It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
Do you remember when Hwy 11 went straight through town? This image shows the former junction of Hwy 11 and Hwy 60, where Muskoka Rd 3 meets Hwy 60 today.
This image is likely from the late 1940s. Can you identify any of the buildings?
The Highway 11 bypass was officially opened November 27, 1959. Hwy 60 was extended west to meet the new bypass in 1973.
(Photo: Vintage Muskoka District / Facebook)
See more Wayback Wednesday photos here.
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Thank you Wendy Oke for that little slice of history. It’s great to hear about the people and the stories of their lives.
I think the log-sidded building was used by the o.p.p.
I certainly can remember that corner, as it was called Okes’ Corners, due to my husband Colin’s parents having the Oke’s Red & White grocery store at the top right. The little building to the left was the chicken coop, which they later turned into a large garage, with an apartment on top. The Okes (Verne, Edna, Colin and Pat) lived in the dark building on the left. Colin was born in 1941 and remembers stories of being kept in a dresser drawer as a first crib. They tobogganed down the hill beside the house, over the snowbank and almost into the traffic. Each day Colin and Pat walked up to Spruce Glen P.S. known then as ‘the chicken coop’. All the land surrounding Okes’ Corners had initially been owned by the Rumball family, when they owned the first Huntsville Dairy (Rumball Dairy). The parcels were divided by the offspring and the Okes, plus Alma and Gwen Rumball moved down to the lakefront, where Rogers’ Cove is now. When Edna died in 1976, Verne sold his property and moved out to the 10-acre Grassmere property.
Dave O’Haire,
Always interesdte in Huntsville’s colourful history.
Well done.
Happy Day
DOH
I remember the highway through the town . We lived in the west end and when I went to the little school there I would have to sit on the stone wall til my mom could get across to get me. Also I can’t count how many cars and trucks went off the corner, including a truck full of cows and a bull who they hitched to the tow truck to take him down to a barn at the end of town. And a Coke truck and truck full of nuts, and alot of them hit the houses on that corner. Oh the lovely memories lol.
My parents, Geoff and Mary Ascah bought the weigh scale building probably around 1964 or 65. My father had it transported across the Lake to our property at Lakedrive where it was our cabin down at the waterfront. Apparently my mom left town for the day as she was imagining the building falling through the ice and ending up as a decoration for the fish! My dad took down the chimney, numbered all the stones and rebuilt it once the building was moved. We kids often had sleepovers in the cabin. It was great having a fire during the winter as we skated on the lake. The other room was used to store boating, swimming and fishing equipment. The house was sold in 2017 and as of the summer of 2020, the cabin was still down by the waterfront.
Personally I don’t remember the intersection but I do remember the traffic through town during the summers and checking out all the different license plates. Of course I didn’t drive in those days so didn’t really pay much attention to the traffic jams. A lot of people were concerned about taking the highway around the town and how it might affect the downtown businesses. I was last visiting Huntsville in the fall of 2019 and the downtown continues to be a great place!
The Log building at Hwy. 60 was the old scales, it later got moved into town.
The small log building on the right was the weigh- scale of the day and the larger flat roofed building behind it and across the road was Okes’ general store.
Traffic here could be spectacular when there was a long weekend or in autumn with the fall colors.
Over the years there were a few businesses operated from the little circular drive on the left of the photo. For me the most important, was Tink Kendrics’ bait shop. After we were married, Tricia and I would stop there on our way to our camp, because Tinks’ was one of the few places we could find chocolate pop.
Back in the day. Sigh.
I remember it before the 60 extension but don’t remember the log building on the right or the other ones . the Satelite restaurant was there at one time.