It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Pharmasave Huntsville!
This is the Kent Hotel at the corner of Brunel and Main. It was erected after the Great Fire of 1894, which destroyed the Toronto and Nipissing Hotel that once stood in its place. In 1900 owner Frank Kent added a fourth floor and put speaking tubes in all the rooms. In 1933 it was purchased by Bruce Simmons, who also owned the Dominion Hotel, and renamed the Dominion Annex. The building was demolished in 1936 after which it was the site of a Shell gas station. It is now Kent Park. (Photo: The Braund Family Collection)
Last week we shared this photo of participants in the Orange Parade on July 11, 1959, crossing Main Street at West Street.
According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, “The Orange Order was founded as a political and religious fraternal society in the Irish province of Ulster in 1795. It takes its name from the Prince of Orange, King William III, who reclaimed Britain’s Protestant monarchy when his forces defeated those of the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne, 12 July 1690…
“[In Canada] since the 1960s, several factors have contributed to a waning membership: the reality of—and members’ failure to adapt to—the growth of Canadian nationalism, a decline in the British connection, the rise of the welfare state and declining need for fraternal societies, ethnic diversity, secularization and alternative means to spend one’s free time. While the Orange Order today is multicultural, its membership has declined considerably, standing at around 5,000–6,000 people scattered throughout a few hundred lodges across the country.” Read more here.
“Huntsville Orange Parade 1959” by Elva Gardhouse, via Wikimedia Commons, is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 / Cropped from original.
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