There's not many people still living today, who would remember the big fire in Milton in 1931. On November 8, 1931 the area known as the business block in Milton was completely destroyed. This area today has the Canoe & Camera Club, the Masonic Hall, what was Rogers Market and Walker Store, across from the Nova Veterinary Clinic. Destroyed in the fire was C.W. Hartlen's Funeral Parlour, the Masonic Hall, Morton's General Store which were just a few mentioned that were destroyed. The Post Office which was a wooden structure wasn't destroyed but was badly scorched. The corner was eventually rebuilt and those building are still there today. In the photo the old Milton Baptist Church can be seen on the far left and the tops of 2 buildings can be seen, in my younger days they were Legge's General Store. The right building became the Sportsman Restaurant. Those buildings were demolished in later years and the Baptist Church was destroyed by fire in the 1950s, but a new Church was built and is still there today!
pretty interesting! lived in milton most of my life and never heard that before.
ReplyDeleteMy ealiest memories of "Milton Corner" are time-stamped in the early 50's. The Vet clinic was the Post Ofice and later was the Blue Jean's restaurant operated by Jean Turner (wife of George, mother of Mike and Coralee). The garage was owned and operated by Raymond Downie. He and his wife, Grace lived upstairs. She was my Grade 1 school teacher. Bill Stafford had a little barbershop beside it. Miss Helen Thomas owned a "dry-goods" store west of the post office. Walkers' store, across the street was owned and operated by Harley's parents but he returned from Ontario right around that time. The other store beside Walker's was owned by Donald Payzant. There is a picture of it elsewhere in this blog-site. The mill behind Walkers' store was still running and I believe that Everett Hatt had an electrical store in a yellow building ( I was there in September but don't recall if it is still standing ) on the corner near what was then a sawdust pile but is now the site of the senior's apartments. I may be a wee bit fuzzy on some of this stuff.. anybody else have conflicting memories? As for the building seen standing at the end of he bridge.. Donald Payzant ran an animal feed store on the left side; Lillian Leaman ran a small version of what we would today call a "convenience" store in the small middle section; Wallace(?) Hartlen had a small grocery store on the river side; there was at least one large apartment on the river side at the back. The Canoe and Camera club was thriving as was the Masonic building. A dynamic hub of a bustling community full of "boomers"!
ReplyDeleteFor the record and History my Mom, Dad, George, Marion, Dad's English Bulldog Bud and their Mom and Dad, Nan and Gramp William Turner who was the blacksmith in Milton from 1900 to 1943 were sitting in the front room of their home after supper that evening, and Bud got extremely worked up for a few minutes. They all knew something was amiss. Some twenty minutes later they saw the blazes coming from the factory and Walkers Store. Then they knew who ever set the fire ran up their driveway because of Bud's reaction. The culprits were never found. Miss Helen Thomas had a drygoods outlet within Walkers store which burned so my Grandfather William Turner cut off the rear of the Post Office which he owned at the time (1931) and moved it over a 100' to where it is to this day (Ron's Sign Shop) and put her in business which she operated well into the 60's.
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