Rych Mills
WR Record
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Past articles by Rych:
Flash From the Past: Enjoy some village post office teasers from long ago Waterloo County
Let’s play post office today on Flash from the Past. Not the kissing game but the guessing game. Here are six 19th- and 20th-century vintage photographs of Waterloo County village post offices, at least one from each of the five original townships. Unlike the larger county towns, there were no massive brick buildings with soaring clock towers and bells ringing out the hours. Village stores,… → Read More
More than a token, coin-like discs helped small firms prosper
In local auctions, estate sales, antiques malls, social media groups and nostalgia shows, metal coin-like items sometimes appear, labelled “tokens.” Those bearing local business names are eagerly grabbed by collectors. Tokens served several purposes, originally promoting small businesses in the early 20th century. By mid-century, they had a different role: bakeries and dairies offering home… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Waterloo County did have one world-renowned mansion
Over the past three weeks Flash From the Past has peeked at several local homes that could be labelled wannabe mansions. However, one Waterloo County estate home was a true mansion by any standard. Cruickston Park sits off what people once called the back way to Galt, but is now officially Blair Road. Two names bestowed in the 19th century along that road continue to evoke stunning architectural… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Remembering prominent early Berliners through their homes
Two fine 19th-century Berlin houses — mansions of their time — continue a Flash from the Past peek at a few lavish homes of the era. The railway came to Berlin in 1856, and things forever changed — Berlin would no longer be just a straggling village in the middle of nowhere. One of the men who brought that railway line here was Henry F.J. Jackson, son of an English watchmaker. Henry came to… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Cycling pioneers contended with rutted roads, one-gear bikes
The Flash from the Past series that’s been looking at early Waterloo County cycling wraps up with five area cyclists and their two-wheelers. Photo 1 Let’s start with the Markwart girls — Clara, left, born in Ontario in 1901 and Olga, right, born in Germany in 1897 — who lived with parents Ludwig and Amalea at 169 Heiman St. near the outskirts of Berlin. Not far away, at 409 Mill St., lived… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Reunions once celebrated our communities’ histories
The year 1857 was quite a year in Hamburgh, a.k.a. Hamburg and, finally, New Hamburg. The hamlet surrounding the annually infamous Nith River meander was taking the big step of applying for incorporation as a village. Residents wanted to separate from the Township of Wilmot and thus control most of their own affairs with a reeve and council to oversee firefighting, bridge building, road… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Berlin’s House of Refuge was one of first in the province
Canada was not yet a country; Ontario was just a word the Hurons used to describe a big lake — it was 1866. The United Provinces of Canada (Canada West and Canada East), our governing body at the time, passed the first of many social betterment laws that have gone on to fill our legislative history. Counties with more than 20,000 residents were required to erect and operate a House of Industry… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Kitchener City Hall: 50 years of life, then 50 years a memory
It is mid-2022 and Flash From the Past is lured back a full century … and a half-century. In both mid-1922 and mid-1972, people in Kitchener were excited about their city hall: in 1922 it was anticipatory excitement; in 1972 it was fractious excitement. A century ago, the architects’ plans were approved, tenders issued, contractors chosen and an outdated, outworn 53-year-old 1869 building was… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Serving North Dumfries in the 19th, 20th, 21st centuries
A 20-page booklet purchased several years ago has led to this week’s Flash From the Past: its title could well be an alternate for this column — “Glimpses of the Past.” Published in 1957, it commemorated the centennial of North Dumfries Township SS #19, better known as Stone School. The booklet’s frontispiece immediately rang a bell. I had seen that building numerous times on what I knew as… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Taking a different look at the Township Teasers
If you saved your Township Teasers page from the April 9 print edition or if you go to the web, you can compare those five Waterloo County images to this week’s photographs. The first image shows Wellesley Township’s St. Clements. The original early 20th-century view looks east along what is now called Lobsinger Line. In the distance soars the spire of St. Clement’s Roman Catholic Church. Note… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Lexington airport is just a memory — except for readers’ photos
Past’s airfield story began as a two-part focus … like Topsy, it grew! This fifth chapter is photo-centric, thanks to reader involvement. Image 1: The first photo came from Harold Russell, who does not recall where he obtained it. However, it so well captures what Lexington Airport meant that I beg forgiveness if it is from a local archive. In it, thousands of people have shown up for… → Read More
Flash from the Past: Lexington airport legs out its last decade
Lexington airport, more properly Kitchener-Waterloo Municipal Airport, was not sidelined during the Second World War. Even with limits on private flying and it not being an official British Commonwealth Air Training Plan base, Lexington remained quite active. From the nearest BCATP field at Goderich, flying instructors (several were relocated K-W Flying Club personnel) often had students use… → Read More
Flash from the Past: After his airfield, Fred Gillies helped build an airport
Flash from the Past introduced readers to an almost-forgotten local aviation pioneer last week. In 1926, Fred Gillies opened Kitchener’s first landing field at Sunnyside just outside the city limits. Over the next few years, Gillies Air Service (GAS) provided flying instruction, aerial photography and passenger flights. That story mentioned several local men, including Fred, who had been… → Read More
Flash From the Past: In law and medicine, the Bowlbys led Berlin forward
Not many books have the phrase “Edition De Luxe/For Free Private Circulation.” on their title page. Ward Bowlby’s 1902 “A Canadian’s Travels in Egypt” does. But then, Ward H. Bowlby, K.C. was not your ordinary author and the Bowlbys were not your ordinary family. This week, Flash from the Past introduces Berlin’s Bowlby brothers, Ward and David. Next week Cameron Shelley spotlights Guelph. Then… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Old Kitchener street names live in concrete.
Street names are a given of life … they’re omnipresent on street corner poles and maps even though most of the time we don’t need the information. Seldom do we give a second thought to the stories behind street names, stories that often link us to the earliest days of settlement. In some cases, names are obvious and the story is straightforward. For instance, on both the earliest and the latest… → Read More
Sudden decision at Waterloo College caused little opposition
Flash From the Past: Sudden decision at Waterloo College caused little opposition → Read More
Flash From the Past: Kitchener’s multi-tasking Victoria Park boathouse
A boathouse … is a boathouse … is a football dressing room … is a skaters’ change room … is a concession stand … is a folk music club … is a blues bar … is a bricks ’n’ beam restaurant … is … empty. The boathouse in Kitchener’s Victoria Park has been many things over its 92 years but currently sits forlorn and vacant, severed from the lake it sat alongside for eight decades-plus. Long ago, this… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Small towns were big boasters on century old postcards
Let’s have some fun with postcards in this week’s Flash from the Past. Postcards make up a large part of any local historical photo collection — often, they are the only surviving images of long-gone buildings, streetscapes, parks, events, etc. But there is a “whole ’nuther side” to postcards from a century or so ago. In many smaller towns and villages there was no local photographer, newspaper… → Read More
Flash From the Past: Music lifted Waterloo spirits in the Dirty 30s
Band tattoos and celebrations had been held sporadically in Waterloo well before 1932. However, following that year’s triumphant spectacular, a series of annual band festivals greatly boosted the town’s profile. Professor Charles F. Thiele’s vision, drive and passion made Waterloo’s festivals the best in the country. In hindsight, Thiele’s 1930s’ festivals can also be seen as a beacon of cheer… → Read More
Flash From The Past: Foundries helped found Kitchener’s industrial strength
Kitchener’s core abounds in streets that once sported different names. In 2021, no one alive ever walked down Railway Street. Who recalls Styx, Wilmot, Albert, Short, Elgin, Charon, Edward, Alma, John, Factory, Dan and Kaiser to name just a dozen? You can puzzle over them for a few weeks (no prizes!) and then we’ll uncover those historical street adjustments. Missing from, but belonging on, the… → Read More