Past Homecomings remembered

Editor's note: a version of this story first appeared in the St. Marys Homecoming '90 special edition, and was researched using microfilmed copies of the Journal Argus at the St. Marys Museum.

Many St. Marys residents have affectionate memories of Homecoming '78 with the reunion at the Collegiate, the Community Players'' production and the street dance.
What many of us are not aware of, however, is that it was just the most recent in a series of occasions planed to attract "Old Boys" and "Old Girls" back to their native town.
Homecoming 1899
The first official Homecoming in the community was held on July 19, 1899.
This event was organized with the help of one of the most active, important and colourful groups in St. Marys, the Volunteer Firemen, and was billed as an "Old Boys Reunion and Fireman's Demonstration."
Not only were former residents of St. Marys invited back for the festivities, but also fire brigades from other Ontario communities were challenged to come to take part in parades, band concerts and various competitions such as a hose reel race, a hook-and-ladder race, and a tug of war.
By 1899, many of the descendants of the town's earliest settlers had dispersed, some seeking home in new western settlements, others moving to cities and the guaranteed weekly wages of factory jobs.
Whatever the reasons for so many of its native sons and daughters leaving, St. Marys was anxious to invite them back, anxious to show off some of the changes that had been made since they had moved away.
In 1899, there was the Town Hall, for example, just a few years old and a magnificent structure at that. There were electric lights at downtown and residential street corners, powered by generators at the new pump house at the bottom of St. George Street.
A waterworks system to provide water under pressure from the new water tower on James Street was certainly caused for celebration, particularly for the volunteer firefighters.
So homecoming 1899 was a big occasion and the St. Marys Journal describes the upcoming festivities with enthusiasm. For decoration purposes, 16 loads of evergreen branches were being delivered to the downtown area. Arches of bunting and evergreen were being erected at six major intersections.
As well as the band competitions and races, there would be tumblers, jugglers, fireworks, two hot air balloon ascensions and members of the St. Marys Cycling Club were practising a bicycle drill.
All old boys and girls were urged to register at the Journal office and, if they left their addresses, they would receive a free paper the following week with the report of the event.
And in fact, the following week's newspaper was worth reading. The reporters were sure that at least 6,000 people had visited the town.
All the events had been successful, especially the Fat Man's race, the parade, which had 50 entries (floats were sponsored by local businesses and trades) and the bicycle drill performed by 14 young men in white suits.
There had been one problem with the hot air balloon. As the balloonist was preparing for his first ascension, a big rip developed in the balloon's fabric.
However, the enterprising gentleman set out in search of a sewing machine, brought it to the site, repaired his balloon and was able to lift off in the evening. He apparently came down somewhere near Whalen.

Homecoming 1912
The next homecoming event in St. Marys, again also a firemen's convention, was 13 years later on the Civic Holiday weekend in 1912.
The Journal, again enthusiastically advertising, promised that 25 fire companies would be in town from as far away as Toronto and Niagara Falls.
Many would be bringing bands and one Toronto Company was sponsoring the appearance of the 48th Highlanders "Kiltie" band. Special trains would be running from Stratford, London and Toronto, bringing in old boys and competing firemen.
Five days of activities were planned, from Saturday to Wednesday, including band concerts, a decoration day at the cemetery, a garden party, spectacular fireworks, a flotilla and aquatic sports, athletic contests, baseball and lacrosse games, and a grand parade.
The parade route was a lengthy one. Marshalling was on the Flats, then the parade went south of Water to Park, east to Church, north to Elgin, east again to James, north to Queen and then right down through town and up the West Ward hill to the fair grounds.
In encouraging old boys to return, the Journal noted that there were six hotels in St. Marys offering accommodation as well as food and drink to satisfy the most "Cannibalistic hunger and high grade thirst."
Citizens were urged to cut their grass and prizes were offered for the best-decorated business block and residence.
In the edition following the event, the Journal stated that "Queen Street had never seen such crowds before." Everything had gone smoothly and, the paper noted with interest, many Old Boys brought their automobiles to town.
Also, "the decoration of streets, public building, stores and residences with hydro lights was a great feature."
Hydro electricity from Niagara Falls had come to St. Marys in 1911, just in time for the arrival of a new industry, the St. Marys Cement Company.
In 1912 for the Homecoming, St. Marys residents seized the opportunity to make use of this new, abundant power and strung electric lights everywhere.
The newspaper reported, for example, that William weir, a member of the Water and Light Board and an ardent booster of electricity, had hung lights all around his residence in Cadzow Park.

Homecoming 1927
There are a number of St. Marys residents who still have clear memories of the Firemen's Convention and Old Boys Reunion, July 27 to Aug. 1, 1927.
These memories usually centre on the fun and excitement in the evenings, with street dances and torch light parades. The official program for this event lists a midway and street dancing every evening except Sunday, of course.
The program also promises horse races at the fairgrounds (trot or pace -- $350 purse for each event), baseball and lacrosse, a children's parade, a band tattoo, fireworks, vaudeville acts, lawn bowling and tennis tournaments, and on Sunday evening, a sacred open-air service with massed choirs in Cadzow Park.
The whole town would be "a blaze of light and glory."
In the 15 years since the last reunion, a world war had occurred and the costs of this war to St. Marys had been high, as they had been to all of Canada.
St. Marys in the 1920s had changed. It was much less an isolated rural town and much more in tune with outside events and influences.
The advertisements in the official program booklet mention two movie theatres and three stores selling electrical appliances, one featuring the new Super-Vac Electric Washing machine, made by Maxwell's, promising to eliminate the drudgery of wash day. Radios could be purchased in two places in town, one outlet operated by an enterprising young Clifton Brown. There were six places to guy gas or get car repairs.
St. Marys Service Station, run by the Graham brothers, offered every convenience for the automating visitor, while the St. Marys Motor Company promised, "our fully experienced mechanics will be at your service day and night during Old Boys' Week."
Homecomers would be impressed by the growing size of the cement works southwest of town, and see elsewhere the influence of John G. Lind.
As chairman of the new Parks Committee, he had spearheaded the development of the children's playground in Cadzow Park, where a swimming pool had recently opened. The main streets had been paved but the Opera House has closed. It was now just another building of the Wolverton Flour Mills Company.
The edition of the Journal-Argus the week following Homecoming states cheerfully in a headline that the homecomers left behind many pleasant memories that will "fondly be cherished in days to come. "
But several smaller sidebar items indicated that perhaps a bit too much of a good time was had by some. On Friday night during the street dance, a man was pushed right through the window of the CPR ticket office on Queen Street.
On Monday night, two outhouses behind downtown buildings were destroyed by the celebrating crowds and a manure spreader was thrown into Trout Creek after being lit on fire.
Confetti littered the streets and dozens of false fire alarms were turned in over the weekend. Finally, the fire chief asked the telephone switchboard operator to check to see if the calls were genuine before ringing through to the fire department, a request that the Journal Argus reporter thought might not be very practical.

St. Marys Centennial, 1942
An event that in normal circumstances would certainly have provided an excuse for a big homecoming celebration, the 100th anniversary of the first settlers arriving in St. Marys, unfortunately came right in the middle of World War II when everyone realized that there were much more significant priorities.
Nevertheless, the anniversary was an important one. The Journal Argus devoted quite a bit of space to features on the history of the town, printing a number of old photographs and reminiscences of older citizens, and the municipal authorities felt that some ceremony should mark the occasion.
A centennial committee was formed, consisting of Mayor David White, Lou Lavelle, Vera Sclater, Lorne Eedy, K.B. Clysdale and Canon Snelgrove, and a day was set, Sunday, Sept. 13.
It was agreed that under the circumstances, the celebration should be patriotic and religious in tone, but the committee had a winning event lined up when two prominent former citizens agreed to return to town to speak.
They were Arthur Meighen, former prime minister of Canada, and Agnes Knox Black, a professional elocutionist who had won fame for her public speaking in Canada and the United States and who had been a professor of speech at Boston University.
The day began with special church services for all congregations.
At 2 p.m., a procession formed at the water tower, led by the Perth Regimental Band, and escorted by such organizations as the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, the guests of honour made their way to a platform constructed for the occasion at the Flats.
It was a warm, sunny autumn day, and, although there had been no major drive to attract homecomers, many visitors did come and a large crowd gathered.
The following week, the Journal Argus ran verbatim the speeches of Meighen and Black, along with the remarks made by Member of Parliament Fred Sanderson.
The paper's editorial agreed completely with the committee's decision to hold a low-key event and ended by "prayerfully hoping" that the war would soon be over and that "the celebration may be taken up again when, with normal facilities for travel restored, our St. Marys Old Boys and Girls may have the privilege of flocking back from all points of the compass to gather again in their beloved old Stone Town."

Andrea Macko
Staff Reporter
St. Marys Journal Argus

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