Picture is the real Bank Apartment building located at 14 King St. West, circa early 1980’s.
By Dan Bourgeois
Erratum; from the Latin for “mistake”. Corrigendum; from the Latin “that which must be corrected”.
The above terms are often used to acknowledge a correction to a previously published document.
I have an erratum to fess up to. This column is partly a corrigendum to correct a mistake made in the last column about the early private banks in our area and Ontario.
The photograph that accompanied last month’s column was not of the Bank Apartments in Millbrook, but of the house on 60King St East, a bit past the bridge over Baxter Creek. It is one of the historically designated sites on the walking tour pamphlet put out by the Historical Society. Originally named Maplehurst, it is a private home… not an apartment building. According to cognitive scientists and other learned folks, the technical term for a mistake such as this is a “brain fart”.
Now, there is a connection between the two buildings, although a bit convoluted. The property which is now 60 King St East was originally purchased in 1827 by Thomas Christopher Kells. He was a tanner and currier, originally from County Meath, Ireland. A tanner does the initial processing of an animal hide into rawhide. The currier carries out the final processing, such as stretching, dyeing and application of preservatives.
Thomas C Kells was clearly of some prominence in the small community, as he was at an 1833 meeting at Thomas Johnson’s Inn (likely located on what is now King St east of Baxter Creek in what is now Millbrook), as reported in the January 30th, 1833 edition of the Cobourg Star. The purpose of the meeting was to petition the Lieutenant Governor Sir John Colborne, Esq, of Upper Canada to approve a number of resolutions. The first motion was “That his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor… be most respectfully solicited to issue a patent for the holding of Fairs in said township”. That township being Cavan.
Two other motions were put forward by Mr. Thomas Kells. The first, “That as this meeting has adopted the name of Millbrook for this village, his Excellency will be pleased to give his approbation to the same, and also to approve the Fairs therein.” The second was “That his Excellency be most respectfully requested to appoint the holding of three Fairs annually at this village, on the following days, viz: on the first Mondays of May, August and November.”
It was pointed out that the Fairs would “afford to a vast number of our countrymen arriving and settling in our vicinity, the means of purchasing cattle and other necessaries, with greater advantage than they can do at the present time.”
From this document two things were evident. First, the community of settlers to this area had grown rapidly since the township was first surveyed in 1817. Secondly, it was clear the major citizens of the hamlet of a few wood frame and log buildings alongside what is now Baxter Creek had big plans for it to become the market town of the region. The fairs were approved and continue to this day, held the second week of June at the Millbrook Fairgrounds.
Thomas Christopher Kells had fifteen children, six with Jane (Henry), and nine more after her death and Mr. Kells’ marriage to Frances (Armstrong), one of whom was Thomas Gillespie Kells. Thomas C. died in 1858. It was Thomas G. who built the current home after the original wood frame house burned during the great fire of 1875,which destroyed central Millbrook. The new brick home was named Maplehurst after the row of sugar maples which lined the front of the property.
While Thomas G. was building his new home, he and his business partner Archibald Wood constructed the Wood and Kells block to replace a wooden building lost in the great fire. This fine brick block at 17-21 King St East stands today as a centerpiece of the heritage architecture of downtown Millbrook.
Shortly afterwards, Thomas G. and Archibald established the Wood and Kells Bank, as mentioned in the previous column, thus the connection between the Bank Apartments and Maplehurst. The bank was much involved in financing the migration to Souris, Manitoba, providing mortgages and other services there as well as serving the local community in our township.
Thomas Gillespie Kells never married. He lived at Maplehurst with his mother and two unmarried sisters until his death from a long illness in 1909. His sister Annie died in 1925 and Mary died in 1927. The house was sold in 1928.
Thanks to Carol Donaldson and Margaret Roberts-Neilson for pointing out the “erratum” and Kim McLeod for help with the Kells family history.