1 We move to the village

Mt. Brydges in 1921 was a typical small Ontario village. Maple trees lined the streets, shading the homes and the businesses of the small central area. The Grand Trunk Railway tracks severed the com- munity into two sections. The main street started at the second coneession and continued past farms, houses, stores, churches, schools, past more farms for about a mile and three quarters.

The village was a narrow strip, side streets of a short block and two streets that ran a block west and parallel to the main street. The population changed by the year depending on births and deaths, but 500 was the accepted figure.

In 1921 the village was returning to daily living in the aftermath of the Great War and had been the scene of a recent revival meeting conducted by the team of Crosley and Hunter. It was a mark of distinc- tion to be singled out as one of those saved by the evangelists.

Prohibition was in effect. The Central Hotel operated by the Fisher family still had rooms and meals for travelers. The sample rooms provided ac- commodation for the traveling salesmen to display their wares and periodic auction sales of western hor- ses were conducted at the hotel barn.

Mrs. Northcott's hostelry had been converted into the Continuation School -two rooms, and four grades of education beyond the eight grades offered in the township schools. The Continuation School started several residents on the road to higher education.

The factory built to convert the village into an industrial community was vacant, and the failure of Crowe Motor Company was still being talked about. The equipment and most of the parts had been moved to the manufacturing plants of the London Six Automobile of London, Ontario and their B & R truck plant. Some of the local people who had invested in the automobile venture maintained the factory would one day get back into production, but this was not to happen for 15 years and then the factory would manufacture juke boxes.

Clarence Steer operated one of the general stores, Charles Steer maintained a feed and seed business, Robert Bellamy was the proprietor of the hardware store, Ed Bond and Howard Heath operated the other general store and Mrs. Brown and her husband had a small bakery.

The largest employer in the community was the lumber and coal business of Longfield Brothers. The coal yard, lumber yard, sawmill, planing mill and woodworking shop occupied several acres next to the railway yard one block west of the main street. This business provided building materials for the building boom that was about to start in the village.

The village supported two blacksmith shops, a garage and automobile repair shop, and a barber shop. The Farmers Co-operative bought and sold grain, operated a grist mill and each Saturday shipped cattle and hogs to the packinghouses of London and Toronto.

Three churches catered to the spiritual needs of the community: the Methodist, (soon to become a member of the United Church of Canada), the Baptist and the Anglican. Every Sunday these churches con- ducted services morning and evening to near capacity congregations and the Sunday afternoon Sunday school was a gathering place for young and old.

Mt. Brydges was a community of retired farmers. Some had retired early from their farms and pursued other occupations in the community. Many of the younger people who stayed in the village, either for employment by the local businesses or to operate an enterprise of their own, had grown up on a local farm. Families became related through marriage and most of the village residents had a family connection.

Pioneer families had names like Sutherland, Trott, Grigg, Toles, Curtis, Fauls, Fisher, Hyatt, Steer, Veal, Heath, Gibbs, Wyatt, Lipsit, Miles, Stover, Lamont, Broom, Richardson, Longfield, Thompson, Kincade, Jarmain, Hawes, Northcott, Brown, Baxter, Bancroft, Hutton, Bond and others.

Early settlers to Caradoc Township established families that one or two generations later would be the residents of Mt. Brydges, the commercial centre of the Township.

In September, 1921 my father became the station agent for the Grand Trunk Railway and the McAlister family of five took up residence in the living quarters of the station. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon in September - three small children, mother and father, motoring into town in Father's pride and joy, his 1920 Overland 90 touring car. I am told the journey from London to Mt. Brydges, over gravel roads, was an adventure into another world.
Click Here to go to the next chapter
Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Index