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WE ARE PROUD % to have shared in the growth of Oakville. We are proud, too, that our business has shown a continual gain through the confidence placed in the Atlantic Mfg. Co. We are ex tending a warm handshake to Oakville on its 100th anni versary . . . . C o n g r a t u la t io n s a n d b e s t w is h e s . Manufacturers of Combination Aluminum " It being the universal com plaint of our brother editors that their subscribers will not punctu ally pay their subscriptions, we in tend preventing our having to make, similar complaints by pubvlishing one copy and paying for it ourselves." The rather unusual statement quoted above appeared in the first issue of what, as far as is known, was Oakville's first newspaper, The Observer, published February 8 , 1836, about eight years after the community was founded. Next to nothing, however, is known of this pioneer journal, and it is doubtful if a copy of it still sur vives. Even the name of the pub lisher is not on record, and the date of its demise is unknown. But in view of the fact that such little information about it exists, The Observer's life is believed to have been a very short one. The next Oakville newspaper of Which there is any record is the Oakville Weekly Sun. The first is sue was dated July 20, 1850. The Sun's publisher was G. W. Hop kins, who came from Toronto, and the paper's motto was " It Shines For All". A subscription cost a dollar a year, payable in advance. One subscriber, King Henry Munn, member of a well-known Trafal gar pioneer family, paid for his subscription with the first cord of wood taken off his farm. The building in which The Weekly Sun was published is still in use. It is on the south side of Colborne Street immediately east of the public library. About a cen tury later that same building hous ed the plant and office* of another STORM and Town Made News, Back In 1850 SCREEN DOORS Com pletely Installed s49so newspaper, The Oakville-Trafalgar Journal. A copy of The Oakville Weekly Sun is among the exhibits in the Old Post Office Museum. It is printed on rag paper, which is ex tremely durable. The front page contains a column of news from Britain and Europe, and column on the sessions of the Legislative Assembly at Toronto: There seems to have been little local news. Among the advertisers were many Toronto and Hamilton firms, while one Cleveland company advertised for furs and sheepskins. Much of the advertising space was given over to patent medicines. Another of Oakville's early newspapers was The Sentinel, founded in 1853 by John C. Shea. The Sentinel's prospectus contain ed the following passage: "In Po litics The Sentinel will be Liberal and Independent, and will zealous ly strive to promote those meas ures which may seem to be for the good of the province at large. Its columns will be open to all parties for the temperate expres sion of opinion." Within two years of its first appearance, The Sentinel became a semi-weekly paper, published on Tuesday and Friday mornings. In 1855 it was bought by John S. Diamond, son of an Oakville tavern keeper, who took into part nership W. G. Culloden, an Irish man. The Sentinel later became The Standard, whose equipment was destroyed in the Romain Block fire about 1883. The Oakville Advertiser, a Re form newspaper, was started by William Mackenzie King about 1855. King, an Oakville boy, had returned home after an exciting career as a sailor, which included three voyages around the world and two shipwrecks, and was fol lowed by the adventurer's striking gold in California. It is from this publisher of a century ago that " King's Castle", the unusual-look ing residence on the Sixth Line, now occupied by Arnold Banfield, gets its name. The building was re built in its present form by King in 1854, and named "Solitude". But the popular name for the im pressive structure was " King's Castle", and that name has en dured to this day. There is little information avail able about The Advertiser, how ever, although it is known to have been still publishing in 1860. The Argus was the name of a newspa per published in Oakville in the seventies. It described itself as a "weekly journal of politics, news, literature and Miscellany". Its premises were in Duncan Chis holm's building, the three-storey structure at the southwest corner of Dunn and Colborne Streets. The staff consisted of four men. In 1874 The Argus was bought by Edward Bailey, formerly of The Toronto, who renamed it The Ex press and County of Halton Ad vertiser. The new owner, an ar dent Grit, became so virulent in his attacks on some of the town's leading Tories that he was burned in effigy, and a dead skunk was stuffed into the chimney of the paper's premises. A paper called The Independent was published between 1878 and 1888 by C. Rowland Orr. He also published The Halton New Era, which in 1899 was bought by Charles F. Raymond of Guelph, who changed its name to Ray mond's Record. The name was changed to The Oakville Record by William J. Fleuty, who acquired the paper in 1907. In 1883 The Express was purchased by J. M. Shaw and his son, Campbell, of Elora, who renamed it The Oak ville Star. In 1887 a seventeen-year-old youth named Arthur Forster joined The Star as a printer, and two years later bought the paper. The new proprietor, who introduced many changes, continued to pub lish The Star until his death in 1934. Some idea of the change in the style of newspaper writing that has taken place within the past seventy years may be obtained from The Star's account of an ama teur theatrical performance given at the town hall in 1888: When .the curtain was raised one of the finest sights to be seen upon earth met the astonished view. Twenty-five handsome young ladies, draped in the emblem of purity, heavily jewelled, and sitting with grace and ease, were pre sented to the audience. The sight nearly dazed the senses and made all conscious that it was good to be there. Young men felt like building a temple for each of them, and old bachelors desired to erept two to each--and give the contract without a month's delay. The eyes were feasted on beauty, and the* ears greeted with pure melody. A major story for an Oakville [of an amateur play " The Old Dis-1 shown. It was presented by a group I mins Music Hall, Dundas and Colpaper in 1897 was the presentation | t*ict School," cast of which is | of Oakville enthusiasts in old Com-1 borne Sts., which burned in 1898. ATLANTIC MFG. CO. OAKVILLE - ONTARIO FREE ESTIMATES on ALUMINUM W IN D O W S T T T 5-0381 V 1 . 4-6833 H. J. DOWNEY and SON A LOCAL FIR M SERVING O AKVILLE FOR 18 YEARS ISOTOPE PRODUCTS L I MI T E D FREE Estimates Work is Guaranteed Makers Of ATOMIC ENERGY * FINE A W N I N G S CANVAS, SA R A N , A L U M IN U M in the SERVICE of INDUSTRY * FURNITURE * UPHOLSTERY * SLIP COVERS * TARPAULINS * LAWN FURNITURE SALES and SERVI CE e x t e n d their best wishes to Extend Their Best Wishes OAKVILLE on its 100th Birthday N. J . DOWNEY AND S O N 15 Pine Ave. OAKVILLE ON ITS 100th ANNIVERSARY VI. 4-3572