Elias Leonard set out to make his mark
During the last month I have frequently stood at the fence surrounding The Sovereign so recently brought to its knees by the fire. As I looked at the walls and the windows and up to the third story thoughts of Elias Leonard ran through my mind. Elias ran this thriving hotel for over 30 years. In his photo you see a man who wants to make his mark on the world and indeed he did.
With the thoughts of all I can remember running through my head I have been searching through my collection of Creemore history. The Leonard name comes up first in an account of the first Creemore school on the side of the road just beyond the cemetery. John Mackay, remembering when he was just a boy, tells of walking through the bush to school. He encountered a scary looking man and didn’t know whether to run or face the man. He worked up courage and found that it was only one of the Leonard boys who offered to treat him with something stronger than soda water.
Elias Leonard’s son Joe, remembering with great affection his youth in Creemore, wrote from Seattle, Washington in 1937 about how his father got involved in the hotel business. “My father, when just a young man, finished a day’s threshing on a strawstack at Allen Flack’s on the Fifth Line. Sticking his fork into the straw stated that it was his last day at farming.
He borrowed enough money to buy a yoke of oxen and materials and built a hotel at Cashtown. After running that for nine years he heard that the railroad was coming through Creemore and came over and bought the hotel (formerly called The Sovereign) from William Gowan, who went to Alliston and ran the Tecumseh hotel near the station. Elias named the hotel the Leonard House. This was in 1878.”
William Gowan’s hotel had been built sometime prior to 1878 by George Webster, William Gowan’s brother-in-law. George Webster is my great grandfather. (A note: the hotel included only the front part we see of today’s building. The additions were built later.)
Now going back to Cashtown, the name Cashtown Corners was established during the years when Elias Leonard ran the hotel. This is how it happened: The railway that was built from Toronto to Barrie to Collingwood in 1854 brought with it a market for the pioneer farmers to sell their produce. There were stops at New Lowell and Stayner. When a deal was made between the farmer and the buyer the farmer was given a chit or a piece of paper indicating how much money he would receive. This was taken to a sort of bank where they lined up to receive their payment. To avoid this bottleneck, a better plan was to stop by Elias Leonard hotel on the way home. Elias had the cash. There were no line-ups and in addition they could enjoy a cup or two or maybe more of whisky. This provided the hotel keeper with a profit. And so we still have Cashtown Corners but without the whisky.
When Elias Leonard bought the hotel in Creemore he found himself supplying the needs of many. The train, four times a day at that time, brought travellers in need of rooms. Travelling salesmen would rent a room to display their wares and make sales with the local business men. The bar room was always a popular social setting. On shipping days local farmers came to town with horses and sleighs or wagons and needed a place to have dinner. Hence, a busy dining room. As horses were the main means of transportation there was a barn at the rear of the hotel to house and feed them. The hotel was a place of employment for many housekeepers, cooks, waiters, barmen, and livery men were all kept busy.
Up next: much more about the Leonard House.
Helen Blackburn is a retired teacher, avid gardener and a long-time contributor to The Creemore Echo. She writes about local history.
