Ailsa Craig Main Street

Ailsa Craig Main Street. . In 1858 with the coming of the Grand Trunk Railway, David Craig, a business man and an engineer by profession, saw the possibilities of his farmland turning into a business centre and William Shipley who owned the adjacent farm assisted and laid out the Village of Craig's Corners later changed to Craig's Station. The name was eventually changed to Ailsa Craig, after the rock in the mouth of the river Clyde in Scotland. When David Craig first arrived in 1835 this area was woods, the trees were eventually cleared and by 1874 there was a population of 800, with 44 businesses, and Ailsa Craig, the village, became incorporated. The village grew and prospered, being one of the busiest trading centers in Ontario, with flax mills, saw mills and beef cattle being the biggest exports., At this site on May 7, 1923 at 3 pm, a disastrous fire struck the village. There were five families who lost their homes and nine businesses were lost, including the telephone office. The curling and ice skating rink as well as the Oddfellows Hall were destroyed. The businesses that burned down were a vacant building owned by Lovie Bros. and Hugh Craig, J.H. McKay's dry goods and hardware store, William Cochrane's grocery store and butcher shop, White and May's dry goods store, Jack McKay's tailor shop, Middaugh's grocery store, Chapman's shoe store, A.J. Clark's harness shop and Amos Darling's Cockshutt Implement Shop. The families who lost their homes were Cyrus Ball, Clark's, Chapman's, Middaugh's and the Montgomery's. Miss Kathleen Mcintyre who was the telephone operator at the time remained in the office, until the roof was falling in, attempting to get help for the town. She received a medal the next night in the city of London to celebrate her efforts., The London Fire Department left London with their pumper to assist the efforts; this was the first time London had left the city to assist in putting out a fire. Many of the businesses never returned. The Oddfellows building and the United Church across the street replaced these buildings. The fire was said to be started in a shed behind the hardware store, by children playing with matches and fire crackers. In the months that followed local merchants encouraged the town council to allow them to set up stalls or booth in the upstairs of the town hall so as to not lose business. The town was changed forever!