Seaforth History Cont'd
Where We Gathered
Public buildings play a large part in the life of a rural community and Seaforth has had the good luck and good judgment to maintain many of its historic public places. The Huron East Town Hall originally served Seaforth and was erected in 1894. The red brick building became necessary when the town offices and everything they contained went up in flames when fire destroyed the market building at Market and Jarvis Streets in 1891. Interestingly, this structure had been constructed in the middle of the road at the junction of the two streets.
Unfortunately Seaforth's champion hose reel company lost all its equipment at the same time since the building housed the fire equipment as well. After considerable debate about the location of the new building and the cost of two stories as opposed to three, the contract for the present red brick structure was awarded to Young and Causey, a firm from Stratford. The final price was approximately $10,000. A small addition was added in 1955 for a police station and the building was extensively remodeled in 1957 and again in 2000 when Huron East came into existence.
Of Seaforth's many hotels (the 1875 council minutes record ten hotel and tavern licenses being issued) only three remain - the Commercial Hotel, now vacant, situated beside the Town Hall on Main Street, Dick House, now apartments, on Main Street and The Queens, now Hurley's Celtic Inn, on the northeast corner of Main and Huron Road, now Goderich St. or Hwy 8.
The Commercial was constructed by Thomas Knox in 1866. It burned in April of 1895 and was rebuilt and reopened by the then owner, Alex Davidson, in October of the same year. The building has been vacant for some time and is available for development. The Queen's Hotel, now Hurley's, was officially opened in 1877 after a predecessor burned in the fire of 1876. It was owned by a local grain buyer, Thomas Stephens, who had also run a pork packaging operation in the area. He purchased the original frame building from Thomas Downey in 1875. Downey had run a hotel at the location since purchasing a lot from George Sparling in 1857. The Queen's was to remain in the Stephens family until Thomas died in 1936 as probably the oldest hotelier in Ontario. Sarah Morgan who is lovingly renovating the old building to restore it to its former glory currently owns the business.
It should also be noted that the building which was formerly known as the Dick House to older town residents still stands on the west side of Main Street, south of the grocery store. It was first built as a hotel in 1873 and went through several owners and names prior to its final incarnation under James Dick and his son, Arthur. It currently houses apartments.
The area has always had a strong religious connection. The first permanent place of worship was the St. Thomas Anglican Church built in 1863 at the corner of John and Jarvis Streets. Rev C.C. Johnston was the first priest arriving in 1864. A chancel was added in 1872, and two wings in 1878. The Methodist Episcopal Church was purchased in 1885 and after being moved to its current location, was used as a parish hall.
The current North side United Church began life as the home of the Seaforth Wesleyan Methodist congregation in 1877. Prior to building the current structure, local Methodists had worshiped at a site in McKillop Township where a wood-frame church had been erected in 1858. They then constructed a frame building on the site in Seaforth. When the McKillop structure was removed to make way for a new building in 1877, it suffered the ignominious fate of becoming a Winthrop area barn on the property of William Gray. St James Catholic Church was constructed in 1869, but it was not until later that Seaforth became a parish in its own right rather than a mission of the church at St. Columban. In 1880, Rev P. Shea was appointed resident pastor. In 1897, a rectory was constructed beside the church.
At the turn of the 19th century Catholic education came to Seaforth under the guidance of Rev P. Corcoran. When a larger school was built in 1913, the Sisters of St. Joseph took over the teaching duties and were to serve the school faithfully until a lack of personnel caused them to withdraw. The present school was constructed in 1960.
Presbyterian congregations had existed in Harpurhey since 1835, and in Egmondville from 1844, but the First Presbyterian Church in Seaforth was not finished until 1868. Ten years later, the declining populations of the other two villages had forced the amalgamation of their congregations. This was followed in 1879 by a consolidation of all three congregations at First Presbyterian Church, Seaforth. A manse, which is still in use, was erected in 1880. A significant addition was made to the building in 1904 bringing the seating to 800. When church union was proposed in 1925, most of the Seaforth adherents rejected the move to the newly formed United Church.
The town's Carnegie Library was officially opened in September of 1913 on a site previously occupied by the Dominion Hotel. The Dominion had met the fate of many town buildings when it succumbed to fire in 1899. The library was extensively renovated in the 1990s to provide handicapped accessibility and better facilities.
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