Hornby Loyal Orange Lodge No. 165
Description
- Media Type
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- Item Type
- Photographs
- Description
- Hornby Loyal Orange Lodge Hall was located on Steeles Avenue. A second photograph showing more of the streetscape can be found under "Pages Select" above in this record. The second photograph was taken in December 1990.
Oyster suppers were popular here and each Orangeman was able to invite one other couple. The 12th of July parade was always a big event. One time when the parade was held in Guelph, people at the Hornby station were told the train wouldn't stop in Hornby to let people on to go west to Guelph. Bill Cunningham, who lived in Port Credit, had bought a ticket on the westbound train to Hornby. When the train stopped to let him off, all those going to the parade jumped on board.
Don Learmont remembers going to the Hornby Hall "to play euchre or crokinole. The hall was the site of many great parties that went on for many years during the winter months when farmers weren't so busy. I don't think any of the party-goers were members of the Lodge, but it was the best community hall in the area that could be rented. These parties were held on Friday nights - usually every two weeks except around Christmas and New Years. The parties would start with euchre games. Then while the tables were still in place, the ladies would serve a pot luck style lunch. When lunch was finished, the tables would be cleared away to make room for dancing. Gear Sinclair would play his violin (fiddle) and his wife Ada, played the piano. Sometimes Tommy Howden was available to play a second fiddle. For square dances, Jim Brooks would be the caller. But it wasn't all square dances. They also played waltzes and foxtrots. In the meantime, the kids would be up in the balcony playing their own card games and watching the action down below. We were allowed to come down for lunch. Don sometimes remembers that in 1961, he and some friends started dances there called the Hornby Stomp with a small record player. Later we had a live band. Don met his wife of 55 years there.
In December 1928, Gear Sinclair married Ada McMenemy from a nearby farm. For several years, they rented a farm not far from the Sinclair homestead where Gear and his ten siblings were born and raised. The address was R.R.# 1 Glen Williams, but it was a long way from the Glen and was actually very close to the village of Ballinafad on Trafalgar Road.
In 1935, Gear and Ada bought a 200 acre farm just east of Milton at R.R. #4. By then they had their first two children, Murray and Wilma. They farmed there until the end of 1952 when they sold the farm and moved to Queen St. in Milton. By then, there were two more children, Ross and Laurie. For a couple of years, Gear was semi-retired, only working in the summer months on various farms for former neighbours.
At the age of 52, he was too young to stay retired for long so ge got a job at the Halton County Buildings just at the end of Queen St. There he was the caretaker and maintenance man. Occasionally, he could be seen wearing a jailor's hat supervising a couple of prisoners cutting the grass.
After several years, they moved to 347 Woodward Ave. Gear passed away in December of 1985 at the age of 85. He was still in good health, but unfortunately on a bus tour with Ada, he fell and hit his head on the corner of a table in their motel room. Several brain surgeries couldn't save hi,. After Gear passed away, Ada soon sold the house on Woodward Ave. and bought a very nice condo on Mill St. in Milton. Ada passed away in Feb. 1998 at the age of 90.
Don has also remembered (because I asked him about the dry Orange Lodge being so near to the Brains Brewery in Hornby), "My great-grandfather Thomas Learmont lived in various places in the Hornby area. He stayed with my grandfather on his farm just south of Steeles on Trafalgar road in his later years. Thomas would go to Brains brewery & buy a honey pail of beer & lower it down the well on a rope to cool it off. It was much to the displeasure of my grandmother who was a staunch anti drink person. The Brains brewery had a pond which we all played hockey on. The mall that is there now was part of the farm. Hornby school was a 1 room & 8 grades. The same teacher taught my father & me. Nelly Jardine. A real stern woman." - Inscriptions
- In first photograph: Hornby L. O. L. 165.
On second photograph: Hornby Orange Lodge 4H20 Dec. 1990. - Subject(s)
- Local identifier
- TTOIIMS0050
- Collection
- Trafalgar Township Historical Society
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
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Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.56681 Longitude: -79.83293
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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
- Hornby Loyal Orange Lodge No. 165
- 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
