by Terry Boyle
Another influential figure was Captain Sheldon Hawley, who along with his brother-in-law Josiah, assisted in the further development of the community. They established a lumber business and a mercantile store. Trenton quickly became an important lumbering centre. From here the lumber was shipped to Montreal and Quebec City. Two large steam-powered mills, owned by Gilmour and J. Flindall, set up operations on the east side of the Trent. On an island in the Bay of Quinte, there were the mills of Baker and Company and C. Weaver Esq. At the time the Rathun Lumber Company of Trenton was the largest operation in all of Ontario, harvesting timber in North Hastings.
By the 1860s the lumber industry in Trenton was shipping 5,000,000 cubic feet of square white pine by raft annually to the Quebec market. Several hundred thousand logs (each season) were also shipped to American ports.
By the mid-1870s, the Gilmour Company employed at least 400 men in their planing mill, the box plant, and in the sash, door, and veneer factory. Sawdust from this sawmill was used to provide fill for many of Trenton’s building sites.
In the 1830s construction started on the Trent Canal. Trent Port became the gateway to a water system which eventually linked Bay of Quinte and Georgian Bay.
Trent Port had a population of 1,500 residents when it was incorporated as a village and officially named Trenton in 1853. Three years later the Grand Trunk Railway steamed into the village. Trenton became the hub of transportation with a network of three railways for a brief interlude.
Trenton became one of Ontario’s major industrial towns when Robert Waddell established the Trenton Bridge and Engine Works in the 1870s. The company manufactured steel and iron bridges, iron piers, engine boilers, tugs, and steamboats.
On Dominion Day, 1880, Trentonians held a gala celebration in honour of their new status as a town. Dr. W.H. Day was elected as Trenton’s first mayor.
Trenton suffered its first serious setback in 1910 when the Gilmour Sash and Door Factory burned to the ground. It made a strong comeback when it was chosen as the site for the British Chemical Company’s multi-million-dollar ammunitions plant during the First World War. Tragedy struck again on Thanksgiving Day 1918, when a fire broke out in that factory and ignited explosives that blew the buildings apart. Amazingly enough, no one was killed.
Trenton circa 1931. The film industry here was once thought to be Ontario’s Hollywood.
Archives of Ontario
The fireworks continued throughout the night and the town telephone operator, Eva Curtis, stayed at her switchboard to keep vital communications open. For courage in a danger zone, she and seven others were awarded the medal of the Order of the British Empire.
Welcome to Hollywood! That’s how it seemed in 1919 when Trenton was chosen by the government as the site for a film plant. Numerous films, including The Great Shadow and Carry on Sergeant, were produced here. The only reminder of these bygone days is a street in Trenton named Film Street.
During the Depression, Trenton and its residents managed to escape some financial hardships thanks to Senator William Alexander Fraser. Through his efforts Trenton was chosen to be the home of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The town’s unemployed were quickly hired to build the airport and base. In the Second World War, this military centre served as the Commonwealth Air Training Base. In 1949 Memorial Gates at the airport entrance were erected to commemorate the contribution made by the base during the war. Over the years the military presence has contributed greatly to the economy and social stability of the town.
In the 1950s Trenton’s industrial base included 25 major manufacturing companies, including Quaker Oats, Delft Gelatin, and S.H. Camp & Company, a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of surgical garments and braces.
The downtown core was devastated by three fires in 1978. Merchants and town officials rallied to the task of rebuilding, and by midsummer of the same year a 26-store shopping complex replaced what the fire had destroyed.
On July 1, 1980, exactly 100 years after Trenton was incorporated as a town, it became a city. Now, Trenton may be best known as a tourist centre. It has many claims to fame, but for me it was my start in life because my mother called it home.
I, personally, have fond memories of summers with my family (the Gauens).
Whitby
Whitby certainly has a great history of characters, including at least one very mysterious murderer.
The early settlement of the district began around Whitby’s natural harbor at the lakeshore and along the Kingston Road. Jabez Lynde settled here on the Kingston Road at Lynde’s Creek in 1804. Samuel Cochrane soon arrived and a Mr. Storey and a Mr. Losie opened shops in the area circa 1818.
The first post office between Toronto and Port Hope was opened by J.B. Warren in 1823. In 1835 John Hamer opened a store, and the settlement became known as Hamer’s Corners at what is now Dundas and Anderson Streets.
The harbor was called Windsor Bay and it was a thriving grain port, with a storehouse, a tramway, and a warehouse, in the 1830s.
By October 1836 Peter Perry, the MPP for Lennox and Addington Counties near the Bay of Quinte, lost his seat in Parliament and moved to the area. He purchased most of the land around the present four corners of the town. This wealthy entrepreneur and visionary built a store on the site of the present-day Bank of Commerce as well as a large brick home. He hired a provincial land surveyor to draw up a town plan for the area around the four corners in 1844. Perry then encouraged merchants and businessmen to settle in his community; this area became the centre of commerce instead of Hamer’s Corners. The four corners of this settlement were soon named Perry’s Corners.
By 1848 the harbor had become so busy that a plank road was constructed to Port Perry to facilitate the movement of grain and lumber from the northern part of the region. Conflict arose over the name of the harbour, since “Windsor,” a name favoured by many residents, already existed elsewhere in the province. The name Whitby, from a seaside town in Yorkshire, England, was then assigned to the area. At least they got to keep the initial. Whitby was incorporated as a town in 1855.
Whitby circa 1880s. Looking closely at the picture, Whitby might have resembled Dodge City in the American southwest.
Courtesy of Whitby Historical Society
Sheriff Nelson Reynolds may not have been a Wyatt Earp, but he was an adventuresome fellow. A God-fearing man, he always mixed a taste for personal glory with his somewhat righteous goals. Few citizens of Whitby knew that in his youth he had been treasonous, part of the failed Rebellion of Upper Canada against the Family Compact. He was the man who would one day build the castle of his dreams, right in Whitby.
Born in Kingston in 1814, Reynolds rose to lead his own cavalry regiment there during the Rebellion of 1837. Government officials kept a watchful eye on him, since he never hid his criticism of the Family Compact. They were suspicious of Reynolds; they worried that instead of leading his troops in defence of Kingston against attack, he might join the opposing forces.
On the eve of February, 1837, an alarm was sounded, warning of the invasion by rebel forces. Thinking this could be the night that Reynolds would turn, patriotic officials ordered government troops to surround Reynolds and his men and to charge Reynolds with high treason. It had been a false alarm, and before Reynolds could lead a charge, he and his men were captured. Of course he refused arrest and stood his ground, until a musket cracked and a lead ball found its mark in his leg. Fearing for his life, he broke free and escaped across the American border with the help of his men.
In July 1838 he returned and surrendered to government officials. Led under guard to Fort Henry, he was imprisoned and charged with high treason. He conducted his own defence and set out to prove his innocence. He managed to do this because of the lack of evidence necessary to convict him.
With the news of his release, the soldiers of his former regiment rushed to meet their old friend. To rejoice in his freedom, they picked him up and carried him through the streets of Kingston.
> Fourteen years later, in 1854, he was appointed sheriff of Ontario County. His duties included land arrangements, the signing of legal documents, and the foreclosure of mortgages.
It wasn’t until 1859 that the sheriff began construction of Tralfager Castle at the east end of Dunlop Street in Whitby. This was his dream house, and because he hoped to gain the attention of royalty, should they visit, he spared no cost in its construction.
When it was finished, his elegant castle was built of stone, a monument to fine craftsmanship. Visitors could imagine they were in the English countryside when they gazed upon this dwelling.
His dream came true when, in 1864, Prince Arthur, third son of Queen Victoria and later the governor-general of Canada, visited the sheriff’s castle. And, of course, Sir John A. MacDonald, fond of a dining invitation, also visited en route.
In 1872 the purse strings drew to a close. Sadly, elegance and extravagance cost Reynolds his castle. Although forced to sell his dream, Sheriff Reynolds never lost sight of his vision. The moment Trafalger sold, Reynolds built again. This time his castle was a miniature replica of the former. At the age of 67, the sheriff slept his last night. In the meantime Trafalger Castle was taken over and converted to the Ontario Ladies College.
A mysterious murder occurred years later in Whitby. It happened in the early hours of December 11, 1914. Twenty-one-year-old telegraph operator William Stone Jr. would sit quietly at his desk in the Whitby Train Station recording the trains that passed and noting any telegraph messages. This night seemed like any other. Nothing really exciting ever happened as the townspeople slept in their beds. Something was brewing that night, however, and it was about to explode. At 12:37 a.m., a shot was fired from the darkness. Billy Stone toppled out of his chair and landed with a thud on the floor. By some miracle he managed to crawl to a phone and call for help. Leslie Cormack, the operator for the local Bell Telephone switchboard, answered his call.
“Get the chief, quick; I’ve been shot,” gasped Stone.
“Who did it?” responded Cormack, while she dialed Police Chief Charles F. MacGrotty.
Stone answered, “I don’t know, but get the chief quick”.
As Chief MacGrotty picked up the phone, there was silence.
Was William dead?
The chief rushed out and headed downtown to fetch the night watchman, John Patterson. Together they travelled to the train station. It was an eerie sight. The shade on William’s desk light had been turned to cast its rays of lights on the tracks. Peering in the window they saw Stone lying on the office floor. The telephone receiver was under his lifeless body.
The chief forced the door open and quickly rushed to Stone. He was dead. The chief peered around the room but saw no indication of a struggle. Was robbery a motive? He checked the cash drawer but nothing had been taken. He turned to William’s entry book. The last recorded train was a freight train going east at 12:15 a.m., approximately 20 minutes prior to the alarming phone call. Who killed Stone?
The chief then discovered the bloody imprint of a hand on one of the cabinets. Stone’s hands were clean of blood. Could this be the handprint of the killer?
News of the murder spread and speculation abounded — a passing tramp, perhaps. The call went out to Ontario Provincial Police Inspector William Greer.
Two leads led to dead ends. The mystery seemed to deepen when Stone’s sister reported having had a dream the week before her brother’s death in which she had seen him shot at work in the same manner as the actual crime.
An inquest into the murder began in January 1915, and continued intermittently until June when another event shed some light on the crime. Apparently, William Stone Sr., the murder victim’s father, had arrived home late on the evening of June 18 after consuming some spirits in a nearby hotel. He thought he had become a suspect.
Stone Sr. went to pieces when he was called as a witness at the inquest. Somehow he had assumed that he was now the target of the investigation. He was sure that the authorities were linking him to his son’s murder. Unable to bear up, Billy’s Father set out that night to end his life. At the Grand Trunk Railway, not too far from the scene of the crime, he lay down on the tracks and waited. William Stone Sr. was killed instantly. Was he the murderer?
It was plausible. William Stone Sr. did have a reputation as a heavy drinker and had appeared in court relatively recently on charges of assaulting his daughter while under the influence. He had even threatened to kill her. Had he killed his own son for insurance money?
Harry Birmingham, a close friend of William Stone Jr., had been the last person to see him before his death. Birmingham claimed he had left the station at 11:30 p.m. on the night of the murder. Birmingham had apparently said that he and Stone had been fired at in a field by Corbett’s Crossing (Thickson and the CNR). However, Birmingham denied this story at the inquest.
Two bus drivers who had often chatted with the victim when they arrived at the station to pick up passengers testified that one, and sometimes two, revolvers were kept in the drawer of Stone’s desk. Were the revolvers in the desk drawer on the night of the murder? The police found no revolvers in the drawer. Birmingham owned an old revolver, but the .38 calibre bullet that killed Stone did not fit his gun. Birmingham was cleared.
Brian Winters, Whitby’s historical archivist, first reported this story in the local paper and adds, “One Whitby resident recalls that many years later, in the 1920s or 30s a man was executed in the United States. As the trap door dropped, he confessed to a murder in Whitby. But it was too late to find out what murder it was, for he was dead before he could complete what he was saying.”
The murder of Billy Stone remains unsolved. Who really left their bloody handprint at the scene of the crime? Does Billy still haunt the old Train Station?
A famous sheriff and a famous murder — just a glimpse of the colourful history of this portside town.
Bibliography
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Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Acton
Adams
Ezra
Rufus
Zenas
Adams, Thomas
Adamsville
Agawa Rock
Agawa Valley
Ajax
Alexander, W.W.
Algonquin Logging Museum
Algonquin Provincial Park
Amherst
Annwood
Ansnorveldt
Ash, Samuel
Ashbridge, Sarah
Ashburnham
Bach, Wilhelm
Baddeley, Lieutenant
Badgley, Reverend C.H.
Bailey, Alexander
Bala