Dear Editor:
On the chance that through some heavenly process, Steve Thorning is still able to read the Advertiser each week (and you know he would if he could), I just want to thank him for the spectacular legacy he left behind in the form of his 500-page doorstop of a local history: The Model Village.
And likewise, to Elysia Delaurentis, who is clearly both a remarkable editor and a truly wonderful writer in her own right. I am a fan of local history, and it was a wonderful read. Thank you. Thanks also to those many others who helped to fund and otherwise work to bring this remarkable book all the way to publication.
It was so interesting to see how the village continually rose and fell (we are currently rising for sure) through its first century. It was particularly interesting to see how the Spanish Flu experience of 1918 so closely echoed the recent experience of COVID-19, although no vaccine ever appeared to save the day in that instance.
The many historic characters who fill the pages of this book would no doubt be astonished and delighted to see what became of their town, so many years into the future.
I have read a number of histories of Elora, and what kept amazing me about this book was the incredible level of blow-by-blow detail and context that was offered.
Editor Delaurentis also did a truly wonderful job of including so many photographs of what are often instantly recognizable parts of this community from long ago, as well as many important things that are now lost (the two railways and their stations, the old municipal building, the Bissell factory, and others).
The only regrettable thing about all of this is that Steve eventually and understandably ran out of steam by the time he got to our history of about 100 years ago. Which means that the reader is left hoping for more when the book suddenly ends (what happened here during the Depression?).
Here’s hoping that some day, some passionate historian picks up where Steve left off and writes the second volume – perhaps another master work about Elora’s second century.
Paul Taylor,
Elora