Hidden Ontario (29 page)

In 1816 a murder occurred on Yonge Street. Elijah Dexter shot James Vanderburg during a quarrel. Some people thought Dexter had shot in self-defence, but government officials thought otherwise. He was charged and found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Once again the crowds gathered. People took time off from business and farm chores to watch the hanging. This time it was Reverend John Strachan who escorted Dexter to the scaffold. When Dexter appeared, the crowd cheered. Dexter had no intention of dying. He wasn't ready. At the base of the scaffold he refused to ascend. The jailer was a resourceful man. Off he went to get a horse and cart, and then placed Dexter in the vehicle with his back to the scaffold. Next he moved Dexter under the scaffold and then adjusted the noose accordingly; finally, he lashed the horse and off it bolted, leaving Dexter to hang in the air.

A gruesome murder occurred in 1819, near Whitby. It was so brutal that some citizens took the law into their own hands. The murderer never stood trial. The murderer was a Frenchman named De Benyon. Apparently, De Benyon had difficulty tolerating his 13-year-old stepson. He turned the young man out of the house on a bitter winter night. Sometime later he allowed the lad back in and proceeded to tie him up in front of the fireplace. The boy literally roasted to death while De Benyon watched. Caught in the act, he tried to escape, but his neighbours overtook him near a bridge over the Don River. No one cared to wait for the authorities. They hung him on the spot.

In 1828 two men were scheduled to hang at the same time, at York's second jail, near the northeast corner of King and Toronto Streets. It was incredible, this fascination with death. Ten thousand “concerned” citizens turned out to witness this. How far will people go to watch a hanging? Quite the distance, it would seem, since York itself had only a population of 2,000.

Women were also hung for murder. On December 14, 1837, Julia Murdock was hanged for murdering her mistress with arsenic. This hanging attracted 4,000 people.

The last recorded duel fought in York occurred on July 12, 1817, between John Ridout and Samuel Peters Jarvis. John and Samuel were good friends and had grown up as neighbours. They had fought together in the War of 1812. So why did they duel?

It wasn't the first time. John's father had thwarted them before, but this time Ridout, age 18, and Samuel, age 25, left their homes unnoticed, in the wee hours of the morning, and met in a meadow just east of the parliament buildings. The duel was set; both men paced off and fired. John Ridout was killed instantly. Although Jarvis was charged and tried for murder, he was acquitted. It would seem this was a customary practice.

Sunnyside, Toronto, circa 1900. As busy then as it is today.

Archives of Ontario

In 1852 a group of businessmen gathered together every morning to talk about and trade their stocks and bonds. Little did they know what they were starting. Today, Bay Street is the financial heart of Canada's business capital. In a conservative but impeccable building, home to the Toronto Stock Exchange since 1983, business men and woman still gather daily for the same purpose.

The Canadian National Exhibition has a long history as a place for new ideas. In its original incarnation, it had no permanent home and would move from year to year to different cities and towns in the province. It was, in fact, called the Provincial Agricultural Association Fair.

In 1879 the Provincial Legislature incorporated the “Industrial Exhibition Association of Toronto”; these were the days when grand expositions set the imagination alight. Often this was the opportunity to inform the world of marvelous new inventions — and there was no radio, television, or movie theatre to interfere with attendance or attention. One hundred thousand people came to the Exhibition that fall, on the site of the present Exhibition Place. It lasted for three weeks and the admission was 25 cents.

The Toronto Industrial Exhibition was the first in the world to use electricity and one of the first to introduce electric trains. Thomas Edison conducted many of his early experiments here, to the delight of the board of directors. He even recorded a famous message at the CNE, from Lord Stanley (who also donated the Stanley Cup), to the U.S. President. Edison was also responsible for inventing overhead power lines, the trolley pole, and electric railways — all at the Toronto Industrial Exhibition.

The most enduring symbol of the CNE is the Princes' Gates, often mistakenly called “The Princess Gates,” at the entrance to the grounds. In 1927, during the visit to open Union Station, Prince Edward and his brother Prince George (later King George VI) officially opened the fair. The gates were named in their honour and the statue that sits atop them,
The Winged Victory
, has become a recognizable emblem of the CNE. The residents of the original Fort Rouille would not recognize Exhibition Place today.

There is still history in the making, in Toronto, including the end of Maple Leaf Gardens, the new Roy Thompson Hall, the Rogers Centre, the CN Tower, the spectacular Eaton Centre, Ontario Place, and many places and events. The Natives were quite right to name this place Toronto. It is a cosmopolitan centre — a great meeting place.

 

Once the Hollywood of Canada, Trenton was not so glamorous back in 1790, when the first settlers arrived. James Smith, a country judge from New York, and John Richard Bleecker from Albany were the first to settle at the mouth of the River Trent.

Smith built a log cabin on the east bank of the river and just a few months later John Bleecker put one on the west bank. Bleecker died in 1807 and his widow, Mary, operated an inn and a ferry service on the site for many years. Mary sold the property to Henry Ripsom, a Loyalist who erected the first gristmill on the Trent 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) upriver from the mouth.

Trenton's early settlers were predominantly United Empire Loyalists who arrived there in the 1790s. Adam Henry Meyers, however, a native of Germany, was the first to open a general store in this settlement, which was initially named Trent Port.

In 1829 John Strachan, the first Anglican Bishop of York (Toronto) established lots on his property in the Trenton area to create a community named Annwood. Strachan was a visionary. He encouraged craftsmen to settle on his land and donated a site for St. George's Anglican Church. The church, Trenton's oldest, was constructed in 1845, replacing an earlier frame structure. Despite his efforts, Annwood eventually merged with Trenton.

Another influential figure was Captain Sheldon Hawley, who along with his brother-in-law Josiah, assisted in the further development of the community. They established a lumber business and a mercantile store. Trenton quickly became an important lumbering centre. From here the lumber was shipped to Montreal and Quebec City. Two large steam-powered mills, owned by Gilmour and J. Flindall, set up operations on the east side of the Trent. On an island in the Bay of Quinte, there were the mills of Baker and Company and C. Weaver Esq. At the time the Rathun Lumber Company of Trenton was the largest operation in all of Ontario, harvesting timber in North Hastings.

By the 1860s the lumber industry in Trenton was shipping 5,000,000 cubic feet of square white pine by raft annually to the Quebec market. Several hundred thousand logs (each season) were also shipped to American ports.

By the mid-1870s, the Gilmour Company employed at least 400 men in their planing mill, the box plant, and in the sash, door, and veneer factory. Sawdust from this sawmill was used to provide fill for many of Trenton's building sites.

In the 1830s construction started on the Trent Canal. Trent Port became the gateway to a water system which eventually linked Bay of Quinte and Georgian Bay.

Trent Port had a population of 1,500 residents when it was incorporated as a village and officially named Trenton in 1853. Three years later the Grand Trunk Railway steamed into the village. Trenton became the hub of transportation with a network of three railways for a brief interlude.

Trenton became one of Ontario's major industrial towns when Robert Waddell established the Trenton Bridge and Engine Works in the 1870s. The company manufactured steel and iron bridges, iron piers, engine boilers, tugs, and steamboats.

On Dominion Day, 1880, Trentonians held a gala celebration in honour of their new status as a town. Dr. W.H. Day was elected as Trenton's first mayor.

Trenton suffered its first serious setback in 1910 when the Gilmour Sash and Door Factory burned to the ground. It made a strong comeback when it was chosen as the site for the British Chemical Company's multi-million-dollar ammunitions plant during the First World War. Tragedy struck again on Thanksgiving Day 1918, when a fire broke out in that factory and ignited explosives that blew the buildings apart. Amazingly enough, no one was killed.

Trenton circa 1931. The film industry here was once thought to be Ontario's Hollywood.

Archives of Ontario

The fireworks continued throughout the night and the town telephone operator, Eva Curtis, stayed at her switchboard to keep vital communications open. For courage in a danger zone, she and seven others were awarded the medal of the Order of the British Empire.

Welcome to Hollywood! That's how it seemed in 1919 when Trenton was chosen by the government as the site for a film plant. Numerous films, including
The Great Shadow
and
Carry on Sergeant
, were produced here. The only reminder of these bygone days is a street in Trenton named Film Street.

During the Depression, Trenton and its residents managed to escape some financial hardships thanks to Senator William Alexander Fraser. Through his efforts Trenton was chosen to be the home of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The town's unemployed were quickly hired to build the airport and base. In the Second World War, this military centre served as the Commonwealth Air Training Base. In 1949 Memorial Gates at the airport entrance were erected to commemorate the contribution made by the base during the war. Over the years the military presence has contributed greatly to the economy and social stability of the town.

In the 1950s Trenton's industrial base included 25 major manufacturing companies, including Quaker Oats, Delft Gelatin, and S.H. Camp & Company, a subsidiary of one of the world's largest manufacturers of surgical garments and braces.

The downtown core was devastated by three fires in 1978. Merchants and town officials rallied to the task of rebuilding, and by midsummer of the same year a 26-store shopping complex replaced what the fire had destroyed.

On July 1, 1980, exactly 100 years after Trenton was incorporated as a town, it became a city. Now, Trenton may be best known as a tourist centre. It has many claims to fame, but for me it was my start in life because my mother called it home.

I, personally, have fond memories of summers with my family (the Gauens).

 

Whitby certainly has a great history of characters, including at least one very mysterious murderer.

The early settlement of the district began around Whitby's natural harbor at the lakeshore and along the Kingston Road. Jabez Lynde settled here on the Kingston Road at Lynde's Creek in 1804. Samuel Cochrane soon arrived and a Mr. Storey and a Mr. Losie opened shops in the area circa 1818.

The first post office between Toronto and Port Hope was opened by J.B. Warren in 1823. In 1835 John Hamer opened a store, and the settlement became known as Hamer's Corners at what is now Dundas and Anderson Streets.

The harbor was called Windsor Bay and it was a thriving grain port, with a storehouse, a tramway, and a warehouse, in the 1830s.

By October 1836 Peter Perry, the MPP for Lennox and Addington Counties near the Bay of Quinte, lost his seat in Parliament and moved to the area. He purchased most of the land around the present four corners of the town. This wealthy entrepreneur and visionary built a store on the site of the present-day Bank of Commerce as well as a large brick home. He hired a provincial land surveyor to draw up a town plan for the area around the four corners in 1844. Perry then encouraged merchants and businessmen to settle in his community; this area became the centre of commerce instead of Hamer's Corners. The four corners of this settlement were soon named Perry's Corners.