Those who favoured the sale of beer on licensed premises in Carleton Place won out by slim majorities in a vote taken on Wednesday of this week. Those entitled to vote were asked on one ballot if they favoured such outlets for men and on another ballot if they favoured such outlets for women. The results favoured the men by three votes over the required 60 per cent and the women by 13 votes. With about 75 per cent of those eligible to cast ballots doing so there were 1477 for men’s beverage rooms and 980 against; 1497 for women’s beverage rooms and 977 against.
If the drys demand a recount they have four days in which to register their intention. They must post a bond of $100 to cover expenses as a judge must preside. The peculiar thing about the vote is that there were more in favour of women’s beverage rooms than for men’s. Apparently the women went out in an “equal rights” attitude and pounded the anvil successfully. A recount might well result in beverage rooms for women only—a situation that was duplicated in Chapleau some years ago.
The anomalous outcome in the Northern Ontario town was overcome in some amicable manner which escapes the memory of the writer. It is said there are bitter recriminations flying around among the “drys” in Carleton Place who feel that a little more effort would have brought success. But a number are consoling themselves with the thought that the “wets’ ‘ had a heavy 60 per cent majority to hurdle and they didn’t have much to boast about. This is the third time a try has been made for licences in Carleton Place.
Memories of Carleton Place– Today it’s hard to believe, but in early and mid 1800s it was possible to walk into a drugstore or even approach a hotel desk like the Queens and buy cocaine or even arsenic as they were medicinal aids. The travelling salesmen that stayed at Queen’s often sold their wares at the front desk to those who needed it. Especially to owner Mrs. Chatterton’s gals that worked in the alleyway.
There use to be a longish narrow building at the back of the Queens at the backside of the parking lot. It was still there in 1984-85. I was told years ago that it use to be a stable back in its day – for the people’s horses when they came by horse to the Queens. Don’t know if that was true or not – but took it as if it was. It had an upper level too. In 1984 or 85 there was an apartment on that upper level as I remember Audrey Wilson living there then.
Dan WilliamsWhen my son visited Art he told him that he was the 3rd generation of our family he had served! I played a lot of golf with Art and he told me a lot of stories and had some awesome one liners. He was great fun to play with.
Cate JohnsonI recognize that house from years gone by LOL. Like Tom, just inside the back door
Karen RobertsonNext door to where I grew up. If that house could talk.
So, we have read about an area around Santiago Street called Chiselville in the 1800s a few months ago. But where was Happy Valley? Well chances are if you talk to someone who has lived her a spell, they will tell you that Happy Valley was just off Townline Street in the Lanark and Carleton Street area, where you could get yourself some illegal beverages no questions asked.
I am still waiting for some stories to come out of the locals to write about this area–so if you know of any stories about the white lightening of Carleton Place do tell please. I am all ears!
Along the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexico borders, saloons and liquor stores and distilleries did business supplying thirsty Americans and Canadians, while those who could not reach a foreign country made home brew and bathtub gin or bought rotten booze from bootleggers.
Somebody is always thinking up schemes for getting ahead of the law and somebody thought up the “hole-in-the-wall.” That was Just after the provincial governments had begun to regulate the liquor trafflc and enforce the licensing of the retail sale of spirituous liquors. Somebody who didn’t feel like paying a stiff license fee invented the “hole-ln-the-wall.”
In the hole- In-the-wall system there was no bar. The liquor was kept in a closed room. High up In one wall there was a hole about a foot square. The man who wanted to quench his thirst tapped discreetly on the wall, having previously deposited the exact price of the drink. Change was given by the man inside the hole in the wall, for various reasons. Then the person who desired the drink would say quietly “beer,” or whiskey” or name whatever he desired to have. – A hand would reach up pull the money in the room, and in due time the beverage would he forthcoming.
The man inside the hole in the wall never spoke. That was the understood part of the game. Drinkers used to like holes In the walls as there was a flavour of mystery about them. The man who bought never saw the man who served. The reason for this precaution was that if the house was pulled, the Crown could never find a witness who could truthfully swear that the owner of the hotel or any of his employes (by name) had served him with liquor.
But the government soon found means to put the hole-in-the-wall out of business. They enacted that if liquor were found in any part of any hotel other than the bar, or in any unlicensed premises it could be seized and the vendor heavily fined. Power was given the officers of the law to search any unlicensed places. This power, together with the fact that It was illegal to have liquor on unlicensed premises, soon spelled the doom of the “holes-in-the-wall.”
Licensed dealers who paid the government fees and obeyed the law, more or less were apt to speak with contempt of the hole-ln-the-wall places. So the expression soon became applied as one of contempt to other than places where liquor was sold. For Instance, one man would say of another. “Oh, his places is only a hole-ln-the-wall.” Thus that is how the name got started.
The façade of 110 Bridge Street has probably been renovated since it was initially built, and the original structure was probably was made of clapboard and later on stucco was put on to replace the clapboard. Originally, the building was the office of John (Johnny) J. McGregor, who was the county sheriff, commonly called doctor, but certainly was not a doctor of any kind. Carleton Place was ‘dry’ in his days but there still was a good number of bootleggers. Johnny was short in stature and wore a long fur coat in the winter that dragged through the snow like a western rustler.
Whenever a raid was to be carried out Johnny had to present and he would be transported to the scene of the crime by Kidd Bryce Taxi and word on the street was there were never too many successful raids.
In 1907 he became a license Inspector tor for the north riding of Lanark, and nine years later was placed in charge of the entire county. For a number of years he was a member of the provincial police, a position he retained until , until he became mayor in 1934. He was a warm friend of Dr. R. F. Preston, first mayor of Carleton Place, a bachelor until death and a reputed fancy man
J. W. Bengough, noted Canadian cartoonist, entertained a Town Hall audience with his skill, making such sketches of local celebrities as Reeve William Pattie at his desk, Dr. J. J. McGregor extracting a horses’ tooth, Arthur Burgess in his automobile, William Miller in a horse deal, and Tom Bolger with his hotel bus at the railway depot.
SUSPECTED HOG CHOLERA. Numerous reports came to our notice where hog cholera was suspected. I visited many farms both in Ontario and Quebec, but found sickness in swine principally due to injudicious feeding or to bad hygienic surroundings, often both these conditions combined. Pneumonia and verminous bronchitis were very prevalent, the cold damp spring and summer being particularly favourable for these maladies. Many cases of gastric troubles, both chronic and acute, were seen. A farmer near Toronto, who was feeding his pigs on hotel swill which contained strong alkalies (powdered soaps which are used in washing dishes), had over one hundred sick and unthrifty pigs. I also saw many lame and crippled hogs, their condition being due to feeding largely on highly carbonaceous foods. GLANDERS. During the outbreak of glanders in the city of Ottawa and vicinity, I have assisted in the inspection and also the testing with mallein of suspected cases. I have tested thirty-two horses, five of which reacted. Seven horses that showed marked symptoms of glanders were destroyed without having to resort to the test. I have inspected a large number of horses clinically in and around Ottawa and Hull, being suspected cases reported to us by the city police and others. Dr. J. J. McGregor, of Carleton Place, Ont;, reported two cases of glanders to the department. I visited Carleton Place and found two well marked cases of glanders. Both horses were destroyed, and the premises properly disinfected.
1870 – Born: July 13, 1870, Carleton Place, s/o James McGregor (1837-????) & Isabel Collins (1839-1907)
1896 – Graduated Ontario Veterinary College, Toronto
1897 – Appointed Federal Government Border Inspector of Livestock Contagious Disease.
c1900 – Opened Veterinary Practice, Carleton Place (“practiced for 20 years” – c1920)
1907 – Appointed (Liquor) License Inspector, Lanark County North Riding
1916 – Appointed (Liquor) License Inspector, all of Lanark County
1921 – Census, John J. McGregor, occupation “Inspector”.
c1927 – Appointed “An officer with special authority and jurisdiction all over Ontario” (C. P. Canadian 1935) i.e., June 1, 1927 … “For a number of years, he was a member of the provincial police …” (Ottawa Journal 1934)
1932 – Retired from Provincial Police (OPP)
1932 – Elected to Carleton Place Town Council
1935 – Elected Mayor of Carleton Place
1940 – Died 18 June 1940, Carleton Place (Death Cert occupation “Officer Provincial Police”)
It was just to be a regular meeting in the Carleton Place Council Chambers that night with an introduction to council of five new small industry heads. But by the time the meeting started and the head of the industrial commission had settled the industrialists in the front row, the rest of the council chambers had filled and chairs had to be brought in to seat the overflow crowd.
It was soon obvious the masses weren’t there to exchange niceties. Allan Doucett, a local realtor, represented the first delegation, and if council thought that last month’s meeting had settled the issue of a location for a new liquor store, Doucett soon corrected that assumption. The issue came to light when earlier in the year council, on hearing that the LCBO was moving out of the Bridge Street location it had occupied for years, wrote to the board drawing its attention to a vacant shopping centre on the north side of town close to the Brewers Retail outlet.
The letter stated that the north side location would be ideal because of its proximity to the beer store and because it allowed for easy access to and from a main highway. Meantime, an existing shopping centre at the south of the main business core got wind of the move and business people there did not appreciate council’s interference and set about to entice the move to a location in their Mews.
The LCBO submitted its plan to locate in the Mews and council wrote another letter saying fine. Doucett claimed the second letter indicated the town’s preference to the Mew’s site and was a contradiction of the first letter. Some councillors agreed at both meetings the town should never have become embroiled in the issue in the first place. Doucett had a . private survey conducted which pointed out that a good majority of residents favored the north location.
A resident who lived close to the Mews appeared with Doucett and stressed the problems of congestion and general confusion in trying to get in and out of the parking lot. Fred Trafford, who runs both a delivery service and taxi, said he’s waited up to five minutes to get out of the lot at the Mews. He said he felt it would be a serious mistake to add to the problems at the Moore Street entrance of the Mews.
Mayor Ted LeMaistre, anxious to clear the air and get rid of the issue, “broke every rule in the book,” as he said, as far as the meeting’s protocol is concerned as he allowed ex-mayor Howard McNeely to speak and even allowed Doucett the privilege of seeing how the gathering felt about the whole issue by asking for a show of hands.
The spectators, there for their own beef and yet to be heard, quickly supported Doucett with a solid vote for the north side site. The mayor moved the whole issue to new business in the meeting and the next delegatetion moved into the limelight. It was a large representation of the retail merchants who were there to complain about the inaction of council in replacing the parking meters on west side of Bridge Street an issue that was supposed to have been settled at the August council meeting.
There were testimonies of declining business, lack of parking, dangerous driving and shoppers being unable to get from one side of the street to the other since the traffic speeded up. LeMaistre said he thought the removal of the meters was in keeping with the sentiments of the Business Improvement Association and that council understood the decision was agreeable to all the merchants.
However, most business people at the meeting said they had never been informed of the move to remove the meters. After more than an hour’s debate council agreed to call a special meeting with the merchants after the regular BIA meeting scheduled for next week if the majority of merchants support’ the meter’s return at that time. That was 1980, see clipping of 1975, they had been fighting over this for years.
Three hours after the meeting started the liquor issue was raised again and council went into closed session. Forty-five minutes later it returned to report that still another letter was going off to the LCBO stating the town is not advocating any site. The industrialists weren’t there at the end.
Penny Trafford Location was on the Townline, occupied now by The New Oak Tree. And this is Allan Taylor and Mr McLean
BETH SWEENEY · Missing my Dad. He went to Heaven Dec 22, 1999. But have great memories! The Townline Homestead…the Mississippi Lake cottage he built. The flowers he loved! And we shared the love of hat my dad James Carmen Sweeney was a carpenter. He worked on a lot of residential and commercial buildings in Carleton Place and beyond. Proud of him…I have lots of info on how he built the homestead! No one thought it could be built on the Hill of Rock!The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 13 Jun 1950, Tue • Page 29
MIDDLEVILLE in Lanark county, is just what its name implies, a little village in the middle of Lanark township and it as intimately associated with Lanark county’s settlement days as are the rugged hills that once beckoned the Scottish pioneers.
Lanark village was settled in 1820. but soon the pioneers realized that valuable land lay beyond the hills and that there was a particularly fertile area almost in the centre of the township. There a settlement grew up and they named it Middletown, but there were then two post offices of that name in Upper Canada and the name was changed to Middleville- with the consent of Col. William Marshall, then superintendent of Lanark’s settlement scheme.
middleville school
A portion of the initial store conducted by one Glossop still stands at the corner of Hall and Main streets. Buggies were not yet thought of in the new land, but wagons were in great demand and in those early days Middleville boasted three wagon makers. The village wasn’t always the model of temperance that is now claimed for it. In fact there were two taverns, both of them conducted by women.
History records the name of Ann Wark’s “Grog Shop” in 1840 and another stopping place conducted jointly by “Aunty” Scoular and Elizabeth Harding in 1862 and 1863
I posted the above newspapers clipping yesterday and folks wanted to know who Dr,.Schofield was.
So who was Dr. Schofield?
In 1828, the temperance movement in Upper Canada got its start in Delta with a 4 hour sermon delivered on June 10, 1828, by Dr. Peter Schofield, an eminent medical doctor, distressed by the impact of drunkenness on society. Dr. Schofield delivered the sermon in the Old Stone Mill, a highlight of which was his rather vivid description of death by ″spontaneous combustion.″ He noted that ″it is well authenticated, that many habitual drinkers of ardent spirits are brought to their end by what is called spontaneous combustion″ and then went on to describe in some detail an event he’d witnessed.
Delta (used to be called Beverly) was the first place for a temperance address in Ontario. About 208 years ago, when the Americans were planning the strategy they figured would land them a sizeable chunk of Upper Canadian real estate. The boys around Delta, Ontario, were mortaring in the last stone of the new grist mill. Two years later when the War of 1812 became official the mill was in full swing action, its great stone grinding the government gift of grain and wheat into pure white flour. The Loyalists had arrived by then and the benevolent Upper Canada government was paying them off for their loyalty to the Crown with three years’ free supply of basic foodstuff.
The grist mill business was a booming enterprise in those days when, with a little government assistance, a man could build a reasonable good mill for around $2,400. Demand was high and it was not uncommon for a man to have to wait in line several days for his turn at the millstone. The government had provided, also us a Loyalist gift, portable steel mills that were hand operated and turned out a rather coarse, unrefined flour. They resembled coffee or pepper grinders and proved unwieldy and of little value. So most, flour demands had to be met by mills like the one at Delta, a small community 20 miles west of Brockville. The American flag never did fly as the conqueror’s banner over Upper Canada but the Delta grist mill still stands where the men of that day gathered to grind and talk of the war. But, Delta was still the first place that marked the first Temperance foundation.
The license commissioners for the district of North Lanark met on April 23, 1920 with Commissioner James Murphy in the chair, and Commissioners Simpson and Forsythe and Inspector James D. Robertson present. The result of the meeting, so far as Carleton Place was concerned was that there would be no increase in the number of tavern licenses.
The application of Messrs. Carroll and Morris for a new license had been rejected, and also one for the Messrs. Sibbett and Prescott for the renewal of their store. A few retailers added quite loudly that it was wrong that if anyone wanted to buy a quart of liquor for a threshing or a barn raising and that they should be expected to go to a hotel keeper and ask him to sell a quantity he was not allowed to sell. Liquor was considered an important article for such occasions they said. Also one of the applicants for a shop license that was turned down said it should not be a necessity to go to another division of the town to set up business to get a license.
Revs. A. A. Scott. J. A. Woodside. T. B. Conley and W. T. Lorymer spoke in opposition to the shop licenses and urged the commissioners to act in accord with a resolution passed by the town council in March asking that the liquor shops be discontinued. However, Chairman Murphy vigorously spoke at length in favour of granting the shop licenses. He did not consider a motion which was passed by only three councillors any warrant for the commissioner to do an act which the council could have donned by passing a by-law at an earlier date.
It was a request from that part of the council for the commissioners to do some dirty work that they would not or at any rate had not done; and he considered it directly against the principle of the greatest law of all for all men. It was called “the Golden Rule” and he said no one should take the licenses away from these men and thus deprive them of their means of making bread and butter for their families by their legitimate business.
Mr. Conley spoke briefly again, and upon Mr. Murphy’s invitation, gave his conception of the principle of the Golden Rule. Mr. Simpson moved, and Mr. Forsythe seconded, that the shop licenses be not granted. It was carried. The commissioners asked Mr. Rathwell to have certain alterations made at his hotel premise to meet the requirements of the license act within three months. Carleton Place would have the same six tavern licenses as the previous year. In summation, one man said at the hearing that there were only three things that were always needed in Carleton Place: booze, accommodation, and of course water for the horses.
Thanks goes to Jan McCarten Sansom for this story.. Please send your photos and stories in.
Petey Joe–True or myth I’m not sure but I always heard this story said Jan. Doug McCarten said-the story may or may not be true, but Petey Joe and his brother Strawfed were actual people and their last name was Kirkham.
Petey Joe used to go to Perth (Jan says Carleton Place- Doug says Perth) to frequent the local hotel and bar. He always rode in by horse and buggy. On this particular evening he had quite a bit to drink, so he lay down in the buggy for the ride home as his horse knew the way home without a driver.
At the crossroads, the buggy was met by a couple of ladies from the Temperance Society. The ladies were disgusted and said,
“Petey Joe, you are going straight to Hell” with this he sat up in the buggy and said “Oh I thought this was the road to Fagan’s Lake”
Lake Details: Fagan Lake is connected to Bennett Lake by means of the Fall River.
Temperance Movement
Effects of excessive consumption of alcohol became a nineteenth century social problem. Commonly caused or aggravated by other social conditions, it appears to have been a conspicuous contributor to crime and to other broader social losses. Local temperance societies were formed as early as about 125 years ago to combat its evils. At the outset of settlement at Carleton Place the Ballygiblin Riots of 1824 – joined in the name of law and order by participants of the areas from Perth to Almonte, with gunfire casualties including loss of a life – had been sparked by a drunken military Donnybrook on Mill Street in Morphy’s Falls.
A period of restriction of sale of alcoholic beverages, imposed in Lanark County in the 1870’s under the Dunkin Temperance Act, was ended for this county in 1879. Its suspension was reported by editor James C. Poole (Herald, June 18, 1879):
“Hotels – The hotels throughout the county are again in full swing, though to be candid they “swung” just as freely while the Dunkin Act was in force. Our genial landlords can now remove the syrup labels off their brandy bottles.”
Lanark and Renfrew hotel keepers two years later were found getting together to raise the prices of meals and liquor. As reported in Carleton Place, “The hotel keepers of this section held a largely attended meeting at Arnprior, and unanimously agreed on raising the price of liquor to ten cents a glass, and meals to thirty-five cents.” Similar liquor prices seem to have prevailed for many years, as suggested by a 1905 report from Brockville, relating that “Brockville hotel men have combined to raise the price of liquor dispensed over the bar. Five cent drinks will hereafter be ten cents.”
1865 – A temperance society known as Temple No. 122 of the Independent Order of Good Templars, was formed at Carleton Place to oppose the sale of alcoholic beverages. A proposal to apply a local option Temperance Act to Beckwith township including Carleton Place was rejected by a majority of thirty votes
Amy Chamney sent this photo in that shows a random selection board what they had in the Carleton Place LCBO too.
Marilyn White–My Dad Ken Fournier worked in the liquor store. I remember you had to write down what you wanted and went up to the counter and the wicket and they got it for you. I was told as I wasn’t old enough to go in.
Amy Chamney–This would have been in the early 1970’s until perhaps even as late as 1980? Employees would have been Alvin Timmins, John Chamney, Elmer (?), and occasionally some spares for Christmas rush or vacation time.
I remember that this location had the “menu” of spirits on large boards at a counter, similar to a checking counter at a bank. Then, the patron wrote down on a slip of paper which liquor or wine, etc. they wanted and handed it to an employee who was behind a larger counter, with rows of shelving behind him. My Dad (John A. Chamney) or another employee, would then bring off the shelf the bottle(s) and ring up the customer. It certainly was the days of liquor “control.” Self-service did not arrive to the LCBO until they moved into the newer building on Landsdowne Ave.
Those were also the days that the Police service would pick up an employee of the LCBO and drive them down the block to the bank to do the nightly deposit, and stay with the employee until the deposit was safely made into the large night-deposit slot. I believe the police did this for other large-cash businesses such as the grocery stores
Karen Blackburn Chenier–I was the first female employee at that LCBO. The test to get hired was whether I could lift a case of 40 oz.bottles onto the conveyor belt that travelled from the basement to the main floor. Elmer Johnson was the other full time employee. magine if they had to list all the products that are available now!
Anonymous–I turned legal that day and went into the Carleton Place liquor store. I had been lying about my age for a long time. That day they decided they were going to finally get me for lying. Waving his hands the manager signalled for the store clerk to nab me while he called the cops. He had had enough”.
“The 12th of July” –Photo Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum- See ‘Liquour Control Board’ on distance
lindaseccaspina 