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2- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, October 1, 1991 125th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE Star celebrates 125 years of publishing by J. Peter Hvidsten It's hard to believe that 125 first edition of the Port Perry Standard off the press. I can in his dimly lit press room occasion today. scanning the crisp, white sheet of paper, with a small five years! wisp of a smile on his face. I'm sure, as that first issue Perry Star and its was rolling off the press, the Port Perry Standard, have Mundy had no idea that we been documenting the news would be celebrating that and special events which important day a century and have taken place in and around this community. a quarter later. But it was because of the dedication of the Standard's Yonrs have drifted by since pioneer publishers, Mundy, dward Mundy pulled the Newton, Cline and Farmer, that the Standard evolved into the Port Perry Star and visualize him now, standing we can celebrate this historic One hundred and twenty That's how long 0 CANADA NISTRE PRIME MINISTER PREMIER MI Dear Mr. Hvidsten behalf of the Gov am deiighted to extend my and sincere best wishes to of the Port Perry Star as you ernment of Canada, I warmest greetings celebrate your Canadians ma d that local newspapers play in the growth an throughout our rovide authori Loon, 749 ow developments. They evoke de a wealth iv ws and on daily living. I trust that this year will be pro rewarding and may I wish in meeting the challenges of the future. the staff and readers 125% ' take great pride in the role development of communities "He hts into from a regional on national issues for comment report on News and newsmak Provide of information on comin ductive and each of you success fra Hl our past as well as our current history. tality of any community is a direct reflection of ely it's served by oe world Su 1s gn Se Jor 5 t we tend to take it lor , Lo appreciating the importance of the Joost weekly newspaper and its role in our everyday lives. So it's appropriat t milestone rh began publication when Canada was still a dream, and on this 125th anniver- sary is one year older than our nation itself. I'm pleased to h gratulate the publish ining this grea oh on. and The Star every con cess in the century ahead. po er, editors and staff for Brian Mulroney OTTAWA 1991 ROBE OE KIA OAS Dear Mr. Hvidsten i rtant part o Local newspapers are an impo pa of its news media. In that we recognize such a A the life of the Port Perry ave this opportunity to con- ition of service, and trad tinued suc- Ross Stevenson M.P. Durham Sept. 12, 1991 Sifting through thousands of pages of the Port Perry Star and Standard, now on micro- film, we have tried to capsulize the history of the area through editorial copy and old photographs in the following 60 pages. J. PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher This documention of our early history will no doubt bring back memories for some, and for new residents of this community give an insight as to how Port Perry and area evolved over the past century. But by no means does this special edition touch on all of the important events which have happened over this period of time. There were many more events which deserved consideration, but unfortunately space did not permit us to use them at this time. Hopefully, we will be able to take a look at some of the other events leading to the 21st century in a future hist- orical edition. Twenty years ago, when my father Per Hvidsten was publisher of this newspaper, he wrote "we at the Star are both happy and proud of this special edition compiled and published on the occasion of Port Perry's 100th Birthday." I can only echo those words today as you begin to read this very special issue of the Port Perry Star, which cele- brates 125 years of continuous publication of the Port Perry Star and Standard. While many months of planning, research and pre- paration have been devoted to the production of this issue, much of the work has been accomplished during the past three weeks. Many people have helped to make this issue possible, and although there is always the fear of missing someone, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following supporters: First of all, my sincere thanks to the wonderful people at Scugog Shores Museum for their support and help in locating many of the pictures seen on the following pages. In particular thanks to currator Gail Sheridan and Kim Harper for sharing their already cramped quarters, and making room for me to sift through the many files. Without their help much of what you will see in this edition would not have been possible. Thanks also to Mr. Paul Arculus, local historian, retired school teacher and travel guide extrodinaire, who came to my rescue about a month ago and has spent countless hours researching and writing articles. His enthusiastic support was most appreciated in the final hours of assembly. Thanks also to Brian Winter of the Whitby Historical Society who made a number of photographs available for reproduction; Bill Brock, who pave permission to reprint istoric articles written for the Centennial issue 20 years ago; Irving and Marion Boyd, former owners of the Port Perry Star for the information they provided; our many valued advertisers whose enthusiastic participation has enabled us to produce this outstanding historic docu- ment; Bill Barr, who took on the advertising sales of this issue as a special project; Anna Gouldburn and Pam Hickey of our advertising department who worked many extra hours to produce the attractive ads seen on the following pages; Trudy Emphringham, who typeset the reams of copy needed to fill the pages; and all other members of the Port Perry Star staff who have helped by letting me lock myself away for the past couple of weeks to assemble this special issue; my wife Nancy and the kids for their understanding during the final stages of assembling this edition. As you scan through these pages you will learn about the early settlers, the disastrous fires of the late 1800s, the coming of the railway, schools, and the magnificent steamships that travelled between Port Perry and Lindsay. We hope you enjoy this edition as much as we have enjoyed bringing it to you. Comments of any kind are always welcome. Many changes have taken place over the past century by Paul Arculus Over the past 125 years, Scugog has changed significant- ly, yet in some ways it has changed very little. This dichoto- my is immediately apparent when looking at population sta- tistics. Port Perry has grown from 1567 people in 1871 to 4471 today. That represents an al- most 300% growth rate. On the other hand Reach, during the same period has not increased. It had a population of 5252 in 1871 and 6859 today. The most significant chang- es were brought about by the railway. Firstly as it became es- tablished and secondly during its demise. Prince Albert, for instance was a thriving village before the railway came. It had the reputa- tion of being the second largest grain handling centre in Canada during the 1840s to the early 1870s. It had three hotels, three churches, numerous stores, a post office {the first in the re- gion) and, of course, its own newspaper. In the 1860s as plans were being made for the railway the businessmen of Prince Albert could see the commercial advan- tages of locating in Port Perry, the northern terminus of the proposed route. As a result, be- tween 1864 and 1874, the busi- ness exodus slowly changed the village of Prince Albert into the quiet hamlet of today. Probably the most subtle, yet significant change in this century has been, as a result of the reciprocating decline of the railway and evolution of the au- tomobile, and the related change in the residence status of its pop- ulation. There are many people who haven't reached their fortieth birthday who can remember when May signalled the return of the cottagers. Mainly from To- ronto, the cottagers were those who lived and worked in the To- ronto area and managed to af- ford to own a cottage on Lake Scugog. Most cottages were without insulation, electricity or indoor plumbing. Today most of the cottages have become year round resi- 'dences and in most cases, if the owners work in Toronto, they commute by automobile. Some commuted from Myrtle by train but that option was closed in 1991. During the days of the train, tourists would flock here to spend their holidays in their cot- tages or in the numerous hotels such as the Sebert House and the St. Charles Hotel on the wa- terfront. Today's visitors tend to be entirely day trippers from To- ronto or other centres. This has given rise to a number of shops catering to these tourists: bou- tique type shops. Visitors and residents thir- ty or forty years ago would eat in Cook's White Kitchen, Napier's Venture Tea Room, The Green Thistle or Ken Jackson's Fla- mingo Restaurant. Today their counterparts visit Emiels, The Murray House, The Galley, Da- Please turn to page 59 nai RE PT Cay GRA rs a EU a He a EH a « na AN i Sl CRIN + 0%