless was purchased by the Town o f O akville in 1976 for S55().(XX). with the intent o f creating a year-round liv ing museum. The Town had hired a heritage archi tect to com plete a feasibility study, and with citizen input, it was recom m ended that a year-round m useum would be the best use for the property. The acquisition included the Custom House and the Chisholm family home the tw o adjoining buildings are known as the E rchless E state, the C oach House, built in 1996. and two small cot tages built during the 1950s that are now used by the O akville Historical S ociety (O H S) for its office and archives. M uch o f the credit goes to the OHS for lobbying the Town to make the investment. Before the 1983 opening o f the Custom House as the first phase o f the then newly acquired m useum, the Town had two seasonal m useum s, the Old Post Office and the T hom as House, operated by the OHS since the 1950s. Originally, the OHS operated all three m useum s until an ag reem en t w as reached in 1992 to transfer Erchless and the Old Post Office to the Town, leaving the society with the T hom as House and the collection o f archival material. "T he Tow n C ouncil o f the day show ed a lot o f vision in buying Erchless," said Irene Knight. M anager C urator who arrived on the scene short ly after the Custom H ouse first opened. " It was saved from the developers." said Barbara Savage, a long time OHS member. 'T o w n council showed vision and saved O akville's waterfront for the public to enjoy, and it's wonderful." W hen the C ustom H ouse first opened, the main floor was renovated for m useum use and the second floor becam e the present-day museum office, said Harry Buxton, another long-time O H S m em ber and a former president. "The family hom e was still rented out as apartm ents . . . but the Town (eventu ally) got vacant possession o f the main house." The museum had been restored to its 1925 elegance. The main house was opened on May 18, 1991. International M useum s Day. The Erchless property, with its three main buildings, is protected by an ease ment - an agreement - between the Town o f O akville and the O ntario Heritage F oundation."This easem ent runs with the property forever," said Knight, "T hat's strong protection." In addition, the federal governm ent recognized Erchless as a Category A institution, giving it the capability to hold national cultural items o f historic value. Erchless has one such item, an early painting titled M ill on the Sixteen - C hisholm 's mill - by Canadian artist Frederick Vemer who hailed from the form er village o f Sheridan and made a name for him self painting landscapes. "W e also hold a num ber o f provincially significant pieces relating to the Custom House, which served a public function," said Knight. O ne such item is the large C ustom H ouse cupboard. Em elda Beeler Chisholm, mother o f Hazel and Juliet, had moved the cup board from the Custom House into the library in 1925. M any of the items found at Erchless Estate have been returned to the muse um by generous Chisholm descendants. " R ecreating a historical interior gives the public a sense o f stepping back into the past." Knight concluded. 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