Rural mail delivery began in Creemore in the mid-1920s
A change was taking place on Mill Street in Creemore in the mid-1970s. Four store fronts, which had seen better days, were torn down and a new building
put up with two storefronts and two apartments on the second floor. Today you will recognize this building as the post office and Pizza Perfect. The postal authorities in 1978 decided to move the post office from the Gillespie block (now Victoria Values) to the new building, where it remains.
A Creemore Star photo from that era shows us Isobel Rhodes as postmistress. Her assistants were Olive Roberts, Joyce Ferguson and Marianne Prime. Also in the photo were Orlie Dunstan who delivered mail on Rural Route 1, Harvey Ferguson for Rural Route 2, Harvey Norris for Rural Route 3 and Doreen Rowbotham for Rural Route 4.
Rural mail delivery began in Creemore in the mid-1920s. Before that families in the rural areas picked up their mail in Creemore, which was often infrequent. Until October 1955, when the local train was discontinued, bags of outgoing and incoming mail were exchanged at Avening and Smithdale. Arrangements had been made for someone to deliver mail from Creemore to Dunedin and from Smithdale to Glen Huron. Recently I learned that Lavender had a post office from 1860-1921. No evidence has been found about how it arrived there.
Of the four rural routes out of Creemore, Number 1 went west over the Caroline Street Bridge and up the Fifth Line and beyond into Mulmur; Number 2 went up Ten Hill and into the farming area to the north and west; Number 3 went to Avening, south to Banda, across the Townline, along the Third Line and back to Avening; and Number 4 delivered mail along County Road 9, leaving mail at Dunedin, and continuing up the hill to Maple Valley. From there it went to Badjeros and into the hinterland of Osprey Township.
At Dunedin a route was set up to take the mail to the south up Lavender Hill. In The Village and I: Ten Life Stories, Norma Rowbotham Johnston relates, “I was sworn in to take the mail at 13. I’d go down to the store (Dunedin), sort the mail and deliver it. Sometimes people would want groceries and I’d take those too. The route went from Dunedin up the hill to Lavender, over to the Garden of Eden Road, north to County Road 9 and back to Dunedin. I’d leave at one and be home by five. Every day, rain or shine.”
My family home was on Rural Route 4. When I was young the mail man was George Montgomery, our neighbour. George seldom drove a car that had a muffler. My sister and I were always excited to hear him coming. Mail might mean an interesting letter or a parcel from Eaton’s mail order. Once, when I was about 16, I went with George to deliver the mail. I sat in the front and reached out the window to put mail in the boxes. One day he pointed out to the home of an old bachelor and told me he would make a good husband for me. I didn’t act on his suggestion. After Mr. Montgomery’s death his family delivered the mail for many years.
A story has come to me from Catherine McArthur Harper to share with you: “About 1948, my grandfather Hilliard Anderson was the mail carrier for RR2. I’m not sure how long he delivered the mail, but he probably had his route for four or five years. In the summer he delivered the mail by car and in the winter, he went by horse and cutter. One winter he was not well and he asked my dad to take over his route for the winter.
“Dad was agreeable. He had purchased a former race horse named ‘Tony the Driver’ that he had bought from Wilfred Rowbotham. This was a high spirited horse. He didn’t like standing too long while in harness. He still thought he was on the racetrack. Once he was hitched to the cutter, he wanted to be off. Dad would pick-up the mail at the post office and begin his route. “At each stop, Tony was patient enough to give Dad time to get an individual’s mail out of the mailbag, open the box lid and close the lid. At the sound of the lid being closed, Tony was off. Dad needed the reins to be in his hands at this point so he was in charge. This would be the process that would be followed every day.
“By the time the route had been covered and they had returned to the post office, they had covered the route in 90 minutes. I am sure this was the fastest that mail had been delivered on Rural Route 2.”
In Canada we have been blessed with an excellent postal service and it continues to be that. When I send off a cheque in an envelope I do so with complete confidence that it will arrive safely.
Helen Blackburn is a retired teacher, avid gardener and a long-time contributor to the Creemore Echo. She writes about local history.
Photo: October 1955 – Steve Shook on the last Avening mail run for the CNR train.
