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The Canadian Champion, Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - A9 er Tom Murison i- w holds up a child's dress found in the *'~? ~during the disman- tling. - e,.. C~GRAHAM PAINE - ~c.CANADIAN -~ , CHAMPION Preserving piece of M"ilton's past Histonc home savedfrom demlition teils lots of tales By Melanie Hennessey CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF F or hisionic building restorer Tom Munson. everv bouse be works ta preserve telis a sîory. its sometbing that rang truc for an aid stone home he recentlv worked ta move from land thaîs now beîng turned iat a'passer centre ai ihe corner of Steeles Avenue and Thompsan Raad. The modem buildings and big box stores are a far crv frorn the famiv farm Murison said was siarted there more than 150 vears ago in wbat was knom-n as the TowNsbip of Trafalgar. -The population of the area would-ve anlv been a couple hundred ai the time.- he remarked. Now as be tres ta piece tagether the details of the bouse and its pasi. be histens ta an intniguing but tragic tale it reveals. As the home -,%as being dismantled. Munison came across a smail child's dress [rom about 1855 in a sealed space under the stairs. Enligbmmig discovery The dress. made of purpie fabnic %%itb a blue flatînel lin- îng. was pînned ta, the floor bv two bnicks. Wbile Munison pondered why the piece of clothrng would bc preser-ved in sucb a fashion. an aid Celnic tradition came ta mic. wbere a persons dead body is pînned dawn Nith a ,sione so thai ils spîii doesn't wander. Airhougb Munison saîd no skeletai rematins ssere found. he drew another conclusion. --he couple may have lo--si a chîld and pmnned the dress dosvn becaue thev wsere tryîng ta keep the child's spirnt in the home. its realv sad, -ad. su hIis tells a starv that the bouse bv itself do sn«t tell.- He suspects the child mnax have beeni a member of the Simpson famil. which owned the land for several decade-s in the 1800s. Munison bas aIso been exatmnîng other aspects of the home to trv ta deternune exactlv xhen and bow îî was built. At thîs point. he believes the one-storey poruion extend- îng bebînd the back of the Loyalisi Georgian-srvle home %%ould' ve actalîx been buiît first in about 1838. sînce it xas common ta buîld a small house and then add something Larger onto the front at a later date. The large one-and-a-balf storey part of the home was most hkelv constructed in the 1850s, he said. H e explained using ltmestone lîke the Sîmpsons dîd for the bouse would've been a massiv e undertaking, sîince îî like- lv camte [rom the Niagara Escarpment. tbey wsould've made Jozens of treks viih a' hor,,te and wagon ta pick up the stone. x%îth cach trip taking -ihe better pari ýýf a dav. "Thev were probably hauhng back two to four tonnes at a trne, s0 it would take 50 to 100 tnips," said Munison. Another interesuing aspect of the home he found was log joists that appear to have corne from a log cabin. Witb a bit of uimber dating work, Murison figured the logs are from a cabin that dates back to about 1825 or 1826. "l'm pretty sure the log house was on the same praperty' he said, adding he also thinks the Simpsons built it. "Most pioneers neyer threw anytbmng away They recycled them.- In addition. he discovered that the home is very sîmilar to ai least a dozen other stone houses in the Milton area. mean- ing if s probably the samne group of people who worked on ail of them. Home to be rebuilt soon Today. the home suts in pieces on a nearby rural propert, xshere local laN-ver Dale Fitzpatrick plans to have it rebuilt next vear to a lîkeness of its oniginal spiendour. -l want to preserve ils character.- Fitzpatnick said. noting he was drawn ta the histonical aspect of the home and uts stone appearance. -It was a lîttie run dow&n. but mv mînds eve saw what it could be.* Munison credited the Town, Henitage Milton and Rio-Can - the propertvls developer - for helpîng facîlitate the preservation of the home. The mho worked together to determine whether 10 relo- cate the bouse or adapt it for an alternate use. But it was decîded the latter wasn't suitable hecause the building would've requîred extensive alterations. Henitage Milton also expressed concem ihat the architectural and histonical sîg- nîficance of the building xsould be placed out of contexi in the commercial sur-roundings. Fii.zpatnck then bought the home. %nth Rio-Can con- tributing to ils relocation costs. -?reserving Milton«s long histon. bas al,.sas been and continues to be a prnor of town council. said Max or Gordon Krantz. We are'delîghted ta have worked %&ith Henitage Miîlton to fînd a purchaser for the home. and ta help preserx e an important piece of MIiIuDn' herncage fcrrnur resi- dents. \ielania Herniessecx tan bc itched ai hees .oîin ,aîîadianichoe'îpio-n. tara