The World is a Stage
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Where did Oxford County come from? Originally everything was Canada West, then Upper Canada (Quebec was Canada East or Lower Canada).
Then as settlers came, the land became more divided. We were then known as the District of London and then the Brock District. It became more refined in the 1850s when counties, townships, towns, cities etc. formed municipal structures. We became part of Oxford County and until 1975 Tillsonburg was part of Dereham Township.
For some unknown reason in 1975 Dereham merged with the old Oxford on the Thames (founded by Laura Ingersoll Secord’s daddy) which was later known as North and West Oxford and with Dereham is now known as South West Oxford. Tillsonburg however is separate from the township.
It is interesting to see the changes in the maps of the times and it is very interesting to see very old photos of the old towns and villages throughout Oxford County.
Oxford County has finally come out of the closet, where it lay hidden for many decades and it is standing up and saying: “Hey! Take a look at what we have to offer!”
Oxford Creative Connections Inc. is a fantastic organization which has been getting all areas of the county to work together preserving and promoting arts and culture. This includes performing arts, visual arts, literary arts, heritage, natural heritage, horticulture, festivals and events and youth. They have done a wonderful job putting together a display of Oxford County’s heritage, called “Main Street Oxford” which you can see from Feb. 17 to May 18 at Annandale National Historic Site.
Patty and Marie are busy putting it all together right now and it is super. There are large banners showing the main streets of long ago in towns and villages in our townships, like South West Oxford, which has so many of the places we drive through all the time: Culloden, Vershoyle, Salford, Centreville, Brownsville, Mt. Elgin and Beachville. What beautiful old buildings there were!
You go through a lot of the places in Norwich Township as well: Otterville, but wait to you see the main street in the late 1800s! There is also Burgessville, Curries, Holbrooke, Springford, Rocks Mills and don’t forget Norwich. Did you know they used to have an old post office, like our old post office?
Do you even know where East Zorra Township is? Well, you will recognize some of the village names like Hickson, Innerkip and the bustling metropolis of Tavistock. Oh yes, wait to you see the old beautiful photos from there.
To the west is Zorra Township where you find Brooksdale, Uniondale, Kintore, Medina and Thamesford. It is hard to image that little Thamesford once had five general stores, three churches, five hotels, two shoemakers, a tailor an agricultural implement manufacturer, carriage shops and other businesses!
The last township in Oxford is the Blanford-Blenheim Township, north and east of Norwich Township. Not many of us can name the old villages here, although you might recognize some like Drumbo, Plattsville, Bright, Richwood, Princeton Windfall and my favourite, little Blink Bonnie. The photo of its main street makes you wish you could step into the picture and go exploring.
Three towns stand alone, with their own banners:
Woodstock, Ingersoll and of course… tadaa… Tillsonburg! Being that the display of banners is here in our town, we get the added extra treat of seeing a wide variety of businesses which have graced our main street, in between the large banners! It is really something to see these old stores and realize that although much has changed over the centuries, part of our main street has not.
Each township banner has a corresponding card with all the photos and an explanation, which you get to keep! It makes you want to drive to those main streets and see if any of those old buildings are left and how much they have changed.
The opening of this exhibit in the newly named Pratt Gallery (to honour Bill Pratt’s decades of tireless work) corresponds nicely with the Family Day Scavenger Hunt that is on Mon., Feb. 17 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. for the hunt and 4 p.m. for the exhibit.
If you haven’t got your tickets for March 7th’s Women’s Day Luncheon, you had best call now. For after a scrumptious four-course meal and decadent dessert you will find out who Oxford’s Woman of Infamy or ‘the Lady Who Broke the American National Bank’ is! Call 519-842-2294 for times, prices and other information of all the events going on.