535-03 Page 156SALFORD ONCE BUSTLING COMMUNITY
ON EARLY CORDUROY ROAD TO LAKE ERIE
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EARLY MORN I N G at Salford Cheese Factory years ago shows area farmers lined up as they brought
in milk and took home cans of whey. In the weigh porch are George Mitchell, cheesemaker and helper
Will Swayzie. Driving democrats are R.J.Mitchell , John Warren, R. Mitchell, T. Page, Bob Barrett,
Frank Gregg, James 5artram, Bill and Ned Hudson and Will Wilford. (Photo loaned by Mrs. Geo. Nagle)
S A L F O R D-- In 1849 the Ing-
ersol, and Port Burwell Plank and
Gravel Road with eight tollgates
brought the outside world into
the little village of Manchester.
One of the toll gates was locat-
ed at the north end of the vill-
age and it wasn't until 1855 that
Manchester.received its own post
office and officially changed its
name to "Salford".
The first post office in the cou-
nty of Oxford was at Ingersoll,
established in 1821 with Charles
In ersoll its first postmaster.
Salford relied on the Ingersoll
gpost office for its mail for a num-
er of years.
The arrival of the mail in the
little hamlet "on the bend of
the trail leadN from Ingersoll
to Port Burwell' was always a
moment of excitement for the
villagers.
Settlement of Manchester -- or
Salford as it became -- began in
1759 with the Ham ley survey.
Settlement was rapid in thisi
-part of the county with two later
surveys by Wilmont in 1810 and
Russell Mount in 1822.
VAkS IrlI EBEIRE➢D
Manchester was a village
in the midst of the primitive
Canadian forests with the entire
area covered by heavy timber,
Oak, pine, elm, basswood and
maple were growing in profusion
with the early settlers taking ad-
vantage of the handy supply of
wood for the building of their
homes and barns, fuel for their
stoves and fireplaces and natural
material for their furniture.
The first crown land farm in the
Salford area was bought in 1834
by Stillson Hackett. It was 100
acres and the cost to Hackett
was 17 shillings and six pence per
acre.
EARLY SCHOOLS
The settlers were vitally concer-
ned that schools and churches go
up in the communities as quickly
as possible.
The first school in Salford was
located diagonally across from
what is now the Baptist church.
It was in operation around 1838
and was known as the Ranney
school because a Lydia Ranney
was the first teacher. An early
Gazetteer of 1852 records Mrs.
Ranney as the first authorized
school teacher in the county. Her
school was built of logs.
The second school, also built of
logs, stood where the present
United church is located.
Early records tell of the well
where water was dipped by pail
and rope for the. pupils. Black-
boards were painted boards and
the seats were plank benches.
The latter school was in use
until 1860 when a "modern"
frame schoo, was built across
the road to the south. In the
late 1870's it was sold to the
Salford cheese factory for a cur-
ing room and can still be seen
at the outskirts of the village.
In 1877 a white brick school
was erected at a cost of $2.400
with the builders Justus and Roger
Miller of Mt. Elgin. The bricks
were made in a yard south of
Putnam.
The contract for hauling gravel
and bricks was awarded to Will-
iam Chambers and the Newton
brothers. These young men had
to start their day at 4 a, m. , then
put in a 17-hour day for which
their wages were $3 a day each.
This school was demolished in
1958 with the bell and slate
blackboard retained. The bell
now tops a cairn erected by the
Women's Institute as their Cent-
ennial project.
The present school was built in
1958 and by now the costs of
schoolhouses had jumped to
$52,000.
SAILIFOWD IPOSY ®IFIFIICE
The first post office in the
Village was "on the south side
of the first bend of the road as
it enters the village from the
north".
It was at this time that the name
of the village was changed from
Manchester to Salford. There was
another Manchester in the prov-
ince so the change was made to
(Continued on Page 9 `71'�