Cantley 1889 Articles
The following article first appeared in The Echo of Cantley Volume 34 no 11, June 2023. This article is made available for the enjoyment of others with the express permission of the Echo of Cantley.
The Orange Hall, Cantley
Margaret Phillips with special thanks to Reta Milks and many others who shared memories
L.O.L. No. 2116, Cantley’s first Loyal Orange Lodge, was built by Cantley’s Orangemen in 1904 at 881 Montée de la Source on land donated by Richard Thompson. Known as Cantley’s Orange Hall, it was a highly popular social destination in the Ottawa/Gatineau region for more than 60 years.
The Orange Order was founded in Ireland in 1795 to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne July 12, 1690 when Protestant King William III Prince of Orange defeated the Catholic King James II. The Order became popular among Protestants in Canada as early as 1808. By the 1920s Canada had 2000 Orange Lodges of 100,000 Orangemen.
An Orange Lodge was the meeting place for its members – Orangemen. In Cantley, its Orangemen volunteers and the women of St. Andrew’s Church organized many events and activities to raise money for charity and for the construction and operation of its lodge, the Orange Hall. As a result, it quickly became Cantley’s thriving community centre where everyone was welcome regardless of language or religion. Talk to any Cantley elder. Inevitably, there will be a fond memory about the Orange Hall.
St. Andrew’s women organized and baked for many community events such as bake sales and their beautifully decorated springtime “Blossom Teas”. Their home-baked “bean supper & concert” evenings were very popular.
Most memorable were annual turkey suppers held in the Hall the week before Thanksgiving. Men set up long tables. Women brought home-made buns and pies of many flavours, prepared vegetables, carved turkey and kept the kitchen hopping. Teenagers served while men delivered hot pots of tea and coffee to each table. After supper, leftover food was auctioned off to raise money for charity. As bidding escalated so did the laughter and competition (especially for pies). The band arrived and dancing began. For years, two busloads of people travelled from Ottawa to enjoy the Thanksgiving dinner with extended family and Cantley friends.
The Hall held wedding recept ions and memorable Hallowe’en and New Year parties. Ongoing were activities for school and youth groups, movie nights (in later years), and “box social” fund-raising dances. Most popular were Saturday night square dances. In the 1950s, buses brought Ottawa-Gatineau residents here to enjoy the region’s best musicians playing their favourite tunes. They danced to callers like Russel Blackburn, Roder ick Brown or Ken Reynolds, one of the Ottawa Valley’s best. Eileen Thompson remembers sliding sockfooted across the floor while her parents danced. Ladies hoped to dance with Maurice Gauthier who “could dance the buckles off your shoes.” Many a romance began in the Orange Hall.
On February 13, 1954, disaster struck. Five hours before the Valentine Dance, fire destroyed the 50-year-old Orange Hall. When Graeme Smith and his brother Douglas noticed smoke, they raced to the scene but too late. Luckily the fire did not spread to the nearby homes of J.B. Holmes or of Maynard Thompson whose house had been gutted by fire two years earlier. Cantley had no fire department until after 1989. Ottawa and Hull radio stations announced the forced cancellation of the Valentine Dance.
Within 10 weeks, volunteers built the new Orange Hall, an arched wood structure on a 40 by 60-foot cement slab. Laminated strips of BC fir rafters supported its corrugated aluminum roof allowing a clear span of 40 feet without interior support. Unlike the old Hall, it had two storeys, electricity, hot and cold water with washrooms, a good kitchen and dining room in the basement. On April 29, 1954, 300 people attended the new Hall’s opening ceremony, parade and dance.
July 12th is Orangemen’s Day, once celebrated with parades and community picnics. Its symbol, the orange lily, blooms around July 12th. Today patches of orange lilies grow wild in Cantley – a memory of L.O.L. No. 2116 volunteers and the incredible community spirit they created.
Front: Robert Eckford, George Davidson, Roderick Brown (Master), Sydney Struthers, George Plumb
Back: Graeme Smith, Murray McGlashan, Trevellyn McClelland, Herbert Smith, Clarence Derouin, Maynard McGlashan, Douglas Smith, George Storey, Arthur Brown.
Photo G. Smith collection.
