~ In 1890, the town of Penetanguishene inaugurated a system of waterworks, and to pay for these public works projects, passed a By-law to raise $20,000. This was at the time an expensive venture but Penetanguishene was a prosperous town which had it's own port which meant prosperity. Unfortunately, the demise of the once-booming lumbering business dealt a severe blow not only to Pentanguishene but also to many other similar ports on Georgian Bay such as Victoria Harbour, Collingwood, and nearby Midland.
Even with this major business winding down, the Town did move forward and population steadily increased from 2,391 in 1901 to 4,811 in 1938 - this due mainly to the many new cruiseships plying Georgian Bay as well as well-to-do families from the Toronto vacationing in the area. The Oak Ridge Asylum for the Insane, formerly the boys reformatory and prior to that the naval base, also provided jobs for the local residents.
As a result of this steady growth, the Town had further developed infrastructure and services to meet the public needs. The Penetanguishene volunteer Fire Department earned many accolades following the years after the Great War and of course fire hydrants were now being installed in the entire downtown core. By the early 1920's, the Town required an increased capacity not only for the fire department but also to provide drinking water.
To this end, a new waterworks building was constructed just west of the downtown core. The large well pumps required to fill the water tower were very far from being automatic so the Town had to man the waterworks 24 hours a day.
A small room with a cot and wood stove was constructed in the south-west corner of the waterworks building where staff would keep warm during long winter nights. The staffer would, by an alarm clock, turn on the pumps anticipating normal demand or receive instructions by telephone from fire department to increase supply.
Today, the Heritage Committee is evaluating the structure for designation but it may already be too late and too expensive to save this public building. The foundation has slowly been settling into the ground (light clay and peat), and the structure requires quite a lot of work. Most of the original windows have been smashed out by local a$$-clown vandals. ~
~ Hello again explorers, today, we have a rural exploration post from the small village of Monkton, Ontario, situated in Perth County.
This sleepy hamlet located on the interesection of county roads 55 and 23 caught our attention as it holds a lovely dilapitated railway station.
Monkton owes it genesis to the building of the Logan road in 1857. Mr. T.M. Daly dropped the very first structure, a blacksmith shop and soon after, a variety of other businesses took root such as a cheese factory, match factory, two saw mills, planing mill, shingle mill, tannery, hotel, school, and two churches. Within a year, Edward Greensides was named postmaster - having a post office certainly put a community on a map.
In November of 1906, a rail line was constructed to provide goods and passenger service from Milverton to Guelph and onto Toronto. As a result of this, the Monkton South railway station was built and very little of it's outward appearence has changed since 1907.
As with many other rural Ontario rail lines, the development and improvements of new and existing roads sounded the death knell. We were not able to determine exactly when the last train rolled through this village or when the tracks were pulled up but do know that the building did lay derelict for a period before being reused by a local company, Machan Construction as a warehouse and workshop. Currently, the station is abandoned of all use and is slowly deterioating.
UrbEx Barrie had the wonderful opportunity to explore the former Midwestern Regional Centre in the middle of cow-country north of Listowell recently. As regular readers and fellow explorers may know, we have a special kink for abandoned institutions. Before we get to the history of this facility, let's have a look at a short video . . .
Midwestern Regional Centre Built : 1966 Owners : 1966 - 1998 - Ontario Ministry of Health 2006 - 2008 - Village Green Lifestyle Community 2010 - present - Cham Shan Buddhist Temple
1966 - 1998 - Ontario Ministry of Health
Developed by the Ontario Ministry of Public Works, the Property was formerly the Midwestern Regional Children's Centre (opened in 1966), a centre for mentally challenged youth operated by the Ontario Ministry of Health. The Property, approximately 164 acres was developed with a 167,000 square foot main building and several other outer buildings. By the early 1970s the population was mostly comprised of adults. In its hayday, the hospital housed up to 225 patients. Governmental views regarding this containment of the handicapped changed in the '90s and it was decided to eliminate the large institutions in favor of community based care. This led to the Midwestern Regional Centre closing its doors in 1998, after 33 years of operation. Rumours have it that the original plans for the Midwestern Regional Centre at Palmerston were patterned after the Mansfield facility for the mentally handicapped (1860 to 1993) in Connecticut based on plans as it had existed in 1939. 1998 - 2006 - No use.
2006 - 2008 - Village Green Lifestyle Community
Richard Ochnik (and 1464210 Ontario Inc.) purchased the property for use as a retirement community. They had initiated an extensive renovation of the interior and exterior of the structures but had become bankrupt within only several months.
2008 - 2010 - No use.
2010 - present - Cham Shan Buddhist Temple
The Cham Shan Temple, a Buddhist organization from Thornhill, Ontario purchased the property for an estimated $3.1 million with the intention of using it as a Buddhist retreat centre or a seniors retirement home. A number of repairs, which includes fixing a leaky roof were effected shortly after purchase. The construction of new temple in the Peterborough area is a competing interest for the organisation and currently efforts are concentrated in Peterborough as the Palmerston property sits idle.
~ We love this facility and wish we had the opportunity to explore it before Village Green had started renovations and conversions. We will likely be back before the season is out and before the new Owners make full use of the property. ~
It's been a while since the last post, but do not fret - I have not yet hung up our flashlight or have decided to take pictures of flowers instead of dead, abandoned buildings . . . I have just simply been busy with kids. As a result of our efforts, I have manufactured three young urban explorers, one of which is now a teenager and ready to partake in the art of exploring one's environment.
To this end, I took the young fella, provided with the temporary nick-name of 'Rat-Stomper' (as a result of his unfortunate step into the messy remains of a rat), and headed out to a location rather familiar with us near Hillsdale, Ontario.
I had first visited Project Turnaround boot-camp for young offenders in August, 2004, just a few months after this privately operated facility closed its doors after the Province of Ontario moth-balled the facility. This facility was closed as a result of several issues including an indoor-mold issue but really was axed as a result in a change of government and with it, a change of views as how society deals with the rehabilitation of high-risk young offenders (between the age of 16 to 18.
Anywhoos, one can see some images obtained during the first few explorations to this facility (link here) and then perhaps follow along with these most recent images to observe what nature does best - return everything to dust and a state of near-zero energy.
That said, Nature has had some assistance . . . ass-clown vandals have found their way into the facility and have certainly made a proper mess of things. I have instructed the newest member of UrbeX Barrie, young 'Rat-Stomper' that should he ever find a vandal or tag-monkey to drop them quicker than a bad habit.
Happy and Safe Exploring everyone, Expect several more posts from this season's explorations. ~
