Each week, the Gazette looks back on stories from the past. Here is what happened this week, by year…
1909
– Picton council appointed barrister Richard H. Hubbs as the town’s new clerk at a wage $600 a year. He replaced departing clerk R. A. Norman, who was elected MPP. Some 11 people applied for the position, but not all were considered.
– Belleville council heard from a man proposing to build an electric railroad that would run from the city to Twelve O Clock Point near Trenton, across Prince Edward County and back to Belleville via the bay bridge. Staff recommended allowing the developer to use the city’s streets.
– A group of Fenian Raid veterans petitioned to the federal government for land grants. Among them were 80 veterans living within Prince Edward County. 1939
1939
-A county resident living in the United States told the Gazette that between 50-100 American families looking for farmland could be enticed to come north to locate due to land prices and low taxes.
– A wooden bridge was built in Hillier Township using wood from Niagara’s famous Honeymoon Bridge, which was washed down the Niagara River in an ice jam, through Lake Ontario and onto the shores of Prince Edward County. The bridge spanned 15 feet over the Hillier Creek near the Pettet grist mill.
– Secretary of State Fernand Rinfret announced in Montreal that Canada would not accept Jewish refugees escaping totalitarian governments in European countries.
1969
– The Globe and Mail addressed a line in a proposal for $150-million international airport in the county that called for casino gaming to offset the cost of the facility. The newspaper suggested creating a major gambling venture that would attract the jet setting crowd, similar to Las Vegas.
– A business located near Wellington was supplying animal skeletal preparations and taxidermy specimens for biological outfits across North America. David Allan Clark and Jake DeVries were two of three partners in the venture.
– The Ontario government planned to release 150,000 coho smolts into Lake Ontario and Lake Superior in order to improve the sport fishing industry on the Great Lakes.
1979
– While gas stations in several parts of Ontario had converted to selling gasoline by litres, stations in the county were slow to adopt the metric system. Not had stopped selling in gallons and none of the operators knew when to expect a change.
– Residents in the Ameliasburgh village learned the Ministry of Environment estimated a communal water system would cost about $350,000 to build and $7,000 annually to operate. The cost to connect was pegged at $1.100 per resident, plus an additional $13 for every foot of pipe needed to connect.
– Some Picton Business Improvement Area members wanted to extend the geographic territory of the organization to lessen the costs they’d pay for improvements.