The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

= THE FREE PRESS. LONDON. ONTARIO. SATURDAY. JUNE 11. 1949 = = NINTH SECTION--PAGE FIVE Swamp Site Of Glencoe; Built in '60 GLENCOE GREW out of a swamp. That swamp, long a discouragement to settlement, has now become one of the finest of the smaller towns in Western Ontario. Unlike many of the first trading centres of pioneer times Glencoe looks to the future for its destiny rather than to the rapidly dimming past. Out of this swamp, midway between London and Chatham, a village had grown by 1873, just 13 years after the first plan of the settlement was made. James Dykes became clerk at $25 a year. Some of the first "dollar a year men" came out of Glencoe for the first resolution of the council in 1876 was that the town should be served without pay, one reason being, of course, that there was little in the way of legal tender in the new municipality. A lot of things were done in Glencoe in 1876. Among them was the utilization of 50,000 feet of plank for sidewalks. It is a quaint memory now. In 1853, some years before incorporation, a man named William Sutherland went to Glencoe and settled on a farm. There is more than a little significance to this fact as it was William Sutherland who founded The Free Press in London, the paper which with this issue celebrates its 100th anniversary. Mr. Sutherland relinquished the London paper before it had begun to grow, but by 1870 he apparently was again obsessed by printer's ink and founded The Glencoe Transcript. This paper was carried on for 60 years or so by his son. Registry Erected The West Middlesex Registry Building was erected in Glencoe in 1871, the site costing $150 and the structure itself $1,335. There was something about those days when it came to putting up buildings. An important franchise was Wardsville, Glencoe, Appin " The community of Appin was once known as a dairy and cheese-making centre. This picture shows the Appin Cheese Factory as it appeared in 1884. The factory was built in 1877 by L. R. Richardson, of Strathroy, and it given the Glencoe Manufacturing Company in 1882. Three years later this company, which pioneered in Glencoe's larger industry, received an order from France for 145 reapers, while Russia had requisitioned 100. It was at that time that Robert and Frederick Aldred perfected their rake-harvester with a binder attachment in Glencoe. The Salvation Army went through a fiery period around England Stood by Ready to Protect CANADA WILL, EITHER draw closer to England or she will drift inevitably into a brief Independence, to be followed by absorption into the Republic on her borders. Hitherto there has not been that alacrity to make •acrifices for their own protec- tion, which is an indispensable duty. England will, no doubt, still be ready to protect them in case of necessity.--Quoted from the London, (England), Saturday Review, in The London Free Press and Daily Western Advertiser, July 1, 1867. 1885. The old records say that much of the persecution to which they were subjected had been well earned. In June of 1887 there were only three members of that church, but on the reopening of the barracks the membership increased, in spite of a fracas in the previous year in which a number of residents were charged with interfering with Salvation Army services. Lieut. Emma Rees, In charge of the body, was fined for assault. This case was reopened in 1887 and in the assize court the case was dismissed, only to be later taken to the Queen's Bench in Toronto where the lieutenant won her suit, and the justices who previously convicted her were obliged to pay $700. You Y°" to „ ster" Onto'10 00 I join in extending greetings to The London Free Press on its 100th anniversary. Harry Allen, M.L.A. MIDDLESEX SOUTH HARRY ALLEN Middlesex South ESTABLISHED 1925 A Complete Moving, Storage and Forwarding Service Backed By Years of Experience LOCAL MODERN STEEL UP-TO-DATE VANS COMPLETE FIEST-CLASS STORAGE FACILITIES SPECIALISTS IN CRATING HOUSEHOLD EFFECTS AND LONG DISTANCE MOVING P.C.V. LICENSED HIGHWAY MOVERS ALWAYS DEPENDABLE . ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE Congratulations to The London Free Press On Its 100 Years of Progress BRADLEY MOVERS 74 YORK ST., LONDON -- FAIRMONT 3031 -- AFTER HOURS FAIRMONT 1169-M was for several years a flourishing business. About 200 tons of cheese a season was the plant's capacity. The community eventually stressed beef cattle for market and the making of cheese was given up. Appin Pioneers Waited For Coming of Railway ON THE NORTHWEST coast of Argyllshire in Scotland there is a mountainous district called Appin. This was the port referred to in Eobert Louis Stevenson's "Kidnapped," and the site upon which the village is built compares in size to a community called Appin in Middlesex County, Ontario. In the second quarter of the last century Peter McLean settled in Ekfrid Township. In 1852 Ewen Eankin settled the adjoining lot. It was swamp land and forest of an almost impenetrable nature, but the pioneers believed that Lake Huron and Lake Erie would soon be joii ed by a road for the purpose ot facilitating shipping, and that a railway connecting Niagara Falls and Windsor might pass through the neighborhood of what was to be Appin. Railroad a Reality In 1854 the railroad became a reality. It ran, in fact, through the farms of McLean and Rankin, and resulted in the surveying of several sites along the line, among these being Komoka and Mt. Brydges. In 1856, Rankin surveyed an area which he designated as Ekfrid Centre, which included the present Thames street of the community of Appin. The district was at the beginning and, for many years after, a profitable source of timber. When the railway was completed the company endeavored to obtain a station site at Ekfrid Centre, but a roadway was not available there so the station was built at Longwood. Some years later Appin received the belated convenience. In 1861 Dr. D. S. McKellar, a native of Appin, Scotland, made a more extensive survey of the present village, and he named the district Appin. There is no record that Ekfrid Centre was ever a post office, but with the coming of Dr. McKellar the district of Appin was so designated. The township hall was constructed in 1862, and in 1865 the Methodist New Connexion Church purchased the lot on which the present United Church parsonage stands. Timber Industry Meanwhile, the timber industry was developing and the hamlet began to grow. Even then the land was exploited by those whose interests were not so much in building a town as in reaping the gain from the rich forests. Many of the plots of land, once cleared, were abandoned. Easy access to the River Thames made marketing of oak staves possible. There was a heyday for the timber-hewers, also. One stick of oak timber from Appin squared 16 inches for 82 feet, completely clear of limb knots. Another, squaring 32 inches, required five yoke of oxen to haul it to the railway yard. The first boards were laboriously fashioned with the broadaxe. Mills were eventually introduced, but with the introduction of coal-burning locomotives, the demand for cord wood fell off. The first need of the community was met with a grist mill established in 1856. Prior to that Appin obtained its flour from Kil-worth. A hotel was also built about this time by Ewen Rankin. Schools were established in Appin in the "Thirties," and life from then on was compact and complete in the little Longwoods settlement which perpetuates in Canada the traditions of a much older community in Argyllshire, Scotland. Melbourne Fires Burn MELBOURNE;, that busy little village 25 miles west of London on No. 2 Highway, is a village of many names and many fires. Of names ;t has had at least five. Its fires have been innumerable, and once almost the entire village was wiped out. Situated on the townline between Ekfrid and Caradoe townships, Melbourne, because of its natural advantages of central location and position on the rail line and the main highway, has become the trading centre for the two townships. It 'vas not always so. Ekfrid Township once centred around Ekfrid Village, which was located about 10 miles from Delaware. The demise of Ekfrid Vilage, due to the advantages of the railroad town to the north, was really the birth of Melbourne, commercially at least. Was "Old Fort" However, the actual history of Melbourne goes back much farther to when it was known as "Old Fort." There are several stories about the origin of this name but the most authentic appears to go back to the days when the Iroquoit raided the villages of the Neutral Indians, who made the present site of Melbourne one of their strongholds. Later, with the coming of settlers and its position on Long-wood's Trail, it became known as Longwood ' Post Office. This name held until the coming of the Great West Western Railway in 1856-7. The mail, express and freight designated for the village was marked Long-Wood. Consequently the place became known as Long-Wood Station, although miles rvway from post office by that name. This caused trouble and the name of the village was again changed, this time to Wendigo, in 1859. Finally in 1887 the village changed its name to Melbourne and has held that name ever since. Village Rebuilt The first bad fire was a year later when almost the entire village of wooden structures was wiped out However, being centred in a rich agricultural area, the village soon recovered and was rebuilt. The most recent series of fires started in March, 1931, when fire wiped out practically a whole block on the main street. Businessmen rallied and rebuilt. Then in December of the same year fire started n the eastern end of the same block and completed the job it had started. In October, 1933, the "Gentleman Block" went up in flames. In June, 1934, the hotel and surroundings burned. In May, 1937, the Lippert fire occurred. The result in Melbourne is unique. The main street consists of new buildings from one end to the other, for, as with the names, so with the fires. Out of each one came something better. Wardsville Saw British In Retreat THE GOOD OLD DAYS, as some of the older folks no doubt say were the best days, have long since gone from Wardsville. There is a history of romance and simplicity in this old Long-woods settlement which is almost lost in its modern atmosphere. Wardsville was known as Ward's Station during the War of 1812. It was through here that Procter and his men retreated, and in those days, and in the years which followed, Ward's Station and the Longwoods Road were to the soldiers of that war as Vimy Ridge, Ypres and Hoch-wald Forest were to the soldiers of later battles. George Ward purchased the land upon which the village stands from the Indians. This in 1810. A few pioneers gathered in that clearing to challenge the climate and to partake in the daily excitements. In due time the forerunners of the present churches, school and societies were founded. This was not, however, until after 1834, at which time there was in addition to the general store only one little shanty. Population 400 By 1840 there were 12 buildings in the hamlet, and a decade later the population was 400. At this time the Anglican Church had already been built and Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian congregations were being organized. Archibald McLaughlin was teaching school then, Dr. Charles Rolls was the physician, and Thomas Kirkpatrick operated a mill on Paint Creek which emptied into the Thames at Ward's Station. There was then a division of The Sons of Temperance and an established Lodge of Orangemen. Ward's Station was later known as Mosa, and by 1857 the population had risen to 1,000, with three hotels, The Rob Roy, The Commercial Inn, and The Anglo-American. Wardsville was incorporated in 1867. A drill shed was erected in the same year by the Government who feared the Fenian raids in the vicinity. In 1882 a newspaper called The Wardsville Post was establishpd hut it-proved to be of an ephemeral nature. But by 1888 there was an indication of a commercial bypassing of Wardsville, and the peak population of 1857 had by 1888 dwindled to 600. Today the population stands at about 300. Church of England Rector Devoted Time to Indians IN THE EARLY HISTORY of the majority of Western Ontario settlements there is one outstanding figure, and none was more important in the early days of Muncey than Rev. Richard Flood, Indian missionary and rector of Delaware Anglican Church from 1834 to 1865. When Mr. Flood arrived in 1833 he was the first Anglican missionary in that part of the country. As there were fewer than 100 white families in Caradoe and Delaware at that time, Flood decided to devote some of his time to the 200 members of the Muncey tribe living on the Thames River about 10 miles from Delaware. He paid his first visit to the Bear Creek and Muncey Indians in July, 1835, but with the help of Half-Moon, Snake and Hoff, he had converted the entire tribe to Christianity by 1859 despite the difficulties of languages, travel and finance. The Village of Muncey which was founded around Mr. Flood's early mission, is today th.a centre of the Muncey Reservation which comprises much of the southern part of Caradoo Township. o y0u've bought her home! anew I mortgage probably helped you to buy that home. But it can cause your widow to lose it! Why not guarantee the continuation of mortgage payments, and running expenses, through Imperial Life Assurance especially designed for these purposes? Learn how accurately your Imperial Life representative can fit a policy to your personal needs. Call him in todayj IMPERIAL LIFE FOUNDED T897 HEAD OFFICE: TORONTO WARMEST CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LONDON FREE PRESS ON ITS 100th ANNIVERSARY! in , 1849 - 1949 Congratulations to the London Free Press on its Centenary! Particularly do we pay tribute to this newspaper's contribution to the progress of South-Western Ontario -to its enduring record in community service. Few human institutions play so intimate a part in the life of the people as does this newspaper. The Free Press has in- deed maintained this tradition throughout a century of social and economic progress. After one hundred years, individual en- terprise remains the corner-stone of our free competitive economy. May Canada's press long continue its leadership in up- holding the institutions under which free men live. THE BREWING INDUSTRY (ONTARIO)