Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty, with family roots of more than 100 years in Huntsville
The Huntsville Forester, from 1877 to 2005 (when it was sold to Metroland Media Group), was inducted into the Huntsville Sports Hall of Fame at a special ceremony held on September 20, 2025, at the Algonquin Theatre. Below, from the Huntsville Sports Hall of Fame program, from left, editor Ed Van Duuren and publishers Peter Rice, H.E. Rice, Paul Rice, and Elizabeth Rice.
Excerpts from the Huntsville Sport Hall of Fame.
For over 125 years, The Huntsville Forester, established in 1877, was Huntsville’s principal weekly newspaper, deeply rooted in the local community fabric.
Passed down through five generations of the Rice family, the Forester owes its success to a few guiding principles established by the founders, Harmon E. Rice and George Hutcheson Sr.
H.E, as he was fondly called by everyone who knew him, believed that the pages of a community newspaper should reflect the community it serves; should be full of pictures and the names of people and their achievements; should be accessible and affordable; and that in a small town the personal element is so strong that much harm can be done by swinging an editorial sledge hammer, rather, gentle suggestion, support and guidance are far more affective.
It is often said locally, “If it happened in Huntsville, you read about it in The Forester; if it didn’t happen right, you read about it there too.”
Over time, the paper adapted to changes: adding more pages, offering specialty publications, and co-publishing local weeklies and district-level editions.
The last print edition of The Huntsville Forester was published on September 14, 2023, and marked the end of an era in local journalism for Huntsville. Many communities across Ontario and Canada are facing similar transitions.
The end of the print edition was part of a larger decision by its parent company, Metroland Media Group, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation, which:
- Filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2023.
- Announced that it would cease printing all 71 of its community newspapers and move entirely to a digital-only model.
- Laid off over 600 employees across Ontario as part of this shift.
However, The Huntsville Forester archives remain a rich treasure trove for local historians, genealogists, and anyone researching Muskoka’s social and cultural past. You can find the archives at the Huntsville Public Library.
Do you have interesting photos to share of days gone by? We’d love to see them! Email: [email protected]
See more Wayback Wednesday photos HERE.
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Sad and disrespectful that Metroland silently published the final Forester with no commemoration or recognition. Good to acknowledge it at this event and in this Doppler item. And it’s good there is an archive.