George Evans on 'Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic' as schools established in Chapleau's early years

From the moment Chapleau was established in 1885, and families started to arrive, there were children about in  the "cluster of homes", and parents  wanted a school, according to an article by George Evans.

George, the long time teacher and assistant principal at Chapleau High School, who died in a car accident on March 18, 2012, wrote a series of articles about Chapleau called 'Snapshots of Chapleau Past'.

In one called 'Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic', George wrote that the first school was in a tent in 1886, but was moved to a "sturdier structure" in the vestry of the first Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.  Monthly fee was $1.00 per child.

This school was not too successful so by 1889 it was back to a tent over a low frame wall and floor located about where Trinity United Church is today.

Here is George's glimpse into the "pioneer students under canvas".

"They sat on home-made wooden benches and used home-made wooden desks arranged around a box stove. The teacher was responsible for cleaning and heating the school".

By 1890, it was realized that this school was not satisfactory so a public meeting was called in February 1891 and Robert Holding was named chair of a school board.

A school was established on Pine Street in a wooden building beside St. John's rectory. School street was established.

George noted that by 1893 a second room was added for students "lusting after knowledge and wisdom". The annual budget was $1100

According to Vincent Crichton’s account,which George included in his article, this was Chapleau’s version of the legendary pioneer school house.  "At the front of the class, the teacher presided behind a big wooden desk that had a large hand-bell on it. The students sat at new double-desks. A water pail with a tin cup sat on a chair near the woodstove. The girls were responsible for sweeping and cleaning the premises; the boys filled the woodbox, stoked the stove, and carried out the ashes. The teacher was stuck with getting to work early enough to get the fire in the stove going and thaw out the ink bottles. One delicate matter is not mentioned in Vince’s book and so we must assume that an outhouse or two were somewhere on the property. George wrote that in  1901, "the same year that the municipality came into being, the school board built a new public school on the lot beside St. John’s Anglican Church, just across the street from the first public school.  A fine, two-story, 4-room building with central heating, the new building brought Chapleau’s public school into the 20th century, leaving behind the crude but romantic make-do arrangements of the 19th century.'  This building was to play a long and distinguished career in Chapleau’s educational history becoming Chapleau High School after it was established in 1922. George wrote that in the mid-20s, a major transformation took place when two regular classrooms, two labs, and a low-ceilinged basement gym were added and the whole structure was given a brick exterior. This renovated building was the red-brick Chapleau High School that many people still fondly remember." Chapleau Public School was built along Pine Street beside the old Town Hall. Chapleau High School, in its turn, left the old building in 1966 to migrate to its new home atop the hill on the western edge of town  But the old building had still not finished its educational mission. It soon became the Senior Public School, housing the overflow from the Public School as the last of the baby-boomers began flowing through the system. It was demolished in 1976 and the Chapleau Civic Centre is now on the site. George noted that his article was based in part on information contained in Vince Crichton's book 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario.' Just a note: Over the years there have been several accounts written about education in Chapleau including a detailed one by J.M. Shoup long time teacher and principal of Chapleau Public School. I am spending some time on the history of education. Please feel free to email me at mj.morris@live.ca if you can contribute. APOLOGY  I apologize for the layout!! Gremlin attack!!

Ian Macdonald on distinctive face of Smith and Chapple successfully adapted to the many different eras of retailing concepts in the Chapleau region.

Note: Ian Macdonald shares the story of Smith and Chapple in Chapleau. Ian is professor emeritus and retired head of the departmnent of architecture at the University of Manitoba. Thanks Ian. MJM My email is mj.morris@live.ca


By Ian Macdonald
Commercial retail activity is a significant part of the cultural heritage of a community through speaking to the way people bought and sold goods and services. Communities along the height of land, compared to other Northern Ontario communities, remained comparatively remote except for the railroad until the 1960’s.


Image: McNamara shop interior

The region became progressively less isolated when Highway 129 from Chapleau to Thessalon on Lake Huron was opened in 1949 and Highway 101 connecting the community with Timmins and Wawa was finally completed in 1967 including the Highway 651 connection from Highway 101 to Missanabie. Goods and services until then were provided almost exclusively within the community itself. Mail order outlets facilitated catalogue shopping but for the most part, businesses were independent and mostly family owned enterprises which extended in many cases over several generations. Competition was thus not only spirited but also very very personal.


General store buildings in those early days were simple and straightforward with gable or shed roofs. They were generally one and a half or two storey structures with the sales floor on the main floor. Granite bedrock in most locations lurked only a few feet below ground level forcing the main floor to be two to five feet above grade if basement space was required. Second floors were typically residential and occasionally commercial office space depending on the building location. Internal organization of the stores were mostly symmetrical with a clearly defined main entrance located on the main axis and recessed to form an entry alcove. This allowed for increased window area and larger displays.

Shop areas had high ceilings and the front façade included large plate glass display windows. Long counters were located on one or both sides of the main customer circulation area and business was mostly conducted over the counter. Timber construction was predominant for both structural and decorative purposes with little option but to use local labour skills and resourceful use of materials. The store front, however, was different and was seen to be one of the main factors in establishing a competitive edge in a highly competitive market.

Image: Beamish and Smith store

The importance of the store front in commercial retailing is best illustrated in one of the first stores built in Chapleau by James McNiece Austin in Chapleau in the 1890’s on the north east corner of Birch and Young Street. The original business had been established on a site 100 feet to the east by T.A.Austin in 1885 and sold to his brother, James McNiece Austin in 1888 who operated the business for five years before selling out in 1903 to R.A. Beamish and Stuart Smith. This new enterprise became known as Beamish and Smith and lasted four years before it was acquired in 1907 by the partnership of Stuart Smith and V.T.Chapple and became Smith and Chapple.

The original store building facing Birch Street was approximately thirty feet wide, a hundred feet deep and typical of most general stores of that era. The structure was of rudimentary wood frame construction with a flat roof slightly sloping south to north. The plan organization of the building was symmetrical around a glazed double door main entrance. It was similar to most other commercial buildings in the newcommunity with the exception of the Birch Street store front that incorporated enough architectural features to fill a history text book.


Image: architectural drawing of Smith and Chapple

The Birch Street store front was consistent with established principles associated with highly urban areas like London, England where the shop is usually part of an established urban streetscape rather than a single free standing corner building on the Canadian frontier. These architectural features included overly large wood panelled corner pilasters to establish physical separation from neighbouring buildings and supported a bold and complex cornice at roof level. Bold cornice detailing was also an established way of providing clear definition between the shop front and the upper floor. The store also had the advantage of a large blank wall surface facing Young Street that allowed for additional signage. Entrance to the store was a recessed glazed double door that provided a strongly defined entrance alcove and additional plate glass display area.

Image: Smith and Chapple original storefront

The store had changed owners three times before it became Smith and Chapple in 1907. There were no changes to the architectural features of the original store front during these changes in proprietorship. The name of the respective owners was simply repainted on the second-floor wall facing Birch Street and minor changes were made in the signage over the plate glass display windows.
Image: Smith and Chapple 1915 Expansion

V.T. Chapple who is recorded as being the most energetic and ambitious of the Smith and Chapple partners, tripled the size of the original store with a building expansion in 1915. The expansion was effectively the double replication of the original building which faithfully maintained and repeated the same distinctive features of the original.

Image: Smith and Chapple final Expansion

The store would be further expanded one more time during the depression years with the addition of a butcher shop, groceteria and basement level snack bar and shop. This renovation included removal of most of the distinctive architectural features of the original building. Decorative ornament was eliminated and the building surfaces were smoothed out to give a more “modern” appearance and a large Smith and Chapple sign would stretch over the entire length of the building facing Birch Street.

Image: Village Shops exterior image

The store remained this way until 1987 when it was acquired by the Bignucolo family who renovated the building and rebranded the business as “The Village Shops” . This renovation, responding to more open and contemporary retailing principles, Included removal of Interior walls and partitions and conversion of second floor commercial retail space to eight apartment units.

 Image 8 Village Shops interior image

This venerable old building is one of the few early commercial retail buildings that has endured the ravages of time and successfully adapted to the many different eras of retailing concepts in the region.


Ian advised that Images in this article are from the Vincent Crichton Sr. Chapleau Historical Photo Collection are published with the kind permission of Dr. Vince Crichton Jr.
Photos 7 and 8 of the Village Shops are provided by Lucy Bignucolo

Hockey became part of Chapleau community life in its early years with road trip to Sudbury by 1893

SEE BELOW

In the beginning, one of Chapleau's earliest residents, J.Gill built the first ice skating rink shortly after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, according to Vince Crichton in 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario'.

However, Vince noted that "it is definitely known from an old minute book of the Chapleau Brass Band that such an enterprise was being operated by J. Gill during the winter of !888-89".

How come this information comes from the band's minute book? Well, apparently Mr. Gill had entered into a contract with the band, which was formed in 1888, to supply music on skating nights at the rink. 

Around this time, Chapleau must have formed its first seven man hockey team because in 1893, it made its first road trip to Sudbury for a game.

 Sudbury Museums web site reports as follows: "Hockey is widely considered to be Sudbury's most popular winter sport.  The first enclosed skating facility in the area, Martin's Rink, was built in 1892 and during that year, a group of men formed teams for the first game of hockey in Sudbury during the  winter carnival.

"The first inter-town hockey game played in Sudbury was on March 13, 1893 against Chapleau.  Sudbury won the match with a score of 2-1."

It also provided insight into how the game was played: "The early hockey games were much different than today's style.  The first games were played by teams of seven with no player substitutions.  Instead of three periods, there were two halves and scoring a goal was called "taking a game".  There were no linesmen  and only one referee, an amateur who knew the basic rules of the game and volunteered for the task.

SEE BELOW

"The first indoor rink was nothing like what we are accustomed to today.  These were unheated, wooden buildings that were numbingly cold in the winter.  There was no artificial ice, which meant that in the spring, the ice would turn to slush, making it almost  impossible to play hockey (although efforts were still made)."  Chapleau was no exception.

  I have been unable to discover the names of players on this team, or a photo but hockey had become part of community life.

Vince tells us that by about 1895 Lombard LaFrance who had arrived in 1885, had built a rink on Lorne Street. Although it was an open air rink it  was enclosed with a high board fence .  Mr. LaFrance may have been a member of the  1893 team that travelled to Sudbury. His son, also Adelard or "Adie" played several games for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League in the 1930s.

Over the years this rink was gradually enclosed and by 1951, it was closed and the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena was officially opened. on the same spot It was replaced by the Chapleau Recreation Centre which included the Mrs. A.W. Moore Arena in 1978.

Back to the early years of hockey. By about 1910, maybe even a bit earlier, there was a very competitive town league which led Robert McEween to donate the McEwen Cup. Mr. McEwen operated a pressing and tailoring shop which he established in 1905.

The first winners of the McEwen Cup, emblematic of local hockey supremacy was in 1911. From a personal view, my grandfather Harry Morris and my great uncle Charles Mulligan played on the team.  Grandpa had arrived in 1910 to work for the CPR as trainman/conductor.

I have included photos of the first winning team of the McEwen Cup, a photo of a town league team on which the famous goaltender Bob Turner played, and fast forwarded to the Chapleau High School team of 1956 when I was a student there and had "retired" as a player and was a referee. 

If any readers can provide more information on Chapleau hockey history, please feel free to contact me. Thanks. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

PHOTO INFORMATION

Robert McEwen donated the McEwen Cup, emblematic of hockey supremacy in Chapleau. Here is the first winning team in 1911. Photos are numbered: 1, Peter Moran; 2, Gordon Sheppard; 3, Simon Kruger; 4, Harry Morris (my grandfather); 5, Omer Lahay; 6, Oscar Tremblay; 7, Ken McFadden ;8, Charles Mulligan (my great uncle); 9, Herb Merrick and 10, Robert McEwen.

In 1919, Bob Turner, a legendary goaltender over the years was playing for a Chapleau team. In back are Clothier (could be different spelling and first name not given), Fred Kelland, Alex McAulay, Frank Boucher, Buster McAdam, Bob Turner, Amon Saylors, Ken Sheppard.  These were the days of seven man hockey and no subs

The CHS team of 1956 is below.A highlight of the year for the Chapleau High School team of 1956 was a trip to Terrace Bay. Back row from left: David McMillan, Doug Sleivert, Stan Barty,Thane Crozier, Clarence Fiaschetti (teacher and coach), George Lemon (principal) Second row: Doug Espaniel, Roger Mizuguchi, Bill Cachagee . Front are Jim Hong, Bert Lemon, Harry Pellow, Ken Schroeder, Robbie Pellow (Mascot) Marc Boulard, Harry Hong, Jim Machan, Ron Morris. Note that Clarence was playing on the 1949 Junior team, and was also first CHS student to return as teacher.