William Porte Diary, 1885

[...] Thursday May 7

The first sound of the new bell erected in Holy Trinity came wafted to my hearing from the church at 10 oclock AM today. So goes on the March of Improvement. This day forty-five years ago, the primeval forest stood on both sides of Main Street, where the village now stands. No gravel road, no rail road, no Schools, no churches. The settlement at each side of the village plot was inhabited by the Coloured population to the number of 150 souls.

Source: J.J. Talman Regional Collection, University of Western Ontario Archives, William Porte Diaries, B4940, William Porte, William Porte Diary, May 7, 1885. Notes: Transcription in J.J. Talman Regional Collection, University of Western Ontario Archives, Donnelly Family Papers, B4878, File 24.

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