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PAGE FOURTEEN-NINTH SECTION THE FREE PRESS, LONDON. ONTARIO, SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1949 = The original hotel in Inwood was the Hillis House formerly known as the Weber Hotel. Frank Hillis, owner of the Hillis House, is at the extreme right of this early group picture. Second from the right is William Wade, who worked at the Excelsior Mill and passed his 90th birthday in 1948. Inwood Mushroomed As Lumbering Centre A UNIQUE SETTLEMENT in Western Ontario was the Village of Inwood, which today is a thriving shopping, shipping and distributing centre. But when the village was founded 75 years ago there was no farming or farmland in the district. The entire area was covered with heavy forest, and Inwood sprung up as lumbering town. It is the only village in Lambton which was founded on the lumbering industry and still survives. It was founded originally as ft company town shortly after the Canadian Southern Railway was pushed through that district in the early 1870's. While the railway was being built through the Inwood district, a man by the name of Courtwright who was a nephew of the railway president and a civil engineer working on the railway, realized the lumbering possibilities and subsequently organized m firm to exploit the rich forest resources. 25 Acres Bought The company, Holmes, Moore and Courtwright, purchased 25 acres, subdivided it into lots, and thus Inwood was born. That same year, 1873, the firm built a stave and saw mill which turned out thousands of feet of lumber, heading and staves before the partnership was dissolved in 1896. It was a member of this firm who gave Inwood its name. Contrary to the accepted belief that the village obtained its name because it was built up in the midst of a towering forest, In-wood was actually named by C. H. Moore after a picturesque little town in New York State on the Hudson River. The extent to which Inwood was a company town when first founded is proved by the fact that the first store was established and run by Holmes, Moore and Courtwright, a post office was established in 1874 in » corner of the store and run by Courtwright, and the first butcher shop also established by the partnership. Railway Station The first railway station that served Inwood was built where the freight sheds now stand. In 1874 the first school classes were held in a private home, but later in the same year a one-room school surrounded by forest was built and a Mr. Tullick hired as teacher. The first hotel, the Weber Hotel, was built and run by n Mr. Weber, but later sold to » man named Hillis who changed its name to the Hillis House and used it as a boarding house until it was destroyed in the big fire of 1899. The first blacksmith was a Mr. Cooper, the first shoemaker, William Gordon, the first tailor, J. Stribe, and the first private bank established in the corner of the old Commercial Hotel by Mr. Douglas who later lost hU life in the Wanstead C.N.R. wreck of 1901. The first church services wer« conducted in the village by the Methodists in 1881 in a boarding house. Later Holmes, Moore and Courtwright donated the land and lumber for construction of a proper church building. Watford Ice House Formerly St. James Anglican Church • THE CELEBRATION OF The Free Press's centennial has itarted a lot of the old folks reminiscing out Watford way. The old ice house, for instance, wasn't always an ice house. One time, about 100 years ago, it was the St. James Anglican Church, Situated just outside of Watford. It was built by the people of the church, but having served a devoted congregation for many years the building was eventually closed down and moved to Watford. For a time this consecrated structure was used as a stable, and now, although in a good state of preservation, it serves as an ice house, stripped of its original church significance. Town Hall The Watford Town Hall was built nearly 100 years ago. Now housing the community's blacksmith shop, the hall has been removed from its original site. It was the meeting place for school and church groups in 1852, and It also served as the village jail. As a Jail it was a curious centre of the district. On one occasion a man considerably under the Influence of the time's popular beverage was arrested and put behind the Watford bars. The next day he was entrained under the supervision of a constable en-route to the Sarnia jail for safer keeping. It seems that the policeman came into possession of some spirits during the trip. The prisoner on the other hand was one apt in making use of his opportunities. When the policeman himself became intoxicated the prisoner changed clothes with him, reversed the charge papers and delivered the policeman in his stead to the Sarnia jail. The "prisoner" returned to Watford. Most of Watford's buildings were made from brie1- made at the Kingscourt brickyard, owned by the late John McCormick. Thousands of acres of land in the vicinity are still drained by Kingscourt tile, but the old oven has been since removed and the disappeared. Many of the old landmarks are still in evidence but are little known even by the residents. The "Old Tank," where the boys of other generations used to swim on summer days, has lost its fascination. It was built in 1858 by the railroad and was used as a watering tank for engines running between London and Sarnia. A few gnarled old apple trees stand symbolic of the first days in Watford when one of the first things to be done was to plant some apple trees. Watford used to be an evaporator town. An abandoned building, disintegrating with neglect, stands in Watford as a symbol of Lamb-ton County's first factory to use factory labor. It housed once the first implement factory in Western Ontario. It was constructed in 1870 by David Thorn and at one time 250 men were employed there. The company later became the Paris Plow Company. Mr. Thorn's partner, a man by the name of Doherty, went to Sarnia to establish the Doherty stove works. When the factory closed in Watford in 1900 many families left, causing a population drop which has not to this day been overcome. Another old building, now empty and silent, was once used as a slaughter house for a district beef ring in Watford. It stands on the corner of Nauvoo Road and the 13th Concession. Once, in 1868, it was the hall of the Loyal Orange Lodge No. 746. While it was being used for this purpose the building was struck by a cyclone. Lumber was salvaged from the wreckage and * building to be used as a slaughter house was erected. A bridge on No. 9 Sideroad, Warwick Township, a few miles from Watford, still stands as a monument to the beauty of English architecture. The bridge was built a century ago by a group of English masons under the direction of Andrew Auld, a member of one of Warwick'i firit f When Oil rivalled War m "FREE PRESS" « In 1862, the American Civil War was raging. In Canada, talk of Confederation was in the air, Here in London, the pioneer "Free Press and Daily Western Advertiser" faithfully reported the news. And then came Oil! At nearby Oil Springs, a photographer named James Shaw drilled down into the limestone beneath a clay field and brought in Canada's first oil well. Rushing to the spot, Free Press reporters pushed war and politics off the front page with their story of "The Great Flowing Oil Well!" Month after month news from the oil fields ran at fever pitch. By the end of August, there were thirty-two flowing wells in the district. In 1863, the first London refinery was established by W. M. Spencer. It sold lamp oil at $1.00 per gallon, 25c cheaper than imported English coal oil. A few years later, the leading Western Ontario refineries joined together to form a new company--and Imperial Oil Limited was born, with Mr. Spencer as the Company's first Secretary. Today, 87 years after Shaw's first "gusher", Imperial is still operating oil wells in the pioneer fields near London. Though the main search for new Canadian oil long since turned westward, London has become more than ever an important link in the nation-wide chain of Imperial Oil product distribution. As the city of its birth has grown through the years, so Imperial Oil has grown-- steadily expanding and widening its services to Canada, to keep abreast of ever-increasing Canadian demand for hundreds of modern products made from oil. IMPERIAL OIL LIMIT! IMPERIAL* £ssd PRODUCTS