Millbrook Times Articles

Making History

Maintaining a record of our local history and encouraging people to be interested in various aspects of the past is a lot of what we do as MCHS, but now and then we just have to make a little history ourselves. Our Blocks & Blooms event in June 2018 did that, shining the spotlight on three aspects of our heritage that make us proud: historic properties, spectacular gardens, and the craft of quilting that makes a practical skill into an art form.   We built this project on the initial celebration of Blocks & Blooms in 2015, organized in collaboration with the Millbrook and Area Garden Club.  That experience taught us much and encouraged us to think big, so that in 2018, we were able to attract visitors from as far away as Kingston in the east, Mississauga in the west, and from the Kawarthas, Prince Edward County and Northumberland. It also gave people here a chance to tour around, meet the neighbours and learn more about their own community.

Now & Then – Let’s Have a Little Fun

On the sports scene, Millbrook and the surrounding area hit the mark early with championship lacrosse teams from 1867 right through to at least the end of the 1920s.  A jersey from the 1929 team hangs today in the Peterborough Sports Hall of Fame.  The curlers of Millbrook also made a name for themselves, winning championships against the Granite Club of Toronto and the Peterborough Club.  Home ice for them was built on King Street in 1890, and abandoned in favour of a new rink on Anne Street in 1918.  In 1930, the Peterborough curlers presented our home team’s John Steele with a gold-headed cane for being the oldest and most enthusiastic curler in district bonspiels.

Now & Then – What's In a Name?

Place names in many ways reflect the history of a landscape. A road may be named after a prominent family or political figure, or a town in memory of the lands that settlers originated from. It may simply describe a prominent feature of the area. The names given to our local landscape by the first nations who originally lived in the area are largely lost to time. The early European settlers were mostly Irish, mainly from the north and this is reflected in many names on a map of Cavan and Monaghan townships.

 

Archival Articles

Cavan Monaghan Historical Overview

John Deyell assisted Samuel G. Wilmot in the first survey of this area in 1817 and is credited with naming Cavan and Monaghan Townships in honour of his Irish birthplace.  An extraordinary entrepreneur, John Deyell lived to age 103 and is credited with significant early development in the area.

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John Deyell, First Settler of what is now Cavan Monaghan Township

John Deyell is generally acknowledged to be Cavan Township’s first settler, arriving in 1816.  He and his family were certainly among the first to put down roots.  He had a long and remarkable life, and he left his mark.

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Needler's Mill in Historic Millbrook, Ontario

From This Green & Pleasant Land, p. 303:  “The Millbrook and Cavan Historical Society was born on Nov. 24, 1978….The immediate burning cause was the preservation of the old mill from which the Village takes its name; there was a move afoot to tear the building down….”

In February 2018, Needler’s Mill officially became the property of the Millbrook and Cavan Historical Society as representatives from Otonabee Conservation and the Historical Society signed the final paperwork at a public gathering at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 402 in Millbrook.

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Shady Nook Dairy

The following history has been gathered from an interview and subsequent newspaper feature written by Melodie McCullough for the Peterborough Examiner, March 22, 1999.  The article was sent to the Historical Society by Jan Rowland, Cedar Valley Road, Fraserville.

For 35 years, Clifford Larmer was part of the Shady Nook Dairy operation, first as the son of the owner, Wilberforce (Wib) Larmer and then as the owner himself.   From the age of 13, he would don his Shady Nook uniform and cap and set out for the village of Millbrook each day by horse and wagon from his father’s Holstein dairy farm four miles northeast of Millbrook.

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Memories of Main Street

Fowler's Store:

Tracing the history of the recently restored cabinet that now houses displays in the Millbrook branch of the Cavan Monaghan Library, led us to Reg Fowler.  Reg’s uncle Dave owned Fowler’s Men’s Wear, which he took over from his father George who ran it as Fowler & Pendrie, and before that, Fowler & Kells, at 17 King Street East in Millbrook.
her family from Drum in County Monaghan, and they had three children; Robert (Bob), Sara and my father William (sometimes called Will but usually Bill).

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Who was Harry Williams?

The Resource Room of the Millbrook Public Library is named in honour of Harry Williams. So, who was this fellow? The fine citizens of Millbrook may have thought the same thing as a dashing young man in a Barbour motorcycle jacket rode his motorcycle into the village in the summer of 1950 to take up a teaching position at the Millbrook High School.

Harry had visited Millbrook on previous rides through he back roads of Ontario and felt this would be a good place to settle down and build a life. Over a 30 year career he taught Sciences, Latin and French and was a greatly respected favorite among the teachers at the school.

Now, many of us can recall a beloved high school teacher, but not many get something named after them. So, what else did he do?

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