Donald and Kimberly Bordeau (right) present DCMA Archivist Steve Brown (left) with a cheque for $2500.00 to the DCMA Trust in memory of their aunt, Merle (Gamble) Still of Orangeville. Merle was a knowledgeable historian and an avid collector whose passion for history will live on with this generous gift. The DCMA would like to sincerely thank the Bordeau family for this donation.

When the “old” fire hall at the corner of Broadway and John Street in Orangeville was renovated in 2011 parts of the structure were removed. The community warming siren was one of those items. These sirens were used for fires, tornado warnings, even curfew times for those under 14 years of age. It sat on the very top of the tower. Manufactured in the late 1930’s, this was probably used for WWII air raid warning as well.

Photo of the siren on top of the tower, ca. 1955

Signal siren collector, Mark Reesor of Etobicoke, rescued this to add to his collection of very unusual objects. However, he has recently donated it to the Dufferin County Museum & Archives permanent collection.

The community thanks this young man for his generosity.

  Mark Reesor, and the Orangeville...

DCMA Curator, Wayne Townsend, recently told me about a subdivision known as Sunset Drive, located in the North end of Orangeville. Having grown up in the Orangeville area, I found it funny that I had never heard of it. It’s one of those tucked-away neighbourhoods with 1950’s bungalows and big back yards. Many people have asked DCMA staff about the name “Sunset Drive” and where it came from – it doesn’t quite fit in with the town’s trend of naming streets after important Canadians, local politicians and the original settlers of the area.

Contractor Eugene “Gene” James Reid built this subdivision, also known as Plan No. 65, in the mid 1950s. Gene was the son of Lena (Neelands) and Matthew Reid. He was raised on Zina Street in Orangeville. In 1954, Gene held a contest to name the new subdivision and Bert Anderson of Orangeville won with Sunset Drive. The Orangeville Banner announced the winning name in the February 25th issue and also stated that Bert Anderson had plans to build in the new development. According...

  Pictured above are Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King with his sister Jennie (Mrs. H.M. Lay) and Dr. O.D. Skelton.  The photo was taken on July 29th, 1923. Photo courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.   Kayla Mantle is one of five students working at the Dufferin County Museum & Archives this summer.  Working in the Archives, she is identifying and finding primary resource materials about Dufferin’s famous people.  During the past four weeks, she has added an additional 25 people of note to bring the total to 280 persons.  One of the people to catch her attention was O.D. Skelton. A scholar and academic, Skelton made his mark by virtually creating Canada’s department of External Affairs.  In addition to his diplomatic efforts, he stage managed one of the great events of the day. He successfully managed the Royal Tour of 1939, when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth travelled across Canada and back just prior to the outbreak of World War II. ...

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the hospital care in Orangeville, the Dufferin County Museum & Archives and Headwaters Health Care Centre have partnered to create a series of three exhibits highlighting the history of the hospital, how it started, their accomplishments, and services that the hospital has offered from 1912 to 2012.  The second in this series is currently on display in the hospital lobby and the third will be installed in September.  Visit www.headwatershealth.ca/events for a list of events commemorating their 100th anniversary.  

Pictured above at the launch earlier this year are:  (left to right) Anne Caine, Ronnie Inglis and Steve Brown, DCMA Archivist.

In partnership with Headwater Arts, DCMA is proud to host this annual show and sale of original art works, featuring the very best talent from Westside Secondary School, Orangeville, Orangeville District Secondary School, Orangeville, Mayfield Secondary School, Caledon. Erin District High School, Erin, Humberview District High School, Bolton, Banting Memorial High School, Alliston and Centre Dufferin District High School, Shelburne.

A rainy day can be refreshing and a walk in the rain (with the right person) can be romantic. Although, rain is necessary and an inevitable environmental occurrence. Sometimes when we have rainy weather, Dufferin County can experience flooding. The rain we’ve been having for the past couple of days reminded me of this photo that we have in our collection in the archives at the Dufferin County Museum. The photo is of the flood on John Street in Orangeville in 1890. Written on the back of this photo is "One of the worst floods in the history of Orangeville took place on June 5, 1890 when, following a cloudburst, the Mill Stream overflowed its banks causing bad flooding of centre town and considerable property damage. This scene is at the CPR John Street crossing. The three persons in the front are (left to right) Mrs. Margaret (Nicholson) Dahl (mother of Walter Dahl), Orange Jull and Mrs....