A Tale of Two Lancasters

If you, like I did years ago, before I was sternly corrected by numerous proud residents of South Lancaster, believe that Lancaster is one village, you would be wrong. Historically it is two villages, the oldest being founded on the banks of the Lake St. Francis in the late 18th century by United Empire Loyalists and known variously as Riviere Raisin, Kirktown, Lower Village and finally South Lancaster. In 1855, the Grand Trunk Railway opened their station a little more than a kilometre north of the Raisin River leading to the creation of Lancaster.

Join me on a very short tour of these two exceptionally historic villages.

SOUTH LANCASTER

1 – INKERMAN COTTAGE – Take County Road 2 to Lancaster and follow to Old Montreal Road, where you will find this “Cottage.” This fine brick example of a typical Victorian gothic style cottage was built in 1854, for the resident engineer of the Grant Trunk Railway (CNR). It was named after the British victory at the Battle of Inkerman during the Crimean War.

2- MOOSE HEAD INN – Continue East on Old Montreal Road and soon you will come to the Moose Head Inn, one of four inns the village is believed to have had for stagecoach travellers. Built in 1792 and enlarged and registered in 1825, the Inn was also called Hunter’s House and was used as a courtroom. During basement renovations a keg of old powder was found under the judge’s bench.

3 – MILLER/BROWN INN – east to Calvin St. This Inn was built in 1793 for Kenneth MacPherson with seven guest rooms. The chimney in the centre of the building is typical of New England structures of the same era, and had two sided fireplaces on each floor. The house was turned into a private residence in 1820, but returned to its original function before World War I, as a hunting and fishing lodge throughout the 1920s and ‘30s.

4 – STICKLER HOUSE – Turn south to Knox Street, until you come to the large brick house on the south side. This house was constructed for riverboat Captain A. Stickler in 1853. A boat repair shop was added to the house, while Stickler built barges and operated a commercial wharf.

5 – ST. ANDREW’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH – Go north to Church St. and you can’t miss “The Old Stone Church,” constructed from 1850-55, from stone quarried in Charlottenburg Twp., at a cost of $6,500. This church replaced a lake side log structure, that the congregation founded by the Reverend John Bethune in 1787, had worshipped in for 65 years.

6 – ROB McINTOSH UNIQUE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE. – Head towards Hwy. 401, and you will not only find Eastern Ontario’s most fascinating shopping emporium, but a place permeated with heritage buildings. This building served as a Public School from 1949 to 1986, when it was sold to “Rob McIntosh,” to be a warehouse, but has since be converted into a coffee shop/store.

7 – LOCHIEL S.S. No. 2, aka BREADABLANE SCHOOL, on its original site. Destroyed by fire in 1897, rebuilt in 1898, closed in 1954, and purchased at auction by “Rob McIntosh,” to be restored and moved to S. Lancaster in 1987. (Photo courtesy, Rob McIntosh.)

8 – SOUVENIR SHOP, from Gananoque, moved here in 1990.

9 – CATTANACH HOUSE, Williamstown. Built prior to 1853; the building held the Village’s Post Office and branch of the Bank of Montreal from 1923-80. The house was cut in half, to allow it to pass under utility lines, when it was moved to S. Lancaster in 1988. (Photo courtesy, “Rob McIntosh.”

10 – The bank’s “fire and theft proof,” safe made by J. & J. Taylor Toronto Safe Works. The safe still hasn’t been opened.

11 – Simon Batlett Fraser, explorer Simon Fraser’s nephew purchased the building in 1895 and carved his initials in the staircase on August 9, 1915.

LANCASTER

12 – LIBRARY – Lancaster’s library before World War I. This very formidable fortress like “Richardson Romanesque’ library has been serving the community since 1902, when it opened at a cost of $3,000 with 3,189 books.

13 – CHANNEL 8 – Take Highway 43 north, just south of the “Peanut Line” trail and you will see a building with a big “8” on it. This television transmission tower was originally built around 1959 to broadcast Cornwall’s first and only commercial “TV station – CJSS-TV Channel 8 .” When the business was acquired by CJOH in Ottawa, the station was converted to deliver their signal throughout the Seaway Valley.

Turn south to Lancaster not forgetting to stop in at Glengarry Fine Cheese or Henderson’s / Grocery Bakery, in a building dating from the late 1930s, for a well deserved snack.

14 – MAIN ST. LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE RAILWAY TRACKS, CA. 1905. The 30 room McCrae Hotel is on the left. The hotel and most of the east side of the street were destroyed by fire in 1935.

15 – MAIN ST. LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE TRACKS, TODAY.