100 Years of Delivering Mail in Belleville

Travis Shalla, Letter Carrier Supervisor at Canada Post's Belleville Operations, approached the Historical Society and Community Archives last year about their celebration for the 100th anniversary of mail delivery service in Belleville.  Travis began collecting historical information from the letter carriers (active and retired), and the Archive Angels researched the collections at the Community Archives for information about the post office and postal service in Belleville.

The results of that work became apparent last week.  Travis give a short presentation at the Historical Society's meeting on May 21, describing the history of letter carriers in Belleville.  Some of the images he featured are in the Archives collections, including the photograph below of the posties assembled on the steps of the old post office at the corner of Pinnacle and Bridge Streets at 11 am on May 24, 1913 - just before the very first delivery mail in Belleville.

But the highlight of the week was the celebration at the Belleville Operations building on on the actual 100th anniversary date of May 24, 2013, with the unveiling of the cancellation stamp, pictured right, that will be used in Belleville from that afternoon until the end of the year.

The image of the old post office used on the cancellation stamp is based on a silk screen print, pictured left, that is part of the Mika collection in the Community Archives.








At the May 24th celebration, the Historical Society and the Community Archives were presented with one of the commemorative numbered prints showing a view of the old post office with the anniversary cancellation stamp.  Print #2, shown below, will be preserved at the Community Archives for future generations.

Story Nick White / Sharon White. Picture of Travis Shalla, Nick White, other images from Community Archives.

The Masts of Hasting County

Our monthly meeting featured a talk by Lloyd Jones on the Masts of Hastings County.

Tacking into an area that would have been topical when European settlers first came to what is now Hastings County, Lloyd discussed the importance of the majestic white pine - the first tree harvested commercially in North America.

He outlined how early colonists realized that North America was full of these massive trees, and started harvesting the pine.  Not without controversy as evidenced by the Pine Tree Riot.

He discussed how the pine logs, up to 120 feet long and 3 feet in diameter were not easy to harvest.  Special crews and techniques were required to fell the trees and special equipment needed to haul the timbers out of the woods to a waterway for their journey to the shipbuilder's yard.

Lloyd touched on events that happened at the start of the 19th century, recounting how Napoleon blockaded wood shipments through the Baltic Sea to Great Britain, forcing the Royal Navy to find alternative supplies of this strategic shipbuilding material.  With the United States allied with the French, supplies from Canada became even more important.

There was also naval action close to home.  The HMS Royal George, shown above with Durham boats in a 2010 painting by Armata, was an example of the ships constucted in Canada to counter the US threat.

Lloyd discussed such famous ships as Nelson's flagship HMS Victory and the Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad which fought (on opposite sides) at the battle of Trafalgar and concluded with HMS Warrior which, although equipped with steam engines, was ship rigged and had a sail area of 48,400 square feet.

With the coming of the dreadnoughts, the age of wind powered warships and the need for those mighty Ontario pines drew to an end.

Addition information about Lloyd's talk can be read in the June edition of our Newsletter Outlook.

Story and picture Nick White, painting of the Royal George by Armata courtesy of Lloyd Jones

2013 Ontario Volunteer Recognition

Six people were nominated for volunteer awards this year by the Society.  The awards, made by MPPs Todd Smith and Rob Milligan on behalf of the Provincial government, recognise each five years of continuous volunteer work performed by a person to the nominating organisation.

In this picture, taken after the awards ceremony at the Banquet Centre in Belleville, from left to right, Gerry Boyce (56 years), Orland French, Mike Shaw, Elizabeth Mitchell Dick Hughes (back) and Nick White (foreground).  Picture taken in very difficult lighting conditions by Sharon White.

Presentation - Historic Wooden Ship Masts

In the 1800's it was the great wooden ships that help transform North America. These ships were the means of transporting the masses of European people to a new homeland, of transporting lumber and farming products. These ships were also vehicles of warfare and destruction.

How and where were the massive masts of the wooden ships made ?

Join the Hastings Historical Society on May 21, 2013 and hear the answers from historian Lloyd Jones.

Stories from the Archives

At this month's meeting we will be featuring more stories from the Community Archives.

Last year we had a fascinating mixture of snippets of history from around Hastings County.

Expect more of the same.

At The Senior's Information Fair

Elizabeth Mitchell with display

The Historical Society joined forces with the Community Archives to present an attractive and iformative display at the 2013 Seniors Information Fair held at the Sports and Wellness Centre on March 28th.

The Hotel Quinte was the theme of the photo and story display highlighted by a video presentation.  Visitors received brochures and listings of coming events. A busy team of volunteers greeted the visitors and promoted the work of the Society and Archives while exchanging many memories of the history of our city and county.

Donna Fano, Katharine Mills and Annis Ross

               

Also featured was a display of books by Gerry Boyce, Bill Hunt and Orland French with signage encouraging the reading of historical books by local authors. Shown top right are Donna Fano, Lindi Pierce and Mike Shaw.

The lower right picture shows (some of) the afternoon crew.  In this picture, Dick Hughes, Katharine Mills, Mary-Lynne Morgan, Mary Jane Throop, Diane Sule and Bill Hunt.




Below are general pictures taken from the gymnasium balcony showing the booth setup in new Sports and Wellness Centre.

Pictures: Nick White  Story: Donna Fano and Nick White.

Celebrating Heritage Week in Belleville

The Historical Society has had a long association with Heritage Belleville and its predecessor, the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC).  We maintain a strong interest in the preservation of Belleville's historical buildings, as evident in the large contingent of our members present at Heritage Belleville’s annual open house at the City Hall council chambers on Tuesday, February 21, in celebration of Heritage Week.

Mayor Neil Ellis presented the best wishes of Council and remarked on the full house of attendees.  Councillor Garnet Thompson also attended.  

The new posters on the history of the Hotel Quinte produced jointly by the Society and the Community Archives were on display, as well as building research material by Lois Foster.  Two of the speakers were well known members of the society, local author and historian Gerry Boyce and film-maker Doug Knutson.

Gerry Boyce

After a few words from Heritage Belleville Committee Chair Stanley Jones and Vice-Chair Jeremy Davis, and a presentation about Belleville’s heritage buildings by Janna Munkittrick-Colton, Gerry Boyce distributed photo souvenirs and spoke on seven interesting buildings that Belleville has “lost.” 

The buildings were: the original Albert College located on College Street dating from 1857, built by the local Episcopal Methodists as a training centre for Methodist ministers; the Congregational Church on Hotel Street (now Victoria Avenue) c 1855, which became the Reformed Episcopal Church and then the Moose Hall before demolition; the Intell/Cablevue Building (remembered by many people in the audience), demolished in 1990; the school house south of Market Square in the 1850s; Belleville Grammar School on the BCI site ca. 1860; the Hastings County Museum, located in the former Hastings County Land Registry Office and demolished after Glanmore opened in 1973; and the Point Anne cement works, which were featured in a tour in 1987.

Doug Knutson

Doug Knutson showed excerpts from a movie that he had made with John Lowry about BCI (Belleville Collegiate Institute and Vocational School), built 1927-1928 on land that had been set aside for the purpose of public education in the town’s original plot survey of 1816.  
Doug described the history of the film in a moving introduction: John had the idea of making a movie before the school was closed, as demolition seemed imminent.  So we shot it on June 17, 1997 - the last day it was officially a school.  The narrator, Eugene Lang, was incredible - he was there on the opening day and the closing day and knew everything that had happened in between!  He also knew every inch of the school.  Despite him being in his 80's, we could hardly keep up with him!

That day was also a spur-of-the moment open house - lots of people were roaming through the building.  The overall feeling was, “We can't let this go without a fight.”  I think that was the day the grassroots organization to save the building took root. When 2003 came up and I edited the video for the 75th anniversary (the year before the building was finally demolished) it was a big hit!”

The video is now an invaluable historical record of what we have lost.

Right, members of the Heritage Belleville Committee. Colin Rushlow, Vern Whalen, Janna Munkittrick-Colton, Michael Rush, Greg Pinchin (Staff Liaison) Stanley Jones, Robert Johnston and Jeremy Davis.

Pictures Nick White, story - collaborative effort.