Woodstock Ontario

Postcards! Postcards! Postcards!

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Hello Everyone,

Woodstock, ON Aerial View 1919, D.W. Collection

Do you keep your postcards? Have you ever collected them on your travels as a way to remember the sites that you visited?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions then you are not alone.

Postcards are a wonderful way to keep in touch with families and friends, a quick note to let them know that you’re thinking of them. Sometimes they are whimsical and other items they show local business, sporting events, tourist destinations. The photos used on postcards are often of a professional quality and thus are good keepsakes of your travels.

  • Feeding the Cat, D.W. Collection
  • Woodstock, ON Courthouse Lawn Bowling, D.W. Collection

Not only do postcards serve as keepsakes they are also a very good source of visual historical records. They let you see how a city looked throughout the decades. The Society has two fantastic collections of postcards, both from long time members. The John Gruszka (J.G.) Collection contains postcards from most of the cities in Oxford County and the Don Wilson (D.W.) Collection contains mostly images of old Woodstock. Pictured below are three views of Dundas St., in Woodstock, Ontario from different eras.

  • Woodstock, ON Dundas St. 1907, J.G. Collection
  • Woodstock, ON Dundas St. 1920’s, D.W. Collection
  • Woodstock, ON Dundas St. 1950’s, D.W. Collection

Historic buildings and churches are often favourite photographic choices for postcards. Showing below are some of the historic churches from Oxford County.

  • Dereham, ON – Methodist Church, J.G. Collection
  • Embro, ON – Congregational Church, J.G. Collection
  • Ingersoll, ON – Various churches, J.G. Collection

Next time you’re travelling or are needing historical pictures for your project, contact the Oxford Historical Society – we might just have the postcard that you need!

Salvation Army Burnside Lodge

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Many thanks to Dr. Elaine Becker for providing the information in this post.

Stamp issued by Canada Post in October 2010

Your help is needed!

Dr. Elaine Becker is in the process of compiling another local history which is related to an important immigration scheme that ran from 1923 to 1936 – the story of Burnside Lodge over the years and the young men who became valued citizens in this area of Ontario should not be lost.

Small scale operations began in 1903 when The Salvation Army established the “Migration and Settlement Department”.

The principles of the department were:

  1. The needs of the individual were of major concern, including his mental and physical condition
  2. Ascertain the reasonable prospect of the individual succeeding overseas
  3. The absorbing power of the overseas Dominion was taken into account
  4. The after care of the migrant was to be undertaken as a moral obligation by The Army

The work that was carried on at Burnside Lodge in Woodstock, Ontario should not be confused with any of the programs, such as the Dr. Barnardo group which brought orphaned children to Canada. The young men who came to Woodstock came by their own choice and planning.

The Salvation Army Boy Farmers Scheme

The Boy Farmers program was only a small segment of The Salvation Army’s immigration scheme. The Army sponsored and oversaw the migration to Canada of more than 250,000 immigrants from England and other European countries.

Young men between the ages of 14 and 20 applied to the Salvation Army to come to Canada under this plan.  If accepted for the training, they attended farm training at Hadleigh Farm in England and then were examined for their suitability to immigrate to Canada.  Once accepted they were booked for transportation to Woodstock or to Smith Falls, Ontario. They were employed by local farmers and their situations were supervised by an officer from Burnside Lodge.  They stayed at the lodge until everything was settled.

Some of the boys who would arrive in Canada

Burnside Lodge was located on the present site of the YMCA at 808 Dundas St, Woodstock ON

Some of you may remember the building on Dundas Street and have pictures or memories of the facility later used during the war for housing the Women from the training base at the fairgrounds.

We are working to compile some of the stories of the young men who immigrated to Canada to work on local farms.  If you can help in any way with this story or if you know any of the families who share those roots or any of the farmers who engaged the young men when they arrived, please contact the Oxford historical Society by email at info@oxhs.ca, thank you.

Woodstock Museum, NHS – New Hours

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Thanks to the Woodstock Museum, NHS for providing the information for this post.

The Oxford Historical Society is very pleased to hear that the Woodstock Museum, NHS has re-opened as of today, Tuesday, July 7, 2020!

Information about how the Museum is handling COVID-19 safety concerns can be found on their website or by calling them at 519-537-8411.

The Museum has started an email subscription list. To keep yourself informed about Museum activities follow this link to join their mailing list. Or you can send an email to museum@cityofwoodstock.ca and request to join their mailing list.

D. W. Karn Organ & Piano Co.

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Many thanks to Longley Auctions for providing this guest post.

D. W. Karn & Co Advertising Cover

This information is taken from Longley Auctions FB page: D.W. Karn piano and organ company, formed in 1867, the year of Canada’s Confederation. It operated in Woodstock, Ontario and was owned by D.W. Karn, who was also the mayor and ran for Parliament twice. The first factory was located at Dundas and Reeve Street, later moving to larger facilities at Dundas and Wellington. This factory burned down twice and was later relocated to Dundas and Wilson.

Longley Auctions is a dealer in postal history and they came across this advertising cover for D.W. Karn & Co., and kindly sent it onto the Oxford Historical Society. The cover shown has a 3c Jubilee tied by a Woodstock postmark (1897) and shows the enormous factory. The cover is a front only (the back is missing). The item is available for purchase from Longley Auctions for $35.00, please contact them for more information.

More information and a display of some of the organs and pianos manufactured by the D.W. Karn Organ and Piano Co, can be found by visiting the Woodstock Museum NHS; or from the website Woodstock Newsgroup by Paul Roberts.

Correction notice: There was an error in the video contained in the post dated June 8, 2020 – Oxford County Library Local History. The Oxford County Branch Ontario Ancestors was mistakenly referred to as the Woodstock Branch of Ontario Ancestors (slide 13). The corrected video is located on the Society’s homepage.

If you have an article concerning the history of Oxford County that you would like published on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca.



Oxford County Library Local History

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Hello Everyone,
The Ingersoll and Tillsonburg branches of Oxford County Libraries had planned a Local History week event; but then Covid-19 came along and the events were cancelled. Not to be deterred the Society still decided to create a video for the event. Our video will also be posted on the Oxford County Library Facebook page.


Please enjoy the video!

OxHS Presentation May 2020