Local history: Modernizing the village
The early years of the 1900s saw a modernization of our village. Waterworks made a great difference (more about that later) and telephones and hydro electricity became common.
Hydro electricity was offered to Creemore residences before 1900. This source of electricity came from the swiftly flowing Mad River and was run by Simon Plewes who also ran the mill on the south side of the river. The supply was meagre but the electric lights were a great improvement over oil lamps in houses, businesses and at public gatherings. One disadvantage was the lack of power after 10:30 p.m. when the power plant was shut down. Sometimes people did not turn off switches at night resulting in a power surge in the morning. The surge caused problems.
So it was in 1913, after Simon Plewes’s death, that the town fathers made an investigation of a more reliable source from the Ontario Hydro Electric Commission. In December 1913 Engineer James was in town checking out the situation. A month later a largely attended meeting was held. The crowd was told that a line would be built from Stayner, and that the power would be provided at cost, that there would not be even one cent of profit, and that the power was all for the good of the people. The newspaper commented, “Everyone went home happy, happy in the thought of having good light all night and whenever they wanted.” A month later a contract with the Ontario Hydro Electric Commission was discussed briefly, passed and signed.
Although from the first meeting it appeared the Hydro Electric Commission was giving away power, that definitely was not the case. Creemore had to take out debentures to have lines installed. The village would get a percentage of the bills paid by the citizens. At the end of 1914 it was reported that the returns from hydro electric for November equaled the expenses of the debentures.
In 1901 telephones were not an entirely new convenience. In 1892 a meeting was held and many businesses saw the convenience of the telephone which at that time had a connection in Toronto. The central office was in Corbett’s Drug Store.
In a few years some people in the rural areas west of Creemore began to wish they could have telephones too. One man, W. A. Allan of Lavender inquired about having a few phones among neighbours. He was told that if he built the line from Banda to Lavender, a distance of six concessions, he could have the telephone but Bell would still own the line. It is no surprise that the offer was turned down.
In 1908 Dan Mitchell of Dunedin and F.E. Webster of Websterville met at a convention and began talking over the matter of having telephones. As a consequence 10 men met at Dan Mitchell’s home in Dunedin, deciding to build a telephone line and that they would own it. Immediately the group applied to exist as a corporation and began talking over the matter of having telephones in the homes. The corporation was set up with a capitalization of $10,000, the funds arising from the sales of shares, $5 a share. Arrangements were made for long distance messages through the Creemore exchange in Corbett’s Drug Store. The company was called the Noisy River Telephone Company.
The first telephone was installed in the home of F. E. Webster and the second was in Dan Mitchell’s store. Dozens of people gathered in the store and called the Websters to satisfy their curiosity of talking over a telephone. Ten or 12 homes soon had telephones installed.
At the end of the first year the company was out of money. To keep the company going the directors sold more shares and kept the company going in its most strenuous year. In the third year poles were put in on the roads to Singhampton and Glen Huron. Also a line went up the Fourth Line to Stayner. The demand for telephones was so great the company could hardly supply them fast enough. The Highland Company of Honeywood built a line to Creemore and in a few years was purchased by the Noisy River Telephone Company. In 1928 The Noisy River Telephone Company purchased from Bell their complete plants and franchises in the town of Stayner and the village of Creemore. Bell retained only a trunk line for long distance calls.
The company was obviously doing well, so well that in 1930 shareholders received 10 per cent. The phone service rental was $15 per year for a party line and in 1932 was reduced to $13. The service after 1932 was continuous – previous to that switch boardswere closed for certain hours on Sunday.
Bell eventually purchased the Noisy River Telephone Company, but that was many years later.
