History Lesson: Accessing the Tollendal Mill
In the 1800s, getting to the Tollendal Mill could be a precarious journey. The only access, before a bridge was built over Lover's Creek, was by way of water or the Tollendal Mill Road. This road ran west from the Penetanguishene Road (Yonge Street), down a steep downslope, over the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) tracks and on to the grist mill on the west side of Lover's Creek. At the north side of the junction of the road with the [...]
In Memory of the Postcard
Wish you were here. A simple sentiment that, at one time, was likely entirely overused. At one time, when distance was a real thing. When entering into someone’s company, regardless of spatial separation, wasn’t as [...]
Historically Happy Holiday Wishes from the BHA
Members of the BHA celebrate their group award from Heritage Barrie. All the Barrie Historical Archive wants for Christmas is...you! Cliche? Maybe. But in earnest, we want you in 2018! We would be amazed [...]
Tiny Building Leaves Big Impression – BHA Monthly Meeting, November 1, 2017
It's just a tiny, clapboard building in Oro-Medonte, just a few kilometres from Barrie's city limits. But it's left a HUGE impression on our community. Now, learn about the HUGE undertaking required to restore the church, first constructed more [...]
National Pines
"If you build it, they will come." - Field of Dreams, 1989 In 1989, Ed Membery purchased 215 acres of property from the Ross family of Cookstown. The year before, the Membery family had sold [...]
A special message from our Chairman, Dr. Travis Doucette
It would seem fitting that on Canada's 150th Birthday I finally let out a secret I've been keeping for 150 days: I'm moving to Florida in August! Many of you know my educational background and [...]
Back Stage Pass a Blast from the Past
A recent site visit provides glimpses into theatre's many glory days. Test, test and test again is how you de-risk an event so everything will run smoothly ... and that's just what we were doing [...]
Saying Goodbye to Anna: The East End Variety & Snack Bar Fades Away
“Hey Lang, you should go out of business more often!” shouted one jokester, but I doubt that that Lang even heard him over the drone of the kitchen exhaust fan, that was running full tilt, [...]
Snow in April! Try 1975!
And then I remembered these very days, only they occurred over a weekend in 1975. Barrie's population was 31,399. Eastview Arena was a new building on Grove St, surrounded by farmland. The south end ended [...]
Notable Women of Barrie
The ladies of early Barrie, along with all of their Canadian sisters, laboured under the most extreme circumstances each and every day. Corseted and coiffed in the restrictive fashions of the day, their clothing was [...]
The Crock & Block Says “Goodnight”
I wrote this review just a few months ago, as a salute to one of the time-tested eateries of Barrie that were still soldiering on. Sadly, for fans of the Crock & Block, this piece [...]