Woodstock Ontario

Community Partners & Sponsors

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The Oxford Historical Society would like to thank the Canadian Heritage Museum Assistance Grant Program for the generous grant that we received. This grant will be used in maintaining our Resource Centre, which is home to a large number of documents and records relating to Oxford County.

Along with the Canadian Heritage Grant the Society also receives grants from other organizations like Oxford Community Foundation and the City of Woodstock. These grants enable us to publish books, bring in guest speakers, hold special events like the Christmas Tour of Homes, and take part in many activities throughout the year.

The Society throughout the year works with many different organizations to bring about various events and publications. The Pattullo Press newsletter is published with the Woodstock Museum, NHS, as were the books Quizzical History and Defined Under Pressure. Together with the WERC centre we offer a Person’s Day celebration, an event held in mid-October to honour women being recognized as Persons and therefore could sit in Canada’s Senate. Tours and teas with the Woodstock Public Library and Château la Motte.

There are many more examples of how the Society and other local organizations have worked together to bring events and share local history with the residents of Oxford County. In honour of these associations a new page was added to our website: Community Partners & Sponsors page!

Vintage Christmas Card Sale

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Hello Everyone,

Please see the attached post from the Woodstock Museum, NHS.

Stay connected with your loved ones this holiday season with the Woodstock Museum’s Vintage Christmas Card Sale.

Cards are sold in packs of 12 and feature four festive designs from the Museum’s collection, dated 1912 to 1945 C. The cost is $15 per 12 pack.

Purchases must be made in advance through our online order form starting October 13, 2020:

https://www.cityofwoodstock.ca/en/live-and-play/museum-events.aspx

Pickup Information

Orders will be available for pickup at the Woodstock Museum during our regular operating hours.

There will be two pickup windows for cards ordered online by the following dates:

Order DeadlinePickup Windows
October 25 at midnightNovember 3 – 7
November 22 at midnightDecember 1 – 5

If you have any questions please send contact the Museum at 519-537-8411 ext. 2901, or send them an email.

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

Victoria Park

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Hello Everyone,

With the good weather comes a chance to go and explore parts of Woodstock.  One of the best areas to visit is Victoria Park, one of the oldest parks in the city where you can have a picnic on the lawn. 

In 1845 Victoria Park was the County Fairgrounds for the District of Brock. We became Oxford County in 1849. In 1872 the fairgrounds were relocated to an area close to the Thames River and the land was given to Woodstock for use as a park. On May 24, 1896 it was named Victoria Park in honour of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, to celebrate her 60 years on the throne.

At one time there was a bandshell where bands would come to entertain park goes on summer days. The bandshell used to be located to the right of the Cenotaph but was later moved to the west corner across from the entrance to the jail.

The Cenotaph was erected in 1925 to commemorate the soldiers who perished in the Great War.  It is located on the southeast corner of the park. It now includes memorials for WWII soldiers and those of later wars. On April 11, 2015 a memorial for soldiers who died in Afghanistan was placed next to the Cenotaph. Every year on November 11, Remembrance Day ceremonies take place at the Cenotaph.

For many years the park has served as the sports field for the students of WCI.  It was the location for the military marches and reviews conducted every spring.  Students were required to participate as part of the school program.

On the northwest corner of Victoria Park are two of the four cannons that were gifted to the City of Woodstock in 1900. The other two are located in front of the Court House. The cannons were originally manufactured in England in the 1840’s and were shipped here to Canada to aid in our defense, in case the Americans attacked. These cannons were never fired in anger and overtime they became obsolete and were placed in various Canadian cities.

Today Victoria Park has two baseball diamonds and has recently become home to the Art in Victoria Park festival held in July.

If you are looking for something to do on these long days – why not enjoy a visit to Victoria Park?

Article, pictures and postcards are property of the Oxford Historical Society.

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.

Archives at Home: Staying Connected with our Community

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Hello Everyone,

this next post was written by Megan Lockhart, Archives Technician at the Oxford County Archives

Patterson Family of Eastwood, part of the Spring Garden Party with the Archives

            With the provincial and federal stay home orders underway, archives staff have been working from home for six weeks. This has been an adjustment for not only us but for our patrons as well. Just like many other archives, libraries, galleries, and museums we have had to tap into our creativity to develop innovative ways to stay connected with the community we serve. We have continued to respond to research requests through email but some of our other services are not so easily adapted. Through inspiration from other organizations and institutions and brainstorming between staff we have created a variety of exciting projects including new online activities, virtual programming, and the collection of community stories.

Online Activities

            People are looking for ways to entertain themselves and their children at home. Upon seeing the York University Archives’ online puzzles, we were eager to create our own. This led to our “archival puzzles” initiative. Thirty-five free online puzzles all featuring historical photographs and postcards from the archives are now available online at: jigsawplanet.com/OxfordCountyArchives. Not only do these puzzles provide people with some fun while stuck at home, it also opens a new avenue of interactivity between our community and our archival collections.

Along with the puzzle project new Oxford County themed colouring pages are also now available on our website. We are encouraging people to colour the pages and send their masterpieces to us so we can share them on social media. Adults and children are both welcome to submit! Send your completed pages to archives@oxfordcounty.ca.


            We are also in the process of developing an online exhibit featuring food and recipes from the era of the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu pandemic. Recipes from this time will be featured online in a restaurant menu format. We hope that people will enjoy the exhibit as both educational and interactive if they choose to make the featured recipes at home.

Virtual Programming

One of our most popular programs, Memories from the Vault, has been put on hold temporarily due to COVID-19. As our program coordinator, I applied myself to finding a way to bring the program to our community remotely. I am thankful for our social media platforms as this has allowed me to create virtual video versions of the program which we will be sharing on Instagram during the month of May. The theme is “Spring Garden Party with the Archives”. I will be discussing certain historical springtime trends such as food, fashion, recreation, and leisure. Pictured on the right are two embroidered handkerchiefs from the Archive’s collection. Developing these virtual programs have provided its own challenges, having to film myself speaking, writing a script, and learning the ins and outs of video editing. I am excited to share the videos with everyone online weekly beginning May 12.

Collecting Community Stories

            The Oxford County Archives has entered an exciting partnership with the Woodstock Museum NHS in collecting community stories and records related to COVID-19. We are asking for submissions of photographs, letters, journals, video, audio, artwork or digital text to be sent to museum@cityofwoodstock.ca. These records will be a significant resource for future generations of students, researchers, archivists, and historians. The material will be stored at the museum but the archives will be provided access and a collaborative exhibit will likely be developed in future. To correspond with this project we have established a new educational programme at the archives: “Students Living History”. We are asking local students to submit journal entries and photos outlining their personal pandemic experiences; we would also like to use this material in a future exhibit.

Students please send your personal experiences to museum@cityofwoodstock.ca

            These past few weeks have put things into perspective for us at the archives. It has made us appreciate the internet, and social media which has allowed us to stay connected with our patrons and community partners. It has brought us closer to colleagues in other heritage/cultural institutions. “We are all in this together” is a saying that has really applied to us in recent times. We have been compelled to think outside the box when it comes to how we provide our services. Most importantly, we have realized just how important community connections are and keeping our archival collections visible, relevant, and accessible is a goal we will continue to strive toward even after we return to the archives. Click on Oxford County Archives to go to their web page.

Woodstock Museum, NHS Collecting Photos & Stories About Life in COVID-19 Pandemic

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Hello Everyone,

The Woodstock Museum, NHS is asking for your help in collecting stories and photos about life during this pandemic. The following quote and photograph are from the Museum’s Facebook page:

Send us your written accounts, artwork, photographs or video recordings about everyday life during the pandemic to museum@cityofwoodstock.ca with the subject “Writing COVID-19 History.” Future generations are depending on you to explain what social distancing was and why toilet paper was being hoarded in 2020!

This historic photo depicts men wearing masks during the Spanish Influenza epidemic in 1918. The Woodstock Museum was surprised by the lack of local firsthand accounts and artifacts documenting the epidemic during the final year of the First World War. (Photo from Library and Archives Canada)
This historic photo depicts men wearing masks during the Spanish Influenza epidemic in 1918. The Woodstock Museum was surprised by the lack of local firsthand accounts and artifacts documenting the epidemic during the final year of the First World War. (Photo from Library and Archives Canada)

Woodstock Sentinel Review published an article about the Museum on April 22, 2020, written by Kathleen Saylors. Here is the link to the Woodstock Sentinel Review article.

A further article and interview about the Museum’s request for submission can be found on the London CTV News site.

Submissions can be sent by email to museum@cityofwoodstock.ca with the subject: “Writing COVID-19 History.” For more information visit the Museum’s website or their Facebook page.