Out on the highway in Orilia, Ontario in the summer of 1942

There is something iconic about this image to anyone who grew up in a city in Britain in the 1950s.

We are in Orilla, Ontario sometime in 1942, and with very little imagination it is the sort of place  you would see in countless Hollywood movies.

Here are the lone petrol pumps sat out on a desolate highway or just on the edge of a small mid western town.

The young men may work in the garage or like as not they have just wandered out to watch the odd automobile head out up the highway to somewhere a lot more interesting.

Of course all of this is just idle speculation based on nothing more than years of watching American movies.

In fact “"Orillia is a city located in Simcoe County in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe, 135 kilometres (84 mi) north of Toronto.

Originally incorporated as a village in 1867, the history of what is today the City of Orillia dates back at least several thousand years. 

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of fishing by the Huron and Iroquois peoples in the area over 4,000 years ago as well as sites used by Native Americans for hundreds of years for trading, hunting, and fishing.

Known as the "Sunshine City", the city's large waterfront attracts many tourists to the area every year, as do a good number of annual festivals and other cultural attractions. 

While the area's largest employer is Casino Rama, overall economic activity in Orillia is a mixture of many different industries including manufacturing, government services, customer service and tourism.”*

And Orillia is where my friend Lori’s dad lived in the 1940s, and the photograph is of him and two friends hanging out in the summer of 1942.

All of that said it is still the sort of picture I might well have had on my bedroom wall at home in Eltham or later in one of countless student flats across south Manchester.

Picture; Orillia, Ontario, circa 1942, courtesy of Lori Oschefski, whose father is on the far right

*Orillia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orillia

Selling watches in a Canadian winter in 1900

I am back in Canada with the Orillia Museum of Art & History featuring one of their pictures from Canada’s past.  

In this case an advert for J.B.Thompson watchmaker and jeweller, Orilla, Ontario.

I am always intrigued at the thinking behind such advertisements and can’t quite decide whether the message was that his watches worked in the cold of a Canadian winter, or that in the event of a snow storm you would always be able to know the time even if the train was buried under that white stuff.

But as ever the museum has provided a useful background to the picture.

"J.B. Thompson Trade Card 1890

J.B. Thompson :Watchmaker and Jeweller: published this advertising trade card illustrating a 
“Canadian Snow Plow,” around 1900. 

The Thompson Jewelry store was located at 57 Mississaga Street East from about 1884 to the early 1900’s and was later called Madden’s Jewelery. In his book 'Reminiscences' C.H. Hale tells us John Boyd Thompson was a leading Jeweler of his day and had a large business which included manufacturing on a small scale and which extended far into the lumber camps to the north. 

Mr. Thompson held the post of Mayor of Orillia in 1888 and his eldest son Arthur Boyd Thompson was a leading Orillia lawyer and authority on Municipal law.I am always intrigued at the thinking behind such advertisements."

Picture; courtesy of Orillia Museum of Art & History http://www.orilliamuseum.org/

T.B. Mitchell, furniture dealer, and manufacturer of custom coffins

One of the things that continue to fascinate me about the internet and social networking is the way it allows you to share other people’s history.

And so in that true spirit of internationalism here is a photograph from the Orilla Museum of Arts and History.*

It is a picture of its time and it speaks for itself.

So why shouldn’t a furniture dealer also deal in coffins?

And in the case of Mr Mitchell also do the full service from hearse and carriage to manufactured custom coffins.

“T. B. Mitchell came to Canada in 1863. 

Ten years later he moved to Orillia and opened a business as a manufacturer and dealer in furniture on the North West corner of Colborne and West Streets. 

By 1890 Mitchell was one of the largest dealers in parlor, bedroom and dining room furniture as well as carpet, sewing machines, musical instruments and picture frames. 

He also provided a complete funeral service with his own hearse and carriage and manufactured custom coffins. 

T. B. Mitchell found time to deal in real estate and an 1885 ad listed 50 lots for sale having previously purchased 170 acres of the Moffatt property located between Lake Couchiching and Simcoe. 

In 1880 William Swinton started working here and can be seen standing to the right of the horses being driven by teamster R. A. Robinson an uncle of the Hewitt Bros. William was a cabinet maker and assisted Thomas Swain building wooden coffins. 

In 1888 William Swinton purchased the business from T. B. Mitchell and after several years of growth moved further up West Street in 1907. Mitchell continued selling real estate in a store behind this building on Colborne Street. 

By 1909 the D. C. Thomson Co. Bakery was located here. In August, 1909 the Tudhope Carriage Works located across the road burned to the ground. The intense heat from the Carriage works spread the flames across the road and the Bakery and the Real Estate office were destroyed."

*http://www.orilliamuseum.org/ 30 Peter Street South | Orillia, Ontario

Picture; courtesy of Orilla Museum of Arts and History

Mr Knox and his 16 passengers in Orillia Ontario on a sunny day in 1911

Orchard Point, 1911 from the collection of Frank Kehoe

I am in Orchard Point, Ontario with a picture from 1911 which I grant is a long way from Chorlton, but images travel and this one in its way is a perfect piece of history.

It comes from a collection posted by the Orillia Museum of Art & History which I often visit because it “showcases the best of Orillia and Lake Country's culture and history through local and nationally significant exhibitions. OMAH's Discovery Gallery makes art touchable and fun for all ages”

And while I doubt I will ever be able to visit OMAH for those who might it “is located in the heart of Orillia's downtown shopping and restaurant district and is wheelchair accessible.”*

And so to the picture which I think works on many different levels for here is another of those images where lots of things are happening.

Mr Knox, and some of the children

At the centre is Mr Knox who we will return to later but for me it is the sixteen children who have crowded on to his car that draw you in to the photograph.

Some stare directly into the camera in the way that so many people did in those early picture from the beginning of the 20th century.

Others concentrate on the road ahead or the conversations of their friends.

But above all it is that sheer pleasure and novelty of a ride in a motor car and reminds me of that moment when Mr Shaw of Shaw’s Garages on Barlow Moor Road proudly stood in front of the first street side petrol pump in Chorlton.  As with this picture the camera had drawn a crowd but sadly unlike this one apart from Mr Shaw the rest of the people are lost to history.

Lillian Harris

But here sitting in Mr Knox’s car on that sunny day in 1911 are the names of all the children who climbed aboard and with those names a little of the story of the day.

The photograph is in the possession of Frank Kehoe who writes

“In 1911, sixteen children living at Orchard Point were given a real treat, a ride in a horseless carriage belonging to a Mr. Knox from Chicago. Mr. Knox had his car shipped from Chicago for his use when he spent his summers at the Klondike Hotel located at the Atherley Narrows. The hotel burnt in 1914. 

Back Row (L. to R.) Aubrey Gaudaur, Greta Harris, Mary Gaudaur, Stella Gaudaur, Rownea Gaudaur, Reg Gaudaur, Grace Stackhouse. Middle Row (L. to R.) Lillian Harris, Eva Harris, Nellie Harris. 

In front of Mr. Knox (the driver): Mavis Gaudaur, Stanley Harris, Oswald Harris, Selby Gaudaur, Mansel Harris. 

Still residing in Orillia are Reg Gaudaur’s children, Barbara McEown, Ross Gaudaur and Stella Gaudaur’s son, Frank Kehoe.”

So this makes Mr Kehoe’s picture such a treasure.  For those in Orillia the names of the children are a direct link to the towns’ past while for me the image captures the early age of the motor car, and perfectly captures that sunny day in 1911 when the car came to town.

Nellie Harris

Picture; from the collection of Frank Kehoe as displayed on the facebook site of the Orillia Museum of Art & History, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Orillia-Museum-of-Art-History/221378647891108

*Orillia Museum of Art & History, Peter Street South | Orillia, Ontario | L3V 5A9 | Telephone: (705) 326-2159 http://www.orilliamuseum.org/

**Always check your photo collections,

http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/always-check-your-photo-collections.html