Almonte — The Birth of a Friendly Town — A Poem

Birth of a Friendly Town-- Almonte Gazette July 30 , 1970 ( no author mentioned)

T ’was back in 1820 when the air was clear and bright,
A brawny pioneer farmer stopped his wagon for the night.
He kindled his cheery campfire to feed his hungry brood,
And vowed he’d build a cabin on the very spot he stood.
On the banks of the Mississippi, on a tract of government land,
He built his homely hovel, with axe and sweat, so grand.
He cleared his land for planting with mule and old grey mare,
He plowed and tilled and worked it with tender loving care.
His meagre supply of seedlings he spread upon the ground,
He fished the brooks and rivers and hunted the woods around.

He sent word to friends and relations of the wonderful place he had,
But with the lack of a woman’s company, his wife was very sad.
As the years went by, his family grew, with neighbours all around,
Where once there stood a lonely farm , had turned into a town.
With neighbour lads they took the fish, both with line and spear,
And all around this lonely place -was a friendly atmosphere.

The town it grew and friendliness was never left behind,
The people in this little town, always seemed so kind.
As homes sprang up with shops and stores, everything so grand,
And all the people in the town to lend a helping hand. ….
So from this campfire in the night, arose THE FRIENDLY TOWN,
Our friendliness, it’s said, has spread for miles around.
So why not come to ALMONTE and join in all the cheer.
To have some fun and celebrate our 130th year.

We promise you our friendliness, has grown from year to year,
The only thing we’re lacking is having you came here.
So plan to come and visit us when summer rolls along.
When we celebrate in ALMONTE, our friends can do no wrong

Almonte General Hospital Fairview Manor Foundation

· September 20, 2018 ·

Sharing Smiles with the kind folks at the Mississippi Mills Animal Hospital. Who have you shared a smile with today?

Mary Sterling Jarick The first thing I saw when we came from Ireland and landed in Almonte. My father told me he had it done especially for me. lol

Clipped from The Ottawa Citizen, 13 May 1952, Tue, Page 13

Shirley Flaxman It truly was a friendly town!!! I loved growing up there

Bob Camelon Born and Raised

Darlene Monette Me too – in fact still in same house! 🙂 That water tower was our view from the front door!

Ron Finner I climbed to the top of that tower and sat on the ball many times !! 😎🤠

Shirley Flaxman Home is where the heart is💖.

Mary Anne Harrison My grandparents, Jim and Cecelia Carroll lived just in front of the tower on Ottawa street. My uncle Emmett too. I have no doubt 1 or all 5 of my brothers climbed that tower at one time or another.

Peggy Byrne Yes it was a sad day. Lived for many years beside that tower and saw a few people climb to the top whenever the opportunity arose. Ronald Ford, you will remember the water house at the base of the tank where many residents that didn’t yet have running water in their homes went to fill up their containers – oh wait, maybe you’re too young for that….🤭

Ronald Ford I remember Dad would point it out at the Corkery hill. It was all long time ago. Tree grow a lot 66 yrs

We posted the photo of the 1993 water tower today– Dawn Jones fund This from the Millstone article in 2013.

Water tower slogan: still friendly, but not a town?

September 5, 2013 – 2:21 pm

Tower
Rendering of planned ‘rebranding’

by Brent Eades

The Town recently announced that as part of the current cleaning and restoration of the water tower on Paterson Street, “the tower will also be refinished with a new white and blue colour scheme along with a rebranded logo,” approved by Town Council at a meeting on April 16 2013.

A rendering of this logo is available on the Mississippi Mills website. It shows that the decades-old slogan “Almonte The Friendly Town” will be replaced with simply “Friendly Almonte.”

I can see this, I suppose. Strictly speaking we are no longer a “town” — in the purely legalistic sense of the word — but rather a ward of the amalgamated municipality of Mississippi Mills.

But it does seem a pity to lose the slogan that has been welcoming people to our community for generations. We may not be a town as far as the provincial government is concerned, but we surely are in every other sense.

Out of interest I decided to search the online Almonte Gazette archive to find out how long we’ve been “The Friendly Town.” It appears the slogan was chosen sometime prior to March 1953 by the Chamber of Commerce for use in a promotional booklet. Link (story at top-left)

I also found a reference on Google Books, from a 1952 issue of Civic Administration magazine: “As you near the town, the first thing you see is a big steel standpipe jutting skyward above the leafy trees. On it in six-foot letters are the words, WELCOME TO ALMONTE The Friendly Town.”