Chapleau becomes thriving community despite obstacles after arrival of Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly Chapleau developed into a thriving community after the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in 1885, so I decided to share some of the activities described in the Richard Brownlee Papers. 

Some of the first settlers lived in tents, which also included the community's first store opened by T.A. Austin and located near the site of the Lady Minto Hospital in what was called 'Old Chapleau'. After Mr. Brownlee arrived in February 1886, he established his barber shop in the same location.

However, an early publication says that it was a "red letter day" for the Austin brothers, T.A. and J. McN, when they opened their store on Birch Street in September 1886 with a lean to on the side for Mr. Brownlee's barber shop. The building also housed the first post office.

But it was not only the Austin brothers who were establishing stores. By the end of 1886 it appears that five stores including Austin were on the scene or about to be opened. They included Murrays and Mulligan operated by Patrick Mulligan (my great great uncle), Deland and Kellett, P. Manion and the Hudson Bay Company relocated from what is now referred to as the "Memegos Property" on the Nebskwashi River.

Many  of the early settlers lived in tents, others lived in two rows of boxcars on Godlin and Stovepipe Avenues.

In my 1984 book 'Sons of Thunder... Apostles of Love' I noted that the winter of 1885-86 was extremely cold and disease was rampant. Chapleau had about 450 citizens, 90 percent of them men. Fire was also a great threat.

Boarding houses were built quickly  and the Queen's Hotel was opened in 1887, and the Algoma Hotel about 1890, but it burned down and was later rebuilt.

By 1886, three churches had been established -- Roman Catholic, Church of England (Anglican) and Methodist (later United).

The first public library opened in 1888, first in a boxcar then in the Mechanics Institute where it became the "centre of the social and intellectual life" of the community. It burned down in 1906 and at the time had 2000 volumes on its shelves. 

A school was also established, the first in a tent,  and moved locations until settling on Pine Street.

A street plan was completed and streets were named after Governors General of Canada, trees and King and Queen. Residential areas were established.

An open air  arena was established on Lorne Street by J. Gill by 1888 and a Chapleau hockey team made its first road trip to Sudbury in 1893. It lost. Curling had also been introduced. Other sports were also being played.

The Chapleau Brass band was founded in 1888.

Fast Forward to 1915.  An article notes that "In December 1915 they (the CPR) were moving over 450 cars a day through Chapleau -- there were 56 crews needed to handle the work -- they had fifty engines to handle the freight alone,with six passenger and two yard engines: there were three sets of despatchers and new offices all along the line were opened up, employing some thirty extra operators".

Chapleau citizens started going to Mulligan's Bay (named after Patrick Mulligan) early in its history and apparently the very first boat was a sail boat owned by J.B. Dexter, who helped found the Chapleau Brass Band, was a council member and fire chief.

This has just been a gimpse at some of the happenings in Chapleau mostly before 1900. Despite many obstacles the early citizens established a thriving community in the wilderness of Northern Ontario. 

Once again thanks to Margaret Rose (Payette) and Bobby Fortin -- both members of Chapleau pioneer families -- for loaning me the Richard Brownlee Papers. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

'Historic Northern Ontario' Facebook Group focuses "strictly" on Northern Ontario stories, photos and memories including Chapleau

When you visit the Facebook group Historic Northern Ontario each and every day, expect new stories, photos and memories, of towns and cities of Northern Ontario, and nothing else, an introduction to the group says.

In fact it is number one in a list of know the rules, 'Strictly History of Northern Ontario and nothing else.'

Founded in 2017 I discovered it, after my cousin Michael McMullen with whom I co-authored "The Chapleau Boys Go To War" brought it to my attention.

Michael advised that Harry Mulligan a relative of ours had been featured.  Our respective grandmothers May (Mulligan) McMullen and Lil (Mulligan) Morris were related to him.

Michael explained: "Henry Patrick “Harry” Mulligan operated a high end woollen store on Main Street in North Bay. The son of Bernard Mulligan, an early North Bay pioneer, entrepreneur and clothing merchant, he ran the clothing business after his father’s death in 1921 and named his store Harry Mulligan. Harry died in 1950 and the family carried on the business for many years. For years the store was located in the Mulligan Block building, which burned down in 2002.

"There is a Chapleau connection. Bernard Martin Mulligan had four brothers that worked in Chapleau in the 1886 -1915 period: Patrick Andrew operated Murrays and Mulligan, General Merchants and was the village postmaster, Thomas Michael was an accountant and clerk at this store, John George was the Dominion Express agent and operated a restaurant, and Hugh Charles worked for the CPR as a railroad bridge engineer. Another brother,  James Edward, a bailiff in North Bay, who died suddenly in 1895, was the great grandfather of MJM and MKM."

Thanks Michael K!

Bill Pellow delivery circa 1910

I visited the closed group, applied to join, and upon approval started my journey ino historic Northern Ontario. It includes content from almost every community in Northern Ontario, and having visited, or at least passed through most of them, recognized some sites.

Hockey trips mostly took me from Chapleau as far as Hearst in one direction, and to Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury in another, and communities in between them.

I also lived in Timmins, and of course Chapleau, and attended Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.

Richard Lamoureux, one of the group administrators gave me permission to write a column about the group.

Its main goal is to "keep Northern Ontario history alive for future generations", adding that "Northern Ontario has an abundance of history," It sure has.

Historic Northern Ontario presents another opportunity for Chapleau's story to be told, joining Chapleau History and Genealogy and Chapleau High School Friends founded by Louise Tremblay and Janice Whitely respectively.

The Chapleau Public Library site first established by Hugh Kutner and continued by Doug Greig is also a great source.

I extend my congratulations to the founders of Historic Northern Ontario and hope Chapleau folks will contribute to it. I have included here some photos I contributed.

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Patrick Mulligan founds Murrays and Mulligan in 1886, serves as Chapleau postmaster, attends Sacred Heart Church, builds camp at Mulligan's Bay by Michael McMullen

Patrick Mulligan and family 1895

Here is Michael McMullen's story of the Mulligan family, particularly Patrick Andrew, who arrived in Chapleau almost at the beginning of the community's life, and played various roles in its early years. Patrick Mulligan was Michael's great-great uncle, and mine, as our grandmothers, his nieces, May (Mulligan) McMullen and Lil (Mulligan) Morris were sisters.Since the Chapleau High School reunion, I have been working on several family histories, and will share more as they are completed. My thanks to Michael for the Mulligan story.

by Mike McMullen

In 1885, as the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was constructing its main line west through northern Ontario, it began providing a monthly general store on wheels or as it was commonly called ”a store car” that offered merchandise (dry goods, groceries, etc.) to those living and working along the line. The major supplier of these products was T. & W. Murray of North Bay. One of their senior clerks, Patrick Andrew Mulligan, was in charge of these Murray-supplied store cars that went to construction camps and permanent settlement locations along the developing CPR line, including Cartier, Biscotasing and Chapleau.

Murrays and Mulligan was located in Dominion Store building

In 1886, Patrick joined in partnership with the two Murray brothers, Thomas and William, who were merchants, financiers, politicians and entrepreneurs, to purchase lots and invest in Chapleau. On one of these lots, at the northwest corner of Birch and Young streets, Patrick constructed a two-storey general store that was under construction in 1886 and fully open for business in early 1887. This store became the third permanent general store in Chapleau, following shortly after T. A. Austin & Co (mid-1886) and the Hudson’s Bay Company (late-1886). Murrays and Mulligan, General Merchants, operated until 1897 when the business and the property were sold to Patrick McCool, a long-time Murrays employee and associate. 

Five years later in 1902, the business was sold to Alex Langis and James Jackman and then in 1908 a change in ownership was made to Desjardins (Albert) and Langis. The following year, these partners relocated their general merchant business to the southeast corner of Lorne and Birch streets. From there, that business evolved over time into what is today Collins Home Hardware and Building Centre and Collins Home Furniture.

Following the departure of Desjardins and Langis in 1909, the Murrays and Mulligan building, 4 Birch Street W., among other uses, became the location of the Macnamera general store, a Dominion store, head office for Austin and Nicholson Lumber Company and a branch of the Bank of Montreal. The building was demolished in late 1980.

Patrick was the oldest of seven sons and two daughters born to Hugh and Mary (Griffin) Mulligan in Quyon, Quebec, a village located on the Ottawa River, west of Ottawa, now part of the Municipality of Pontiac. Like many in the Ottawa valley in the 1880s, Patrick moved up the Ottawa River on the Ontario side to places, such as Pembroke and Mattawa, and then on to North Bay and Northern Ontario as the CPR was being built. Not only was there work available with the railroad, but towns were being established and services were needed for both.

He was working in Pembroke as a store clerk in the early 1880s, when he met Julia Catherine (Kate) Flannery. They married in September 1882 at nearby Chapeau, Quebec, on Allumette Island. She was the daughter of William and Catherine (Wells) Flannery, and the family lived in the Pembroke area. Her father died at an early age leaving a wife and five young children. Willietta, a younger sister, married Thomas Mulligan, one of Patrick’s brothers, also in Chapeau in August 1890. Thomas worked for Murrays and Mulligan, and his brother Patrick, as an accountant and clerk in Chapleau. A brother of Catherine’s, Maurice Flannery, originally a merchant, became town treasurer and Divisional Court Clerk in North Bay. Patrick and Kate had four surviving children: Effie, William, Inez and Beatrice.

Besides managing the Murrays and Mulligan store, Patrick developed contracts with the CPR to supply the work crews between Cartier and White River and to supply the CPR restaurants at Cartier, Chapleau and White River. He built a large warehouse near the corner of Birch and Lisgar streets to service these contracts. Today, the Bridgeview Motel, 16 Birch Street W., built by Yen Hong in the mid-1950s, is on the lot where this warehouse was located.

As well, he became the town’s fourth Postmaster in late 1896 (1896-1913). He followed T.A. Austin (1886-1890), J. M. Austin (1890-1892) and H. Nicholson (1892-1896). His sister-in law Winnie Flannery was the Assistant Postmaster for some time around 1900. While Postmaster, he built a small Post Office just to the east of his warehouse on Birch Street. It was the first stand-alone post office in Chapleau as all former facilities were in stores. This building would have been located where an addition was made to the original Boston Café building on Birch Street in the early 1970s. My grandfather, William McMullen, was the fifth Chapleau postmaster (1913-1919) and worked in that post office building.

At least three of Patrick’s brothers worked in Chapleau at various times between 1886 and 1913. In the mid-1890s all four brothers, Patrick, Thomas Michael, John George and Charles R. were in Chapleau at the same time. Patrick and Thomas were working at Murrays and Mulligan, John was the agent for Dominion Express (later named Canadian Pacific Express) and Charles was a carpenter.The Mulligans were involved in Chapleau community activities and attended the Roman Catholic Sacred Heart Church. In 1909, Patrick built a new house at 49 Monk Street, which is still standing today.

Another brother, who never lived in Chapleau, but had an impact on Chapleau, was James Edward Mulligan, my great-grandfather. Originally a storekeeper, he was working as a bailiff in North Bay in the mid-1890s when he died suddenly in December 1895. At the time, he was the father of five children aged 10 and under (three girls and two boys) and his wife, Jennie was pregnant with another daughter. In large part, because of the Mulligan presence in Chapleau, members of this family moved to Chapleau in the early 1900s and some became long-time Chapleau residents.

T hree of the daughters (who were brought up Anglican by their mother) met future husbands in Chapleau and lived there for many years. May married William McMullen, Lillian married Harry Morris  and Kathleen married John Hogg. The other daughter, Nellie, did not live in Chapleau. The two sons, Griffin and Charles, worked for the CPR out of Chapleau, served in World War 1 and subsequently, moved to the United States after the war.

Patrick died in Chapleau in April 1913. Later that year, Kate sold their house to Frank Keenan and moved to North Bay with her two daughters, Inez and Beatrice. Effi, their first born child, died when she was nine years old in 1891. Their son William had left Chapleau and apparently was not actively involved in his father’s business activities in Chapleau at the time of his father’s death. It is likely that Kate sold most of Patrick’s business ventures before she left Chapleau. However, she maintained ownership of property in Chapleau and in 1918 sold three contiguous lots on Birch Street to Hong Fong and Hong Sam. On one of these lots, Hong Fong built the Boston Café in the mid-1920s. The restaurant, now called Hongers Redwood Restaurant and Tavern, 12 Birch Street W., is still in the Hong family in 2013 with Jim Hong the owner and manager. Kate died in April 1945 in Toronto.

One would be hard pressed to find any traces of the Mulligans in Chapleau today. As far as I can determine, this line of the Mulligan family in Chapleau ended with Michael Morris, a grandson of Harry and Lillian (Mulligan) Morris. He grew up in Chapleau,  worked as a journalist, then became a high school teacher and reeve in Chapleau before moving to Cranbrook, British Columbia to continue his teaching career. There is not a Mulligan street sign or a house referred to in the community as the “Mulligan House.” The only legacy would be Mulligan’s Bay. Family history has it that Patrick was the first to build a permanent camp on Brownlee Island (Card Island) in the 1890s and as a result the area became known as Mulligan’s Bay.

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Michael McMullen recalls life in Chapleau celebrating hockey victory, earning 'real money' setting pins and listening to popular radio shows

MJM and Michael McMullen, co-authors 'The Chapleau Boys Go To War' 2015

UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 5, 2015: Michael McMullen is the co-author of 'The Chapleau Boys go To War'.

The book is available in Chapleau at the Chapleau Village Shops, on amazon.ca, amazon.com and Kindle.  Key words: 'chapleau boys war'

Michael McMullen's memories of growing up in Chapleau in the early 1950s won him the first annual Buckwheat Award for most popular story on the blog. The award is named after my beloved cat Buckwheat, who died in November 2009 at 20 years and two months old.. MJM

Michael McMullen lived in Chapleau from 1952-54 when his father Keith came to work for the Austin Lumber company, but his roots in the community go back to 1885 when his great great uncle Patrick Mulligan (and mine) arrived and opened one of the first general stores, called Murrays and Mulligan General Merchants.

After reading Michael's family history of his grandparents, William and May (Mulligan) McMullen, both of whom lived in Chapleau in the early years of the 20th Century, I asked him if I might share some of his recollections of life in Chapleau. He agreed and his recollections capture much of life as it was for us growing up in Chapleau during the early Fifties.

Book presentation to Donald White, 102, World War2 vet from Chapleau

"I have fond memories of that time and still have many friendships that have endured since then," Michael wrote. "More importantly, I met my wife, Alison, during this period. She is the daughter of Leslie and Margaret (Jack) McMillan and sister of David McMillan. Les was a CPR locomotive engineer who operated out of Chapleau for over 25 years, retiring in 1966." Mr. McMillan also served as a member of Chapleau township council.

After arriving in Chapleau, Michael and his parents lived for a time in the offices of Austin Lumber on the second floor of the building at the northwest corner of Birch and Young Streets. Their bedrooms were in two of the separate enclosed offices. "There was a Dominion store on the first floor. (later the Bank of Montreal). Years later I would discover that this was the building that Patrick Mulligan had rebuilt in 1895 following a fire at his original store on this site."

"I remember the good times that a kid could have, particularly in a small town. There was a ball field behind the high school where everyone played ball on a summer evening, the natural ice arena, which was the place to go for skating on a Friday night and to play hockey on a Saturday during the winter.

"We also played road hockey on the snow packed, icy streets, particularly on Aberdeen Street, not with a ball, but with a real puck.

"I remember playing bantam hockey for the Chapleau Huskies team when we won the first Broomhead Trophy in 1953-54... It was an exciting 4-3 victory in overtime over the IOOF team.... We went to celebrate at the Boston Cafe where Harry (Boo Boo) Hong, one of my teammates got his mother to open their family restaurant for our celebration. That game is still mentioned among those of us who played."

(In the photo are in  back row from left Basil Collings, Mike McMullen, Mrs. Broomhead, David McMillan, Richard Pilon, Tim Goodwin. Front row from left Charlie White, Ken Schroeder, Harry 'Boo' Hong  In the ball photo, Michael is at bat and his cousin David Curry  is the catcher.)

He also recalled that it was on an empty lot to the west of the Boston Cafe that he first participated in building an outdoor skating/hockey rink. "Boo Boo Hong asked me, and several others to help him and his brothers (Yen and Jimmy) to do this." This was where the Bridgeview Motel until recently owned by Yen Hong was built. It was also location where Patrick Mulligan had built a warehouse and post office.

Michael noted that when they first arrived in Chapleau they stayed at the Rectory of St. John's Anglican Church where Reverend E. Roy Haddon (the Rector at the time) and family lived at the southwest corner of Pine and Young Street with a tennis court beside it. The Haddons were on vacation at the time. The house was nearly opposite the church... To the right (east) was the Town Hall and then beside it was Chapleau Public School which he would attend. To the left of the church on the west was Chapleau High School.

"I would discover that right beside the high school was where Alison and family lived."

He would learn later that the original Anglican church in Chapleau was built in 1885 on the site where the tennis court was located. "I would also appreciate that my father and most of his siblings, if not all, were baptized at the current St. John's, which was opened in 1908, and went to the same public school I did"

As an aside, it should be noted that Michael's father Keith, and his grandfather, William McMullen, both served as Wardens at St. John's. His father was People's Warden when Mr. Haddon was the Rector and his grandfather was Rector's Warden in the time of Rev. J.N. Blodgett.

In photo are from left Michael, his parents Margret and Keith McMullen and me, taken in 1955


Michael recalled earning "some real money" for the first time in Chapleau. Mrs. Elsie Wilkinson, the widow of Dr. Steve Wilkinson paid him 25 cents to cut the grass on her property on Beech Street with her hand mower once a week.

"I was a pin boy at the bowling alley for probably 15-20 cents an hour. I was down at the end of the alley where the pins were placed. My responsibility was to properly position the pins during each frame, and to put the balls in the track to return to the players. As I recall, I was looking after two lanes at one time. You had to be alert because of where the pin could go after being hit. There was a foot slot at the end of the bowling lane that you stepped on that pushed the pins up from the floor for each of the five bowling pins to be placed on."

The bowling alley was located across on Birch Street across from the Chapleau News Depot store.

Michael also helped Raymond Soucie a number of times to pick worms to sell to fishermen for about 25 cents a container. He noted that in the early 1950s, 25 cents went a long way, as admission to the theatre was only 15-20 cents. Michael and I also delivered flyers for Simpsons order office which had been recently established in Chapleau.

"In the days before television, a radio was a great thing to have," Michael recalled. Radio was non existent during the day until the CBC installed repeater stations, but "... as the sun was going down the reception started to come in and after sundown the reception was really good, particularly for powerful stations from cities in the United States, such as Fort Wayne (WOWO), Pittsburgh (KDKA) and Boston (WBZ)."

Michael remembers some of the popular radio shows such as the Lone Ranger, Jack Benny, the Green Hornet and Inner Sanctum with "its scary squeaky door at the beginning of the program. Canadian shows such as Wayne and Shuster, and the Happy Gang were very popular. We got the Saturday night hockey games, usually from Toronto with Foster Hewitt and the Toronto Maple Leafs."

He liked listening to baseball games particularly his favorite team at the time, the Brooklyn Dodgers. They were on WMGM, 1050 on the dial from New York and the sponsors were Lucky Strike and Schaefer beer. Vince Scully was the junior announcer and he is still calling games for the Los Angeles Dodgers. On weekends there were baseball games on the United States Armed Forces Network on short wave radio with Dizzy Dean and Buddy Blattner.

After moving to Toronto in 1954, Michael did not return to Chapleau until the Chapleau High School reunion in 1997. Many changes had taken place in the 43 years since he left. The old Patrick Mulligan store was gone as was the natural ice arena on Lorne Street replaced by the Chapleau Recreation Centre on the other side of town. The movie theatre had closed, and the YMCA was gone as well. The ball field that was behind the high school was still there but the school had moved. The Chapleau Civic Centre was in its place.

But some things had not changed for him. The Boston Cafe, which had become Hongers, was still there and still owned by the Hong family. Chapleau Public School was in the same place and to him it appeared the same inside and out.

Before leaving Chapleau in 1954, Michael remembers going to the old Protestant Cemetery on Birch Street with his friend the late Harry (Boo Boo) Hong.

"(Boo Boo)... asked me to help him do some landscaping at the grave of his father. We got a wheelbarrow, two shovels and went there. The plot had sunk and needed some earth so we went to a nearby field and hauled earth back to do the work.

"While repairing the site, I browsed at the nearby plots and to my surprise, one of the plots close by, at the back fence, was the location of my grandfather William McMullen. It needed the same work as the Hong site. So, we hauled more earth and put both plots in a condition, which pleased us both."



Michael and his parents appear to have been the last of his McMullen line to live in Chapleau. However, some years ago, Dr. Bill McMullen from Sudbury was one of the medical doctors who came to Chapleau on a periodic basis to provide medical services. Bill is the eldest son of Hugh McMullen, his father's older brother. I am the last of the Patrick Mulligan line to have lived in Chapleau. My grandmother, Lil (Mulligan) Morris and Michael and Bill's grandmother May (Mulligan) McMullen were sisters.

My email is mj.morris@live.ca