Don’t forget the Gastro Pub is closed until Nov 9th for repairs.
12 Bell Street
Carleton Place
K7C1V9
Ontario
You Would Never Find Warm Leatherette at the Local Carleton Place Tannery
Brice McNeely, a Tannery and Eggs Benedict
A Piece of History that Few Talk About and I Don’t Blame Them!
The Carleton Place House with the Coffin Door
I found this photo and wanted to make sure it was documented so in an article from Howard Brown I found some other things I had no idea about either
Llew Lloyd This picture predates the development of all the property on the river side of Bell street from the Anglican Church to the CPR bridge . It was a great time to live in that area. This picture also predates the two apartment buildings built between this property and the park across from the Anglican Church. The whole shoreline was our playground.
Stephen Giles Now there are three Houses built in the property
Sherene Baird Flint Use to love hearing the train blow it’s whistle as it went over the streets in that part of town!! It was great as an alarm to get up in the mornings to get ready for school!
The stone home on Bell Street was occupied by Miss Evelyn Wilson was built by her grandfather, Dr. Wilson. In 1834 the first Anglican Church was erected. It was a frame structure and in 1881 was replaced by the present stone building.
Rosamond built and lived in the stone home once owned by the Muirhead estate. He operated a woollen factory across the street, but had some dispute abort the lease on his property and in disgust left Carleton Place and established his business in Almonte.
Between the Muirhead home and Bridge Street there were the following businesses:
john McEwen’s weaving room, a confectionery store, a hotel first owned by Kelly, and secondly by McCaffery and third by Wilson. Waugh’s harness shop, Galvin’s Tailor Shop Willams and Halliday’s Drugstore. Gover’s Shoe Shop, a barber shop, and the Arcade on the corner of Bridge and Bell. Across the Anglican church, Campbell and Morphy owned a store and the post office occupied part of this store.
After Mr. Rosamond moved to Almonte, Dr. Hurd who had married one of the Rosamond daughters, lived in the stone home. He erected the long frame building across the street. His office and Sinclair’s office was on the ground floor, while he rented the hall above for concerts and penny readings. Between this building and Bridge Street was Tanner McNeelys home and back of it on the bank of the river still stands his tannery.
Ad from Carleton Place newspaper 1873 from .. Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Bell Street– Carleton Place Ontario
Linda, you asked me who the original owner of the lot that 119 Bell was constructed on. Here is some more history- Karen Prytula
The short answer is the Crown deeded the lot on Bell Street to John Murphy/Morphy in 1824 after completion of his settlement duties. This was originally an 80 acre lot. John was one of the 3 sons of Edmund Morphy. And I believe this lot to belong to son John because the other 2 sons of Edmund were James and William, and they owned land adjacent to this lot at the same time, and, their names were also spelled Murphy in the land records.
In 1839 John M sold 11 acres for 25 pounds. I would figure if he is selling off land, he probably is living on the land and so that log part of the house could be as early as 1824.
Balance: 69 acres
In 1841 JohnM sells 25 acres for 100 pounds to H. Baines. Balance: 44 acres
In 1841 JohnM also sells to H. Boulton, acreage not specified, for 63 pounds…
By 1861 JohnM is dead, and so probably left the remaining acreage to his son/brother William, whom I believe may have sold to H. Boulton.
The 1863 map shows an R. Bell owning the lot, and a Dr. Wilson owning the stone home (105 Bell) next to this one.
The 1879 map does not have names written on it like the earlier map does.
Because this house was on lot 15W, Concession XII – it’s a big lot and there are probably lots of houses that are made of log then covered with clapboard.
There were plenty of owners on this lot but not one of them was a McEwen. One of the walking tour pamphlets refers to this house as the Murphy/Morphy house – so I am confident this is probably where John Murphy/Morphy lived. Possibly Dr. McEwen rented it when he was living there.
The Legal Description is: LT 112 SEC B PL 276 LANARK N BECKWITH; PT LT 113 SEC B PL 276 LANARK N BECKWITH AS IN RN31707; TOWN OF CARLETON PLACE
PIN 05119-0129
The above legal description is of absolutely no help as it does not even mention the Concession #, which we know to be XII.
“Founded Upon A Rock” does not mention a Dr. McEwen at all. It mentions a John Morphy, but not in relation to the house.
If the house was built in the 1880s it could have been built by any number of the property owners listed on the land abstract, because, lots of families lived on lot 15. It’s impossible to know which family was on a certain acreage/sq.footage.
I think the log cabin was there for maybe close to 50 years and instead of tearing it down, a newer owner just clapboarded around it in the 1880s, and additions were added when necessary.
There is a technology out there called Dendrochronology (the science or technique of dating events, environmental change, and archaeological artifacts by using the characteristic patterns of annual growth rings in timber and tree trunks.) which can tell the year the log was taken down. I am reading up on it to see if maybe we can get the year the log was cut down which will tell us, if this was an original Morphy homestead. i.e. if it was cut down before 1861 (the year I know John was deceased by) it was probably the original John Morphy homestead. If the log was cut down after 1861 then it could not have been his home.
Photo- Adin Wesley Daigle
June 12, 2020 2:25 PM
After some of the siding was removed there stood a two storey log home. Yes the “McEwen home” was originally a two storey log home probably built in 1848 with the hard wood logs taken from the lot or the park across the street. Very unheard of to see a two storey log home and the people that built it must have been well off. I asked the developer to cut off part of one of the logs and thanks to Karen P and Mark Smith they carried it to her van for the museum so we would have part of the house.
As the home came down the smell of rot filled the air. The logs at the base of the house were basically all sawdust and apparently they had been trying to save the base logs patching for years. The house also had asbestos in it. Sadly there were little options for this home. Instead of being angry–don’t let other heritage houses get this far along so they can’t be saved.
Instead of discussion put your words into actions. JOIN and SUPPORT, DONATE to our Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum — (their website is http://www.cpbheritagemuseum.com.
On the page you will see a tab called Join Us, all the information is there.) Instead of complaining..
Put your words into actions. Join our Municipal Heritage Committee. https://carletonplace.ca/municipal-heritage-committee.php
Linda Seccaspina
Everything that Bill Bagg collected and sold had a story, and chances are if you were fortunate you heard that very same story at least two or three times. I am one of the lucky ones to have one of his pieces in my home, and although not to the extent of Bill’s passion; I sometimes feel I run a rescue for all things Lanark County. They might not be priceless antiques, but like Bill, each one has a local story- and to me that is more important than owning a Faberge egg.
According to local history one of the Natives had been following a deer closely and was extremely disappointed when he suddenly lost his game to one of the founders of the town. The Native told Carleton Place settler Edmond Morphy in limited English: Read-The Natives of Carleton Place — Violins and Deer
“No meat in wigwam for Wife and Papoose!”
Edmund and the native quickly settled the matter justly for both and established a rule to govern in like cases. Later the Stagg’s head became the Town of Carleton Place’s logo as it represented fair play and sharing. Ironically, the artist just happened to use those two deer heads as his model for the logo.
So what is the origin of these deer? The story goes that Mr. Muirhead, Rosamond and Gillies went out hunting at Christmas in 1901. Arriving at the “Patterson Bush” where the Beer Store on Townline is located now, the men each shot one deer. Deciding to immortalize their kill, the deer went to the taxidermist and were soon hung in the dining room of the Rosamond House at 37 Bell Street.
Town clerk, Duncan Roger’s late mother purchased the Bell Street property from Ida and Ken Muirhead in October of 1957.The Muirheads had left several items in the house one being the three deer heads. Two hung in the Roger’s dining room, and one hung in the east exterior porch for many years.
Rogers remembers his mother telling him that Ken Muirhead had told her that a Mr. Muirhead ( Ken Muirhead’s father he believed ) and one of his sons had shot the deer and had them mounted and hung in the home. Bill became very good friends with Arnold Muirhead, the son of Ida and Ken Muirhead, (married to a Gillies) and they lived in Arnprior. Gary Strike’s father was the head supervisor of the Gillies Bros. Lumber Company in Braeside and ironically Mr. Muirhead was his boss, so this story was slowly coming 360.
When asked, Duncan didn’t know anything about the story of the Muirhead, Rosamond and Gillies hunting expedition. The deer heads remained at Duncan’s former home until he sold it in 2003 to Mr. and Mrs. Wallace. Like most women, Duncan’s wife did not express any interest in them and he left them as he felt that they were part of the history of the home. After all, they had hung in the house for 102 years.
I don’t think any collector knows his true motivation but Bill had the knack of sniffing out history. Bill called some of his things primitives, some called them junk, but everything he bought and collected was an experience. Good or bad they are priceless to anyone that loves history and hopefully these deer heads will get their proper historical homes.
CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada20 Jun 1980, Fri • Page 15
Each time I read about our local coroner, Dr. Wilson, who lived on Bell Street in Carleton Place I think of Mr. Wilson from the syndicated comics Dennis the Menace. Strange– but I guess it’s just a way of brain affiliation to recall things. Wilson came to Carleton Place from Scotland in the early 1840s and was the town doctor and coroner until his death in 1887. Did you know his granddaughter, Major Evelyn Wilson R.N., lived in the home Dr. Wilson built, and is important to the history of Carleton Place?
Evelyn was a decorated veteran nurse from the first world war. The Major R.N. was a matron in charge of a ‘stationary hospital’ at bomb blasted Gallipoli and besieged Alexandria. Not only was she a proud member of our branch 192 in Carleton Place, her name is on our Carleton Place Legion front door. She was instrumental in establishing a Ladies Auxiliary for the Legion Branch, and also the founding President of the Auxiliary.
She was overseas from February 1915 to May 1919, and was awarded the Royal Cross decoration established by Queen Victoria during the Crimea war. Later she received a bar to the cross for further distinguished service. The medal was presented to her by King George V at Buckingham Palace for re-establishing a hospital in Doullen, France after it had been destroyed by the enemy. The list of honours goes on for this brave woman, and at the end of each day in her later years, she and her nurse Mae Gilhuly turned back the five-inch iron key in the coin locks on each door. It was just tradition to mark another day had passed in her life— in the home that Dr. Wilson was in 1841.
The only modern thing Miss Wilson ever had in that home was an electric range, refrigerator and a 21 inch television. In 1965 when the then 89-year-old veteran lived in the home; the kitchen still had the original hearth that once cared for all the family’s needs. The house was full of clocks, beautiful collectible glass, and still had working coal oil lamps. In one of the four bedrooms upstairs still stood an ornate carved master suite set that was the original part of the house decor.
One of her favourite clocks in the Wilson home made by Terry and Son in Connecticut read:
“Warranted only if well used.”
Evelyn Wilson never need a warranty on life. She succeeded— 100% guaranteed
The Ottawa Journal
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
12 Jun 1954, Sat • Page 12
Photos by Linda Secaspina- newspaper archives files from The Carleton Place Canadian at the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Buy Linda Secaspina’s Books— Flashbacks of Little Miss Flash Cadilac– Tilting the Kilt-Vintage Whispers of Carleton Place and 4 others on Amazon or Amazon Canada or Wisteria at 62 Bridge Street in Carleton Place
Bell Street Businesses
Photo-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Bell Street an even century ago had some twenty five buildings scattered along its present four blocks. William Street already had a similar number. The section from Bell Street north to the Town Line Road, as the first subdivision of the future town, had most of its streets laid out as at present, but north of William Street they held in all only five or six houses.
The block of Bell Street next to Bridge Street was the second early business section of the town. The first business there had been started about thirty-five years before this time by Robert Bell, together with his elder brother John and assisted for some years by his younger brother James, sons of the Rev. William Bell of Perth.
Bell Street with the Leland Hotel at the end on Bridge Street-Photo-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
The new Sumner Arcade on its Bridge Street corner was built on the site of the original 1829 store of Robert Bell, in which the post office once had been located for many years. The Sumner store was adjoined by several frame shops, William Moore’s tavern, later run by Absolem McCaffery, John McEwen’s hand weaving establishment, Mrs. James Morphy’s home, and near James Street, the late “King James” Morphy’s shoemaking shop.
On the south side of this Bell Street block were several shops with living quarters, including buildings owned by Mrs. Morphy and William Muirhead. Down by the river side was an old tannery, once owned and possibly built by Robert Bell. It had been owned for some years by William Morphy junior and was bought in 1861 by Brice McNeely, who built the present stone building there where he continued a leather tanning business for forty years or more. At the other end of the block rose the venerable Hurd’s Hall, a relatively large two storey frame building then newly built, with its upper floor serving as the first public concert and meeting hall of the village other than the churches. It was built by the young Dr. William Hurd, son-in-law of James Rosamond. He had his medical offices there and lived in the former James Rosamond stone residence still standing on the corner across the street.
Going east on Bell Street, the second block from Bridge Street was occupied by the homes of Dr. Hurd and William Muirhead and, on the river near the present electric power plant site, by the sawmill owned by William Muirhead and leased then by Robert Gray. The third block, between Edmond and Baines Streets, had the large frame Church of England on its north side, and on the south side Robert Gray’s house and a building near the river owned by William Muirhead and apparently occupied in connection with the sawmill. On Bell Street’s last block, the north side had the home of Absolem McCaffrey, grocer and liquor dealer, the Wilson stone house then occupied by its builder, Dr. William Wilson, and a rented house owned by Robert Bell. On the river side of Bell Street here there were two rented houses and the home and wagon shop of George McPherson, bailiff and carriage maker.
by our beloved Howard Morton Brown
Canada Lumber Co- 1902 –located at the park by the corner of Edmond and Bell Street. The closed Carleton Place sawmills and upper Mississippi reserve dams of the Canada Lumber Company were bought by H. Brown & Sons for water conservation and power development uses.Photo-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Absolom McCaffrey was 46 when he opened his new bakery on Bell Street in 1867. Previous to this he had been a cooper – a maker of barrels – in business with Napoleon Lavallee between 1833 and 1847. Together they did a thriving business constructing butter tubs and barrels for flour and pork. Absalom was still listed as a cooper in the 1861 census. Why the change of career we wonder?–Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Buy Linda Secaspina’s Books— Flashbacks of Little Miss Flash Cadilac– Tilting the Kilt-Vintage Whispers of Carleton Place and 4 others on Amazon or Amazon Canada or Wisteria at 62 Bridge Street in Carleton Place
Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever, and it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything. In every town there seems to be one piece of architecture that is constantly caught in the exquisite scenery of a town or city in photographs. In Carleton Place that would be Hurd’s Hall.
At the other end of the Bell Street block sits the venerable Hurd’s Hall, a relatively large two storey frame building with its upper floor serving as the first public concert and meeting hall of the village other than the churches. The home is located on a piece of land originally obtained by William Morphy who came in 1819 but he never received a deed for the land until way after 1824. Morphy sold a portion of the land to James Rosamond who built the stone home that sits next to Hurd’s Hall. The house was built by the young Dr. William Hurd, son-in-law of James Rosamond. Hurd had his medical offices there and lived in the former Rosamond stone residence.
Located on shoreline land once occupied by First Nations Peoples, this property changed hands several times before Hurd’s Hall was built in the mid-1800s to house the doctor’s practice, with the upstairs rented out for public use. During the 1880’s Hurd’s Hall was known as our local Masonic Lodge and the men would use the existing side staircase to obtain entry to the upper hall which the owner found when she renovated.
The building has been a school, and the upper flat of the building was McKay’s Bakery for many years. It was also a venue for the town council in 1871, and a bunkhouse. Finally in 1902 it was converted from a hall into a family residence. Across the street once stood the Canada Lumber Company, and a large saw mill and buildings existed where the flower beds are now situated.
The house has only had few owners and became a rental at one point. In all my research, the thing people have remembered most about Hurd’s Hall was that in the early 1970’s the front of the house was struck by a car. The present owner bought it in 1994. Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, but Hurd’s Hall and all its history will hopefully remain forever.
lindaseccaspina 