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WIITBY FREE PRESS. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1986. PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson Adv ise and Dissen This year is the lStb anniversary of Wbtby's founding. But where are the parades and special events? Witby "officially" celebrates the anniversaries of its lncoporation in 1855; 1955 was the centenary and 1980 was the 125th. Why do we celebrate incorporations? Peter Perry, the man wbo made it happen was 1already dead and buried by 1855. The celebration of bistory sbould be the 'celebration of the people who create the events. One hundred and fifty years ago in the summer of 1836, Peter Perry suffered bls only election defeat. Parliament's loss was to be Whitby's gain. Following bis defeal in the rigged election of 1836, Perry, who had represen- ted Lennox and Addington (Belleville, Napanee area) for 12 years, bought the property at the NE corner of what is now the main intersection of Downtown Whitby. There was, of course, nothing there at the time. He established a store and began a brisk trade in general merchandise and produce. Before long, the community that sprang up around bis store was known as Perry's Corners. This was the founding of Whitby. In my years of involvement and study of Whitby's history, 1 have become ini- creasingly impressed by the stature of Peter Perry. As historical people go, Perry is not an easy person to study. His career was vastly overshadowed in history by that of William Lyon Mackenzie who led the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, yet contemporary accounts gave Perry the greater stature. His hizorical obscurity was sealed wlien he chose to withdraw from politics in 1836 wblle Mackenzie went on to glory and adulation as a defeated rebel. It la unfortunate that, in this the lSth anniversary of Perry's arrivai, only one event commemorates that anniversary. The Peter Perry Sesquicentenniai House Tour sponsored by the Durham Branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario takes place this Saturday. It commemorates not oniy Perry's con- nection witb Whitby but also witb Port Perry whicb be aiso founded. Born of Loyaist stock near Kingston in 1792, Ferry was aiready a middle- agdman when he came bo Whtby. Along witb Mackenzie, John Rolpb and others, he had been a leader of the Reformers in the struggle against the Family Compact. SirFrancis Bond-Head, the Lieutenant Governor at the time, and the one whose actions precipitated the Rebellion referred to Perry as "the leading as well as the most powerful speaker of the republicans" (sic) while Mackenzie was the- "arcb-agitator". Despite bis obvious sympathies, Perry refused to become involved in Mackenzie's Rebeliion. In the 15 short years that Perry lived in Whitby, he establisbed a community wblcb was larger, more prosperous, and more prestigious than any other in the ares. He built many roads, iznproved others, and enhanced and promoted Wbit- by's finenaturalbharbour. He envisaged Whitby as the terminus of a major trade route by land and water to Lake Huron. To that end he boughtiland and laid out a townsite for Port Perry in 1845 and establisbed a store there in 1848. Initiaily the major trade was timber but as the land was cleared, wbeat was planted and the rich soul produced buniper crops that were exported through Whitby harbour to the United States. Perry saw the potential of railways long before others and advocated a railway running from Whitbybharbour to the rich northern hinterland, but it was more than 15 years after bis death in 1851 that a railway was finaiiy built to Port Perry and eventually on to Lindsay. Perry envlsioned a separate County gouernment centered on Whitby but once again be did flot live to see bis dream - Ontario County was separated from the Home District in 1852 and Whitby was finally incorporated as a Town - the Coun- ty seat -in 1855. Politics held little attraction for Perry ater the Rebelion of 1837 and he resisted many atterfipts to bring hlm back. However, finally in 1849 be was enisted to fiil a vacancy in Parliament and in the by-election which followed he was elected by acclamation. Witbln months of bis election, there emerged in Parliament a loose coalition of '" Clear Grits" of whicb Perry was a leader. However, by now Perry was a very sick man and he died in August of 1851 at the age of only 58. Given wbat be accomplished in the 15 years that he spent in Whltby, there is little doubt that had be lived longer, the bistory of Whitby, the province and perbaps the nation would have been drasticaily different. He was an entrepreneur and a visionary sucb as Whitby has not seen since. There is reiatively little lef t in Witby to remind us of Perry - there are no statues or plaques; the site of bis original store wbere the Bank of Commerce now stands is forgotton. Even the 1836 portraits of hlm and bis wife bang in the obscurity of the Whitby Little Theatre at the Centennial Building. His bouse (wblch stood in beblnd Town Funeral Home) was torn down only a few years ago. (Unfortunately, the importance of this bouse did not surface until I hap- pened to research Perry's will a couple of years ago - by then the bouse was gone.) Ris eldest son, Robert, built thie bouse wbich still stands behind the bowling alley but, sadly, its former giory is faded and forgotten. The only on-going memoriai to Whitby's founder is the annual Peter Perry award of the Chamber of Commerce to the outstanding citizen of the year but even tis does not illicit a lot of community interest. Indeed, even the publicity for tbis year's award failed to mention that it was the lSth anniversary of Perry's arrival. The bouse tour this Saturday may not be the most appropriate celebration of Whitby's lStb anniversary but unfortunately it is the only one. WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan Lucas Letterpress: editor and Prop. of The Beaver Fiat Tail, bellies up to the bar tonigbt as every nigt after a bard day at work. "Gimme a Coke," be says to the Employee of the Montb. "Andbhold the foam. " Once was a time Lucas would beily up to a real bar: not tbe kind lawyers profess toward, but the kind witb sawdust on the floor and a rinky-tink piano and the ever.present card gamne at the round table in tbe corner. In tbe back room ... well, best to skip tbat, since this is a family newspaper. A real bar, witb real drinks. He can't do that anymnore, since tbe townfolk in a fit of nationalism burned down Tbe Beaver Lone Star Saloon last Canada Day. Now tbe only bar in town - wbicb serves only Coke and coffee - is McDonald's. So much for nationaiism. But Lucas now bas bis Coke, and joins the political discussion at tbe corner table. "The House," says Razor Strop, bis eyes, as always, boned to a single point," "bas been prorogued." He lets the words fail, leaden. He expects a rejoinder, - wbatever tbat is - but none come. Neither of tbe others at the table knows what prorogued means. And the House Lucas thinks of first is Miss Liliy's, the pink frame House one block west of The Flat Tail office. Lucas didn't tbink that bad been prorogued, but be missed the cop cars last time, too. Lucas is sitting smack in the middle of the corner table. Strop sits on bis right, leaning sometimes to the lef t and sometimes to the rigbt, depending on the conversation at the next table. To the left of Lucas, and just about everybody else, sits Bent Broadaxe, of the Canadian Repository of Workers, or CROW for short. Lucas is still thinking of Miss Lilly's wben he realizes that Broadaxe is taiking. "Mayor Jobnny is s0 bent on selling us ail out that be can't do anything right." When he is excited, Broadaxe's voice squeaks. He is excited now. "Prorogued," repeats -Strop, roiling7 the word around bis quarter pounder. "MiSS Lilly." says Lucas. In the silence tbat foilows, who comes in but Mayor Johnny Cannuck, bis limo parked across three parking spaces, bis Dick Tracy chin tbrust out decisively. "How's the House," asks Strop. Broadaxe, bis mouth full of fillet of fish, squeaks up. l'How's the Free Trade Poker stakes these days? Since they burned down the saloon we don't get tobhear mucb."' Lucas puts bis nose level with the table top, easy wben you're four foot two. "What, " he asks, "is theword today?" Mayor Jobnny puffs bimself Up like a bantamn rooster at dawn. "Drugs,"-says Mayor Jobnny, "is bad." Lucas knows a scoop wben be bears one. Already bis note pad is out, and he scribbles furiously. Mayor Johnny responds witb more puffing. "AMl drugs? " asks Lucas. "Are they aIl bad?" "Illegal drugs," replies Mayor Jobnny. "Polis show that people want drugs curbed. Have you any idea of how many yuppies, the people who in- troduced us to the drug culture in the sixties, are now trying to be respectable stock brokers and system analysts. We owe it to them... " "Are legal drugs okay, tben?" asks Lucas. But he is drowned out in the din. "Wbat about the Free Trade Poker Stakes? " asks Strop. "If Sam wants our drug problem cured, let... "Do you realize how much i1legal drugs cost us each year? " spouts Mayor Jobnny. "Ten billion dollars. Enough to build another Darlington. Enough to load 30 gravel trucks witb gold. Enough.. ." "Your Uncle Sam peed in a bottle. Are you going to pee in a bottle, too? - asks Lucas. "For the sake of the country?" "No, but l'Il change diapers," replies Mayor Johnny. Johnny just became a father again, at an age when most people begin to bounce gran- deîlîdren on their knees. His wife even once said publicly that Johnny changed more diapers than she did. Because be cant smell, she said. Come to think of it. that explains a lot.