News

Gordon Agnew- Newcastle’s Newspaper Man

George “Gordon” Agnew was born in 1910 in Peterborough, Ontario, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick J.Agnew. When Gordon was six years old the family moved to Orono, Ontario and Gordon attended OronoPublic School there. About 1926, Gordon’s mother passed away suddenly and his father Frederick was in poor health so Gordon left school at age 16. He began working for the Peterborough Canoe Company but after about a year had to quit that job because of crippling arthritis. Later, he purchased a printing press and started printing tickets, business cards and other items….

In 1946, Gordon and Verna moved to Newcastle, Ontario. Here he purchased a property on King St. East, and opened Kingsway Lunch. It was successful, but after a year, long hours and overwork necessitated its sale. Noticing the need for a local paper, Gordon signed an agreement with a Toronto publisher to re-activate the “Newcastle News” and after a year setting up the production of the newspaper, began publishing it on September 1, 1948. “We have felt this village is becoming too large to depend on district newspapers to supply a complete news service to our citizens, thus leaving many worthwhile projects unknown to many of the people,” he wrote in an editorial.

Winding back time at the Newcastle Community Hall

The Newcastle Village Community Hall clock tower has marked time for over 90 years within our Village. It was built by E. Dent and Company of London, the same company responsible for the manufacture of “Big Ben” – the iconic clock at the British houses of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster. Imported by Wellington Foster, a long-time friend of Chester Massey and former Newcastle postmaster, the clock was donated to the Community Hall, which itself was a gift to the community from Chester Massey of Massey-Harris, and was opened in 1923.

The clock has to be hand wound each week. There are two weights that reach all the way down to the Community Hall basement, one for adjusting time and one for the bell. Many visitors to the clock tower over the years have signed their names on the walls of the tower. Is your name in the tower?

Read more of the Summer 2020 NVDHS Newsletter…

While the Historical Room remains closed at this time (mid-September), we continue our work behind the scenes. We’re answering inquiries by email and we’re still working on our big digitization project and hope to eventually have some online exhibits for you to peruse. Work will begin soon on an online version of our walking tour. As always, we appreciate your ongoing support and hope to see you soon!

Photo gallery from our Annual General Meeting on March 10, 2020. The NVDHS Preservation Award certificate was presented to Ben and Jenette Walsh of The Refinery Salon and Barber in recognition of their efforts to preserve and restore their premises at 39 King St. E., Newcastle.

Interesting “Show and Tell” items were presented by Jean Rickard, Erla Jose, Dorella Forget and Bill Lake, among others.

Photos by Bev Caswell and Paddy Duncan

The Watson Wheelbarrow

Newcastle Village & District Historical Society recently received a donation of an interesting old wheelbarrow. This “Massey Harris #1” wheelbarrow was originally purchased by William R. (Will) Watson around 1910. The Watson’s had an apple orchard near the former town of Dixie, Ontario. In the early 1950’s part of the farm was expropriated to expand the Queen Elizabeth Way in what is now Mississauga. 

The wheelbarrow was passed down to Will Watson’s son Harold who purchased a farm just west of Bowmanville at what is now Bowmanville Avenue (Hwy #57) and Highway 2. Later, the wheelbarrow was passed on to his son Ted Watson who kept it on his farm west of Bowmanville.

From the Murky Depths

How many of you know that the cribbing from the original piers at Bond Head is still visible under the water to the west of the current piers? 

Completed almost 180 years ago, the piers, which were built on timber cribs filled with boulders, and the associated warehouse were the centrepiece of what was envisioned to be the village of Bond Head, built around the natural harbour at Graham Creek. 

The creek was dammed and several mills were built, along with 50 or 60 houses, several stores and taverns. 

Read more from the Spring 2020 Newsletter…

As most of you probably realize, we are not open, due to COVID-19. At this time, we do not know when we will be able to re-open the Historical Room, but if you have questions you’d like answered, please contact us and we’ll see what we can do! While we don’t have access to all of our files or any of our artifacts at this time, we do have access to our electronic files, and we might be able to help.

We hope that you are all safe and healthy, and look forward to seeing you when the Community Hall reopens.

Image by rawpixel.com

On display now at the Historical Room

The pale white dress with green velvet trim on the left was once (in 1902) more colourful than it is today. Between the French lace inserts are hand embroidered flowers which were at one time a bright leaf green colour. The dress is known to have belonged to Olive Wilmot because the Society has a photograph of her wearing it. It was the type of dress worn by well-to-do women during the day around the house or to take afternoon tea on the lawn. It would not have been worn outside the home because of the length of the skirt (which drags on the ground at the back as a sort of mini-train) and would have become instantly dirty on a sidewalk or shop floor.

Preservation Award 2020: Uglow to Walsh

The Refinery Salon and Barber Shop at 39 King Avenue East is the winner of our 2020 Preservation Award. Last year, Ben and Jenette Walsh leased the building and converted the interior into a beautiful old-fashioned barber shop. Ben and Jenette live between Newcastle and Orono and frequently looked at the old building. Ben had a barber shop in Oshawa, but he grew up in Blackstock. Jenette is originally from Whitby and she had a shop in Courtice. They felt that Newcastle was the perfect spot to have their business and so far, they seem thrilled with the success of the shop.

Read more from the Winter 2020 Newsletter…