Early Erin

EARLY ERIN: That drum roller seems almost too familiar. Here’s a photo from the Wellington County Museum and Archives of road work on Main Street in Hillsburgh from around 1921. Abraham Rodgers and William Cox are the teamsters in the photo, with road superintendent Joseph Benham in the centre. According to the Book Hillsburgh’s Heyday, by Patricia Kortland, Benham was the first road superintendent appointed to serve Erin Township in 1925 and was succeeded by Henry Wheeler, who served until 1970. Wellington County Museum and Archives photo

Here’s a photo from the Wellington County Museum and Archives showing snow piled in front of the Globe Hotel in Erin 120 years ago. This photo, included in Main Street: A Pictorial History of Erin Village, by Jean Denison, shows the front of the building after “the storm of 1904.”

EARLY ERIN: Here’s a photo of the Ballinafad General Store from 1905 from the Wellington County Museum and Archives (#2807). Check out this second photo (#2567), taken 64 years later of the exact same store, which still stands today. Erin’s first settler arrived in Ballinafad in 1820, from Pennsylvania. The hamlet is named after a village in Ireland.