Fact & Fantasy: A History of Tavistock & District Public Services - Page 58

TRUCKS AND AUTOMOBILES - LIBRARY

C.P.R. Agents at J. G. Fields

C.P.R. AGENTS
J. G. Field and J. V. Field
The calendar is open at June 1933.

Trucks and Automobiles
The G.T.R. freight strike took place on July 28, 1910. The shops at Stratford shut down. Nothing moved along the rails of the G.T.R. Exporters in Tavistock had to move their freight goods by team to Innerkip to catch the C.P.R.

By August of that year, truck deliveries were taking over. They ensured fast and cheap service - so The Gazette reports - but better roads were essential. Today truck lines compete with the railways even on cross-country runs.

About this time automobiles begin to "toot" in Tavistock. On August 4, 1910 the local paper records that Zimmerman Brothers motored to Grand Bend, that Herb Wilkinson, the demonstrator for Ford, returned there later in the week to fetch the ladies. It is interesting to note that , under Sect. 285 of the Criminal Code, fines up to $50, or incarceration up to 30 days, could be exacted, if a motorist failed to stop after causing an accident to a horse-drawn vehicle. "Hot-rodders" racing along at more that 15 m.p.h. were the curse of the dusty "drag-strips." In October a party of young sports made the return trip in the Zimmerman car all the way to Collingwood. The October 6 issue reports a new Jersey and a new Karn in town; in April 1911 Christian Winhold sports a new Russell runabout, Drs. Steele and Cormack acquire one and John Wettlaufer, father of Bert, a new Ford. In May 1912, Mr. T.A. Jickling supplemented the motorcycle, which he got in July 1910, with a new 20 hp Ford, John Vance brought in a 30 h.p. five-passenger Reo and Dan Willie Rudy a 26 hp. five-passenger McLaughlin Buick; in June, J.W. Ratz in a new Metz runabout kept pace with a new car for John Heinbuch. The period of 1910 to 1912 must have been an exciting era in Tavistock.

Early Motorists

EARLY MOTORISTS
Jack Lemp, Charlie Kaufman, Harry Zimmerman, Jim V. Field

THE LIBRARY
- From issues of The Tavistock Gazette

June 3, 1987

    Notice: The Reading Room of the Tavistock Public Library will be open daily from 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m., upstairs in V. Stock's new block
    Membership tickets are 75 cents per year.
    Pres. - J. Richardson
    Sec. - M. Steele
    Librarian - Miss Carrie McTavish

June 10, 1897

    "Dr. Steele appeared before Council for aid to the public library at Tavistock. A grant was voted equal to what East Zorra may give, but not to exceed $15."
    - South Easthope News

Nov. 13, 1902

    Notice: The Reading Room of the Tavistock Public Library will be open daily from 2-5 p.m. and from 7-9 p.m. Rooms upstairs over the new Post Office.
    Membership tickets - 75 cents per annum Pres. - Charles Cameron
    Sec. - M. Steele
    Librarian - Marian Schaefer

(Mr. Richardson and Mr. Cameron were teachers in the village.)

Feb. 5, 1903

    Andrew Carnegie goes on offering libraries to towns in Canada. In some cases the offers are accepted and in some cases not. In case of a refusal we wonder if the library-giver feels somewhat sat on. It is more than likely that Carnegie knows only of the offers that are accepted, his secretary doing the offering.

From 1930, Old Home Week Programme:

    The corner stone of the Carnegie Public Library was laid in 1916 and is one of the most modern of its kind to be found in many places much larger than Tavistock. It has 6000 volumes. On the ground floor is an assembly hall, a board room, vault and lavatories.

Some of the librarians have been: Miss Annie Schwalm, Miss Frieda Merklinger, Miss Lenore Bauer (1935), Mrs. Emerson Kalbfleisch; Mrs. Harold Schwartzentruber.
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