My family moved to Millbridge in 1949 when I was ten years old.
We moved into the old house that Mary and Bob Anderson owned. It was originally the old Dalton Hotel, and had been a resting place for travellers from Belleville to Bancroft for many years. Folks would travel through Millbridge and north on the Old Hastings Road to Glanmire, up to Ormsby and then on to Bancroft. The Old Hastings was the main route in those days. (The old Dalton Hotel is now the Murphy residence.)
At the top of the Jordan hill was the home and general store owned by Jane and Joe Armstrong. When they passed, the store went to their son Roy and his wife Margaret. When Roy passed away their son Don and his wife Jean took over the business until it closed in the late 1960’s as I recall.
Across the old Hastings Road from the Armstrong General Store was a Post Office and Hotel run by Florence and Stanley Lavender.
Just up the road stood the old white frame town hall. Many functions took place there, dances, euchre parties, wedding festivities and anniversary parties just to name a few.
The red brick school house and the orange hall were located on the east side of the Old Hastings Road just across from the town hall.
At the four corners (Norman’s corners at the intersection of Old Hastings Road and the West Road) there was the Old Norman Mercantile and Grocery Store. There was also a sawmill at one time and a gentleman named Dan Vallieres ran it. He was also known as a cobbler who was a handyman for fixing things like wagons, wheels, sleighs etc. If you wanted something fixed Dan was “the fixer upper.”
At the corner of the Old Hastings Road and what is known as the Centre Road today is the house that “Daddy Greaves” the school teacher owned and lived in. He taught school in Millbridge for years. My teacher was Mrs. Ella Bristol.
I remember attending St. Oswald’s Church when we first came down. I was part of the women’s organization who sponsored euchre parties, rummage sales and many other events to raise monies for assistance to anyone in need of it.
I recall the old church in the Stoney Settlement, which when we arrived was non-denominational. Everyone from the surrounding areas attended picnics and festivities. Reverend Harvey Good often took us over to the Stoney Settlement church on Wednesday nights for services.
