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Full many a
praiseworthy citizen of Morriston has been acknowledged in a Marjorie Clark book, “Our Village of
Morriston”, a book of generously benevolent historical perspective, wherein a very
fragmentary oral and written history was rescued, rescued as it was about to
quietly vanish in the company of a nucleus of the village’s most aged and
literate inhabitants. An attempt, this
medley, borrowing entirely from the |
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The |
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Morriston has suffered much damage through fire. This was so even in the early days. Therefore, in 1857, the “Victoria Fire
Company of the The committee borrowed money to pay the
contractors and the consequence of the high interest was that the available
promissory payments were insufficient.
The committee had to foot the bill.
Due to this, the Hall ultimately cost more than the amount required to
erect two such buildings. Morriston Hall
was equipped with cells in the basement, the only jail ever built in |
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Making
repairs to the John Hingleman, Frank Kistenmacher, &
John Gayer (left to right) |
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On May 8th 1883,
the Independent Order of Foresters organized a chapter in Morriston, and in
1886, the Ancient Order of United Workmen was established in Morriston. In 1902, the Morriston Lodge of the
Foresters bought the Hall and renovated it.
The Lodge grew very rapidly for some years. In 1926, they united with the Ancient Order
of United Workmen. |
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Independent
Order of Foresters “Old Time Dance” Invitation |
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Mr. Bert Huether recalled that the local boys used to
skate in the basement of the Hall around the turn of the century. On September 15th 1944, a trustees’ meeting
was held in the Hall, with a good attendance of ratepayers, to discuss the
purchase of the Independent Order of Foresters Hall by
the village. Mr. Albert E.
Whiteside (1873 ‑ November 5, 1962) spoke of
the ways and means to raise money to meet expenses and the upkeep of the
Hall. It was moved by William Crow and seconded by Fred Dunkie that the village buy the
Hall. It was moved by The Hall fulfilled its promise, serving as
the focal point of a busy community.
The village trustees met there.
Plays and concerts were presented by the Morriston Library to raise
money to buy books. Mr. Lawrence Huether presented picture shows. There were dances, box socials and suppers,
school concerts, short courses, presentations, demonstrations, and business
promotions. A After fifteen years of riotous living, the
Hall gave every indication of needing some attention, to such an extent, in
fact, that on January 24th 1959, it was condemned as unsafe by then ___________________________ |
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The Historic Corner BlockFor some time after the hall’s removal, the
Morriston Women’s Institute urged that some use be made of the now vacant
Town Hall lot. On February 22nd 1978,
representatives of the Institute, the village trustees, and interested
community members formed a committee to create a park. A “name the park” contest was held. Many, many caring people contributed to the
work; a few are mentioned here. John
Smith built the cairn. Morley Illman made
the park benches, one of which was donated by Mrs. Anna
Bill and two by the Morriston Women’s Institute. The Penrice family
planted a tree and placed a plaque in memory of John Penrice Sr.,
who was a member of the Order of Foresters, and who looked after the
maintenance of the Hall as well as acting as “house policeman” at most
activities. Mrs. Jack Stewart
and Harvey Stewart planted
the flowerbed beside the cairn. Other trees were planted by a group of
villagers assisted by the Morriston Brownie Pack. Many hours of hard work were put in by
Myrtle Carroll, Elizabeth Hierons, Joanna Dettrich and Jerry Warner. Harold and Jean Skerritt merit
special mention for their on‑going contribution, the
conscientious upkeep of the park. The Park Committee |
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Emily PylackJoanna Dettrich |
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Jerry Warner Carolyn Sorensen Beatrice Huether |
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______________________________ June 25, 1978. Bill Huether, Chairman, addressed the
gathering: “We hope that the present
generation and those generations to follow derive as much enjoyment from the
new park as the past few generations did from the old Town Hall that formerly
stood on this site.” A historical photograph display, which
stirred pleasant memories, was furnished by Bill Huether.
A book describing, in words and
pictures, the park development was open for viewing. Refreshments were provided in the Morriston
United Church basement by the Women's Institute. The weather co‑operated
to make this warm sunny day a lovely occasion of reunion and friendship. |
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The Morriston Town Hall, the stage for a varied
and vibrant chapter of village history, stands in the background, with a
dignity belying that expansive legacy, as Mr. Edgar Boucher, in the
foreground, intently conducts his ploughing, from the Victoria Street side. |
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The
Morriston Library Players |
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Back
Row (left to right) Bill
Winer, Mert Westlake, Marguerite Boucher, Laura Quail, Mrs. Douglas McNally, Donalda
Clark, Douglas McNally, Dorothy Huether, Jim Philpott, Mary Tatum. Front
Row (left to right) Anne
Quail, Margaret Beese, Edward J. Quail, Mary Huether, Stanley Archibald. |
“MORRISTON
PLAYERS GIVE STELLAR STAGE PERFORMANCE”
The headline above and the article that follows are from the “ “Morriston
Players Breeze Through Lively Comedy,
Give Creditable Performance” ______________________ Enthusiasm, it seems, has no bounds. Last night, the Morriston Library Players,
under the capable and energetic direction of Mrs. E. J. Quail, breezed their
way through Russell Drake's lively comedy “Momma and Poppa Pitz” with a style
which would have done more than credit to any larger theatrical group in this
city. Before an overflow audience in the Sunday
School room of the Paisley Memorial Church estimated to be in the region of
220, the Morriston amateurs interpreted the three act comedy in its hilarious
best and for a post-budget pickup, no finer medicine could be recommended
than to sit through the two hours or so of scintillating humour emerging from
the lively and diverting farce centered on Mr. and Mrs. Presley Pitz. Not only are hats doffed for the quality of
the performance, but also for the motivating force behind the production. The Morriston Library, its shelves stocked
with up to two thousand books, is desirous of extending its lists with
replacements and new books. Short of
funds, the Ways and Means Committee of the library could think of no better
way to bolster assets than an amateur theatrical and so from Morriston’s 250
population a band of play addicts gathered together and started twice-weekly
rehearsals in the home of the director. After five weeks of hard grinding the show
was ready for the road and up to date has rocked audiences in five local
communities, playing twice in Morriston, so great was the response. Last night the library committee gathered
in approximately twenty-five dollars for their cultural cause, which boosts
the total receipts, clear of expenses to over $125.00. It would
be unfair to single out any particular member of the cast for special
praise. All performed with zest and
ability and only the occasional hesitation and prompting for some of the supporting
roles marred a faultless passage. Apart from the directorship, the Quail
family was further represented in the cast of characters. Mr. E. J. Quail portrayed the part of
Presley Pitz, the harmless head of the family, who as a lover of horses, gets
entangled with Laurette Lorraine acted by Isabel McNally, the lonely widow
type who sells her horse, Dorette, to Poppa who promptly installs the dobbin
in the garage. Margaret Beese, treasurer of the committee
and this paper’s Morriston correspondent, characterized Polly Pitz, the
faithful-over-the-years wife whose suspicions are aroused when her husband's
name becomes connected with a Dorette which naturally, she assumes to be the
other woman encroaching on her domain. This portrayal by Margaret Beese was
excellently done, her dialogue and expression so much in keeping with the
harassed lady of the house. Corney, the gum chewing slaphappy maid of
the household, played by Mercia Westlake, contributed a hat-full of fun to
the success of the venture. She fitted the part admirably, wisecracking to
the last. Mary Huether and Jim Philpott as the
charming but high-strung young daughter and the absent-minded son of the
Pitzs came through with colours flying.
Jim Philpott, his natural physique somehow blending so well with the
role, falls for Anne Kingston - finely portrayed by Donalda Clark - who is
secretary to Dixie Dunlop (Marguerite Thomson) a love scientist from Claribell Knapp, as the name would suggest,
is the girl who lives next door and, being inclined to be nosey, starts the
squabble with her uncontrolled tongue.
Dorothy Huether played confidently in this role, as did Stan Archibald
(Sedley Lassen), William Winer (Earl Magnus), Douglas McNally (Gordon
Spencer) and lastly thirteen-year-old Laura, the third member of the Quail
family concerned with the comedy, who was making her first appearance in a
play of this standing. The traveling cast, all of whom reside in
Morriston, some of them employed in Guelph, have three more engagements to
fulfill: at Sheffield, Fruitland and Brookville. Their enthusiasm and efforts, coupled with
the obvious enjoyment derived in the presentation of their community project,
serves as a reminder that better facilities for the community at large
requires something more than a lot of hot-stove talk. The humour came as a ray of sunlight,
piercing the gloom of a wet, miserable Friday evening. The audience went home full of praise for
the initiative and the theatrical abilities of the people of Morriston. _________________________ |
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School Section # 8 of The The first school in the Morriston area was located
near Duff’s Church. The
teacher was Reverend Thos. Wardrope. On May 9th 1856, the “Trustees of Common
School Section #8, Puslinch” bought one-quarter
acre of land from John Morlock, this being the southwest
corner of the Morlock homestead, and in that
summer, the first |
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Morriston
School, built in 1856, stonework by Karl and William Beese. |
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Eventually, the school could not accommodate
the children of the community and on March 25th 1905, a special ratepayers
meeting was held to discuss the building of a new school. On December 26th 1906, a second meeting was
held, but it was not until after the Inspector’s Report of November 1909, in
which the unsanitary condition of the old school was emphasized,
that the trustees obtained permission to erect a new school. The old school was later converted to a
residence by Carl and Marie Wingrove. It was
ultimately purchased and taken down when the Ontario Highway Department
reconstructed Highway 6 at that point, in 1966. A The new brick school had a junior room on the
south side and a senior room on the north side, divided by a large hall
running straight through the centre, from the double front doors to a small
utility room at the back. The basement was similarly divided, the south side
being the girls’ play area and the north, the boys’. Each side had a furnace in the centre. The farmers of the section brought wood,
which was stored in the large woodshed directly in back of the school. Big Henry Beaver cut it up with the
bucksaw. Later, Jack Quillman cut it with the crosscut saw and, still later, Harvey Sutton
with the circular saw. When coal became more available, wood was burnt
only in the fall and spring and coal was used in the very cold winter. The children would take advantage of the
furnaces to provide themselves with a hot lunch. They would bring a potato from home and
place it on the ledge above the firebox in the furnace at recess. Someone would ask to be excused in order to
check the progress of the potatoes midway to lunchtime. At lunch, they would dine on baked potato. |
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Morriston School,
built in 1910 by Otto and John Rappolt |
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Miss Kaiser was a singer and during her
1917-1919 tenure at Bill Hodges
taught for two separate intervals in Morriston School, one of only two
teachers who returned for a second term, the other being Charlotte M. Torrance.
Mr. Hodges
taught from 1908 ‑ 1912 and 1915 ‑ 1917.
He was very well‑liked by his students.
He, too, was a singer, and he would play baseball and football along with the
children at recess. Sometimes he would
end up at the bottom of the heap with all the boys piled on top of him. The girls of the Badenoch team of the 1920’s learned their softball skills
from Mr. Hodges. He married Margaret McFarlane (1878 ‑ 1966), a Puslinch native who
remained in Morriston until her death. The children of this era began the
day with “The Lord’s Prayer” and “God Save the King” and ended it with a beautiful
evening hymn called “Now the Day is Over”. |
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“Now the day is over Night is drawing nigh Shadows of the evening Steal
across the sky.” |
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If there were caretakers in the old stone
school, we can no longer ascertain who they were. In the new brick school, the Len
Westlakes were caretakers about 1915 and
after them, the Walter Telfers, then the Quillmans,
Mrs. Tom Beaver, and lastly, Mrs. Emily Pylack from May
15th 1950 ‑ 1969. Emily Pylack has been a resident of Morriston for around
forty years. Emily
and Arthur Pylack’s family
are Barbara (Mrs. Kenneth
Dickenson) of Drayton, Margaret (Mrs. Robert McKay) of
Morriston, David with the Canadian Armed Forces
and Winnie (Mrs. Donald N. Stewart Jr.) of the First Concession, Puslinch. Between January 1st 1919 ‑ February 3rd 1919 the Morriston School was
closed on account of the severe influenza epidemic which swept the country
after the war, the strain having been carried home from overseas by the
returning soldiers. Some local people died
from this contagion. On January 24th 1921, a case of smallpox was
diagnosed in the school area and on Tuesday, January 25th 1921, Dr. King,
with Jessie Nicol assisting,
vaccinated the whole of On May 11, 1937, a row of evergreens was
planted along the fence and around the top of the bank in the north yard.
Later in the same week a blue spruce and an Austrian pine were planted in the
north yard. In the summer of 1940, a new furnace was
installed in the centre of the building between the two basements in place of
the old furnaces. In May 1944, the school became a distributing
centre for trees ordered by the farmers of the section for reforestation
purposes. About four thousand trees were distributed. At the same time, the pupils planted thirty
or forty spruce and maple trees around the edge of the schoolyard. During the Easter Vacation of 1945, the
school was wired for electricity. The work was completed and power turned on,
on June 11th. The school’s annual picnic was held as a
community affair on the last day in June 1945. Pupils and adults enjoyed games, races and
other sports. Parents and pupils
brought different articles and participated in an auction sale, which netted
forty dollars, which sum was used to start a fund to purchase presents for service
men returning to this school section. A new 125-foot well was drilled in January
1946. In the autumn of 1947, water toilets were
installed in the basement. In January 1948, our school became part of
the A new steel roof was put on in August 1948. In June 1949, at the first school area picnic held at Of the more current teachers, Miss Jean Copeland, now Mrs. Alistair McLean
of London, and Mrs. C. M. Torrance, now Mrs. William
Gordon of Listowel,
were both fondly remembered by their students and described glowingly as
being very capable teachers who provided a firm educational foundation for
future studies. In the 1960’s, the
Ontario Government, hoping to improve the quality of education, began a
program to consolidate many of the small rural schools into large centralized
schools, and so, the long and pleasant histories of the community schools in
Puslinch Township came to an end, including that of the Morriston
School. In June 1964, the Morriston
“Senior Room” students, grades 5 through 8, were reassigned, via school bus,
to the new large school in Aberfoyle, and finally, in June 1969, the
remainder of the Morriston classes followed, as
the red schoolhouse on the hill dismissed its students for the last time. ___________________________ The The teachers were: Eleanor Hope Brydon ‑ September 1920 to June 1921 Margaret Stewart ‑ September 1921 to June 1922 After this time, students who wished to
attend high school either boarded in ______________________ Teachers
in Daily Attendance Registers for The first teacher in Other possible teachers were: |
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Dave McFarlane, known as “Black Davey” Hector Currie William Martin Mrs.
Angus Clark Jr. (née Minerva Bond) Mr.
Hunter James MacDonald |
Mrs. Lizzie McDonald Mrs. Jefferson William Kilgour |
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On record, are the following teachers: Neil Q. MacEachern (Senior Form):
1897 to 1899 R. Etta Bond: February to December
1898 Sara Blyth (Sr. Form): Feb. to
Dec. 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, & Feb.
to Aug. 1905 Mary M. Livergood (Junior Form):
February to December 1901, 1902 Cassie Smith (Junior Form): 1903 Ira Hammond (Sr. Form): October to
December 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908 Maria F. Aitchison (Junior Form):
1906 and January to June 1907 A. H. Moderwell (Junior Form):
August to December 1907 W. J. Hodges (Senior Form): August
1908 to September 1912 Lillian Somerville (Jr. Room): Sept.
to Dec. 1911 and January to June 1912 R. E. Jamieson (Sr. Room): Sept.
to Dec. 1912, 1913, 1914 & Jan. to June 1915 E. G. Laing (Junior Room):
September and October 1912 J. M. Kilgour (Junior Room): Nov.
to Dec. 1912 and Jan. to June 1913 W. J. Hodges (Senior Room):
September 1915 to December 1917 Minnie M. Nesbitt (Jr. Room):
Sept. to Dec. 1913, 1914, 1915 & Jan. to June 1916 E. L. Williams (Junior Room):
Sept. to Dec. 1916 and Jan. to June 1917 Ora C. Kaiser (Junior Room): Sept.
to December 1917, 1918 and 1919 Mary E. Aylesworth (Senior Room):
January 1918 to December 1919 Myrtle M. Mair (Senior Room):
December 26, 1919 to December 1920 Mina Hartmier (Junior Room):
September to December 1919 and 1920 Mabel J. Stewart (Senior Room):
January 3, 1921 to June 1926 Margaret E. Stewart (Junior Room):
September 1921 to June 1923 Mildred Ronald (Junior Room):
January to December 1924 Della Philpott (Junior Room): 1926
to June 1929 Margaret Hingleman (Junior Room):
September 1929 to 1932 Velma K. Gregory (Senior Room) : October 1926 and January to October 1927 Ernest J. Monteith (Senior Room):
October to December 1927 and 1928 Grace Lapsley (Senior Room):
September 1, 1928 to 1933 Mildred Cowen (Junior Room):
September 1933 Grant W. Ingle (Senior Room):
September 1933 to June 1937 Christen McBean (Junior Room):
September 1933 to June 1937 George A. McEwan (Senior Room):
September 1937 to June 1939 Jean A. MacPherson (Junior Room):
September 1937 to June 1941 L. Earle Hampel (Senior Room): September
1939 to June 1940 G. Clark Wright (Senior Room):
September 1, 1940 to June 1954 Margaret E. McColl (Junior Room):
September 5, 1941 to June 28, 1946 Isabel C. Hunter (Junior Room):
September 3, 1946 to June 29, 1948 Carolyn E. R. Nader (Junior Room):
September 7, 1948 to June 29, 1949 Elsie G. Tutt: September 6, 1949
to June 27, 1952 Mary E. McPherson (Junior Room) : September 2, 1952 to June 1955 Charlotte M. Torrance (Senior
Room): September 7, 1954 to June 1961 James R. L. Loree (Junior Room):
September 1955 to June 1956 Jean Copeland (Junior Room):
September 1956 to June 1961 Eileen Bond (Junior Room):
September 1961 to June 1964 Bruce Foubert (Senior Room):
September 1961 to June 1962 Charlotte M. Torrance (Senior
Room): September 1962 to June 1964 Ingrid Rebane (Junior Room):
September 1964 to June 1965 Eleada Thomson (Junior Room):
September 1965 to May 1966 Elizabeth Wilson (Junior Room) : September 1966 to 1967 Cora Rutherford (Junior Room):
September 1967 to 1968 Margaret
MacKenzie (Junior Room): September 1968 to June 1969. |
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The Morriston Pond |
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May 20th 1954, looking across
Morriston Pond, at
the home of Bert and Mary McEdward. |
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Morriston Pond was, at one time, one large
pond. The construction of the county
road divided it into two. Benjamin
Jacobs gave the county a portion of his
land so that the road would not need to run so far through the pond as
necessary if it were built straight. At the end of February or the beginning of
March, each year, before the advent of refrigeration, hundreds of blocks of
ice, about two feet thick, were cut from Morriston Pond by local people. Farmers used the ice to keep milk cool, Billy
Brown used it to preserve meat, and Aunt Lou MacLean used it to freeze ice
cream. Drawing an ice plow
behind a team, or sometimes just one horse, to cut the ice part way,
enough rows would be made. Then rows
were cut across these in the other direction in order to make blocks. Men finished off the cutting of the first
row with an ice saw, a saw about eight feet long, and picked out the blocks
with ice tongs. The second row of
blocks could be broken off, just by hitting them. These blocks were slid up a ramp onto a skid
and drawn home to the icehouse, a building about
twenty feet square and ten feet high.
This icehouse was packed full of ice except
for a layer of sawdust which served as insulation around the outside and on
the bottom. Sawdust or snow was placed
in the cracks between the blocks. Generations of Morriston youth and older
folks, too, have skated on Morriston Pond.
Eliza (Jacobs) Jack Stewart recalled
playing hockey here as a boy using a tin can for a puck and newspapers for
shin pads. My father, Ben Clark,
tells me he played hockey by moonlight. The tin can was an audible puck. Mrs. Grace Bolton (1874 ‑
November 7th, 1961) who lived on the Back Street, that is Victoria
Street, skated on Morriston Pond every winter of her residency here until the
winter of 1954 when she was eighty years of age. |
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Circa 1950, Mr. Lawrence Huether,
paddle in hand, and |
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_____________________ ◄ End of file ► |
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