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Hello again explorers,
We here at UrbEx Barrie need to get down to planning our autumn trips before the snow flies. The 'exploring' season is not over and we've just come back from a quick day trip out to nearby Eugenia as we've heard there was not only some natural beauty to photograph but also the hulk of an old abandoned mill or generating station from the turn of the century. Let's have a looky-loo of what we saw . . .
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Eugenia is a small community just north of Flesherton, Ontario
The community is best known for Lake Eugenia and Eugenia Falls as well as the Beaver River. The settlement of Eugenia began in the 1850s and continued to expand through to the 1880s to reach a total of about 200. Early visitors were attracted to the area by a large water falls, Eugenia Falls. Prospectors were also attracted for the chance to get rich by panning for gold. After a fair sized gold rush, it was discovered that the "gold" was in fact pyrite, or fool's gold.
First explored by a pioneer named Brownlee in 1853 who had come across the falls by accident while hunting. Brownlee with a neighbour returned latter and discovered gold which in fact was worthless pyrite (or fool's gold). Within a few weeks, a very short-lived proper 'gold rush' was on with dissapointments to all who endeavoured in this venture.
In 1895, William Hogg (originally from Hogg's Hallow near Toronto), had developed a small hydro electric plant which supplied electricity to Eugenia and Flesherton (approx. 5 miles to the south). The plant contained two turbine units generating approx. 40 horsepower driving a single generator. By 1915, a much larger plant, located a short distance away and rated for 4,500 horsepower was constructed and within a short time with several upgrades by engineer H. G. Acres, was supplying elctricity to Collingwood, Owen Sound to the north and Mount Forest and Grand Valley to the south.
This hydro electric station was officially opened on November 18, 1915 by Sir Adam Beck who was the Hydro-Electric Power Commission's first Chairman. Most notably, the Eugenia station has the highest head of all hydraulic stations.
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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.
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Hello again UrbEx peeps,
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 CentreBuilt : 1966Owners :1966 - 1998 - Ontario Ministry of Health2006 - 2008 - Village Green Lifestyle Community2010 - 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.
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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.
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Hey ya folks,
It's been a while but we've been biding our time, collecting our resources, effecting meticulous planning, and training our crack squad of urban explorer ninjas to bring to you this, our latest exploration. Unfortunately, like any decent Shakespearian play, we get caught by the caretaker or in this particular case, a witch in a Ford Truck posing as a caretaker.
Before we carry on too long, let's watch a short video . . .
A bit of History now on the Bolton Camp
This camp was founded in 1922 as Fresh Air Camp for mothers with small children, boys and girls from low income families by the The Neighborhood Workers Association of Toronto. The camp physically consisted of 92 acres of hillside, wooded glen and the properties adjacent to Cold Creek Stream which had been once used as a local Angler Club. The Association had purchased the property for $11,500 ( a large amount of money back then).
In it's very first year, 160 city children and their mothers travelled from Toronto to Bolton by steam train and then by truck to the 39-hectare camp north of the city. In the 1930's and the great depression had hit many hard in the area and this camp was a bright place for many unfortunate kids to escape the heat and extreme poverty of the city. This camp was available free of charge to many families (on a case by case basis) through the Fresh Air Fund.
In 1928, it cost $8.56 per child for a 12 day program at Bolton Camp, which included food, transportation, medical care, upkeep of buildings, sanitation system and some non-volunteer staff positions such as a resident physician and a few nurses.
The children were weighed on entering and before leaving for home. There are stories that some underweight children at that time gained a pound a day. During the first 17 years of Operation, 17,641 children and mothers enjoyed a holiday at the camp. There were a total of four separate camps which shared property and resources - Rotary, Sherbourne, Hastins and Howell.
In 2000, the Bolton Camp property was sold by the Association (now known as the Family Service Association of Toronto ), when it was decided that collaborative, community-based programs would more effectively engage families at risk due to low income or discrimination. Part of the proceeds from the sale of Bolton Camp were used to fund many needed and worthy projects.
The camp and property was purchased by the Toronto Montessori Schools which had constructed a large modern complex on the north side of the camp which was named the Caledon-King Campus. This campus had closed its doors in just five short years (reasons unknown at the time of posting), and the property is now for sale. The property has an assessed value of approximately 4.6 million (OPAC / MPAC 2005 assessment).
Unfortunately, local a$$-clown vandals have found their way onto the property and smashed just about anything they could lay their paws on. Due to this, the caretakers are now extremely sensitive to anyone coming onto the property and will likely run you over with their truck. (yeah rlly)
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