Old Ontario Village

The Grand River Sachem September 12 1934.

A friend visiting Miss Ruth Emerson last week, on crossing the bridge and viewing the old Mansion House on the south side of the river, called attention to the fact that she had seen a picture of the building in the Art Building at the Canadian National Exhibition. On referring to the catalogue of the pictures the old building is shown and is identical in every detail. It is a crayon painting by Mr. Leonard Hutchinson, and it's title "Old Ontario Village" does not identify it with Caledonia. It is quite interesting that a visitor in Caledonia should be the one to recognize it. Mr. W. G. Stuart brought the catalogue to the Sachem Office and very kindly called our attention to it. On inquiry it was recalled that last summer two artists were here and sketched the building from the south-east corner of the bridge. They remarked that the building was a colonial type not often found in more recent times.

Some background history and the evidence: 

The cover of the catalogue of Art of the 1934 C.N.E.

Title: Old Ontario Village c.1933-1934 Leonard Hutchinson
colour linocut on Japanese paper  

36.2 x 50 cm; block: 21.7 x 28.4 cm

Brief History of the Artist: Leonard Hutchinson was born in Manchester England 1896.  His parents moved to Tillsonburg, Ontario Canada in 1912.  Leonard moved to Hamilton Ontario in the early 1920s following his service in the First World War. During the day he worked as a graphic artist at Barnard Stamp and Stencil, his  evenings were spent at the Hamilton School of Art under the tutelage of artist John S. Gordon.  Leonard's work had  began in oil and water colour, but by the 30's & 40s his focus was primarily in colour woodblock prints.   He traveled locally, sketching and etching images of the working class and small town life during the depression.   In 1936, he was appointed Curator of the Art Gallery of Hamilton and also served as President of the Canadian Society of Graphic Arts.

The Mansion house, aka The Mansion Hotel aka The Ryan Hotel aka The Mellish home.

A short history: Local legend James Little financed the construction of the Hotel in 1854. It was one of the 4 Caledonia buildings featured on the border of the 1863 Tremaine Map of Haldimand. Records show William Monro ran the hotel with his father until 1870 when it was sold it to John Ryan.  John ( Bunt) Ryan owned the Mansion house from 1870 to 1908 during which it became known locally as the Ryan Hotel. In 1917, John's daughter Maggie Bell Mellish was given ownership of the Hotel. In the 1920's and 30's Maggie rented the lower floor to business like Mrs. Taggarts homemade candy and James Old's Ice cream parlour.  She rented the upstairs as apartments well into the 1970s. Maggie, her husband and their only son John lived on a farm outside of town until their farmhouse was destroyed by a fire in 1946. Maggie and her husband moved into one of the apartments in the hotel; their son John was still overseas fighting in WW2.  John returned home a year later in 1947 with a new English bride by his side named Hilda. Together they had one daughter named Mary. Hilda passed away in 1954, John passed in 1981. Mary lived alone in the old hotel for many, many years. In the months leading up to the building's destruction in 1999, Mary spent hours going through the attic and basement saving as many historical documents, newspaper clipping and old photos she could find to preserve them.  Including the handwritten diary of a young soldier named Will E. Young who fought in the 1885 rebellion and took part in the capture of Louis Riel.

The Mansion house / Ryan Hotel late 1800s.

The Mansion house \ Ryan hotel early 1900s.  The roof of the 2nd floor balcony is now gone. 

Mansion house 1980s

The Mansion House 1995 

The Mansion house / Mary Mellish's home. 1999 The year it was torn down. 

 Currently there are no known photos of the hotel in the 30s, but it's not difficult to see what they saw.   The chimney shape and alignment is the same as it was in the early 1900s, and the number of windows are also the same.  The Artist, Leonard Hutchinson lived in Hamilton and his work was rooted in the life of the working class in rural Southern Ontario towns during the depression.  

 The best evidence are two photos in the Caledonia Tweedsmuir from the day the 3rd bridge was completed in November 1927.  

The first image clearly shows the building with the stairs seen at the right of the print. 

  In the far left corner of this second photo is the only image of the Mansion Hotel in 1927.  Six years before it was sketched and printed by Leonard Hutchinson. It looks identical to his etching.  It also gives you an idea of how close the buildings were from the perspective of standing on the South East corner of the bridge where he was said to have stood.   

Old Ontario Village, is Caledonia Ontario.  

Old Ontario Village was purchased by The National Gallery of Canada in 1994. Its part of their permanent collection, but it is not on display.  Like a flower pressed between the pages of a book.  A  memory of Caledonia is preserved forever in our National Archives.