535-03 Page 120Mount Elgin,
Industry, Has
(By Bertha Gilbert)
The little villiage of Mount E
with a population of some 200
dents, stands foremost in Dere
Township, Oxford County, b
the centre of community activ
for a number of years. It is a s
country village, "One of t
little places that have run half
up the hill beneath the blazing
and then sat down to rest as i
say, I'll climb no farther up
come what may." It is situate
No. 19 Highway which runs din
•to Lake Erie connecting High
number two and three, two of
tario's mo;; important high
With a good, bus service, rail
and highway facilities, easy co
can be made with larger place
Dereham Township, the ba
- township of Oxford County, w
earlier pioneer days called
swampy Dereham;' but thr
the thrift of a fine type of
pioneers has become one of
r richest dairy districts of the P
ince. This township was sury
in 1799 by one William Ham
with lines, concessions and
marked by rows of blazed trees
stakes, and ready to be handed
in large blocks to the early sett
Originally the Iangg�� around M
Elgin was bought -from the C
Eby Honorable Robert Hamilton
the year 1800, who, like other
bility, bought land in large hl
on which to speculate. It was
made into village lots and far
dire
con
Cr
n 1 the first council of
tract o land, 12 miles low b
miles wide, called Dereham,
their first meeting at the inn
Thomas. Scott on Monday, Jan
21st. The members of the co
were: Reeve Benjamin Van
5 man, and councillors James
well Jr., Robert Stroud, Wi
Smith and Jacob Glover.
clerk was Charles E. Chadwic
The story goes that Der
Township was named by a duke
iting in Tillsonburg. Mount
being the highest point in Der
Township, it was first called L
ham Heights. During Lor
term of office as Governo '
of Canada, from 4847 to 185
+ stopped in passing through
village and every one was s
pressed with his fine peso
0 t that it was decided to re -name
I village after this great man,
i it is known today as Mount
Early transportation was ma
a four -horse stage owned by
Reuben Carroll of Ingersoll,
Aso had an interest in the
road running from Ingersoll
Port Burwell. Toll gates were
I uated at equal distances along road where the travelling
paid a small fee for the rig
travel on it for the building an
keep. This was known to b
first public highway, 32 mil
length, with Tillsonburg the
way town and Mount Elgin
way between Ingersoll and
n r
This was in e scribing.p
before the first railway, the
Western, was built, running th
S Ingersoll.
At this time all merchandise
chased from wholesale wareh
L' for the Ingersoll people was.
k ped by boat to Port Burwell
then conveyed by wagon ove
road and distributed � 'plank ad
places along the line, Mahe)t
included. When the Great
ern went through it struck
death note of this form of
portation. In 1901 came the
oad. first called the Ingersil,
Burwe- $`atf3-P�acific Road. 1
bought by the Canadian
person
Centre of
ward
d
Dairy
familiar in the community. E. V.I
BodwcII, an ancestor the
CFGj�
of present
Bodwells, was a member of the
Interesting
HiSjUry
first parliament after Confederation
in 1867,
One of the first industries was a
--
Railway Company. The mail previ-
`�saw and planing mill, and a cheese
cbox
ously brought from Ingersoll and
factory operated by J. & R.
]gin, I
Port Burwell to Mount 131gin by
Miller. The mill gave employment
stage flow came by railway. In
to the greater part of the village
resi-
speaking of the stage road, it ran
populaion, The Miller Bros. ob-
ham
through the low swampy places
tained a contract from the govern-
eing
and the four -horse stage and later
ment for building the first Welland
two -horse stage found it at times
Canal, which brought them into
ities
almost impossible to make the 32-
prominence. They later settled in
mall
mile trip in bad weather. For that
Toronto where they were favorably
hose
reason some public spirited citizens
known as builders and contractors.
way
met together and decided to plank
the site of this old mill is now the
the road. It was a great undertak-
property of A. H. Downing, oil
sun
ing, but those sturdy pioneers had
which a slaughter house and meat
f to
visions and were not to be daunted.
shop are operated. There was also
The country was rich in timber, and
an evaporated apple factory and a
on
why not use it? Logs were skidded
cooper shop where tubs, barrels
composed of Milton, Ida and Ella
Haycock, and Charles Caverhill was
worthy to grace any church service
or concert hall. The present Bap-
tist Church, built in 1862, is the
first and only church of that de-
nomination in the village. It has
been remodelled and at the present
time is in a good state of preserva-
tion. Among the first organists of
this church were Marshall May-
berry and Hazen Bodwell. Some of
the early ministers were Revs.
Brown, Randall, Kennedy, and
Walker.
Mount Elgin's first school, known
as the Red School, was situated one
mile south of the village on the
corner of concession five and the
old plank road. This school was
also. Cued in the evenings for .a
community singing school. As far
back as the 1850's a community,
spirit was exemplified similar to the
community spirit of the present
day. In those days the teachers
were boarded around for two weeks
at a time in the different hones.
Early teachers were Mr. Buckncll,
Mr. Mercer, and Miss arkcr. is
school was torn down and some of
the material was used in the erec-
tion of the present white brick
public school in 1872, which is still
in use, one-half mile south of the
village . on Highway No. 19, This
school consisted of two classrooms,
which were later divided into three
rooms, but this did not prove satis-
factory and the partition was re-
moved. However, parents and citi-
zens felt the need of a school where
higher studies could be obtained
without .the children going to a
town by train, where transportation
was not favorable. This led to the
building in 1922 of the present Con-
tinuation Sc ool. Previous to this
a finishing school for Jirls was held
in a cottage now occupied by Mr.
and Mrs. Bruce Harvey. This school
was in charge of Mary Bodwell,
later remembered as Mrs. Nicholas
Smith. Some of the early teachers
of the present public school were
James Dennis, who left Mount El-
gin to accept the principalship, pf
Woodstock Public School; J,
Edgington, who later taught in
Brownsville; Lewis Fierheller;
Samual Gill, and M. B. Hugill, who
taught for 16 years, from J891 to
1906, and who is now living in To-
ronto. Mount Elgin is entitled to
the honor of opening the first Con-
tinuation School in Western On-
tario, under the teaching and super-
vision of M. B. Hugill. Mr. Hugill
prepared classes for high school
entrance and junior matriculation
as well as teaching other classes
in the lower grades. At the present
time there are two teachers in the
Public School, Oliver• Lemmon and
Miss Ruth Kelly and at the Con-
tinuation School, Miss Winona K.
Turvey and James M. Hart. School
busses operated by Irvin C. Prouse
convey the pupils to and from
school, covering a large area ok
Dereham Township. Mount Elge
is the centre of the Dereham Sch000;
Area, the first organized area
Western Ontario.
As already mentioned, the B�'
list Church erected in 1868 is Ac
of the oldest buildings, as is the
first hotel, known as the Mount
Elgin House, which is now a dwell-
ing. Then there is the cottage
which was the school for girls and
is now a dwelling. The first Post
Office was opened in the house,
now occupied by Harold Fleming,
the village and community elec-
trician. Later a telephone and tele-
graph system was installed in the
'Post Office so that messages could
be sent without going the lop
g B g
distance to Ingersoll or Tillsonburg.
One, Andrew Beath, was the first'
telegraph operator and in later
years Miss Mary Miller was the
efficient Post Mostress. In 1913,
through the persistent and faithful.
work of the late George Wilcox of
Springford, who was given the title
of "The father of rural mail de -
Ilivery," the rural mail delivery was
begun and Mount Elgin Post Office
became the distributing centre for
concession three, four, five and six
The first store was situated on
the lot where A. E. Gilbert now
lives. The building was a frame
structure and business was done by
a man by, the name of Robinson.
The store was burned down in 1940.
Among the oldest citizens is Mrs.
Emerson Harris, who isnow in her
89th year. She is a descendant of
one of the -early settlers and is most
outstanding. During the First World
War she knitted 500 pairs of socks,
and during the Second World War,
although in her late eighties, she
knitted 488 pairs of socks.
The latest result of the commun-
ity spirit of the village is the re-
modelling of the old C.O.F. Hall
into a Community Hall. This was a
project first undertaken by the
Farm Forum, and later interesting
i the whole ,community. When com-
pleted, the Public Library will oc-
cupy a room in the building. The
\Nomen's Institute have equipped a
modern kitchen, and many social
events are being held there each
week_
One cannot think of the history
of Mount Elgin without paying re-
spect and thankfulness to the youth
of the district who served in the
war against tyranny and oppres-
sion, and to the pioneers who stood
for righteousness, progress, and all
that is best. They have labored
and the citizens have entered into
their labors. Mount Elgin to most
of the villagers is the "Hub of the
Universe," and a most pleasant
Place to live.
t h
/Wu(fri Sla.rc
�usaC.L-
Rer
I-
Oxen -were used to haul ]os " ,d
lumber around. The Millors ob-
tained a contract from the govern-
ment and their building of the
Welland Canal brought them into
`� .
prominence.
_
The oak lumber that was used
M the canal was obtained mostly
a
"around Mt. Elgin.
/11'eia
There are two churches here,
�/t
Baptist and United. There has
.l
been only one Baptist church, but
the Methodist church was burned!
5bl,-O
down and in 1900 another church
was built on the same ground.
O`*yy-/i,
The Mayberry family were very
prominent in musical circles. Mar-
-�
shall Mayberry was the leader of
a good brass band. They played'7e"'
for all the garden parties around
/0?s
and Reuben Smith conveyed them
0,?- ig6y
to places where they played, in a
stylish band wagon. '
The Women's Institute was or-
ganized in 1903, with Mrs. Adam
F'ierheller its first president. Last
year the community purchased the
C. O. F. hall, for which they plaid
$1,000. Within a week persons of
all ages donated $1,080 from 851,
people. Since buying, a new fur-
nace has been installed, a new
roof put on and a hardwood floor
laid. The Women's Institute
has furnished the kitchen with[ -
eveiything to/work with to pro-
vide a good meal. What used to
be the gallery has been made over
for the Public Library, and in the
long rows of books on the shelves
there are books to suit everyone's
taste. The Women's Institue
donated the money to the money to get the Li-
brary started a few year
led the orlge,'i'iral gr
J'•t Mount Elgin Cd15i..a•
punt Elsiin'sofrrst school
the F ,':,X ,vas sitU 1.
mile sowvillage .,
corner i ✓'wti eve
old plank...
I
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