It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
The “Little Town Band” that Grew and Grew. Anglo Canadian Leather Company Band (1915-1926) at the Susan Street bandstand, Huntsville, Ontario.
C.O. Shaw, the owner of the Anglo Canadian Leather Company, had recruited men from the village of Meana DeSusa in Italy to work for him. One of the immigrants, Vincenzo Grosso, a cornet player, taught some of his coworkers some music and formed a makeshift band. Shaw was impressed by their talent and offered to supply music and instruments to the men to give them a “useful” pastime while off-duty. The band grew in size and Shaw, a cornet player himself, eventually invited Herbert L. Clarke, who was considered the greatest cornet soloist in North America and at that time was the assistant director with John Philip Sousa’s band, to Huntsville to hear the Anglo Canadian Leather Company band. Clarke signed a contract to become the leader of the band in 1918. The band had mandatory rehearsals twice a week—a doctor’s certificate was the only acceptable excuse for absence—and under Clarke’s direction became famous across North America. Clarke continued as the band’s leader until 1923, and it was disbanded in September 1926. (Photo courtesy of Muskoka Digital Archives. Details from Huntsville: With Spirit and Resolve, by Susan Pryke.)
Muskoka Digital Archives is a project of the Huntsville Public Library and Bracebridge Public Library in cooperation with the Muskoka Parry Sound Genealogy Group.
See more Wayback Wednesday photos here.
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