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McKenzie and Davis officiating at the services. Reverends Barrett, Graham, Smith, Shaw and Rhodes have been sta- tioned here as regular ministers; but the work for the most part has been done by students. The last church to break ground in Teeswater was the Roman Catholic. A man who came about this time and laterplayed quite a prominent part in the village was W. R. Thompson. Mr. Thompson for some years had a cooper shop on the lot where William Trench lives. Teeswater people were beginning to feel that they were numerous enough to form a village. An enumeration of the population was made and it was found to contain 809. In compliance with their request, Teeswater started as a separate municipality, on January lst., 1875. The first Reeve was Alex. Gibson. The Council was composed of J. Stephens, James Fraser, J. Ballagh and M. Hadwen. Village politics in those days were of a very vigorous type, judging by what may be read in the 01nd newspaper fyles. Probably one of 'the most exciting nomination meetings was that of 1878, when John Marshall, the village treasurer, was accused of purchasing the debentures of the present school without advertising them in any of the Toronto papers; Marshall’s friends said they had been advertised. but this was denied. Mar- shall who was away in Michigan, came home by way of Toronto, searched the Globe fyles, found the “ad” and pur- chased a copy of the paper. So high was public feeling that Arch. Gillies who, as everyone knows, was a‘ most peaceable man, came down and warned his brother, the Doctor, who was then in theicouncilmot to go to the mech- ing as he was afraid there would be blood shed. _ Marshall’s greatest personal enemy wasspeaking, and while the latter was making him out a scoundrel who had robbed the vil- lage by no". properly advertising the debentures, the Globe was produced, the ‘ad’ read, and the speaker told to “Take that, you miserable liar!” The whole thin was prchably one of the most dramatic incidents tha ever occurred in our Town Hall. The railway came in amidst great excitement, on No . 16, 1874. It is said that the‘ first train bringing the officals up, ran out onto the streets Needless to say, thatengineen. never returned. The village was growing toward the station. ‘ The old Dominion House, now the Grand Unionwas erected by William Farquharson. Just past it. Ralph Hodgson had a furniture store and Murdock McKenzie had a pump factory On June 18, 1876, Rev. Father L’hiver celebrated mass in the Town,Hall. It was the first service ever held here by this denomination. They had churches at Riversdale and Formosa, and two churches on the 2nd. Concession of Culross -â€" one on F. Wocks’s farm, the other in the King settlement â€"â€" both of which have long since disappeared. On July 16, mass was again celebrated; on the following day the ground for the present church was purchased from Mr. Gibson. Father L’hiver moved here in October. He did not stay long and was succeeded by Rev. J. J. Corcog'an, who celebrated his first mass here on July 22, 1877. The work of building the church was pushed forward, and the corner stone was laid by Bishop Crinnon, of Hamilton, on May 26. The church was opened for service in September of the same year. We have finished our survey of the churches, and from it one can readily see why Teeswater was called the “Village of Churches” They were a credit to the village, and told everyone “that religious life was a large factor in this com- munity. When one thinks of conditions then and today, we cannot but marvel at what the pioneers did for us. If you wish to get a contrast, go down to the little old Orange Hall standing today “rickety, shingleless, battered and gray’jj picture it with the bush on all sides; then wa‘k up to Knox Church on a fine summer Sunday morning, when you may see automobiles parked on all sides; and you will have a good idea of what the pioneers had in the 60’s and what we have today. Father Corcoran was here for many years. In February 1910, he left for his old home in Ireland and was succeededE in this charge by the Rev. A. A. Capps, who, in addition to his Teeswater Congregation, has also those at Riversdale and Holyrood to look after. About 1870, Andrew and Rob’:. Little erected a saw mill just near the present flour mill. A little later they built a flour mill which was burned about 1886. It was rebuilt and still stands, and is known today as Little’s Mill. At this time a change was made in the Bruce Agricultural Works, James Fraser taking Arch. Gillies in as a partner. This partnership continued until 1877, when the fire which destroyed the foundry caused it to be dissolved. Thelfirst ;'.rist mill changed hands in the early ’70’s, George Parr taking it over from P. B. Brown. Parr sold to James Fraser, who sold again to J. Chapman. The latter improved its appearance very much. The old kiln for drying oats, which was situated on the side of the hill opposite the mill, was removed and the stone part of the present mill built. The saw mill was built by James Fraser, on the site of the present mill. i The small building between the livery barn and the hotel ‘ used to stand on Mrs. Hodgson's 10': and was for a time .used Mr. Hettle‘ went to Manitoba and afterwards became a member in the Inca] House; while Mr. Inglis went to Chi- . cage. and worked with the Board of Trade. ’ McDonald Bros. had established a waggon and black- smith .shop on the site of James Johnston’s present shop. , The wood shop was burned down while William Harkness was proprietor. Just east of the wood shop, a man named é Long had a shoe» shop which was destroyed at the same time. The fact that salt was found in many neighboring towns caused an effort to be made to find it here. The first well was sunk near where Mrs. James Moffatt lives; the next one over in the field near John Dobson’s. These efforts were unsatisfactory: some say because they did not go deeply enough; others, because the contractor was paid not to find it. An accident occurred to the drill, and as funds had run out, that probably affords the most reasonable explanation as to why the work ceased. The building was afterwards used as a stave mill by Jacob Kling, who had a cooper shop just behind where Mrs. P. Kroetsch now lives. and planing mill. It was larger than the present factory, having a wing on the south side. On John Campbell’s lot were two stores: one a bakery kept by J. Ballagh, and the other a restaurant kept by D. Campbell. These buildings were burned in 1878, and the factory would probably have been burned also had it not been for William McKenzie. From the Council minutes of that time we copy the fol- lowing resolution:â€"â€"~ Oliver - Stephens: “That this Council do grant W. McKenzie the sum of $20 as a token of an)- preciation for his services in endangering his life in ex- tinguishing fire in planing mill at the late fire in the village.” An industry that was opened about this time was the butter factory, by Nettle and Inglis. These men had a gen- eral store in Weir’s building for some time. Their factory was the second one in Canada so one can see how early we were on the ground. The power was derived from a tread mill which stood on the north side of the factory. The milk was brought in night and morning on wagons, which madequite ‘a stir as they all came in. The factory was afterwards taken over by S. R. Brill’s father, who began to make cheese in addition to butter. The old factory and old methods have passed away and we now have a new creamery run by S. R. Brill, who does a very large business. A steam flour mill‘was erected on the site of the present elevator by Robert Mckee. The mill had a rather chequered career and did not seem to be a financial success. It passed through the hands of Alex. Gibson, Worden, and Craig and Arnold. While the latter had it they obtained permission to call it “The Lorne Mills”, and the flour “Lorne” flour. after the Governor General. The next to run it was a man named Brooks. He had bare'y got started when it was burned Nov. 30, ’79. The Teeswater Milling Co. was then organized, and a new brick mill was erected to manufac- ture "our, using the roller process. Nixon and Howson operated the mill These men had previously rented A. Little’s mill on coming here. The mill was in operation again about 1883. It had a capacity of 150 barrels per day. When first opened, it was no uncommon sight to see a string of teams extending as far down the street as the foundry. It met the fate of its predecessors, being burnt about 1889. On the north west corner of Clinton and Wragge streets, William Kelly built what was known asthe Queen’s Hotel. He sold out to Joseph Weigle. The hotel was burned when under the proprietorship of Lafrance, the family barely escaping alive. Opposite the Queen’s, John Oliver built a store (now John Farquharson’s home) expecting business to grow'toward the station. A great many of the houses in this part ofthe village were built just after the railroad was opened in 1874. Where Mr. Semple now lives, Thomas Shannon had his furniture store, manufacturing in the mill across the street, while, on the site of the foundry ware- rooms, the present paint shop was built as a store. The foundry occupied its present site.. It was burned as already stated, in ’77. After the fire, the partnership between Fraser and Gillies was dissolved, and a new firm known as Gillies and Martin was formed. They received a bonus of $3,000. This foundry “as for many years the back bone of the vil- lage. and Gillies & Martin plows had a high reputaion. One year the firm intimated that, as they had won so many prizes at shows, they did not intend to compete but merely show their goods with a view to promoting sales. Opposite the foundry the iarge frame building now known as Marr’s Livery barn was erected by J. Thacker. Previous to this ‘a blacksmith and wagon shop had been built by J. & A. Thacker on the street next to Mrs. Lambertus; part of it is still standing. _ '