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H I | SPECIAL | I Centennial 1 SOUVENIR EDITION I r= VOL. 10, No. 32 THE JOURNAL OAKVILLE, ONTARIO, THURSDAY. JUNE 27, 1957 j Be Sure To Wear Booster Buttons! H Don't Miss a Single I I | SPECIAL EVENT at B l I S D y P a f k f :"'r THEY STARTED IT ALL! inillllUllllllllllllltllllllllllllltlllltlllllllllllllllllllllltlllllHllllllllllltlllllffHI^ Chisholm, Barclay Headed 1st Council As Oakville Sought Town Stature By TOM FORSYTH " The councillors met in the school house on Saturday last at eleven o'clock a.m. in pursuance of the Act of Incorporation. On mo tion of George K. Chisholm Esq., Justus W. Williams, Esq., was re quested to occupy the chair until a Mayor was elected.'" This is an extract from the ori ginal hand-written minutes of Oak ville's first council meeting, still preserved in the vault at the town office. . The meeting was held on Satur day, July 4, 1857, and Oakville which had boasted a population of 550 in 1846, had risen to 2,000 by 1857, the last thousand arriving in the previous three years, following the advent of the railway. George K. Chisholm, MPP, was elected Mayor of Oakville, and the first >Reeve to take office was John Barclay. Councillors elected were as fol lows: Ward G. K. Chisholm, W. E. Hagaman, and R. K. Chisholm. Ward 2, W. F. Romain, P. A. McDougald, and John Urquhart, and for Ward 3, James Reid, John Bar clay and John Potter. Mayor Chisholm remained in office until 1863, when he was succeeded by W. F. Romain, but he remained as Reeve of the town until 1867. In 1873, he was again elected Mayor and remained in the post until 1874. In the original minute book, which can still be seen, with the co-operation of Town Clerk Den nis Camm, it is related that the chairman, Justus W. Williams Esq., " announced that the following gentlemen had been returned from the several wards, and had all handed in their oaths of qualifica tion, except W. F. Romain Esq." Mr. Chisholm was elected Oak ville's first Mayor on motion of John Urquhart, seconded by James MAYOR WM. ANDERSON REEVE WM. CARD DEP. REEVE H. C. MERRY George's Square Always Parkland George's Square, which is bound ed by Dundas Street, Palmer Ave., Reynolds Street and Sumner Ave., was reserved by Col. William Chisholm, founder of Oakville, for the use of the townspeople. After Chisholm became bankrupt all his interest in the townsite was bought bafck fro mhis creditors by his sons, and George's Square became the property of George K. Chis holm, the mayor. In 1859 the council appointed a committee to fin dout if the square had ever been conveyed to the town, and if there was any inten tion of conveying it. Mayor Chis holm replied that any decision to convey the property depended upon the use the town -intended to make of it. The matter was held in abeyance for 16 years, but when it was brought up again, the property was conveyed to the town and laid out as a park. 1957 ADMINISTRATORS J ust one hundred years later, nine elected rep resentatives and an appointed town manager are carrying on in the traditions laid down by Oakville's pioneer council. Problems o f administration are many and varied nowadays -- and are probably somewhat different in nature than those which occu pied the men who were helping to cut a townsite out of I Ipper Canada's woodlands. B ut those problems are still those of the taxpayer, individual or en masse and today's council is asked to take the same demo cratic approach toward these issues that Was taken, more informally, by the men whose enterprise start ed Oakville along the Centennial path. Reid, and received a unanimous vote. The Mayor then 1 took the oath of office which was adminis tered by Chairman Williams in his capacity of Justice of the Peace. The Mayor then administered the oath of office to the Reeve and Councillors, after John Barclay had received an acclamation to the office of Reeve. On motion of Messrs. Reid and Potter, council then agreed to the appointment of Robert Balmer as clerk, and on a further motion of Messrs. R. K. Chisholm and Haga man, the Mayor, the Reeve and Councillor P. A. McDougald were named " to be a committee to sub mit rules for the guidance of council." In a further procedural move, a motion of Messrs. Barclay-McDougald, duly approved, laid down that " at the next meeting, the Mayor do report the number of standing committees of this coun cil and the names of the members to compose same; and that the said committees and the members so reported do form the standing committees of this council and the names of the members to, compose same; and that the said commit tees and the members so reported do form the standing committees for this year." In a final motion by Chisholm (R. K.) and Hagaman, council " Resolved that for the present, the corporate seal of the town be a Crown, with the word " Oakville" thereon." 1 mm COUN. FRED FENTON COUN. ALAN DAY TOWN MGR. K. C. NEEDHAM COUN. J. A. McINTYRE COUN. E. DEAN WILKES COUN. JOHN KOBZEY 1893, Thomas Patterson 1894, W. H. Young 1895, C. G. Marlatt 1896-97, W. H. Young 1898-99, John Urquhart 1900, Hedley Shaw 1901-03, John Kelley 1904-05, W. H. Robinson 1906-07, John Kelley 1908-09, W. S. Davis 1910-12, George Hillmer 1913, I. T. Madden 1914-15, W. E. Featherstone 1916-18, C. H. Cross 1919-21, W. S. Davis 1922-24, A. S. Forster ^ 1925-28, W. N. Robinson 1929, T. A. Blakelock 1930-32, J. B. Moat 1933-39, G. B. Jacobs 1940, J. L. Hewson 1941-44, F. M. Deans 1945-46, J. M. Campbell 1947, C. V. Hillmer 1948, A. E. Whitaker (part term) 1948, C. V. Hillmer 1949-53, J. R. Black 1954-55, Lachlan McArthur 1956-57, William Anderson Among petitions heard feh#t second meeting, were a number from George I. Baker, Robert F. Brown, James Kelley, and John. Hanna, " praying for appointment to the office of police constable;'* one from Justus W. Williams Esq* praying for the office of treasurer} and a further one from John An* drew, who asked for a saloon license. Council also received a " commu* nication" from William King Esq., offering to furnish gravel free of charge, " for the two leading roads to Dundas Street (now No. 5 High way), and also gave third reading to a by-law, introduced by Mayor Chisholm, " To provide a fund for the support of education in the Town of Oakville." In order to ensure that the Following is a list of mayors of fledging town cut the strings clean Oakville from its incorporation a ly between itself and its parent, hundred years ago up to the pres Trafalgar Township, a motion of Barclay-Hagaman received appro ent: val, in the following terms: " That 1857-62, George K. Chisholm a committee of three members be 1863-65, W. F. Romain appointed to confer with any mem 1866, Robert K. Chisholm bers of the Township of Trafalgar, 1867-70, John Barclay in regard to the arrangement of 1871-72, William McCraney any financial matters between the 1873, George K. Chisholm two municipalities, and the said 1874-83, P. A. McDougald committee to consist of the Reeve, 1884-87, George Andrew Councillor McDougald, and the 1888-91, John Urquhart mover, (Barclay). 1892, George Andrew The meeting then adjourned on motion of Barclay-Reid, " to meet in the (Central) schoolhouse on Thursday next at 7 o'clock p.m." At that second meeting, held on July 9, 1857, the Mayor named his committees, as requested. Finance consisted of R. K. Chisholm, Bar clay, and McDougald; Streets and Sidewalks, Reid, Urquhart and Potter; Market and Buildings, Ro main, Hagarman and Reid; Fire and Water, Chisholm, Urquhart and Romain; Police and Public Order, Barclay, McDougald and Hagaman. 31 Men Have Been Chosen To Follow Chisholm Example 1868 Council Put Town In The Shade Tree-lined streets have long been one of Oakville's distinctive charms. But this was not always so. For the first forty years of Oakville's existence the streets were without shade. It was not un til 1868 that the council, as a re sult of the urging of W. F. Ro main, a prominent cvitizen and a lover of trees, undertook to have maple trees planted on Colborne Street and many other of the town's streets. Commenting on council's action, the editor of the Canadian Champ ion wrote as follows, the following summer: Having protected them by a stringent bylaw, they soon took root and flourished in the sandy soil of Oakville, and in a few years the town will resemble in its grove-like aspect, the better class of American towns." The ;' i l TOWNSHIP . · ' # of '· ' TRAFALGAR ' ; ; ' · i * i f' . . : V .7. * ' " ; : ·. : v . · f :: y · / · .s salutes TO W N OF O A K V IL L E "1 0 0 YEARS of GROWTH and PROGRESS" FOR THE NEXT 100 YEARS, CONTINUED SUCCESS IN PURSUIT OF OUR COMMON OBJECTIVE LONG MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., OAKVILLE SCHLEGEL COMPANY OF CANADA LTD., TRAFALGAR Congratulations and Best Wishes from the 1957 T R A FA LG A R C O U N C IL Reeve: D. H. W. Bath Clerk: S. A. Featherstone Deputy Reeve: F. A. Phillips Treasurer: J. T. White Councillors: F. Near, J. Rylance, E. Bulmer, D. G. Hallford, A. L. Cond