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_ REMIN ISCIN G WITH RETA the CENTENNIAL page 14 Reta attended the old Weston Public School where H.J. Alexander School presently stands, and 65 years ago, finished her schooling at the old Weston High School. Mrs. Wadsworth also had a farm she called Springmount and when that property was cut through, they called the new street after that name. Neighbours living in the home at the corner of Rosemount Ave. and Church St. ran a slaughter house right behind their property. The town has changed a lot for Reta. Eagle Ave. became Dufferin St., then Lawrence Ave., and Main St. became Weston Rd. Miss Scott had a grocery store on Main St. across from Church St. There was a post office at the corner of Church St. and Main St. where the street car line ended. The sounds of the steam engine whistle and the bells from Mr. Watson's sleigh were familiar to Reta as he went door to door selling his headcheese, sausage, fish and produce. He then worked on the street cars on the Toronto Suburban street car line. In 1899, Charles married Tillie Franks and they left to live in Hespeler where Reta and her younger sister Janet were born. In 1908, motor cars became popular and Charles Calhoun obtained work apprenticing at the Russel Motor Car Company, located on the former site of Acme Screw and Gear Company on Weston Rd. He opened Weston's first repair garage on Little Ave. (presently converted to apartments) in 1913, where he sold and serviced such cars as Jewett, Graham-Page, Graham and Gray-Dorte. The family moved back to the Rosemount Ave. home (which was then known as North Station Street) in 1904, when Reta was just four years old. Reta, as a child, remembered a few farm houses like the Tyrrell's, still standing at the corner of Rose- mount Ave. and King St. and the McKittrick's that stood on a hill near the present corner of Cypress Ave. and Church St. Next to this was Finnigan's that Red and White Stores purchased later to become Al's Variety. At the southwest corner of Eagle Ave. and Main St. was a grocery store and butcher shop that boasted a brick sidewalk with a canopy cover. Jimmy Robinson's grocery and dry goods store occupied the corner where the Bank of Nova Scotia now stands. Reta's mother died in 1916 and from 1922 to 1935, the family lived in quarters over the garage on Little Ave. It was during this time that Charles drove for the Volunteer Fire Brigade and kept up their batteries for $1. per month. Reta's father, Charles Calhoun, born in Weston in 1870, worked as a boy in the Weston woolen mills at Wilby Cres. His step- father put him out to work at the young age of eleven and he worked at the woolen mills until they closed down. Reta started work for COM. in 1942 when they were producing war materials and enjoyed employment with them until 1955. She is presently very active in her church, has taken up a new hobby of weaving and keeping up her heritage home. by Marlene Madore Reta Calhoun's home at 176 Rosemount Ave. has been in her family's possession for 103 years. Built in 1861, her grandmother bought if for $450. energy. In one year, he had the church's debt of $550 completely wiped out. The magnitude of this feat can be appreciated, when you consider that in present day currency, the debt would be about $40,000. In August 1902, he asked the congregation to renovate the church, put in new furnaces, enlarge the Sunday School, and install a pipe organ. After the meeting, a member was heard to remark - "Well, we have a crazy man for a minister". The con- gregation approved the plans on condition that the minister be responsible for raising the funds to cover the total cost of $3,100. A pipe organ, which we have to this day, was bought for $1,000. Services were held in the town A landing field was prepared at the corner of Jane St. and Tretheway for an aviation display, helf July 9, 1910. Visiting French aviator, Jacques de Lesseps flew through vicious winds and rains to a height of 800 feet, but could only stay in the air for six minutes. Charles Calhoun, Reta's father, opened Weston's first automobile repair garage on Little Ave. The building is now an apartment house. Thousands of people watched breathlessly as he tried again on Weston and aviation have been linked for over 70 years. Weston Presbyterian Church continued from page 5. De Lesseps flying field, located at the corner of Jane and Tretheway, was a scene of the first flying demonstration ever staged in the Toronto area. Here, the staff of De Havilland's Weston plant pose with a DH86 Dragon Rapid, one of Canada's earliest business aircraft. De Havilland Aircraft Co. Born On Jane St. Wqflwa 'itth'2tty2'AYr, 'it%St F 'Sh?, k'iti iitfCtiCfitt)ijiji?t'iiii _ii:S'ttist,,i, gfiéfixgm ,_ a ”*Ang.» Weston Centennial Dances 7 p.m. - 12 a.m. Old Tyme & Country music plus a square dance show with the Harold Harton Square Dance Troupe $3.00 per person TWO DANCES FOR ONE PRICE (includes a chance on a lucky draw) Saturday, June 13, 1981 LOCATION 1 H.M.C.S. ILLUSTRIOUS 8 p.m. - 12 midnight C'mon and Boogie with us with BB. & The Sunshine Band LOCATION 2 WESTON FAIRGROUNDS hall during renovations, and re- opening services were held on Dec. 8, 1902. The church continued to grow, and in 1912, the congregation built Westminster Hall on Main St., across from the present Odeon Theatre. Unfortunately, this division of facilities led to a rift in the congregation, because one faction wanted to move the church to the new hall, and the other wished to remain on Cross St. Those that wished to move, won out, and Westminster became the official Presbyterian Church. July 13. This time de Lesseps climbed his little Scarabee mono- plane to a height of 2,000 feet, cruising the sky over Toronto at a speed of 40 miles per hour. After landing, his fellow aviators carried him shoulder high to receive triumphful official con- gratulations. This flying field became known as de Lesseps field and the first site of the de Havilland Aircraft Company of Canada. The old church on Cross St., having been sold, it was bought back by a number of old members, and operated for about six years as an independent Presbyterian Church. In 1947, Creelman Hall was built to provide for the needs of the congregation which was grow- Have you ever wondered how old your house is? How many owners were there before you? And just who was the original owner? If you are at all curious, why not find out? All it takes is a trip downtown to Toronto City Hall to their Land Titles Office. They have all the records on file to answer anything that you wanted to know. The Land Titles Department is located on the second floor of the City Hall with the entrance being off Bay Street. Before you go down, you must have one important piece of information with you __ the legal description of your property. They need to know the Lot Number and Plan Number of your property. This is available from the assessment roles at the Borough of York. It only costs you $1.00 for the priviledge of looking through their records which is a small price for curiosity. Once you have paid your $1.00 at the cashier, go over to the clerk's counter and begin. We started off with the latest Land Titles, which was our own, and worked our way backwards in time. We gave the clerk our Plan and Lot Numbers and he pulled the appropriate ledger from their files. In these ledgers you will find listed any transactions concerning your property such as transfers, purchases or leins. If you find that there is a particular transaction that you want to peruse, you may request this at the adjacent counter where they have every- thing on microfilm for you to view. Copies of any particular page in the Titles book are around .50¢ per page. For a small fee you can also get copies of the transactions from the microfilm as well. St. John The Evangalist Church continued from page 4. ing rapidly in the post war years. In 1951, renovations were made to the Sanctuary which not only preserved the original beauty of the building, but greatly enhanced it. In Canada's Centennial Year 1967, further enlargements and improvements were made. In the years since the war, properties were acquired for the manse and church office which resulted in the parking lot which is invaluable today. On Dec. 20, 1953 the first mass was celebrated in the partially completed new building. On completion, the new brick church seated 408. Ironically in the same year the old frame building burned down. During the past 26 years the parish has continued to grow in numbers. With this growth stemmed a continual need for community gatherings, spirit- ually and socially. Parishes such as Brampton's St. Thomas Acquinas. St. Matthew and Our Lady of Victory grew from St. John's. The parish hall has in the past housed such groups as the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Holy Name Society, The Catholic Women's League and the Humber Valley Knights of Columbus established it's beginnings here. Researching Your Home 'isiiif/'i'C"""Cfjiiiiici, By Judi Latour The Land Titles records in this section only go back to about 1900-1920. If you wish to research any further, you will have to go over to the Land Registry Office. They have the records back to the origin of the property. We were able to trace our property back to the 1840's. Also at this department copies of the plans of your property (or "whiteprints" as they call them) are available. The cost for the whiteprints are $1.00 each. They are only too happy to pull out any map you wish to look at before deciding which one you want. Westminster United Church continued from page 4. were special events, Lion's Club dinners, Rotary, fall fairs, picnics, concerts, fashion shows, luncheons, Meals-on-Wheels. It's interesting to look at some of those old plans __ just see how you property has changed over the years. On our particular property we were able to see how it had been subdivided over the years and where the roads had been re-routed and names changed. On a plan we have dated 1864, the map isn't drawn to scale in feet and inches but rather in chains per inch and the areas were measured in roads and perches. You perhaps have noted I have used no names in this history. A building/ts nothing without people, and where do you begin or end trying to name them? Each one is important. In March 1973, we were able to burn our mortgage. On one of the earlier maps we obtained, it, was amusing to see Weston Road noted as the "Albion of Weston Plank Road" and another with an arrow on the map indicating that this was the direction to London, Ontario. If you wondered in what year your house was built, you can find that information out by phoning the Borough Assessment Office and asking them. They have that information on file and it is most recently being used on the Govern.. ment Insulation Grants. Now that you know how to go about it, why not go downtown to City Hall and satisfy your curiosity? What you may discover will surprise you! _ Westminster Congregation is to celebrate their 125th Anniver- sary in 1983. Plans are being made and I am sure you will hear names of members, past and present, who have made West- minster "A Friendly Family Church" down through the years. MINISTERS WHO HAVE SERVED Rev. D.B. Pearce 1858 _ 1859 Rev. Robert Pettigrew 1872 - 1883 Rev. Walter Reid 1884 - 1900 Rev. R.M. Hamilton 1901 . 1909 Rev. A.H. MacGilliveray 1908 - 1912 Rev. J.W.H. Milne 1912 - 1914 Rev. T.A. Symington 1914 - 1916 Rev. Forbes Robertson 1916 - 1925 Rev. G. Ernest Forbes 1925 - 1939 Rev. Kingsley J. Joblin 1940 - 1946 Rev. Charles A. McLaren 1946 - 1951 Rev. James MacKenzie 1952 - 1964 Rev. J. Kenneth Nobel 1965 _ 1968 Rev. Donald Reed 1968 - 1973 Rev. Leslie D. Upward 1974 _