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125th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, October 1, 1991 - 43 Postal service in Port since 1852 The following article about the Post Office in Port Perry was re- searched and written by retired school teacher and local "historian Mr. Paul Arculus for the Port Perry Star's 125th Anniversary edition. by Paul Arculus In 1824, Donald Cameron a Scotsman enticed many of his countrymen to come to Canada to settle in Thorah and Eldon Townships. Settlers had little respite from their work as they cleared the land and fulfilled all the other chores of pioneer life. Homesickness was a frequent companion. The only way to con- sole themselves was to corre- spond with their families back in Scotland. One of these early settlers was Kenneth Campbell who had come from Glengarry and had settled in Thorah. There was no mail delivery beyond Whitby. In 1827 he obtained a per- mit to bring mail from Whitby to Thorah once every two weeks. Since his journey took him through what is now Manches- ter he would drop off mail at one of the homes there for distribu- tion. To improve service, Prince Albert opened the first official post office in the area in 1836. J. Leach was the postmaster. Epsom and Port Perry opened their post offices in 1852. Joseph Bigelow was postmaster in Port Perry, a position he held until 1869. Manchester, where mail had been dropped off for many years, by Mr. Campbell, did not officially obtain a post office un- til 1854 when Mr. W. Powson, a surveyor, became postmaster. The Commercial Hotel in Borelia on the southwest corner of what is now Queen and Old Simcoe Streets in Port Perry, was a distribution centre for mail for a decade before a post of- fice was opened in 1863 with J.W. Morris as postmaster. The first post office in Port Perry was in Mr. Bigelow's building, a frame structure on a site where Emiel's Restaurant now stands. Mr. Bigelow's store sold dry goods, provisions and wine as well as housing the post office. The next location for the ost office was in a two-storey Prick building where the YMCA now sits {the old library) across from Dennis Anderson's Chev. Olds dealership. Perry The third location was in the Willard block, in the eastern section of what is now the Royal Bank. Today, one of Port Perry's most imposing buildings is the post office. This fourth and final location for the post office was built in the years 1912-13 and opened its doors for business in January 1914. It was slated for demolition in the 1970s but some local peo- ple, led by Bill Brock, convinced the government of its architectu- ral significance and so, although the interior was totally rede- signed and additions placed on the rear and west side, the archi- tectural design was retained. It remains today with its no- ble clock tower a pleasing remin- derofearlier times. This building housed Port Perry's Post Office during the 1880 era and was located on the corner of Queen and John Street. The two storey brick structure was torn down to make way for the new Scugog Memorial Library (now occupied by YMCA). PORT PERRY. This sketch depicting downtown Port Perry appeared in the Anglo-American Magazine of 1854. Note that all buildings were made of wooda nd the Post Office was located on the north side of the Street approximately where Emiel's Place Restaurant sits today. This was the first Post Office in Port Fre n Perry. The buildings, left to right, Bigelow's Post Office and store; McMichael's store: James Squire, merchant tailor: Whitaker and Crandell, Charles S. Jewett, boots and shoes: Whites's planing mill and the steamer Woodman,