2 Friday, January 10, 2020 brooklintowncrier.com Brooklin's Big Dig Residents who've noticed the mountains of earth dug up on the north side of Winchester Rd., west of Baldwin, near Ferguson, might be wondering what it's all about. Gas leak? Nope. Oil discovery? We wish. Tunnel for a subway extension? Not quite...but not so far off. A vast underground cave and flowing creek have been literally unearthed. Apparently it flows beneath Winchester and connects with a similar one on the south side, right where the new Longo's development is supposed to go. One approach being explored by the developer is to create an amusement ride with a percentage of the profits going to the town. In winter, it might be a skating rink. There is no comment from anyone so far on this possibility. The road to a solution? Would you buy a lottery ticket knowing that proceeds would go towards Brooklin roads? Generally, they're in decent enough shape. The one exception might be Winchester where you need to slalom around sunken manholes and uneven pavement on either side of the Lynde Creek bridge. However, aside from those repairs, big ticket items such as roundabouts could be partially (at least) paid for by residents through a lottery. Far-fetched? Not to some councillors who've tossed around the idea, apparently over adult beverages. While the lottery might be open to anyone, it would be made clear that the dollars will go to road issues in our fair town. You buy a $10 ticket (for example) and 90% of tickets sold is funnelled directly into/onto Brooklin's streets. If, for instance, 10,000 tickets sold at $10 apiece, then $90,000 would go to road work and $10,000 to the winner. 2020 Stories We'd Love To See Less than half the picture: By Richard Bercuson "Proud to be a Brooklinite" Founded in 2000 and published 24 times per year. Editor, Richard Bercuson 613-769-8629 • editorofbtc@gmail.com The Brooklin Town Crier is locally owned and operated and is a publication of Appletree Graphic Design Inc. We accept advertising in good faith but do not endorse advertisers nor advertisements. All editorial submissions are subject to editing. For advertising information, contact: 905.706.0482 Email: mulcahy42@rogers.com Next Issue: Friday, January 24, 2020 Deadline: Friday, January 17, 2020 Bring on The Beast With the North Whitby sports complex on the verge of beginning construction, there's been much talk about the ice pads. The current plan is for twin sheets with Luther Vipond's to be shut down. The net improvement will be merely a single rink pad addition to the area, which is not much of an improvement. However, there has also been talk about how to increase visitors and business to the area, especially when the "Longo's" complex is built, not to mention the underground river ride (see Big Dig above). West of us, in Brampton, sits an ECHL professional hockey team, the Brampton Beast, an affiliate of the NHL's Ottawa Senators. Attendance in Brampton is between abysmal and horrific and its existence hangs by a skate lace. Some local hockey aficionados, of which there are plenty, want to bring the team to Brooklin - to the new complex. Enter the Brooklin Beast. It would mean creating seating in the new facility for about 2,000 which would also provide enough for both the Brooklin lacrosse club (which belongs back here) and the Whitby Fury junior club. The question now is this: which of those do you believe? Some time in 1847, the Town of Winchester decided it needed a post office. However there was already a Winchester in eastern Ontario, south of Ottawa. This meant there could not be another one in a town of the same name, each having a post office. So residents held a public meeting on Aug. 11 of that year and decided to change the name of the town to Brooklin. At the time, Canada's postal service, Royal Mail Canada, was controlled by the British Government, which had to be assured that a route would pay its way. It was assumed that Brooklin and Columbus were opened jointly in order to make the one route profitable. Mail first reached Whitby by stagecoach on a route that ran from Toronto to Kingston, then delivered to Brooklin's post office three times a week by the first carrier Mr. Thomas, who was paid 15 pounds a year. Postage stamps were not used until 1851, the year the Postmaster General of Canada took over the service. So the delivery charge was by weight, not by destination. Rural delivery began On October 10, 1908, with A. Hannom as the first mail carrier, who was followed by M. Ross. The first Postmaster appointed by the Governor General in 1847 was J. Ware and the post office was situated in the Campbell store on Mill Street. In 1854, R. Darlington was the next man appointed and the post office relocated to 42 Cassels Road. This building has been designated under the Ontario Heritage Act and is possibly the oldest house in Brooklin. By 1867, the mail arrived daily. In 1882, R.Harrison became Postmaster, followed by A. Darlington in 1884, who was then followed by A. Sommerville in 1886. D. W. MacDonald's, at 55 Baldwin Street, housed the post office at the back of the store (see photo). MacDonald held the Postmaster job from 1888 until 1928. S. Rodd took it over and was later followed by his son, D. Rodd, who held the position until 1968. In 1947, 100 years after Brooklin came into being, B. Hannam took over the deliveries, followed in 1962 by Mr. and Mrs. Wilman who delivered the mail until 1978. By this time, RR#1 encompassed a 60-mile drive for the mail carrier who delivered to approximately 565 customers. The post office at 2 Price Street was built in 1964, which became a community hub where residents would meet to chat and catch up on the news, long before community mail boxes arrived. Today, while Brooklin now has numerous postal codes, residents may still remember the first one: L0B 1C0. Brooklin Heritage Society Our name came from postal delivery By Jennifer Hudgins Photo courtesy of Megan Pugh, Whitby Library Archives More than 6,500 residents, minor hockey players, community members and visitors joined in the fun of Rogers Hometown Hockey's Whitby event on Dec. 28-29. The free event was held at the Town of Whitby's Iroquois Park Sports Centre and featured live entertainment, giveaways and hockey-themed activities, culminating with a live outdoor viewing party of an NHL broadcast from the Sportsnet Mobile Studio. A highlight of the event was the Parade of Champions where Whitby minor hockey teams joined together to march through the festival site. Visits and free autograph signings by Toronto Maple Leafs player Zach Hyman and NHL Alumni Keith Primeau and Wayne Primeau were also highlights. The tour stop was hosted by Sportsnet's Ron MacLean and Tara Slone. Rogers Hometown Hockey Was A Hit!