by Brent Eades
Looking through Michael Dunn’s collection of historic Almonte photos that I share on Almonte.com, I came across this marvellous postcard view of the top of Elgin Street, which also shows a slice of the first house I bought here, in 1987 from Don Cougle.
Note the two ladies in long skirts out front — I do wish I knew who they were.
I recall a neighbour dropping by shortly after we moved to Elgin with a copy of this same postcard, thinking we’d be interested. We certainly were!
At the very bottom you’ll see the name ‘O. E. Henderson’. I did some searching and found references to him in various places, including an 1889 publication with the snappy title of “Caspar’s Directory of the American Book, News and Stationery Trade, Wholesale and Retail, in the United States and Canada.” He is listed as an Almonte stationer.
I also found a reference to his daughter’s marriage in 1893 to “Herbert Windsor Morphy, of Peterborough.”
A whole lot of history has passed since this photo was taken — in about 1890 or so I would guess — but again, our town has not changed all that much.
