Historic Hills

When Hurricane Hazel finally blew itself out in October 1954, the damage and casualties left behind made it Ontario’s biggest weather event of the century. The flood control plans that followed were even bigger.

On the platform of a local railway car, 23-year-old David Hunter was an innocent victim in a deadly chain of events that turned deadly one evening in 1872.

The tweets and accusations of fake news in today’s media seem almost dainty compared to the Orangeville Sun’s lambasting of its rival weekly, the Orangeville Advertiser.

When The Yellow Briar was published in 1933 it hit all the right notes for a readership mired in the Great Depression.

In the winter of 1946 the people of Bolton were drawn together by an incident that began with all the ingredients of a grand farce, but ended in tragedy.

How the birth of the Dominion was celebrated in the hills.

The Victoria Cross was awarded to Canadians until 1972, when separate Canadian awards were created.

Many a table regularly offered squirrels, groundhogs and, of course, ducks and geese.

As early as August 7, the word went out to militia units across the country: Enlist as many volunteers as possible.

Not only does the Grand River lay out nature’s beauty, it also offers opportunities for recreation, commerce and development. Yet all this comes at a cost, for the Grand can be both friend and foe.

In the 19th century a weekly newspaper was the primary source of information, commerce, entertainment, argument and gossip for the people of rural Canada. Few papers did the job better than the Orangeville Sun.

There was the button that always cranked these hills beyond reason – the hint of anything Fenian.