67 years ago
Drayton Advocate, 1953
Mr. and Mrs. William John Workman are looking forward with eager anticipation to the celebration of their golden wedding anniversary, which will be duly recognized on Feb. 11.
In renewing his Drayton Advocate subscription, Mr. William G. Page of Victoria, British Columbia, wrote from Vancouver Island: “I will enclose a money order for renewal of The Advocate, as I do not want to miss the home town and district news even if it’s over 48 years since I came west.
“We arrived home Jan. 7 from our four months trip east in which we visited relatives and friends, some of whom we hadn’t seen for over 46 years; also many historical places, museums, zoos and parks. I much enjoyed a look through my boyhood home. I left in 1903 and a ramble back over the farm brought many memories.”
86 years ago
Palmerston Observer, 1934
Old-timers who drop into The Observer office from time to time hand out the information that the 1934 winter resembles that of 1899. One of these older gentlemen told The Observer on Feb. 5 that Friday, Feb. 2, which was bright and sunny, with a chilly atmosphere, was identical with the same day in 1899. That year he stated, there was good sleighing up until the middle of April.
The annual Minstrel Show put on at the Library Hall each year by the Palmerston Male Quartette was very poorly attended on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. The decrease in attendance was due to the severe cold weather, the citizens preferring to remain at home by the fireplace than to brave the chilly winds that were raging outdoors. Other years large crowds gathered and applauded the wit and humor of the gentlemen, but this year it only attracted an audience of some 350 for both performances. The quartette are to be complimented on their generosity as free tickets were given to the unemployed of the town and their families. The Palmerston Orchestra assisted in entertaining the audience with snappy music, prior to the starting of the show and also at the intermission.
111 years ago,
Arthur Enterprise, 1909
A meeting of the Board of the Mechanics’ Institute was held last Thursday evening, Jan. 28 in the reading room, President E.W. Brocklebank presiding. The general consensus seemed to favour obtaining a grant from the Carnegie Library fund for the erection of a building; especially, if the conditions of the grant would permit an auditorium capable of seating three or four hundred people. Nothing definite was done.
Yesterday morning the town woke up to the fact that it had harboured un-desirable guests during the night. It was found that three of the leading stores, R. Scott & Co’s, J. T. Skales Co’s, and V. Voisin’s, had been broken into. The method used was similar in each case. The front door was pried open with a chisel which was found with blood marks on it at R. Scott & Co’s. The thick glass in the door at Scott’s and Skale’s was also broken. At Scott’s there were also blood spots on the door and finger marks of blood had been left on some of the show cases. The burglars were evidently after money, but only got coppers or other small change for their pains, except at Skales where a case of a dozen gold watch chains were missing, and at Scott’s where the amount of change stolen was about $45.
