Creemore Log Cabin home to Founding Fathers exhibit
As part of Father’s Day events, there will be a display of the big daddies of Creemore at the log cabin.
Historian Helen Blackburn has dipped into her collection of more than 1,000 local historical photos and has chosen 22 of the village’s most influential men for the Founding Fathers show this weekend.
They include prominent business owners, medical professionals, the owners of the newspaper and a few of her relatives.
Her great-great uncle Edward Webster is the founder of Creemore. He had a 225-acre property surveyed into more than 460 lots to form the village and most of the streets are named after his children – Elizabeth, Wellington, Francis and Caroline. He was the warden of St. Luke’s Anglican Church, had a seat on the first school board, was justice of the peace, storekeeper and postmaster. Blackburn said although he had much success in some ways, he left the village in 1862 because he was broke.
His brother, George Webster, is Blackburn’s great grandfather. He was a carpenter and built many of the village’s first houses. He also helped build the Anglican Church and ran the first mills in Creemore.
William Gowan is also featured prominently. He was a hotelkeeper for many years, beginning in 1859.
The idea for the Founding Fathers exhibit emerged out of displays Blackburn created last year for the school’s 50th anniversary. Because she has so many wonderful old photos of the village’s founders, she wanted to share them with the public.
There are many stories behind the faces in the old black and white images on the log cabin walls. Former reeve of Creemore Jim Jackson, of Jackson’s Sawmill, was attending a track and field meet at the school one day when he hit a child with his car as he was backing out of his parking spot, fatally injuring the little girl.
“My grandfather said Jim was never the same after that. It was very traumatic for him,” said Blackburn.
There is also a photo of mechanic Harvey Pettigrew (owner of Pettigrew’s Garage, on Mill Street, where Strandz hair salon and Creemore Auto Detailing is now) all cleaned up and dressed in period garb for the centennial celebration in 1967, when he was deemed the winner of the beard contest.
“He used to say he wished his hair grew as well on his head as it did on his chin,” said Blackburn.
Women, back in the day, worked more in the background but Blackburn notes how much things have changed, as now, most of the businesses in Creemore are run by women.
The Founding Fathers show, funded by Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society and executed by The Creemore Echo, is part of the BIA’s Fire, Beards and Axes Father’s Day event. Check it out between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 17 (and also during regular Creemore Log Cabin hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 16).
