Showing 23 results

The mid-block structure located at 83 Holland St. East was built in the Ontario Vernacular Cottage style. It was constructed pre-1900 on what was once the site of a pop manufacturing plant. According to local history, bottles were still being unearthed many years later. After the plant closed, the property became the site of a blacksmith shop run by Bill Cukens. The house seen in this photo originally had a back kitchen and wood shed at the rear, as well as a large, two-storey barn with loft above (for horse feed). It was the home of Bob McKinstry, his wife and children Michael (Mike), Maisil, and Dorothy. Bob was a huge man and a blacksmith for several lumber companies after the local mills folded. He was also a noted field lacrosse player on the team that won the championship in 1905 (1907?). Bob and his son both played lacrosse until their worn-out legs forced them to quit. In those days, lacrosse players worked ten-hour days at hard physical labour, played lacrosse for a couple of hours, and then ran the six miles to Bond Head to cool off. Mike was a bookkeeper who also worked for his father in the garage and blacksmith shop. Maisil became a nurse and Dorothy worked in a restaurant and stayed at home to look after her family.

The one-storey, three-bay ‘cottage’ has a rectangular plan with a centre hall, a symmetrical façade, and a shallow-pitched, gable roof. The enclosed porch has a hip roof and the entrance is raised above grade level. There is a simple entrance with a single door with windows on each side. The porch stairs are not original and the entire porch may be a later addition. There are double-hung windows at the ground floor. The 2/2 widows appear to be original and are set into simple, rectangular openings with plain, wood surrounds and sills. Exterior aluminum storm windows are a later addition. The building has wood frame construction with vinyl siding and a stone-rubble foundation. It had wood cove siding originally. According to the 2000 inventory, the building’s form is one of the few existing original building elements. It also notes that the modest cottage probably had few decorative details originally. (1, 2, 3)

The two-storey, frame house located at 89 Holland St. East was the home of Tom and Mary (Harman) Saint for many years. The structure was moved across the river to this site from the Thompson Smith Saw Mill (at Amsterdam) after it closed. A crawl space under the back kitchen was replaced in 1936 by a cellar under the front part of the house. It was dug by Jim (Dummy) Peters, Donald Campbell, and Joe Saint using pick-shovels. They then poured an 8” concrete wall. An oil furnace was installed after the front cellar was completed. It replaced the wood-fueled cooking stove previously used as a heat source for the house. Tom owned the property from Holland St. through to John Street. There was a lane behind the house that led to a woodshed. At the bottom of the lot there was a shed for a wagon, buggy, implements, etc. Upstairs was a loft for hay and on the east side there was a horse stable. Tom was a stone mason, brick layer, plasterer, and cement layer. He used a horse to haul his materials. Six children (William, John, Sadie, Leonard, May and Jane) were raised in this house. Sadie married Walter Reeves, a lacrosse player and a one man/one dog police force. Sadie lived at home and Dorothy married Harvey Marks and stayed in the family till 1989. A front porch and a car port at the back were eventually added. The lot at the back was sold to William Smith. (1, 2)

The two-storey frame building located at 93 and 95 Holland St. East was originally a dry hotel and a boarding house. It was later divided into two separate living quarters. Henry Pringle and his family lived on the west side (93 Holland St. E.) for a number of years before moving to the north side of John Street. Tom Fuller and his sons Leonard and George lived on the east side (95 Holland St. E.) for years before moving to John St. (on the northwest corner of Colborne Street) to a house built by Dan Collings. (1, 2)