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Historic Hills

On Stage Tonight!

Nov 22, 2019 | Ken Weber

Live entertainment flourished in these hills a century and more ago. Before new technologies like the cinema changed everything, the stages of our local town halls were filled with performances that appealed to every taste.

Orangeville’s Very Own Solomon: Magistrate Joseph Pattullo

Sep 16, 2019 | Ken Weber

From the mid-1870s until 1925, magistrate Joseph Pattullo had to pass sentence on a range of human foible and sin. The record suggests he usually judged the accused with fairness and sensitivity.

No Easy Way to the Promised Land

Jun 20, 2019 | Ken Weber

Getting to Upper Canada took determination – and good luck.

The More Things Change …

Mar 19, 2019 | Ken Weber

In spring 1911, four wardens from neighbouring counties sat down for an informal chat. Their conversation here is imaginary, but the issues they discussed were the hot topics of the day – and eerily familiar.

Dufferin County’s Jail

Nov 20, 2018 | Ken Weber

With the notable exception of inmates charged with vagrancy (more on this later), the vast majority of time served at Dufferin County Jail was measured in days, weeks or a few months.

Hurricane Hazel’s Place in Headwaters’ History

Sep 18, 2018 | Ken Weber

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.

I am shot!

Jun 19, 2018 | Ken Weber

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.

An 1870 Media Battle over “Fake News”

Mar 26, 2018 | Ken Weber

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.

Yellow Briar

Nov 22, 2017 | Ken Weber

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

A Community Mourns

Sep 16, 2017 | Ken Weber

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.

July 1, 1867

Jun 21, 2017 | Ken Weber

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

For Valour

Mar 20, 2017 | Ken Weber

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