The Month That Was – June 1922

All articles originally appeared in the Ontario Reformer

June 1, 1922, page 1
Wm. Culling Quits The Police Force
Mr. William Culling who for the past two years has been a member of the Oshawa Police Force, has resigned his position and will confine his attention to his business at Oshawa-on-the-Lake where he conducts an ice cream parlor. Mr. Herbert Flintoff, an Oshawa man has accepted the position and commenced upon his new duties this morning. Mr. Flintoff is well known here and should make a valuable acquisition to Chief of Police Friend’s staff.

Page 2
Spend Your Money in Oshawa
The “Buy-in Oshawa” campaign, in which several local merchants are co=operating for the net ten days, got away to an excellent start this morning. It is right that it should, and its popularity may be expected to increase each day.

During these ten days the merchants will make an earnest effort to convince skeptics that by buying in Oshawa they are not only being local to the merchants and the town, but to themselves. The merchants are offering big values for the prices asked, and The Reformer believes that if fair-minded persons, who have been buying considerable quantities of goods in Toronto, will only give the stores a fair trial more money will be kept in Oshawa in the future…

Be loyal to your community. Take advantage of the splendid prices offered in local stores. Profit by your experience in so doing, and help make it an even better down in which to live.

3 Jun 1922, p. 3
Building Forty Cellars
Mayor Stacey is constructing Cellars under forty houses this season, most of the on Verdun Road, and in that vicinity. The mayor stated last evening that he has had numerous enquires for houses in the past few weeks, more in fact than for some years at this season.

Ontario Reformer, 6 Jun 1922, p. 4

Butter Down, Eggs Up
Butter has been 45¢ a pound on Oshawa market for over a year, but this morning found Mrs. Oshawa Housewife able to buy the product at 35¢., the reason being the abundant supply, far greater than the demand. But when one product comes down in price another goes up. It was ever thus, and so 35¢ a dozen was asked for eggs, after the prevailing price of many weeks of 30¢. There was an abundant supply of rhubarb at 5¢ and 10¢ a bunch, and some potatoes at 35¢ a basket. A few chickens flew away at 35¢ a pound.

8 Jun 1922, p. 2
Editorial Comment
If the town of Oshawa were in the dairy business, it would have some splendid pasture for cattle along the sides of the roads on the outskirts of the municipality. However, as there is no possibility of this kind of public ownership being entered into, the Council could considerable improve the appearance of the town by having this long grass cut.

Ontario Reformer, 13 Jun 1922, p. 1

13 Jun 1922, p. 1, 2
Town Should Have Dead Fish Buried
Suggested that Boys Be Paid to Gather Shiners Up To Be Destroyed
Summer residents at Oshawa-on-the-Lake, and visitors to Lakeview Park, have been complaining for some weeks past of the fishy odor from the thousands of decaying shiners along the shore. Oshawa has fared no better nor no worse than other places along the north shore of lake Ontario, but that does not make the visits of Oshawa people to the lakeshore any more enjoyable. The presence of the dead fish, coupled with the odor, has interfered with the bathing all along the lakeshore…

Messrs Wm. Culling and James Smith, having sandy beaches in front of their property at Oshawa-on-the-Lake raked the dead fish together and buried them. The suggestion was made to The Reformer that the council or the Park Board should direct the cleaning up of the fish in from of Lakeview Park….

Ontario Reformer, 15 Jun 1922, p. 2

20 Jun 1922, p. 1
Mel Thompson To Manage New Martin Theatre
Mr. Mel Thompson, who is known to many Oshawa people as having been business manager for Mr. Ernie Marks, has been appointed resident manager of The New Martin Theatre. Mr. Thompson comes to Oshawa from the Orillia News Letter and before coming here, besides acting as business manager for Mr. Marks for eight seasons, was connected with various amusement companies in Chatham, Owen Sound and other cities. He has had wide experience in the theatrical business and Oshawa theatre patrons will be pleased to learn of his appointment. Mr. Thompson states that during this coming summer he intends to introduce the cold blast ventilating system which, he states will make the auditorium of the theatre comfortably cool on even the warmest days.

Ontario Reformer, 20 Jun 1922, p. 2

22 Jun 1922, p. 1
Mr GW McLaughlin Gives Union Cemetery To Town of Oshawa, Also $500 Toward Its Upkeep
Part Of Cash Gift Is To Be Used To Defray Cost of Moving Bodies of Veterans Into Plot Set Aside For Soldiers’ Graves
COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY ACCEPTS OFFER AND VOICES APPRECIATION
The Union Cemetery, between Whitby and Oshawa, will become the property of the Town of Oshawa on July 1. This splendid gift was made formally to the Town Council, in special session, last night by Mr. George W McLaughlin, who has secured all the stock of the present holding company. Needless to say, the offer was speedily accepted, and the Town Clerk was unanimously instructed to write Mr. McLaughlin expressing the sincere thanks of the corporation.

Mr. McLaughlin also gives $500 to be used as a nucleus for a fund to administer the property. Part of this money he suggests be used to move bodies of soldiers to the veterans’ plot.

There are about 30 acres in the cemetery, the part of it on the south side of the Toronto and Eastern tracks only having been opened. How the cemetery will be governed by the Town has yet to be decided…

Ontario Reformer, 24 Jun 1922, p. 1

24 Jun 1922, p. 1
$90,000 IS BUILDING FUND OBJECTIVE OF ST.GEORGE’S CHURCH
Campaign To Be Launched at Congregational Meeting Monday Night
HAVE $11,000 ON HAND
Aim to Raise $23,000 Day for Three Days—Teams Chosen
With an objective of $90,000, exclusive of the cash on hand the members of St. George’s Anglican Church on Tuesday start a campaign for the raising of the funds necessary for the erection of the proposed new memorial church. The canvass of the congregation will extend over Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with a daily objective of about $23,000. The foundation of the church on Centre Street will be completed next Thursday and if the campaign is successful it is the intention of the committee in charge to let the contract for the superstructure this year…

At the present time the congregation has on hand something around $11,000, which was realized by the sale of the old property. Besides this amount there is a fund which has been built up by various organizations in the church during the past few years with the object of assisting in the erection of the church. This money, most of which has been raised by the women, will be devoted to furnishing the church.

Nearly every window in the proposed edifice has already been spoken for by some member or friend of the congregation who intends to make a memorial to some departed one, but at the present time no names are available for publication in this connection…

27 Jun 1922, p. 2
Boy Scouts Have A Splendid Hike
An enthusiastic troop of boy scouts participated in the despatch (sic) run and hike held Saturday afternoon under Boy Scout auspices to Edmundson’s Woods at Tooley’s Mill. The boys were in charge of Mr. Chapman, Honorary Scoutmaster, and Assistant Scoutmaster Jas. Lovell. Several of the boys participated in the cooking contests, after which all had a swim.

On Dominion Day, next Saturday, the scouts will hold an all-day hike to the same locality, in all probability, when about thirty boys will be in attendance. The boys are now aiming at passing the tests for a First Class scout and will try some of these next Saturday. After the First Class Scouts come the Kin’s Scouts, and some of the Oshawa boys already have this class in view.

Ontario Reformer, 29 Jun 1922, p. 10

29 Jun 1922, p. 1
No Mail Delivery On Dominion Day
On Dominion Day, July 1, which falls next Saturday, the General Delivery and Registered Letter wickets of the Oshawa Post Office will be open between the hours of nine and eleven o’clock in the morning. Stamps may be procured at the General Delivery wicket at that time.

There will be no delivery of mail by letter-carrier on that date and only one collection of mail from the street letter boxes. This collection will be at five o’clock in the afternoon. All outgoing mails will be despatched as usual.

Sunnyside

By Lisa Terech, Community Engagement

Located in central Oshawa, there is a modest park named Sunnyside which features greenspace, a playground, a ball diamond, and a clubhouse. Many parks around the city have their names derived from streets they are located on or local people who are influential with the area development. I had never given much thought to the name of Sunnyside Park until summer 2022 when two instances came across my desk.

Sunnyside Park, November 2022

While digitizing a collection of glass plate negatives, our Registrar Kes came across references to Sunnyside. This collection was related to the Albert Street Church and the Mission associated with it. Established by Alfred Schofield as early as 1907, the mission was named Sunnyside. In a column that appeared in The Christian Guardian, Rev. Henry H. Manning talked about the mission and the people it served who are “living in a section of the town of Oshawa known as Sunnyside.” One thing that is unclear is if the area was known as Sunnyside before the mission, or if the area became known as Sunnyside due to the mission. There was a house on Stacey Street which was used for mission work and a Sunday School, and it was, reportedly, called Sunnyside Hall. Finally, there is one photograph in that collection of glass plate negatives which is identified as “Mission Park, Sunnyside, May 24.”

Mission Park, Sunnyside, May 24; Oshawa Museum archival collection (A996.13.51)

Shortly after learning about Sunnyside and the Albert Street Church, I came across the second instance of the name Sunnyside.

I was listening to a recorded interview with a man named Howard Stacey, the nephew of builder and Oshawa Mayor John Stacey. The interviewer asked him many questions about the building of Staceyville (the area around Olive Avenue), about the city’s growth through the years, and about his family.

To get more information about the neighbourhood around Olive, the interviewer asked, “Now was there a park in there called Summerside or Sunnyside?” and Mr. Stacey replied,

“Oh, Sunnyside. Sometimes it was called Sunnyside. After Staceyville some people got kind of fed up with Staceyville and… they elevated the name Sunnyside to get away from Staceyville. It was always some that felt they wanted Sunnyside instead of Staceyville, that’s the way it is.”

These seem to be the only two references to a ‘Sunnyside’ neighbourhood in the archives. There is scant information about the park in the Parks subject files, and there appears to be no information about the Sunnyside Neighbourhood Association.

While it might be unclear exactly when the Sunnyside Park began, in 1922, the Ontario Reformer reported “installation of some playground equipment in the new Sunnyside Park” was addressed at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Park Commissioners in 1922.

During the 1940s, there was talk of new playground equipment, courtesy of the Kinsmen Club and also talk of expanding the park, which was “referred to the Town Planning Commission for consideration” (Daily Times-Gazette, 29 Apr 1947, p 1).

Sunnyside Park, November 2022

In 1967, the Oshawa Times reported that Sunnyside Park was larger around the turn of the century than it was in the Centennial year as church league baseball was played there. It reportedly “extended both north and east of its present boundaries and included the area that is now Stacey Avenue, James Street and the portion of Drew Street, north of the ‘Olive Avenue Terraces.’”

Recently, the City of Oshawa announced plans to refurbish ten city parks, Sunnyside included, and proposed changes include replacement playground equipment, site furnishings, tree plantings, and naturalization areas.

Clubhouse at Sunnyside Park, November 2022

References:

Campbell, George H. “King’s Field, Sunnyside, Prospect, Neighborhood Parks Of Their Day.” Oshawa Times, June 24, 1967. 3G.

“Commission Will Ask Council For Half Mill To Improve The Parks.” Ontario Reformer, February 11, 1922. 1.

Manning, H. M. “A Needy Community—South Oshawa Mission.” The Christian Guardian, February 19, 1913. 28.

Pogue, Barry R. The Church With A Challenge: The Story of the South Oshawa Methodist Mission and Albert Street United Church. 1997.

https://connectoshawa.ca/sunnyside

Street Name Stories – The Stacey Streets

Adapted from Oshawa Historical Society’s Historical Information Sheet

John Stacey came to Canada, from Devonshire England, in 1872 at the age of 5.  His family settled on a farm in Courtice.  When he was 15 years old his father met with an accident which left him an invalid.  John took over the responsibility of the farm and caring for his 11 siblings. 

The Stacey Brothers, c. 1925. Back row: Henry, Walter, Samuel. Front Row: Edward, William, John & Charles. Oshawa Museum archival collection (A000.2.1)

In 1907 John Stacey entered civic life as an alderman.  Over the next 36 years he was to serve Oshawa as Alderman, Deputy Reeve, Chairman of Public Utilities Commission and Mayor from 1919-22 and again in 1936.  As a politician and property owner he campaigned on a platform of “Straight Business and Fair Play for the Interests of the Town and Taxpayer.”  A frugal man, John Stacey did not believe in unnecessary expenditure.  He was, however able to maintain a balance of thrift and needful spending, for the betterment of Oshawa.  In his position as a civic administrator, he played a major role in many improvements to Oshawa’s parks, roads and sewers, including Oshawa’s first paved surface as Chairman of Public Works in 1909.

In addition to his many years in public service, John Stacey contributed much to Oshawa in a professional capacity as a stonemason and builder, building over 700 homes and manufacturing facilities such as the McLaughlin Carriage Company Building, the Fittings Ltd., and the T. Eaton Company (later Alger Press Building / OnTechU’s 61 Charles St building).

Staceyville, c. 1910. Oshawa Museum archival collection (A980.5.7)

As a builder he worked on the “assembly line” principle.  He employed many men to speed up the process while still maintaining high standards of workmanship.  He claimed to have built 60 houses in 59 days for the Ontario Malleable Iron Co., and indeed many of these houses still stand today in the area of Albert Street and Front Street, a testament to these high standards.  He also built 100 houses in 90 days along the Don River in Toronto.  Perhaps his most well-known buildings are the terraces on Olive Avenue in the area that became known as Staceyville.

John Stacey died on February 18, 1949, aged 82.  In his eulogy the Rev. J.K. Moffatt said of Stacey “he was a man to whom life was a very full and rich experience, who knew in perhaps greater measure than most people the meaning of the words of God when he spoke of Abundant Life.” He is interred inside the Union Cemetery Mausoleum.

Stacey family crypt stones, inside the Oshawa Union Cemetery Mausoleum, 2022.

The Stacey family home was at 471 Simcoe Street South, at Elena Ave.  Elena Avenue is just one of the streets named for members of John Stacey’s family.

• Stacey Avenue takes its name from the family’s surname.
• The names of his children, Eldon, Elena, and Emma, are all streets in Oshawa, although Eldon Street was later renamed to Banting Avenue.
• John’s first wife’s maiden name was Hogarth, another street, found just off Albert. There were a few marriages between Staceys and Hogarths.
• John’s nephew, Howard Stacey, claimed Barrie Avenue’s name was inspired by his mother’s maiden name, Newberry.
• John had a niece named Olive Christina Isabelle Smith (1907 – 1926), and Olive Avenue was named for her.

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References:

Howard Stacey Interview, 1981; Oshawa Museum archival collection, audio collection.

The Vindicator, December 30, 1910.

The Vindicator, April 7, 1911

The Oshawa Times-Gazette, January 31, 1948.

The Oshawa Times-Gazette, February 22, 1949.

The Oshawa Times, May 24, 1961.

The Oshawa Times, September 19, 1967.

A Good Citizen-City of Oshawa Retirement Testimonial Brochure, 1944.