Newcastle Village and District Historical Society
20 King Avenue West • Newcastle • Ontario • L1B 1H7
Opening the festivities on July 1, was Newcastle’s drive-by parade of antique vehicles, Jeeps, tractors, trucks – and of course, Thomas the Tank Engine! The parade wound its way through the Port, Bond Head, and the main part of the village. Afterwards, some vehicles were on display on King Ave. between North and Mill Streets, which was closed to traffic for the afternoon.
Photos by Willie Woo
Join us on Friday, July 1 for the start of a year of fun celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Newcastle Community Hall.
Events on July 1 include a drive-by parade of antique vehicles (throughout Newcastle), a BBQ, music from the Dave Climenhage band, and a re-enactment of the laying of the cornerstone. The Historical Society will be open throughout, with special displays relating to the Community Hall and Massey family. King Ave. between Mill and North Street will be closed for the event.
9:30 a.m. – Historical Room open
11:30 a.m. – King closed to traffic between Mill and North Streets.
11:30 – 2 p.m. – Antique vehicle and tractor drive-by parade through Newcastle (see map)
Noon – 3 p.m. – Lions BBQ fundraiser (cash)
1 p.m. – Brass band at gazebo
2 p.m. – Antique vehicles arrive at Hall (on display on King Ave. between Mill & North Streets)
2:30 p.m. – Replica cornerstone ceremony
4 p.m. – Historical Room closes/event over
Note: there are fireworks at the Diane Hamre Recreation Complex on the evening of July 1.
In 1919 Chester D. Massey decided to give to the citizens of the Village of Newcastle a secular and non-institutional hall that would contain many of the facilities included in his son Vincent’s recently completed project – U. of T.’s Hart House. The same architects, contractors and skilled tradesmen were employed. From sod-turning on September 24, 1921, to opening day ceremonies on August 2, 1923, the project took 22 months to complete, and the people of the Village of Newcastle had what was, at the time, (and may still be) the grandest CommunityHall between Toronto and Montreal.
January of 1919 is the first public/official mention the NVDHS has been able to track down concerning this proposed gift to Newcastle.
“Mr. Chester D. Massey, Toronto, has made a very generous offer to his old hometown of Newcastle. He offers to erect a modern town hall and suggests that a Memorial Library be established by the village and be given a room in the new municipal building, as a perpetual memorial to the soldiers of Newcastle and Clarke who died in the war (WWI), a suitable tablet bearing names of the heroes to be placed in the Library. This is a splendid idea, and the offer of Mr. Massey has been accepted and a Memorial Committee appointed – Reeve, Revs. J. W. Rae (Presbyterian) and Rev. J.E. Fenning (Anglican), ex-Warden A. A. Colwill, Dr. Butler, and Thomas Montague.”
~ Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, February 6, 1919
The ghost of the Grand Trunk Railway lingers! Its footprint remains on the stretch of its original right-of-way between Newcastle and Port Hope, Ontario. That footprint must be visible in other segments along its route as well.
The Grand Trunk Railway was incorporated in late 1852 with the object of building and operating a line between Montreal and Toronto. A year later, the ambitious company expanded its charter to include a line running from the east coast of the United States in Portland, Maine through Quebec and southern Ontario to Sarnia, Ontario. From there, Chicago-bound traffic was barged across the St. Clair River to Port Huron, Michigan, travelling on to Chicago via an operating subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad. A tunnel was also built under the St. Clair River in the 1890s.
Come join us on Saturday, June 4, 2022, as we re-open from 9:30 to noon. For the time being, we’ll be open on Saturdays only. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone after two long years!
We are also open by appointment, so please contact us if an appointment is required.
As we ramp up for the Newcastle Community Hall’s 100th Celebration, it is important that we reflect on the history ofNewcastle and the residents who have contributed to the success of the historical building – and the village community.
The Newcastle Community Hall, located in the heart of Newcastle, will celebrate its 100th Anniversary in July of 2023. Who better to start gathering history with, than Jean Rickard? She has been a lifetime resident of Newcastle and is now a lifetime member of the Historical Society. She is 99 years of age and has endless memories of the Community Hall that I can’t wait to share with you…
There is an old African proverb, “when an elderly person dies, a library burns down”. On January 14, 2022, our local historian, Jacob“Jack”Gordon, in his 93rd year, passed away at Lakeridge Health in Bowmanville. During his life he collected, researched, and provided a tremendous amount of local history through artifacts, documents, art, and photographs from the Newcastle area. And most importantly, he was willing to share these items and his knowledge. So, essentially, Jack Gordon left a library.
Jack was born in Cochrane, Ontario in the same hospital and within a year of Tim Horton’s birth. At age 17, he left school and began working in construction. His company crushed rock to build highways in Northern Ontario. Eventually he ended up working in Pickering and later got hired at General Motors in Oshawa on Dec. 26, 1950. He worked in the new Parts & Service Department on Park Rd. South and stayed there until he retired in 1982.
In 1968, he came to Newcastle and looked at an old two storey house at 129 North Street that was owned by BobWalton. Bob lived next door and had the house rented out to several tenants and it was in poor condition. Jack and Gloria bought the home and slowly started fixing it up. Jack was interested in the history of our community and of course his home had plenty of history, being the former Tamblyn Tannery at one time.
We will address the following items at the Annual Meeting (the Meeting):
Because we are conducting the meeting via Zoom, there will be no “Show & Tell” this year.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know – and we hope we’ll see you on February 17!
Meet Farncomb LeGresley of Newcastle, Ontario. He was born in 1926 and he grew up in Ebor House, located at 573 Mill St S. The house was built in the 1860s by his great grandfather, Frederick Farncomb.
In October, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Farncomb LeGresley for the first time. To say that he is an interesting gentleman is an understatement. His creativity and wisdom are fascinating, and his ability to recite history like it was yesterday, is even more admirable. I probably could have listened to him for hours…maybe days.
We are excited to share the mosaic tile, painted by local Newcastle artist, Patricia Vandenheuvel that has been submitted as our contribution to the Clarington Art Mosaic Project. Thank you, Pat, for painting a piece of Newcastle history for us!
Communities across Canada will participate by creating murals of trees to symbolize connection. Each of the 700 squares of Clarington’s apple tree mural will be a tile painted by a different resident.
By Myno Van Dyke
Prior to WW2, Dutch Emigration to Canada was minimal. The year 1929 saw about 2,500 emigrants make their way to Canada; many came to farm in the Prairie Provinces. After World War 1, the supply of free or cheap land in the North and the Prairies declined rapidly. Immigration essentially came to a standstill during Second World War. By then, more Canadians were moving from farms and rural communities to the cities, which left a lot of employment opportunities in agriculture for those wishing to come to Canada.
By Leslie Wilson
Many houses, like all people, change considerably in appearance over the years. Did you know that 106 King Ave. East Newcastle (currently the Sunrise Griddle) and 118 King Ave. East Newcastle (currently Newcastle Hearing Solutions) began life as identical twins? In fact they had an identical triplet sibling; the miller’s house at 612 Mill St. South, in Bond Head!
By Myno Van Dyke
Occasionally, I will feature some of the great people who were the early members and builders of the Newcastle Village and District Historical Society. This article is about Ray and Mabel Goode. Although they lived in Orono, they had a wonderful and generous relationship with Newcastle.
Mabel Lillian Clemence, was born October 8, 1923 at Lot 1, Concession 1 in Darlington Township. This farm property, called “Spruce Grove” was on the north side of Highway 2, just west of the Darlington/Clarke Townline. Her parents were William John Clemence, who was born in Hope Township, and Georgina Allan, who was from Fenelon Falls, Ontario. Mabel had 3 sisters, Mary, Isabelle (Sacerty) and Jean (Holmes) and 3 brothers, Allan, Charlie and Art. Their property was originally owned by William McIntosh. This house was originally built in 1828 and the Bemis family lived there at one time.
By Crystal Yaki
Beginning in the late fall of last year, the historic Newcastle Community Hall has been undergoing an extensive renovation. The Municipality of Clarington has arranged for IRC Building Sciences Group to restore this historic building. The famous clock tower will have the clock faces repaired, along with the exterior wooden structure. Much of the work involved to restore the clock and other areas of the building will require that parts are removed and reconstructed off-site to match the original details of the hall.
Newcastle, we want your houses on file! We’ve been talking about doing an inventory of our older houses in a more organized manner for some time – so now, as an adjunct to our digitization project, we are asking you to help us kickstart this project.
If your house is from 1920 or earlier, we ask that you send us at least one photo, the address and any pertinent information you have. Fill out the simple form and then we’ll give you instructions for sending photos after you contact us. If you have old photos, we’re interested in those too. We can search old deeds to trace ownership, but if you have information on previous owners, builder or anything else unique, send it along. We’ll be featuring some of the houses on our website, Instagram, Facebook and in our newsletters. (We will contact you before doing that, of course)
If you own a house that is newer than 1920, but is in some way unique, we’d like to hear from you too. Houses of interest would include 1930s and 1940s “kit houses”, architect-designed houses or a houses built with unusual materials or methods that could make them historically significant.
