110th anniversary methodist church cupar

This year the town of Cupar will celebrate the 110th anniversary of the incorporation of Cupar as a village. July 4th is the official day for the town celebrations but the museum will be open all summer. The museum will have a number of special exhibits on the early years, one of these will be on The Methodist Church which will include artifacts, photos and other documentation.

The CPR Cometh

In 1905 the Canadian Pacific Railway ended at Lipton, but tracks were being laid west toward Cupar.

It was therefore a 20 km overland trip to Cupar by horse.

According to Mr. John Donald in Pioneer Portraits “... everyone seemed to be going to Cupar. That was the first time I had heard of Cupar.... Cupar at that time looked to me like a small farm, the only buildings were a small livery stable, one store which had been moved into the village from the country just before the snow had melted, a pool hall and four small houses, the lumber for all these buildings being brought from Lipton. Cellars were being dug for the Hotel, the Red Store and George Meldrum and Son Hardware, which did business in a tent until the buildings were finished, their living quarters also being in a tent. The Gibson Lumber Co. were also building an office, getting ready for their first car load of lumber. There were no streets, no sidewalks, nothing but the prairie....The first night I spent in Cupar, I slept on the bald prairie, but finding it rather cold, I decided to spend the next two weeks in the hay loft of the livery stable, not too comfortable, but an improvement on the prairies...”

Although I have been unable to find a photo of Cupar in 1905 the photo below, taken in 1906 shows the rapid growth in one year. Notice that the hotel has not yet gotten it's brick veneer.

By the late 1800's settlers were claiming homesteads in what we now call the Cupar Plains, but it was the coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway which made Cupar a central hub for the surrounding rural farming communities. Over the years freight of all kind and passenger service expanded. Times of course change. The passenger train is gone as is the train station. At one point Cupar boasted 7 elevators. There is only one elevator now. The CPR freight train still stops here, but the arrival of a train is no longer a major social event.

The Cupar Museum is fortunate to possess an important artifact from this by gone time. It is a CPR platform baggage cart from Cupar. The process of restoration has only just begun. Hopefully it will become, along with other train artifacts and photographs, a focal point and teaching aid on the role of the railway in the development of this town.

 

Eddie Shore before Hockey

What true blue hockey fan has not heard of Eddie Shore who played as defenseman for the Boston Bruins from 1926-1940, jersey number 2. But what of Eddie before hockey?

Below is a photo of Eddie age 13, about 1915 as cowboy. The photo was taken in Cupar.

Another photo this time in a Cupar baseball team photo from 1923 shows him front row left

Like many small town sports heroes Cupar has their own special display, many of the items were contributed by the Shore family. If you are ever in the area this summer come check it out.

Yesterday's Immigrants - Today's Immigrants

Excerpt Pioneer Portraits 1905 – 1965

Ernest A. Kemp

“ In 1905 the people of Cupar were of all nationalities. Indeed, there were many people in the area around Cupar who could not speak English, many more spoke only broken or accented English, Scotch, Irish, or American, all could be told by their pronunciation . European folk mostly depended upon the phrase “ Nicht's Versteh” to help them over an awkward moment. But there was one thing they all had in common. It was the ability plus the inclination to get along with each other and make a common brotherhood of our people. It is amazing when one looks back sixty years to note the wonderful success that was to come of this preliminary agreeableness.

Sixty years ago when immigrants were the rule and not the exception, one could almost tell a man's nationality a block away or as far as one could hear a conversation. There were differences of dress, walk, features, and conversation that it would seem were irreconcilable, but they had in common

many virtues which were not at the time so noticeable. These were a bold, never say die attitude and a willingness to co-operate with their neighbors, forgetting the things that divide, remembering only those things which unite, and above all, it seems to me that they practised to a large extent that simplicity of religion that tended to be the advance guard of the ecumenical spirit now so mush talked about.”

After reading this I thought about today's immigrants.  They should not be feared or shunned but welcomed.  They are critical in the continued evolution and progression of our country into the future.

Tobacco for Heroes

Some years back my husband did a video called Prairie Echo. It is linked to this blogspot. One of the participants was Harold Shore. He talked about WWII. Seems he had a lot of fun playing baseball and chasing girls while in England training. He also learned to smoke. 

I found an article in a 1915 Cupar Herald called tobacco for heroes.

 Seems in 1940 things really hadn't changed much. Found 2 ads for smoking. I noticed the McDonald's woman is saluting. 

Cupar downtown fires 1911

In 1911, within one month, Cupar was hit twice by fires on Main St. (Stanley St) They were on the same block, closest to Railway St. but opposite sides of the street. How absolutely devastating for a quickly growing town. We are fortunate to have photographs of each side of the street, and a write up from the Cupar Herald, one dated 23/Feb/11, the other 9/Mar/11.

 February 23, 1911

******************************

 

  March 9, 1911

  

Below is a sketch of Main St. in 1914, the vacant lot is where the livery stable was. On the opposite side of the street is the hotel and new buildings between that and the Drug Hall.

donation antler lamp

Thank you to Harvey Hall for the donation of a small antler lamp made by Les Root. It will complement our existing taxidermy exhibit quite nicely.

Elliot Les Root (1893-1985) came with his family from Wellington County Ontario to this area in 1901. He was 8 years old. He eventually became a farmer in the Cupar area and later worked for the post office delivering mail to rural areas. Les was an ardent curler and hunter. He was an active member in the Touchwood Hills Wildlife Federation. He enjoyed his hobby of making lamps, bottle openers, and key chains from antlers and diamond willows according to his daughter Margaret Hogan in a write up in the Cupar history book. He is buried in the Cupar Cemetery, as are other members of his family.

The Kaiser, The Beast of Berlin

Propaganda is defined as: of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
I found the following articles in the Cupar Herald. The first dated 8 August 1918 advertizing  the screening of the film.  The second article dated 15 August 1918 is a local review of the film.

treftadaeth paper wales

Thank you to the Treftadaeth paper in Wales for publishing " friend - foe - truth - propaganda "
in their paper dated January 24, 2015.  Below is their main purpose and links to their site. 

Hopefully their subscribers will return to our site as the article links to the Cupar and District Heritage Museum blogspot.  For those not familiar with us, Cupar is a town of 625 located in Saskatchewan Canada, named after Cupar in Scotland. The village/town came into existence in 1905.

freedom of speech or conspiracy

I found this brief article in the Cupar Herald dated 1 Aug 1918 and wondered what the context was.
I have searched earlier papers and found nothing. I guess you really should be careful what you say.

friend-foe-truth-propaganda

Kaiser letter to Satan published in Cupar Herald 16 may 1918 (please read columns 1 to 5 )

I apologize to anyone who is offended by the following article written 97 years ago.

                            (1)                                                                   (4)

                    (2)                                                                      (5)

 

          (3)

100 years ago today

Christmas Past

Christmas makes me think about the past and traditions.  My grandmother and her sisters sent each other handkerchiefs . One year I got a handkerchief holder. As a teenager I was not impressed.  Many years later I remembered it and said something to my mother.  She had saved it and now it is one of my prize possessions.



My mother used to display all the Christmas cards on strings mounted wall to wall. The next year mom would cut up the cards for Christmas present tags. That is a tradition that is disappearing not only because of the cost of postage, but because of the internet be it email, facebook, twitter etc.  I am sure I saved a couple in a box somewhere. I must look for them as winter is upon us. 

markinch cupar dysart

Markinch, Cupar, and Dysart were named by CPR officials for towns in Scotland. Cupar and District Heritage Museum does have a few souvenirs from Cupar in our collection.  Cupar  in Fifeshire, Scotland is located north of Edinburgh and local residents who have visited it say it lies in a slight valley.  It is an agricultural town. The museum website is   www.cuparheritage.org.uk  Check it out or you can go to google maps and wander the streets this winter.


A bit different looking than us but still. I guess 110 years ago someone may have been homesick, or just wanted a bit of Scotland in the New World.  We did get a number of families from Scotland coming here in the early years.

2015 Cupar buildings and business people

2015 marks the 110^th anniversary of the incorporation of Cupar as a village and Saskatchewan as a province. The town, various organizations and individuals have started to make plans. July 4^th has been set aside for the majority of social activities. I started thinking about how I as an individual might contribute beyond any organization I belong to.

In the early 1980's many towns across the province published history books that included family histories, but alas some families that included “founding fathers” aka business men, were missing. In 1965 for the 60^th anniversary of Cupar a compilation called “Pioneer Portraits” was published on legal size paper on gestetner machines. I can't even spell it and can't find it in the dictionary but found it on google. What does that say? Anyhow there was some valuable information about the development of the town I found intriguing.

Like many small towns the physical look of our main streets have changed mainly due to fires and in our case also a cyclone in 1946. I decided to focus on buildings and businesses in Cupar over the years, how they have changed, who owned them and stories about the owners. Our museum is fortunate to have a sketch of the down town business section from 1914, Wrigley's Saskatchewan Directory from 1921 and a fire insurance map of the same area from 1929. So I have some reference to start with.

 According to Roy Pengelly in “Pioneer Portraits” Hastings and McLaughlin operated a store on the N.W. 7 Tp 22 R16 W2, and hauled this building to the new town-site to start the first general store.

 In the Cupar History book pages 254 to 256 gives a fuller account of Adam Luther Hastings who moved his store into Cupar in 1905 when the township of Cupar was established and the Grand Trunk came through. Hastings also had the first post office from 1906-08, and was elected the village's first overseer.   

 The write up portrays an intriguing man I would loved to have met.