The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

125th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, October 1, 1991 - 3 The following article about the First or H HHH Et HH HY tH meet Queen Street at right an- a Perry Settl ai HHH HHH HR HH EHH HHH HE adannnn HHH iH HHH Hit LEH HRT ment Tiiiitsasansssisarsssstatiss . 7¢ Vv? ~ 110? E First Port Perry Settlement was re- gles. Crandell's plan was drawn ® Alea R Harper row ~- 3 searched and written by retired 1n 1845 and registered in Whit- Grec.?vcerri- \ ® rao = -- school teacher and local historian by in 1849, being the first regis- __|[|» ar a) NETO... Mr. Bill Brock for the Port Perry tered plan of any part of present I y : Star's Centennial edition in 1971 day Port Perry. : IS : and is has been re-printed on the oc- NH. Eddy SEWULLY cries casion of the 125th Anniversary. DREAM SHATTERED 5 ul n the meantime, forces " ST - yo TT by Bill Brock were mustering which would Waresertcter | .7%F VAL. did | _At first glance, Port Perry is shatter Crandell's dream. Pe- EI, {Prod Corson: typical of the gradually develop- ter Perry, an experienced politi- sil "Bz {orgs Se ®ve ing municipality, ever moving cian and seasoned business- -- :- SU - pemszect RE lots 17 and 18, concession 6 of Reach Township, that portion of Port Perry between Lilla Street and the present western town limit, and a little beyond. His lots extended north from Scugog Street to the 7th Concession. Simcoe Street was the earli- est main road north from the 'front' at Lake Ontario. It was laid outin 1828 by Mr. Smellie of Newmarket, and went through both Prince Albert and Borelia on its way north to Mariposa. It intersected the main road built in the early 1840s by Peter Perry's Windsor Road Company from Whitby to Lake Scugog. PETER PERRY JAMES ROWE the Williams brothers in about 1845 and a store was estab- lished in 1846 by Perry with Chester Draper as manager. This store was at what was to be the corner of Queen and Wa- ter Streets, where the St. Charles Hotel was built later on. Perry almost certainly knew how important Port Perry would become, for this was not the best location for his business, which was to buy pro- duce from the back of the coun- try, transport it to Whitby and thence by water to its marketin York, Montreal or abroad. Ei- ther Borelia or Prince Albert on the road north would have been better locations for this busi- ness at the time. Perry drew up a plan for his 'Scugog Village' and it was eventually regis- tered after his death in 1851. Perry's village ran south from Lilla Street to the lake, includ- ing Queen, Mary, North, Casi- mir, Perry and John Streets. It is amusing to note that on the original plan, Casimir Street was named 'Cinderella Street' - perhaps symbolic of Perry's Map of Port Perry taken from the 1877 Ontario County Atlas, showing the Whitby, Port through town and the community known as Borelia, which was located e land was owned by the Crandalls (also Crandell). Alex Graham's prop- Perry Railway go: at the top of hill. . LL erty was the sight of Reuben Crandell's 1821 homestead. It's location on the road to the north, Simcoe Street, kept busi- ness coming toits doors. Then in 1850-51 came triple disaster for Borelia. A tornado roaring across the val- ley from the north-west blew down the mill which was never re-built. Mr. Perry's friends, Mr. Cotton and Mr. Rowe of Whitby, built the first steamer on Lake Scugog, the Woodman' and began tri-weekly service to Lindsay, ushering in a new era for 'Scugog Village." Thirdly Mr. Perry's other acquaintanc- es, Mr. Farewell, Mr. Gibbs and others joined together to build a new road, the 'Nonquon Road' {our Oshawa road) which ran from the ridges through flatter country right through Port Perry to join up with Simcoe outward from its early core into man, had established himself ' Nn 114 open countryside. As the eye in Whitby in 1836 - 37. Most Jo fnston. Leen cl OC Merol WII Learns | travels up Queen Street, howev- certainly amongst his acquain- = cnRnRery 4¢ 2a ws. : 7. a A er, one suddenly notices a break tances were Messrs. Cotton, 1 ~ PY " o (Frege wm Lomery woe] ' in the pattern of streets. Ottawa Rowe and Farewell of Whitby, s _T. §1= CTT Te "7 "Ae FReevr en Street does not look like the oth- and T.N. Gibbs of Oshawa. In NCR oo' a8 ">, ay Rictge ers. It crosses Queen St. at right what appears in retrospect to So {RP NZ a a i) angles, but turns parallel to have been part of a master g a % 3 4 Lchithh NY | Rosa and Ella on either side of plan, Perry bought lot 19, con- ST -- H cuber H the main street. Here is one of cession 6 of Reach {all that land --~ 27) : randal Geo | the few remaining vestiges of east of Lilla Street to the lake). T= Na i olla | the village of Borelia, where it The purchase was made from TAL Pe rered -__ all really started. i ] h 40 C } Most old-timers over the nd 39 | { age of 35 can remember when a of = 2 {| Sida Pfterncen stroll 3 Bo- 3 I | |: relia hill' meant a walk up free i === § Queen Street to Simcoe Street ' T I= R Y i == {| and back. For those younger, the School Crard all i name Borelia' has ceased to be a . = CN iT Est f part of working vocabulary; and -- CJL -_--_--ee-.aasaioo | to those under 20, it is almost RN EER {| we i un OWL. . . ~ ~. --_---- = posigfees proces eg | ---- | -- ~~] | Borelia, originally Cran- SB ree ™N A CCN oe £ dell's Corners, got its start in mr) SILI NU "WW | \ 7 TBR = { about 1838 when Reuben Cran- aN TTT. TTT TN jl QB \ 7 -- KN i dell moved there from his farm Cl Told Te F Fry : |i \ Y/ a JI te fon 3 at Manchester and built a few aE 26 29 me LI NR = eo --] frame houses. Crandell owned : vr - o ! 9 fine quality Serving Port Perry & rags-to-ric SELOXpovka one, Streets again porsh of the vil- f All this while, Borelia con- lage, effectively by-passing Bo- are Reuben Crandell had a sim- tinued to prosper. It had asaw- relia for both north and south- a Ior over le faith in Borelia's future, ased on its Simcoe Street loca- tion, for he drew up and regis- tered a plan for his land, estab- lishing streets running perpendicular to Queen Street eastward from Simcoe Street to the limits of his property (Lilla St.). The first of these, Elgin St. {now Silver St.) and the second, Bruce St. (now Ottawa St.] still mill and grist-mill, run there by Squire Hurd since 1831. Its mill pond still holds a little wa- ter in the 'v' between the Man- chester road and the 6th Con- cession, west of the old village of Borelia. Borelia developed the usual commercial estab- lishments to be found in an prosperous mill village - post of- fice, hotels, liveries and stores. bound traffic. Perry's Scugog village had conquered its first rival, Crandell"s Borelia, a vic- tory it would repeat twenty years later in capturing the grain trade from Prince Albert with the help of the railway. Peter Perry died in 1851. His place as architect of the de- Please turn to page 4 7 years. Specializing in childrens wear. 197 Queen St., Port Perry * 985-9982 3