Postcard of Independent Order of Foresters Orphanage, Oakville, 1914-1943
Description
- Media Type
- Image
- Text
- Item Type
- Postcards
- Description
- This postcard shows the orphanage that was built by the Independent Order of Foresters in 1914 on Bond Street, Oakville. Most people today remember it as Ortona Barracks. The Foresters sold the property to the Canadian Army in 1943 for the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps Casualty Retraining Centre. Wartime Housing also constructed homes for returning veterans.
To read a good history of the property through its life, click on the link provided here, "Ortona Barracks" by West River Residents Association Board member Sandy Moshenko.
Trafalgar Township Historical Society member Irene Saunders has this story to add to the history:
"I learned a little about Central Command when a uniformed officer rapped at my door in 1956 or 1957. He was looking for a place to rent for Regimental Sergeant Major James Hill and his wife. He had been knocking on doors all the way from Oakville to my place at Agerton, and had no luck.
I knew nothing about Central Command but we came to an agreement as I had extra space. Jim and Grace and their son moved in a few days later. Their furniture was carried in and placed - everything in order. When I asked how they could do it so neatly, I was told they were paraded in and out of every place they lived.
Grace was from Scotland, a cipher operator, and was a higher rank than Jim when they met. When Jim had been a prisoner of war, he found a nail and fashioned it into a wedding ring and had it smuggled to Grace.
When Grace went to work at Ortona, the door was locked behind her and unlocked at quitting time.
When the apartments were built on Kerr Street, they moved closer." - Notes
- The back of the post card isn't included here because it has not been used nor is there any unusual or identifying information.
- Inscriptions
- Orphanage, Oakville Ont.
- Subject(s)
- Local identifier
- TTJEW000704
- Collection
- Trafalgar Township Historical Society
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
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Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.4424297059149 Longitude: -79.6773624629212
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- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Recommended Citation
- Postcard of Independent Order of Foresters Orphanage, Oakville, 1914-1943
- Contact
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Trafalgar Township Historical Society Sponsor: Jeff Knoll, Local & Regional Councillor for Oakville Ward 5 – Town of Oakville/Regional Municipality of Halton
