It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Pharmasave Huntsville!
This is Huntsville High and Public School at the corner of Caroline and Centre streets, ca. 1918. The school was where the current Huntsville Public School playground is today. The school was designed by William Proudfoot and built by W.G. Hunt for a cost of $15,000. The 12-room brick building opened May 8, 1905. It was demolished in May 1967. All that remains today is the bell and bell tower, which rest at the entrance of Muskoka Heritage Place. (Photo and details courtesy of Muskoka Digital Archives.)
Last week we shared this photo:
This is Blackburn’s Marina, on the Muskoka River just north of the swing bridge, which you can see at the far right of the photo. (Photo courtesy of Muskoka Heritage Place)
Gibb Murdy shared with us that he “used to drive a fuel truck to deliver boat gas, had to keep the tank full when the river was high so the tank didn’t pop out of the ground, early 80s.”
Franklin Newhart noted that “there used to be a whole cottage motor court there as well. Don’t remember the name.”
Thanks for these memories!
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Glad to see some of grandfather Hunt’s accomplishments recognized.
I remember this school building.
My Father went there but in those days he had to board with someone in Huntsville because there was no way, at least in winter, that he could travel from Dwight to Huntsville on a daily basis for school.
Think on this fact the next time you blast off for Costco in Orilla in your two ton diesel powered SUV with more onboard electronics than the 1969 Apollo Moon rocket had, to get those ‘necessary bargains’ in an afternoon shopping spree to support those Chineses manufacturers.
Heck, I remember it was about an hour long ride, each way (but not always uphill) to get from Dwight to Huntsville in the 50’s. We have no idea how good our current roads actually are.
Anyway, when they tore down this school building I remember that for the longest time there was a huge boiler that used to heat the place that just sort of sat there on the demolition site. I guess they had trouble moving it or maybe even deciding what to do with it but it finally vanished to leave the playground of today. A non useful fact of no particular importance but that is what stuck in my memory.