Celebrating Heritage Week in Belleville

The Historical Society has had a long association with Heritage Belleville and its predecessor, the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC).  We maintain a strong interest in the preservation of Belleville's historical buildings, as evident in the large contingent of our members present at Heritage Belleville’s annual open house at the City Hall council chambers on Tuesday, February 21, in celebration of Heritage Week.

Mayor Neil Ellis presented the best wishes of Council and remarked on the full house of attendees.  Councillor Garnet Thompson also attended.  

The new posters on the history of the Hotel Quinte produced jointly by the Society and the Community Archives were on display, as well as building research material by Lois Foster.  Two of the speakers were well known members of the society, local author and historian Gerry Boyce and film-maker Doug Knutson.

Gerry Boyce

After a few words from Heritage Belleville Committee Chair Stanley Jones and Vice-Chair Jeremy Davis, and a presentation about Belleville’s heritage buildings by Janna Munkittrick-Colton, Gerry Boyce distributed photo souvenirs and spoke on seven interesting buildings that Belleville has “lost.” 

The buildings were: the original Albert College located on College Street dating from 1857, built by the local Episcopal Methodists as a training centre for Methodist ministers; the Congregational Church on Hotel Street (now Victoria Avenue) c 1855, which became the Reformed Episcopal Church and then the Moose Hall before demolition; the Intell/Cablevue Building (remembered by many people in the audience), demolished in 1990; the school house south of Market Square in the 1850s; Belleville Grammar School on the BCI site ca. 1860; the Hastings County Museum, located in the former Hastings County Land Registry Office and demolished after Glanmore opened in 1973; and the Point Anne cement works, which were featured in a tour in 1987.

Doug Knutson

Doug Knutson showed excerpts from a movie that he had made with John Lowry about BCI (Belleville Collegiate Institute and Vocational School), built 1927-1928 on land that had been set aside for the purpose of public education in the town’s original plot survey of 1816.  
Doug described the history of the film in a moving introduction: John had the idea of making a movie before the school was closed, as demolition seemed imminent.  So we shot it on June 17, 1997 - the last day it was officially a school.  The narrator, Eugene Lang, was incredible - he was there on the opening day and the closing day and knew everything that had happened in between!  He also knew every inch of the school.  Despite him being in his 80's, we could hardly keep up with him!

That day was also a spur-of-the moment open house - lots of people were roaming through the building.  The overall feeling was, “We can't let this go without a fight.”  I think that was the day the grassroots organization to save the building took root. When 2003 came up and I edited the video for the 75th anniversary (the year before the building was finally demolished) it was a big hit!”

The video is now an invaluable historical record of what we have lost.

Right, members of the Heritage Belleville Committee. Colin Rushlow, Vern Whalen, Janna Munkittrick-Colton, Michael Rush, Greg Pinchin (Staff Liaison) Stanley Jones, Robert Johnston and Jeremy Davis.

Pictures Nick White, story - collaborative effort.

The Mary Aylward Question

Paul Kirby, author of Mary Aylward, first in a series of Hastings County books, left folks who braved the wind and ice to attend last Thursday's Hastings County Historical Society meeting, scratching their heads over a number of challenging questions.





Was Mary Aylward guilty?
Should her husband have been brought to trial?
What part did religious intolerance play?
Did Mary suffer from post-partum depression?
Were the couple tried in the public press rather than the courts?
What motivated crowds to gather for public hangings?
Would we do so today - how thin is the veneer of civilization?

And...why did the chicken cross the road?

Paul Kirby flanked by Donna Fano and Orland French

Most people are familiar with some aspects of the tragic human story which took place in Hastings County in 1862. Mary Aylward and her husband Richard, Irish refugees of the potato famine, who had  suffered so much on the coffin ships before finally settling on their unforgiving north Hastings land grant near today's Maynooth. The couple was accused of the murder of their Scots neighbour Munroe in a disagreement over a chicken they were suspected of killing. As so often happens, distrust led to disagreement which erupted into violence, resulting in the couple's vilification, imprisonment, trial and death. Hundreds of signatures begging the Governor General for clemency were ineffective.

Kirby painted a vivid picture of the public hanging, which brought a crowd of five to six thousand people to the area around the old court house (this in a town of half that number) to view the spectacle. The young woman dressed in white, her husband beside her, prayers with Reverend Mr. Brennan, and their death struggles before thousands of curious impassive spectators, all painted a chilling picture. Was justice done? The issue remained in the public eye and in the press for a long time.

Thanks to Paul Kirby, the story of the Aylwards is once again in our hearts and minds.

Our Place in the War of 1812

In the last year there has been much published about the conflict that arose after the new republic the United States of America declared war against Great Britain on the 18th of June 1812.

To a standing room only meeting of the Society, Major John R. Grodzinski, CD, BA, MA, PhD of the Royal Military College of Canada drew these stories together and provided a context of the conflict.

Against a backdrop of a war that spanned four continents, John wove the events that happened here in the Quinte region into the fabric of the North American war.

And then placed that war into the fabric of global Napoleonic Wars.

With humour, an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject and a dynamic presence as a speaker, Major Grodzinski made Tuesday yet again a great evening.

Story and pictures Nick White.  A more extensive article on the talk will appear in February edition of Outlook, the Society's newsletter.

Anne Rector

It was sad news when Anne announced at the January meeting that, for health reasons, she would not be standing for re-election to the Society's Board in 2013.

First elected in 2011, Anne became the Society's Vice-President in 2012 but is probably be best known to Society's members for her work as the Program Director responsible for arranging speakers at the Society's monthly meetings.

Under her stewardship the Society's meetings have become impressive with audiences not seen since somewhere back in the 1900's and with questions and discussions stretching well past the usual closing times.

Anne with commemorative display of 2012 Speakers

That position is challenging, not only recruiting potential speakers but ensuring that there is a balance of interests being addressed and, ensuring that information about speakers is known and available for distribution through the print and electronic media.

In her announcement at the Society's January meeting Anne gave thanks and appreciation to all the Society's volunteers who had made her time both pleasant and rewarding. She also presented to the Community Archives her collection of pictures taken at the Society's events over the last two years - in both a traditional album book but also in electronic format. A welcome addition to the Society and Archive's digital picture collection.

Our best wishes for her continuing recovery and I think I can safely express everyone's hope that we will again one day see her playing a leading part in the Society's future. (And thanks for all her work in lining up the programs for 2013!)

Story and pictures, Nick White

Volunteer's Christmas Get Together

Since it's inception the Society has relied on volunteers and this year sixty invitations were sent out for the Christmas celebration.  And we managed to capture twenty-nine of them in this picture.  Others were captured in this album but unfortunately a few either were away or arrived after the pictures were taken.


The volunteers create and run the displays we take to events (I think there were seven this year), manage the Society's eight monthly meetings - very popular this last year  and, of course, they work at the Community Archives (it's still at the Heritage Centre).

Always a great event with lots of good company and food!

Standing: Mike Shaw, Al Cleary, Nick White, Bill Kennedy, Peter Ross, Annis Ross, Mary Wilson, Kieren Delaney, Mary Jane Troop, Jeanne Delaney, George Pearce, Sylvia French, Bev Kennedy, Doug Wilson, Lindi Pierce, Mary-Lynne Morgan, Bruce Bedell Orland French, Marilyn Hughes, Dick Hughes.

Seated: Sharon White, Elizabeth Mitchell, Lorna Garbutt, Donna Fano, Katharine Mills, Laurel Bishop, Adele Dibben, Lois Foster and Breanna Brethour.

Didn't make it into the group picture: Dianne Sule, Gerry Boyce, John Lowry, Bobby-Jo Morris, Peter Newman, Doug Knutson, Beth Green, Marney Black, Ruth Boyce and Geoff Green.


Pictures Nick White

The Longest Battle

Roger Litwiller

Roger Litwiller held the audience spellbound with his stories of the Quinte region's involvement in what may arguably be called the longest single battle in the history of mankind.

The Battle of the Atlantic.

Within three hours of WWII being declared, the first casualty, the British passenger ship SS Athenia on a voyage to Canada, was sunk.  An estimated 3,674 Allied vessels would share her fate; the last ships being lost just hours before the end of the war. It is estimated that 72,200 Allied sailors died in the battle.

The battle extended right into the St. Lawrence River and by war's end, the Royal Canadian Navy was the third largest naval power in the world, with 100,000 men and women and 400 vessels.

Among the ships that served were three corvettes, one frigate and two minesweepers that had names drawn from this part of Ontario. They were HMCS Napanee, HMCS Belleville, HMCS Hallowell, HMCS Quinte, HMCS Quinte II and HMCS Trentonian.  Together these ships span almost twenty-five years of history in the Royal Canadian Navy. You can read about these ships in Roger Litwiller’s book Warships of the Bay of Quinte.

But it was the stories of the young men that held the audience. Years of painstaking research and interviews with survivors of the battles has given Roger a rich and often frightening understanding of life and the young men aboard the ships. 

In his new book White Ensign Flying, scheduled for publication in the summer of 2013, Litwiller tells the story of HMCS Trentonian, much of it through his personal interviews with thirty of the men who served aboard her. Marc Magee's painting of HMCS Trentonian (shown below) for White Ensign Flying will be displayed permanently in the Trenton Public Library after the release of Roger's book.

HMCS Trentonian on her way to Normandy

A more detailed article about the meeting will be published in the January edition of the Society's newsletter Outlook. Additional information on Roger's books and contact information can be found on his Facebook page and web site.


Story Bill Kennedy/Nick White, pictures Nick White.

Dr. Pearce and Dr. Collip

George Pearce is relentless. These were the admiring words of one of the speakers at the podium for today’s proclamation of November 20 as Dr. James Bertram Collip Day in Belleville.

Dr. George Pearce, a long time Society member, has devoted years of personal research, including a trip to Western Canada, to document the accomplishments of James Bertram Collip born in Thurlow Township (now part of Belleville), co-discoverer of insulin.

He has been persistent in championing the cause of this remarkable scientist and his contribution to the work of the team credited with the discovery of insulin.

Bruce Bedell, cried the news

Today marked the beginning of the public recognition in Belleville that Dr. Pearce has long sought for this important Canadian.

His Worship Mayor Neil Ellis
extends his congratulations

After years of painstaking research, things have moved quickly. In October, a delegation from the Society met with Heritage Belleville to plan a joint project to recognize Dr. Collip.

Impressed with the work that had been undertaken, Heritage Belleville asked Council to proclaim November 20th  Dr. Collip Day. The motion was made by Councilor Culhane and passed unanimously by Council on November 13th. 

Pat Culhane, George Pearce
Richard Hughes and Jeremy Davis

Plans were sketched out for a public event to announce the proclamation on the the 120th anniversary of of Dr. Collip's birth and emails and telephones started to hum.

Rosalie Spargo
Canadian Diabetes Association

The happy result was a podium event on the Parrott stage, overlooking the market where the young Belleville lad doubtless assisted his market-gardener parents with their vegetable stall. 


 After 120 years it was heartwarming to hear the accomplishments of Dr. Collip recognized publicly by so many people including His Worship Mayor Neil Ellis,  Councillor Pat Culhane, Heritage Belleville Chair Stanley Jones and Vice-Chair Jeremy Davis, Hastings County Historical Society President Richard Hughes, the Canadian Diabetes Association's Rosalie Spargo and Dr. Bruce Cronk.

Jeremy Davis
Heritage Belleville

And along with the words on the importance of the Canadian pioneers of insulin were words of thanks to Dr. Pearce whose work and persistence brought this together.

Next steps in the recognition of Dr. James Bertram Collip will involve a joint Society/ Heritage Belleville application to Ontario Heritage Trust for one of the familiar blue and gold plaques to be erected in Belleville.

Story Lindi Pierce/Nick White, pictures Nick White and Bill Kennedy.  An album with more pictures can be seen here.  A video of the event by Doug Knutson can be seen here.