Main photo: Huntsville’s leaders, 1886 (back from left) R.W. Godolphin, clerk; J.R. Reece, school board trustee; councillors William Proudfoot, J.W. Ecclestone, and Robert Scarlett; (from from left) councillor James Hanes, reeve Louis Kinton, and F.W. Clearwater, school board trustee (Image from Muskoka Heritage Place as printed in Huntsville: With Spirit and Resolve)
The first council of the Village of Huntsville convened on April 26, 1886 – the Huntsville wasn’t incorporated as a town until 1901 – and Mayor Scott Aitchison has suggested that the date should annually be recognized as Huntsville Day.
“I was thinking about Canada Day and what a great event it was and how many people were there,” said Aitchison, “and it occurred to me that we should celebrate Huntsville specifically and why not on the day that it was founded as a municipality.”
Chair Brian Thompson joked that he and Councillor Det Schumacher were not present at that 1886 council meeting, to laughter from the rest of the room.
According to Huntsville: With Spirit and Resolve by Susan Pryke, within their first month of office, “councillors had regulated fence and chimney construction, prohibited the firing of guns in the village, passed regulations to prevent the growth of weeds, and set rules to restrain dogs. They also passed a bylaw to preserve public morals.”
Mayor Aitchison added that he doesn’t know what the celebration might look like, but “we could talk with our partners at the BIA and the Chamber and others to get some ideas and we could turn it into an event every year.”
The committee agreed and the resolution will go before council in August for ratification.
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Our local history is extremely important. To preserve and celebrate this “First Councillors Meeting” with this vintage photo and declaring April 26th “Huntsville Day” is not only totally reasonable but only adds further depth to our Town’s interesting past….a must do!
This is an interesting idea. The summer tourists will not yet have arrived–a chance to explore and celebrate what it means to live here year round. I wonder what the council was thinking of when they passed a bylaw to preserve public morals. Alcohol? Women’s clothing? There’s usually something going on when a law like that is passed.