As we rolled east
through Ontario, we decided to make a stop outside Kitchner. We
had heard that Kitchner had one of our favorite attractions and a
story was in the making, the Doon Heritage Crossroads Living
Museum, The closest thing we have found to tele-portation into
the past. These living museums allow us to see, smell and touch
the very existence of those who lived in the town or fort for
which the museum was created. The Doon Heritage Crossroads is
created as a rural community in 1914. Upon entering, we were
invited to view a short 8 minute film describing what we were
about to see. The community of Doon was situated at the
intersection of two through roads and as such gathered an
assortment of farmers and shop owners who made a living selling
their products and services to those who traveled by. Many of the
travelers would stop and create homes for themselves. It was a
time of great immigration from Europe. The Great War was just
beginning, but in Canada, life was on the upswing. Although
disease was a constant that took a heavy toll, the population
continued to grow. Land was still plentiful and work available
for the healthy and the strong. It was a happy time in Central
Ontario. The railroad now connected most rural towns. This added
to the changing population and offered an assortment of new and different
goods. Just outside the Town Hall building where the film was
showing, sat old engine 894, built in 1911, next to the 1856
train station where we bought a ticket to Toronto from a
delightful young lady who was full of all the latest gossip from
the big city. We then walked down the country lane heading for
Peter Martin's farm. Mennonites from Pennsylvania were among the
first settlers of Waterloo County. By 1914, along with others,
the Mennonite farm community had created one of the most
profitable agricultural regions in Canada. The young lady who was
in attendance took time from her writing with a long tipped pen
to explain that the Martins had 17 children. That was in addition
to the grandparents who lived in the rooms in the front half of
the house.
The rooms were big and somewhat sparse. Clothing was hung on the
walls rather than put in closets and drawers. There were two examples of quilting that
was done during that period. For our visit we found that the
house was full of third graders running everywhere. They added
the sound necessary to get a realistic feeling for life in the
house. I found, of particular interest, that in a period before
electricity, these farmers had elected to run the metal
uninsulated stove pipes through the upper bedrooms, generating
radiated heat during the night. We wandered down the lane and
over the covered bridge with its massive oak beams and planks.
For being made out of wood, these old structures held up
remarkably well, being able to support quite a bit of weight.
Rarely painted, the walls and roof were mainly to protect the
heavier flooring from destruction by the elements. On the far
side of the bridge we found the buildings of what would comprise
a small town at the turn of the century. We stopped at the Dry Goods and Grocery store
where we met Tyler Leach, an aspiring college student who was
enjoying his first year as proprietor. He explained that the Dry
goods store in a community represented the center of activity for
a small town. It was the store that most people would likely pass
through during the day. The actual building was built in 1830 and
operated by Robert Bodkin, this type of store would have been the
only source of dry goods offered to the community. As time
progressed and the railroad finally came, these stores felt the
pressure from the new catalogue industries that became available.
Mr. Bodkin, seeing his business decline, made several attempts to
combat the trend to buy through catalogues. He put in electric
lights which allowed him to stay open longer into the evening,
plus he added a phone, the only one in his community and charged
a nickel for anyone to make a call. He then put in an ice box and
sold nickel ice cream. In the end the catalogue stores were just
too powerful and the
goods too accessible, resulting in most of the local dry goods
stores closing. It was during this early part of the century that
the "cottage industries" began to pop up. Weaving,
blacksmithing, carpentry, and print shops were represented in the
various buildings that lined the streets. We stopped by the
tailor shop and talked with Justin Armstrong, a anthropology
student who has spent the last two years as proprietor of the
tailor shop. The merchant-tailor of 1914 offered both custom
services and men's clothing for sale. In addition to tailoring,
mending, cleaning, and processing , they also sold bow-ties,
collars, shorts, hats and underwear. The prices were reasonable
and the workmanship often as good as the best. Invariably, one of
the cottage industry buildings would also house the local post
office. Here most of the rural residents would maintain a mail
box or cubby hole in which incoming mail would be left. There was
great competition for this privilege as the frequency of visitors
would jump measurably after the addition of a post office. Our
final stop was at the Siebert House where Susan Streicher was
just starting up an 1897 victrola playing the soft melody of
"Dream Boat" by Bob Haring and his orchestra. This device used no
electricity to produce the sound. Just a wind up spring from a
side crank and the vibration of the needle on the record was
amplified by the use of soundboards built under the turntable.
The contrast between this house and the Mennonite house seen
earlier was quite startling. Families with more disposable income
in the early 20th century took full advantage of the consumerism
encroaching upon small rural communities. Their homes contained
many of the mass-produced goods now readily available in the
large urban centers through mail order catalogues. Enhancing the
beauty of the surroundings were lush flower gardens surrounded by
manicured lawns. It was a very pretty place. As we walked back
across the babbling brook that ran beside the town I couldn't
help thinking that all in all it seemed like it was a kinder,
less stressful existence at the beginning of the century than it
was today. If you'd like to learn more about Doon check out their
website at: http://www.region.waterloo.on.ca/doon/.
Laura