The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Dougall or Henry Airth who had been appointed sites. The Opeongo Road was put through and it gave up and develop, _ businesses were esmblished More ' in Rent‘rew and moreand'a ‘more tradesmen moved ink 1]; communication to the inland magistrates. settlements and to the lumber wheat in a inertia ' p y Soon after 1550. there was servtces and the Quartennas'ter-General. enfrew was merely a little settlement near the~Second was little business done because the population was small and much of the land ‘ of the surroundingtownships had not yet been (filled. The only industries were creek which now bears his name. There he had a small sawmill that he had bought from Sampson Coumb about ’ I848 and a tannery which he l had built near by, Both of these establishments were ‘ driven by water power from l the creek. ' There were 2 stores. One ; had been established by John l Lorn McDougall near the foot of Main Street and the other was being built by Robert McIntyre where the Chown Building now stands. Ottawa River. These main roads were joined by branch roads, which for the most “ part. were little better than lblazed trails through the l bush. They werc little travelled except 0“ f00L 3» Pakefll‘amv “‘0 RQma" characteristic of him in his equalled in Renfrcw l few settlers as yet owned Catholics by Rev xiohrn younger days‘ This may county, i horses. Moreover. they were McNulty from Mount. at -r explain why [he phom is no! John Snmh gave valuable l often impassable from snow Patrick and thc Methodists “kethegamerskewh' aflmancc in bringing the in winter and mud in SPIlng by a SUCCESSIW‘ or Damon John Smith came lo first railw V to Renfrew and and fall. who had followed -'hE Renfrew from Lanark along with Xavier Flaunt had The settlers to a great P'OF‘CC" m‘ss‘ona'y' M' County in 1848 and bought a the honor or driving i'ne last Cxle‘m were SEll‘SuDPONlng- Ma‘l'and- small sawmill and brewery spikes. He was later made a ' The! did “01 MW 10 depend The Clergy kept a wald‘yh‘l which Sampson Coumbe had Dirceior oi the Canada l on the starts to SUlDDl)’ [half W" Ward“ members “the” established on the creek ncar Central Railway. He had needs. They had their own meat and potatoesh their flour was ground from their own grain and for a luxury would trade his butter, eggs or por . Money was scarce. only Canadian coins ' copper bank tokens of l penny and denominations. Larger transactions were handled by éperated by Johnfi-Tirfi'flhfiad gold and silver-‘ Smith near the falls on the ‘coms from'rnany countries as l there was still no standard Canadian currency. Business was done by the British system of pounds. shillings and pence. urgings of Francis Hincks. in the legislature. the country had not yet adopted the decimal system of coinage, Although there were post offices at Renfrew and other area points, there was little mail. Postage stamps had not yet been introduced in Canada and letters were obtained on payment ofa lee process of being established in Renfrew on land donated by that public-spirited citizen, Xavier Flaunt. The Presbyterians were served by Rev Alexander Mam. from {locks to hold them to the straight and narrow. Other transgressors ol‘ the law could be made to appear Despite the ‘ a great boom in Renfrew. During the next decade. there , long the Bonnechere and i had mills built at the power ll2 penny ' i . John Tanner Renfrew’s first reeve leather he established a shop village. by Harry Hinchley .‘ This sketch from Belden’s Atlas of l8lil shows John Smith as he would look at that time. Around this period he was Warden of Renfrcw County. Reeve of the village of Reiifrew, dustrialist and merchant, and the largest taxpayer of the He was also a pioneer mill owner and the first man to camps up the Bonnechere and Madawaska. whole country began to open By 1858 Reiii'rew had grown ‘ Chute of the Bonnechere. 11 prepared from h were many Chang? and 10 [he pom. when, it was abij was still a part of the ashes was another im improvements. rancrs S to SC mm from “one” an . ‘ A ~ ettlers came to take up P I Township of Horton. There article ofproduce. l incks secured the land land in the townships and [he become ,ncorpommd as a village in its own right. where be employed several 3 leading in- To tradesmen shoes and harness which he sold from a store that he opened on Raglan Street. He was a good business man and as he prospered he bought around Renl'rew. He built a brick block on Raglan Street. fill the economical housmg he built rovi tcncmcnts on Argyle and making boots, property in and need for i hang in the Municipal Of- fices a special portrait was made. But by that time John Smith was an old man and had lost much of the Vigor and energy which was so the present Mercury Office. The brewery did not lit into the plans of a man who became a Charter Member of l Remains of the stone wall of to the postmaster. start any work ofiniportaiice Lochiel streets, He a|so this may still be seen at the Sometimes letters had to be in Renfrew. it was after him owned farms outside the ‘ rear ofthe building. left at the post office because that Smith's Creek was village. As shown on the map there “‘5 SEWET did "0‘ have namEd- At Renirew's first election were roads running to enough money to Pay the Around the turn of the in 1353 he was elected to Burnstown, up into Ad- PDSlaBC» CEHMTY Whe“ the town Council and he became the maston and down to the Churches were in .the wanted his DhOEOETaPh 10 First Reeve. an office which he held off and on for 17 years. usually by ac- clamatton As representatiie to County Council he was chosen Warden three times. a record that has never been much l0 do with bringing the K and P to Renfrew and when the Ottawa. Ariiprlor and Parry Sound (now the ri they hadmaplesugar. before John Lorri Me» the villages' first Temperance Society so he changed it to a grist and oatmeal mill. The stones of the foundation of this mill may still be seen in Stewart Park. He soon set up zi tannery to make leather. To use the CNR) was formed he sold the comnany right-oi-way over his land. in many, many ways John Smith was one of Renirew‘s most outstanding citizens and frw have made as many contributions to our town. it was not until 3'53 that con- crete came into use for this purpose. Hitchtng posts were . provided in front of the stores l because horses had to he lied ‘ while their drivers shopped. ‘ In those days the streets were \ usually either muddy or dusty and the ladies’ skirts were long. To protect these skirts from the hazards of alighting from a buggy stepping stones were i often provided for the benefit of the ladies. Such a stone may be ‘ seen in front of the Barr and i Wright store But other stores \ generally had no place for such l frills flfiifiwm WW a/Renl'm L‘a.