not to mention Flint’s sawmill. Billa Flint, in a letter to the editor of the Weekly Intelligencer in 1879, described Belleville as it was in 1829:
“Fifty years ago, I arrived in Belleville on the steamer, Sir James Kent. Fifty years ago, there was not one foot of sidewalk in town, not a drain to carry off the surplus water, and but one bridge, and that a poor one, over the river on Bridge Street. Fifty years ago, there were but two two-storey brick houses and both burned long ago. Fifty years ago, there was one dilapidated schoolhouse with a large mudhole in front all through the rainy season. There were no brick buildings on Front Street, and of the wooden ones only three showed of white and one of yellow paint.”
In 1857 the Belleville Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopalian Church as a centre for higher Christian education, was opened. In 1866 it was named Albert College and became a university, with the full authority to grant degrees, in 1867. The women’s school was called Alexander College. In 1884 the College reverted to a secondary school and was finally destroyed by fire in 1917. A new Gothic stone structure replaced it.
Another educational establishment to open in Belleville was the Ontario Business College, established in 1865, attended by students from far and wide. Lieutenant Governor Howland opened a provincial school for deaf children in 1870. Known today as Sir James Whitney School, it has become one of the largest and best institutes of its kind in North America.
On January 1, 1878, the village was incorporated as a city. The population was greater than 11,000, and Alexander Robertson served as the city’s first mayor.
Belleville has experienced several floods in the past century during spring breakup.
Archives of Ontario
Belleville experienced the great flood of 1866, the worst one in the city’s history. Hundreds of families living on both sides of the river were forced to abandon their homes. The lower section of the city, known as Sawdust Flats, suffered the greatest damage. The water took several days to subside, and the streets of Belleville were covered with debris, ice, and driftwood.
A similar disaster occurred on March 12, 1936, when, once again, the Moira River overflowed. More than 60 acres were submerged and several days of rescue and salvage operations were necessary. Huge chunks of ice littered the streets and inventories were destroyed in the lower levels of businesses on Front Street.
Like many communities who ultimately exhausted their timber resources, Belleville’s industry declined in the 1870s. Sawmills and lumber manufacturing plants closed down and it wasn’t until the 1920s that new industries moved in. Finally, in the late 1940s, Belleville experienced a post-war economic boom.
Belleville is a quiet, modest town. Humble beginnings have given this place a gift. Two women alone in the wilderness with a child established a tradition of quiet strength. These are things that you can feel when you walk down Belleville’s streets — peace and quiet, friendliness, a sense of history, and the permanence that comes from strength and determination.
Brighton
Mention Brighton, Ontario, and apples come to mind. This small community on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, just 8 miles west of Trenton, is quite renowned for its apple industry.
The cultivation of apple trees for harvesting can be traced back to Italy some 200 years ago. Thirty known varieties were grown and eventually introduced into other countries. The seeds of European apples were brought to Ontario by French settlers in the early 17th century.
Have you ever heard of Johnny Appleseed?
The main character in this story was John Chapman, a farm lad, who attended a term or two at Harvard College and then headed west. As early as 1801, Johnny saw settlers crossing the Ohio River and constructing cabins in a fertile wilderness; fertile, maybe, but devoid of fruit trees. Legend says that he carried the word of the Bible and also carried apple seeds. Johnny planted nurseries by streams for the benefit of the settlers who would follow. Frontiersmen carried seed pouches he had given them, and with those seeds they planted orchards as far west as Iowa.
Shortly after 1776, United Empire Loyalists arrived in Upper Canada with seeds and seedlings already acclimatized in North America. It was a Scottish immigrant, John McIntosh, who introduced a superior apple to Ontario. McIntosh had left New York State to settle in Dundela, Ontario, where he transplanted 20 wild-apple seedlings. His wife, Hannah, tended to the orchard with loving care, especially one particular tree. The grandchildren noticed this and called the fruit of this special tree “Granny’s apple.”
Many of the apple varieties that the pioneers grew no longer exist. It was reported that in 1892 one could choose from more than 878 varieties of apples. For example, the Alexander apple was introduced into England from Russia in 1817. The Fameuse or Snow apple was grown in the Province of Quebec with seeds from France. The Golden Russett came from New York State. The Ontario (a Wagner and Spy cross) came from Paris, Ontario, and the early Transparent from St. Petersburg.
In 1853, the average size of a farm in Brighton was 100 acres. Pioneer families raised cows and chickens and grew grain. Their apple orchards were usually located close to their buildings. Most of the yield from the orchard was used by the family. The apples that were dried over the kitchen stove were often taken to the general store and bartered for other goods.
Brighton’s first settler was a United Empire Loyalist by the name of Obediah Simpson, who arrived there in 1796. There were other Loyalist families who followed him and many immigrants from the British Isles. They called their community Singleton’s Corners.
When a road was built from York (Toronto) to Kingston in 1816, Singleton’s Corners began to grow. John Kemp opened the first store, and John Singleton took the job of postmaster for the locality. The name of the community was later changed to Brighton.
By 1850 the first doctor arrived to serve the population of 500. A small schoolhouse was opened on Main Street and the first newspaper, the Brighton Sentinel, was published on February 23, 1853, by Alexander Begg, a settler from Scotland. One of the early issues of the paper contained a feature article on how to restore an old orchard. The writer recommended putting lime and manure around the trees and growing corn and potatoes under them. It also described how to prune to open up the centre of the apple tree and how to graft new varieties on existing trees.
Two other papers would follow: the Brighton Weekly Flag in 1855 and the Brighton Ensign in 1870. Brighton was incorporated as a village on March 24, 1859.
In 1853 H. Ganetsee established a commercial nursery, which had apple, cherry, and other fruit trees for sale. The first apple orchard, 3.2 kilometres (two miles) east of Brighton, was established with seeds brought from New York State in the early 1830s by Mr. John F. Sherman.
John Sherman was a blacksmith by trade, and worked in the villages of Warkworth and Brighton until 1845, when he chose to settle on a farm east of Brighton and plant his first orchard. Frederick W. Sherman was the last member of that family to operate an orchard on the property. When he died in March 1964, the orchards were sold, and the land was used for other purposes.
In the early days, Brighton needed a lawyer to oversee commerce. John Eyre was that ambitious man. Eyre assisted in founding the Union Agricultural Joint Stock Company at Clark’s Hotel in 1873 and served one term as a member of Parliament. Circa 1880, he built a magnificent three-storey Georgian house, complete with a full basement, triple brick walls, open porches to the east and west sides, and turreted tower. This home, situated on Highway
