The Establishment of the Museum.

While working on the Oakville history I encountered many articles of various kinds which seemed well worth preserving but where they were to be put was not readily apparent. Suddenly the idea of using the little log building which had been the first Post Office in the town occurred to me. Its owner, Mr. Kendall, was kind enough to give me the building which stood in the rear of the old Hagenham & Gage building in which Mr. Kendall operated his tannery. When the large brick building was entirely destroyed by fire, the little Post Office building stood unharmed. But soon the lot was sold. However, the oil company, which was the new owner, kindly honoured Mr. Kendall's agreement. Although several business men promised assistance in the matter of lumber, a float, and such, none kept their agreement. The only assistance given was that by the Junior J.C. who provided 50 cement blocks and themselves helped to dig the foundation.

Having learned a lesson the hard way I proceeded alone. Providentially I succeeded in finding a carpenter who willingly tackled the old materials and we worked together for several years. There being a record of the roof having been raised to provide a loft for storing bales of wool by Hagenham & Gage, the upper section of the building was removed. Since no indication could be found of the type of the original roof, the same rafters were used and the little ventilator replaced. The flooring of the loft was used for the lower floor, the original having long since rotted away. The door and windows were taken from janes ftppelbe's brick store, built in the 1840*s on the south west corner of the 7th line and Dundas Street - now Trafalgar Road and Highway No. 5 - where the Trafalgar Post Office had been located. When it was demolished to make way for the Community Hall the Trafalgar Township Council gave me the door and windows, but not the great beams which I had hoped for. These went to the County Roads foreman for repairing bridges.

The Post Office building was far from finished when a family friend, Georgina* Peters, came to Oakville from her home in Fairhope, Alabama, on the Gulf of Mexico. She had inherited the Thomas House from Murray Thomas and was about to conclude the sale of the farm to the Department of National Defence. Since the house was due for demolition I decided to try and secure it for an addition to the museum, and Georgana* advised a-.look at the attic because whatever I found there I could have. The four-poster, walking wheel and wool reel, which comprised the haul were all intact and in working order. Fortunately no obstacles were raised by the Canadian Department of National Defense, and the long interval of about two years allowed my finances to recuperate for the second bout of restoration.

Probably the strongest factor in carrying out this enterprise was the desire to spend some of the money left by my father.

* first mention is Georgina, second mention is Georganna, M.B. (Mary Buxton, OHS)

The son of a community farmer whose land lay along the railway on the northern boundary of Oakville, that something of this town might be preserved*.

When Jack Duffin placed on the float the little building was found to have been built on top of two white pine stumps, that the pins had been felled and the logs used virtually where they fell as its foundation. One of these stumps was kept for years on the porch of the Thomas house, but was finally removed because of the Curator’s complaint of its dirt.

Some years before I had become used to wearing men’s bib overalls, a tartan shirt, and heavy boots. In fact, I still do at the age of 80 plus. Many is the time I have answered a knock at the Custom House door, and upon giving my name have the caller exclaim “Did you write the Oakville History?”

One day while helping McCrae lay cedar shingles on the roof of the Thomas House, (I could follow the blue line and meet him at the center every time). A lady, emerging from the Post Office building looked up and said in a started tone of voice, “That is the first time I ever saw a lady shingling a roof.” I replied , “Right, I am unfortunately no lady.”

The Oakville Historical Society was formed to administer the museum and for almost ten years Ralph Wakeley was president. He struggled valiantly with half a dozen members to keep it going and this was long before the establishment of the provincial grants for museums.

Although the land together with the buildings have been deeded to the town, the tow fathers were very leery of the whole project. Not long before I left Oakville I had a phone call from a member of the town council who asked me if I had ever visited a museum located, as I remember it at Goderich. He waxed lyrical over the models of water mills, saw mills and other pioneer industry which a man had worked over as a hobby for years. I replied that I was very familiar not only with the working models but with their maker with whom I had had many long chats at conferences of the Ontario Historical Society. Finally I enquired if he had ever been to the old Post Office Museum and when he admitted that he never had I emphasized the fact, that what we exhibited was real, not just models. Evidently times are changing. Recently I was amazed to learn that the membership of the Oakville Historical Society now numbers more than 800.

Note by Christine Castle, Curator of the Oakville Museum –Feb. 1979. Where Hazel Matthews mentions the south west corner it should be south eat corner. The Post Inn stood at the south west corner.

*Something must be missing from this section. M.B.