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| Postcard of our Town Hall, written in 1906 - Image courtesy of St Marys Museum |
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| St Marys' Town Hall plaque |
Visiting St Marys is something to write home about.
In previous posts, such as
The Grand Trunk Trail Bridge,
Layers of History,
Victorian Building Blocks (Part II), you got a glimpse at our historic town of St Marys. This post will be about those understated, but elegant plaques affixed to its buildings and other structures. They say so much in such a restricted space. Although inconspicuous, they carry the weight of history and convey a message of respect. Below, you'll see some of the plaques we pass by on our daily dog walks, there are many more all around town.
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| The old water tower |
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| The St Marys Grand Trunk Station is still in operation. |
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| The Opera House is now a rental apartment building with commercial businesses on the main level. |
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| The Mill Race runs between a park and a nature trail walk way. |
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| The St Marys Public Library |
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| The first home of our local newspaper, The Journal-Argus, is now occupied by The Chocolate Factory, a popular candy store. |
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| The Andrews Jewellery building was occupied for many years by Anstett Jewellers, an Ontario family owned chain, but they have left town and put the building up for sale. |
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| Canada's first Eaton family store is now The Flower Shop. |
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| The Hutton-MacPherson Block is home to MacPherson Art supply store. |
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| The privately owned Myers' House has been lovingly restored and is impeccably maintained. |
It's admirable and quite surprising that such a small town has so many historical plaques. Our Canadian big cities should be embarrassed. When Brian completed his biography on Montreal poet John Glassco, a joint effort was made to commemorate him with a plaque. He took advantage of his family connections,
The Alloy Foundry, to have one cast.
The effort has resulted in the establishment of the Writers' Chapel at Montreal's St James the Apostle Anglican Church. You can see photographs of the interior (and Brian) taken at a recent event
here.
Brian recently spoke with Nigel Beale about literary Montreal and the importance of recognizing historical buildings, significant people and events through historical plaques. Obviously, a subject St Marys understands very well.
Brian's audio interview
