Pictured is an R-100 airship flying over the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building in August, 1930. At the time, the CIBC building was nearing completion and was the tallest building in the British Empire. It opened the following year.
By Dan Bourgeois
Tid or tyd, from the Old English word for fanciful/fond and bit, a small piece/bite. A little while ago, the Millbrook Cavan Historical Society began a project to digitize our archives, the plan being to ultimately make them available online. Currently we are scanning our collection of old newspapers. This can be time consuming, mostly because we keep coming across articles that are interesting small slices of life in the past, point out local accomplishments that may not be earth shattering but are meaningful nonetheless, or sometimes just whimsical. Here’s a few that caught our eye.
From the June 1973 Millbrook Chronicle report of a Millbrook village council meeting.“ A vicious cat, a battle scarred old yowler, has been terrorizing other cats and small dogs in the village and a request was made that it be removed from the scene. Bylaw enforcement officer Scott has been told of this animal but said he was having some difficulty in identifying it as he had received various descriptions.
”In an issue from August 1930, the Millbrook and Omemee Mirror-Reporter had this headline “Giant Air Liner Seen by Hundreds of Citizens”. The article noted “The noise of the Giant Airliner R-100 disturbed the peaceful slumbers of Messrs J.C. Kreiger and Lloyd Byam at their camp at Deyell’s landing. They were pleased too as they caught a good view of it as it passed over. Hundreds of citizens saw it about 2 a.m. and others motored to Campbellcroft and Port Hope to get a better view of the British dirigible, the largest in the world.” The R-100 was a British rigid airship, much like the German Hindenburg, which famously crashed and burned in 1937,inspiring multiple memes online. The R-100 flew from England to Canada, flying over our area on a flight from Ottawa to Toronto in August 1930. At 790 feet in length, it must have been an impressive site, especially at a time when seeing even a small airplane passing overhead was unusual.
In July 1999 the Green Hills Gazette lead article was about Canadian Living magazine awarding the title “best town for history buffs” to Millbrook. The article noted “Millbrook is a unique mix of small town steeped in history…a vitality that has been maintained and celebrated today”. Marilyn Burns, a marketing director for 4thLine Theatre, wrote the award winning essay with Dorothy Stevens. Dorothy was a well loved and respected resident having been a long time kindergarten teacher and very involved in preserving local history. Among other things, she was Chairperson of the Historical Society committee that produced the local history “This Green and Pleasant Land-Chronicles of Cavan Township”. A multipurpose room in the Old School is named in her honour.
A couple of items from the 1927 Millbrook and Omemee Mirror-Reporter.
A Holstein cow named Idylwilde Korndyke set a world record in milk and butterfat production. She was raised on the Seymour family farm on the 12th (Stewart Line) west of County Road 28. Idylwilde Farm remains in the Seymour family and has been the family farm since 1913.
An article titled“Sanitary Notice of the Village of Millbrook, Premises Must be Cleaned duringFirst week in May”appeared in an April issue.“All property owners and tenants in the Village ofMillbrook are hearby notified that theirpremises must be cleaned properly and put in a sanitary condition during the first week in May,1927.All garbage must be burned or buried on the premises of the individual, or carted to the towndump, and not onany street or lane in the village.No deposit of manure, refuse or filth of any nature will be permitted on any street or lane.After the first week in May the Sanitary Inspector has been instructed to inspect all premises,making a record of name and date, and report to the Board of Health, any not in a sanitarycondition for action of the Board.The Board of Health asks all citizens to co-operate with it in making the village clean andsanitary throughout the year.By order of the Board,G.A. Duncan, ChairmanL.C. Russel, Secretary”And with that, Happy Spring Cleaning!