Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » John McIntyre

Postcards of Olde Aurora, A Sesquicentennial Project by Bob McRoberts, One More Book In My Collection

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 03:04:03 +0000

My inventory of books that are about the Town of Aurora, briefly mentioned Aurora or written by the Aurorans is now assembled. I think I have them all or let say I ran out of budget this year to buy more. My collection consists of twenty books now.

Postcards of Olde Aurora by Bob McRoberts

I am sure there will be lot more books published in the future and they will be part of my collection but there is something special about my recent collection of books. It all started with Bob McRoberts and because of recent purchase ends with Bob McRoberts. Let me explain.

My first book purchased was “Aurora A History in Pictures” by W. John McIntyre, 1988 – collectible, used and autographed. But it also came with a photo of two high school teachers from 1943. One of the teachers was Mr. Knowles who was also grandfather of Bob McRoberts.

So this is how I got to know him, and after photo was returned to Bob McRoberts, he wrote me ‘I hope our paths will cross again‘ and so they did. They did few times and finally on the day I purchased his recently published book.

Postcards of Olde Aurora by Bob McRoberts

In the past I had an opportunity to attend one of the Heritage Lecture Series, “Postcards of Old Aurora: The McRoberts Collection” at the Aurora Cultural Centre, April 2012. I still remember attendance in the room. There must have been over 100 people, including me. The lecture was very beneficial since I take lot of pictures of Aurora and it is very intriguing to examine the change – somethings changed, somethings are gone and somethings just don’t change.

Bob decided to go one step further and put together a Sesquicentennial (2013) project or legacy project – that is he converted his collection of postcards into a book, “Postcards of Olde Aurora“.

Postcards of Olde Aurora by Bob McRoberts

When I picked up my book back on December 6th, I told him that I collect postcards as well, just a collection of the European cities during the time I was growing up. I do have some postcards of Toronto from 1971 when my dad traveled to Canada.

Just recently I did come across of Aurora postcards on line but because I take lot of photos of Aurora I wasn’t that enthusiastic as Bob. Well, he did something wonderful, saved me a time and money. So instead of buying 300 postcards I bought a collectible book, 20th on my list.

This is a very nice little collectible book. Mr. McRoberts spent lot of work searching for all the postcards he assembled into a book Postcards of Olde Aurora and he did because he was passionate about it and because he can relate to as well. His passion is now a legacy book for the Sesquicentennial year. His book is about Aurora by the Auroran and it is the latest book in my collection.

If you would like to own this book, Postcards of Olde Aurora can be purchased directly from Bob McRoberts. The contact information is listed on the right sidebar on this blog.

Meeting Elizabeth Milner, 150th Anniversary Of The Hillary House

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Mon, 21 May 2012 03:14:47 +0000

I did not have the name and I did not have the close up picture. I had a story and I knew that someone will put it all together. Family, friends and neighbors commented on the last post identifying the barn guide as the young remarkable 13 year boy, Geoffrey Sharp.

I just want to acknowledge his efforts again and how wonderful it was to see all the support and encouragement he received from his family and friends.

Hillary House

The visit to the Hillary house wasn’t just seeing the Hillary House after all. By the end of the day I looked back – it was all about the people and the Hillary House made it happen – interesting phenomena that worked.

Elizabeth Milner Signing My Book

That day I came to the Hillary House to meet Elizabeth Milner for the first time. She didn’t know I was coming and I didn’t know if I will be there. When I finally arrived, I brought my own copy of Elizabeth’s book Aurora 1945-1965 An Ontario Town at a Time of Great Change to be signed. After all it was through her book we connected and have been corresponding since last year September.

What can I tell you about her? We all know that Elizabeth is a historian, teacher and writer but do we know that she is also a very friendly, funny, charming and charismatic lady. Yes I do know now and I am telling you that she is.

I wish that all my past history teachers were like that as I wouldn’t have any difficulty with all the dates, events and leaders memorization. There is a lot to learn when comes to European history so may be that is why the European system had us to learn history right from grade four in elementary school.

Elizabeth Milner with David Heard

As you can see I wasn’t the only one meeting Elizabeth for the first time. David Heard met Elizabeth for the first time that day and I over heard that he read her book ONLY four times.

Musician Performing At Hillary House

Looking at the picture of the musician performing that day at the Hillary House it only make sense to share with you an important musical history event Elizabeth shared with me via email.

She wrote: ‘The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Louise McDowell, actually Sara Louise McDowell, who lived in Aurora at various times, and was related distantly to the Willis family, was taught piano by Edward Fisher the founder of the Conservatory. She was one of the first students at the Conservatory which opened in Septenber of 1887.

In her last years she lived on Reuben Street on the north east corner of Temperance Street. I wrote about her in Aurora 1945-1965 on pages 31 to 34. I called her Aunt Louie, but she wasn’t actually my aunt. She died at 93 in 1965 and is buried in Aurora Cemetery.‘

This is only an excerpt from Elizabeth’s book about Louise McDowell, who was a musician, teacher and writer as well. Yes Louise McDowell also wrote a book, Past and Present: A Canadian Musician’s Reminiscences, potentially the next book on my list to read.

Hillary House

Speaking of writing books, Elizabeth Milner is working on the second book consisting of stories about Aurora during the same period 1945-1965, and in the near future it will be great addition to my Aurora books collection. A collection of two books only – second being AURORA A History in Pictures by W. John McIntyre.

John McIntyre Talking To Elizabeth Milner

Christmas Always Unforgettable Memories, Our Town The Night Before Christmas Eve

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 06:37:39 +0000

Christmas Eve next day and I have not had a single chance to get some night images showing beautiful Christmas light shows around the Aurora. Finally, after dinner Friday night I asked for a ride. Matthew was all up to it. After all he was going to see Christmas lights and Christmas trees around the town.

‘Don’t forget to take library DVDs Mommy‘ – Matthew reminded me at the door. Oh and good thing he did because they were due today. So I have noticed something, just this week Matthew changed a lot. He started to talk and behave like a young adult. ‘Thank you‘, ‘You’re welcome‘, ‘Please‘, ‘Okay I will do it‘, ‘Hug and Kiss‘ – all him.

Christmas Tree, Northwest Intersection of Yonge Street and St. John's Sideroad

Northwest corner of Yonge Street and St. John’s Sideroad was our first stop – the beautiful landmark Christmas tree. The corner is undeveloped and hopefully will remain. Where the tree stands today it used to be H.J. Charles Carriage and Waggon Works.

H.J. Charles Carriage and Waggon Works, Same Corner

‘The H.J. Charles Carriage and Waggon Works was located on the northwest corner of Yonge Street and St. John’s Sideroad until 1887. The carriages and wagons proudly displayed out front recall a time when even the need for transportation vehicles could be met by village craftsman.‘ – Aurora, A History in Pictures, W. John McIntyre, page 53.

Aurora Cultural Centre, Church Street

‘Why are we going towards Yonge Street?‘ – Matthew asked.

‘Because we have to drop off the DVDs at the library, and how did you know that was Yonge Street?‘ – I asked, and he smiled.

Yes we did in fact turned around on the St. John’s Sideroad and headed towards the Yonge Street then towards the library to drop off DVDs. I knew I will find something nice around there and then I remembered the AURORA BOREALIS at the Town Park.

Arrived at the library and the thought of the drive through book drop off came to mind – hint, why not? Surprisingly, the Aurora Cultural Centre had no decorations, but on the back the shining star at the Trinity Anglican Church pulled me in.

Trinity Anglican Church, Aurora

Door Mosaic, Trinity Anglican Church

Arrived at the Town Park and the beautiful Aurora Borealis revealed itself in front of our eyes. It was hard to capture this display with the camera, so if you have not seen it yet, it is a must visit.

Aurora Borealis, Town Park

These will be our memories of our Aurora – the night before Christmas Eve. And today and tomorrow we are on the journey to collect more memories with our families. Wishing you lots of love, joy and happiness during this holiday season. Merry Christmas!

‘May the good times and treasures of the present become the golden memories of tomorrow.’

Aurora High School Teachers Photo Journey

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:08:08 +0000

A while ago, (June 2011) I have published post (Aurora, A History In Pictures Collectible Book Arrived With A Surprise, An Old Photo) about a photograph that arrived in the mail inside the Aurora, A History In Pictures, a book by W. John McIntyre I have purchased on Amazon.

In a matter of few days of posting about the photo I was contacted by the descendant and grandson of J.H. Knowles, former Aurora Councillor Bob McRoberts.

Book and Photo, Miss Humphrys & Mr. Knowles, Oct 18, 1943

Also, by talking/writing to a couple of people prior the telephone call, instead of having one descendant per family, that is Knowles and Humphrys, I had leads for two Knowles in town. My life was getting complicated, but only for a day or so. I like to sleep on my decision no matter how urgent they are. And what will few days of thinking do to the photo that not many knew about and was lost for many years. My scanner wasn’t working properly, so that helped to get that extra ‘decision’ sleep and get the photo to the right person.

By listening to Bob McRoberts family history and doing some research in the old Aurora Era newspapers from 1940s, a decision was made. I delivered photo to Bob McRoberts. Delivering by mail was out of question. The photo was lost for many years, so this time wasn’t going to happen. Not to mention the Canada Post was going on or was on strike around that time.

We made a surprise delivery to Mr. McRoberts. During our chat for few minutes, he also showed us another picture of his grandfather J.H. Knowles. It was a picture from the army. I couldn’t believe how prefect the photo was. I really mean perfect. No scratches, no nicks and no fading, and it was also older photo than the one I delivered to him. Well, there is an excuse for that, the photo of the teachers was on the road for many years, and only protection it had was a book.

The results of my findings were published in The Auroran this week (Week of August 02, 2011 Volume 11 Number 40). I wrote Letter to the Editor, Journey of the lost photo from Aurora (pg 6, pdf file) and Bob McRoberts let The Auroran publish the photo (pg 4, pdf file). Few words were written under the photo for which I am very thankful. That was definitely a big surprise. That was also my first ever Letter to the Editor published in The Auroran, and it was very generous of Ron Wallace to let mention my blog.

To find the new place for the photo was a joint effort of few people in Aurora, including Bob McRoberts himself. I also had a nice chats with David Heard (A Step In Time), emails with Chris Watts (Temporary Sanity), and Michael Suddard (Michael’s Blog) hit the nail in the head with his comment here and confirmed my findings. Michael is now residing in Richmond Hill; however, he always calls Aurora his home.

‘Anna, It just hit me. The person you may have a photo of is J.H. Knowles the former Principal of Wells Street Public School. He had a house on Catherine Avenue (J.H. Knowles House) and is related to former Deputy Mayor Bob McRoberts somehow (grandfather?). House reference here:
http://www.town.aurora.on.ca/aurora/index_e.aspx?ArticleID=478

Miss Humphrys may be a teacher at that time at Wells Street Public School at the time because of the context of the way the photos are referenced (Mr. Knowles & Miss Humphrys) as students would politly call them.
In the Aurora a History in Pictures there is a picture of Wells Street Public School with all the glee club in front with Mr. Knowles, the Principal, included.

Baldwin’s Restauarant has a small copy of the photo on their website near the bottom of this page: Baldwin’s Restaurant has a small copy of the photo near the bottom here: http://www.baldwinsrestaurant.com/history‘

That was a very interesting journey to be part of and I will always ask myself – why me?

Aurora, A History In Pictures Collectible Book Arrived With A Surprise, An Old Photo

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 05:10:07 +0000

Aurora, A History In Pictures book by W. John McIntyre arrived few weeks ago at my mail box. I ordered this book online from Amazon already used since this book is not in circulation.

At the arrival I read the FOREWORD by John McIntyre which I found very interesting and encouraging. ‘Our history is a fragile thing, too easily lost or forgotten.’ – he wrote. Tell you the truth I never liked history in school. However, I enjoy it more on my own time now. It all started when I got interested in the old family photos about 12 years ago. It took me about three years to scan all possible family photos from different sources. I think I got about 3000 of pieces digitally archived – yes we have a big family.

I also was restoring photos here in Aurora from my home. I did it for about 2 years as a small side business and got to know some very nice people. I really enjoyed it, but my arm could not take it anymore. It is in fact a very time consuming process. Sometimes it was tough for me because I would get impossible requests. It got to the point that instead of fixing the scratches or damages on the photo, I was actually restoring people on the photo. That I did not like at all.

Aurora, A History in Pictures by W. John McIntyre

Looks like I got side tracked a bit, so here we go – back to the book. The book itself is used in an excellent condition, but it is also a collectible signed by John McIntyre.

I did not read the comments very carefully at the time of purchase because it was a surprise to me when the book arrived with an old 68 year old photo of two people. The photo was inserted between the page 46 and 47 and matching the same person in a group photo in the book on the page 47.

Miss Humphrys & Mr. Knowles, Oct 18, 1943

The comment stated: ‘SIGNED COPY/ 1988 The Boston Mills Press oblong PB 144pp. approx. 10″ x 8″, flat signed by author on title page, near fine clean and bright copy with a hint of storage stress (minor curl to cover), also includes old 1945 photo of two teachers from Aurora High School / Ontario, CA.‘

I contacted the seller to find out more about the photo and how it got there. They kindly replied.

‘Anna, sorry but we do not know who the people in the photo are, we bought the book at a library sale and the photo was in the book. We thought maybe, the person who bought the book would know who the people were so we just left it in the book.‘

The purpose of me buying this book was because of the old photographs of the Aurora. I just love to compare the old to the new, therefore, no I wouldn’t know who they are or more like to whom that photo belongs to. I know their names because they are written with the fountain pen on the back of the photo: Miss Humphrys & Mr. Knowles, Oct 18 /43.

It will always remain a mystery to us all who was the original owner of this book and what was the purpose to leave a photo inside the book. A mistake? I think that on the end the photo should belong to the descendants of either one person on the photo.

Aurora, A History in Pictures

Therefore, dear readers if you happen to know anything about this photo please let me know, or forward to the people who may know. I will then give away photo to the right person. The photo may as well belong to two families, however, the first person to come forward will receive the original and digital copies. The second family will copies in a digital format.

PHOTO DETAILS

Description: A photo of Miss Humphrys & Mr. Knowles

Size: 5 x 7 inches with white border

Color: Black and White, a bit tint of Sepia

Back: Names written in Fountain pen

Dated: Oct 18, 1943

Here is touched up photo with contrast adjusted. My advice never frame and hang original photos on the wall, UV light will damage them. Hang copies only.