A common visitor to small towns a century and more ago was the travelling salesman, often referred…
Valuing Our History
Tornado partially destroyed infant town of Guelph in 1829
An account of a severe storm or a tornado has been the subject of a column in most years over the…
Knuckles and know-how on a routine train trip in 1923
I like to indulge my fascination with railways several times per year in this column. Though little…
Provincial Police cracked down on illicit stills in July 1924
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has been familiar to Ontarians for almost a century. The force…
Guelph foundry tried to aid Confederacy during American Civil War
Canadians took a keen interest in the American Civil War, avidly following events as they were…
Area newspapermen formed an association in early 1900s
One of the more interesting professional groups to have operated in this area was the Wellington…
Elora’s W.O. Mendell revived attacks on county council
Earlier in 2013 this column carried a two-part account of the attacks on the conduct of county…
Reverend W.E. McMillan contributed greatly to Elora community
During his life Rev. W.E. McMillan was as familiar as anyone in the Elora community. Today, his…
Fergus man carried bullet in his brain after a shooting in 1925
About a quarter after 1pm on the afternoon of Jan. 28, 1925, Fergus resident Bob Brown was walking…
Winter brought problems for railway at Harriston in 1925
Back when railways still operated in northern Wellington County, there were several important…
Draconian measures employed during the anti-booze wars of the 1920s
This column has dealt several times with the increasingly draconian steps taken by the provincial…
American Civil War veteran abandoned his first family
John F. Skyring was an early resident of Wellington County, and one of a handful of men from this…
Election of 1925 highlighted town-country divide in Wellington South
For students of Canadian politics, the 1920s is one of the more interesting periods in our history.…
Fergus council considered appealing a court decision in 1925
Through the years municipalities occasionally have been the defendants in lawsuits brought by…
Judge sentenced two men to jail terms for armed robbery in 1921
Joe Davidson was a farmer who lived on the 12th of Peel, about a mile-and-a-half from Alma. On the…