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PAGE. FOURTEEN THE DAILY TIMES-GAZETTE |, SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 194 Holden & Holden Insurance Purchased by R. Cecil Bint Announcement has been made of the. sale of the Holden and Holden, Insurance Agency, to R. Cecil Bint of this city. This is of very wide interest due to the size of the agency which is one of the largest in the eity and it is thought to be the oldest insurance office in Osh- awa, - The agency dates well back into the last century when the late John Currie conducted a very large n- surance business not only on local risks in the town but farm :uild- ings over a very wide territory. Later the agency was sold to the late William Davis and when the | late Charles Davis joined his fath- , er the firm became known as Davis {and Son. For years the Davis agency flourished and was known as the outstanding insurance office in the city and district. R. A. Holden started in the insurance business in Oshawa in 1928 and Donald W. Holden follow- ed in 1931 when he became a dis- trict representative for the Mutual Life of Canada, In 1938 the Holden family purchased the Davis and Son agency and Robert H. Holden, who had been in newspaper '7ork for ten years, joined his father and brother and the insurance firm known as Holden and Holden was formed. . Through the years Messrs Holden and Holden have enjoyed an excel- lent reputation ii the insurance field and due fo' faithful attention 1 to business and great consideration for their clients the business has grown to a very considerable size. In the field of life insurance Don Holden has been an outstanding success having been a member of the Quarter Million Dollar Club and the Century Club of the Mutual Life of Canada for nine years. He has also qualified for the Conser- vation Club of the Company for twelve consecutive years and has been a member of the Master Builders Club since 1943. In 1946 he qualified for the National Quality Award of the Life Underwriters As- ie of Canada and again in Members of the Holden family have made so many friends in the insurance business that they natur- ally feel it is very hard to give it up. While they have made an out- standing success in general insuy- ance they feel they have greater opportunity in the retail field and formal announcement will soon be made of their future plans. "Of course it is no secret any longer that we are going into the retail furniture business," said Rob- ert HM. Holden in talking to the Times-Gazette. "We have obtained the lease on the large three-storey Luke building at 63 King Street East, the largest furniture store in the district and we will open a modern furniture business there Iater in May," | dryman and skilled mechanic, W. J. The new firm is to be known as | Holden-Luke Furniture Company | and will comprise Robert H. Holden, Donald W. Holden and Miss Milli- | cent A. Luke, while Mr. R. A. Hol- | den will also be associated with the company. Miss Millicent Luke re- | turned this week from Winnipeg and is a daughter of the late Bruce | Luke who conducted the Luke! Brothers Furniture business on the premises for may years. Mr. Bint, the new = owner, has been representative for the Great: West Life Assurance Co. in Oshawa for the past four years, and has recently conducted a general insur. ance business at 182 Simcoe Street South. He came here from London, Ont., where he had been in the in- surance business for a short time. Mr. Bint will handle all types of general insurance while continuing to represent the Great West Life. Offices will . remain at 67 King Street East, For The Common Weal... (Continued from Page 13) we add the Influence of Francis Rae; Robert McLaughlin and his two sons George and Sam; W. J. Hare; F. L. Fowke and T. E. Kaiser, Doctor Rae, a respected physician, served faithfully and well as Vil- lage Councillor, Reeve and later on through seven years as Mayor. For in 1879, legislation was at last enact- ed whereby the Village of Oshawa "put its hair up", or otherwise marked its new status as a Town. Robert McLaughlin, as mentioned in an earlier chapter, worked as- siduously making cutters and bug- gies and carriages, on the West side of Simcoe Stréet while the two boys went to Centre Street school. Ex- panding by sheer merit and event- ually taking over the vacant build- ings of a business that had ceased to be, he still found means of serv- ing the community through the years as Councillor, Mayor and Wa- ter Commissioner, That pattern of service was followed by the sons at later times as need arose. Foun- Hare, was also a leader in fraternal work besides his unstinted work as Councillor and Mayor. His son too, served as Councillor and with sterl- ing' reputation still carries on as City, Clerk. Dr. Kaiser, physician and politician, besides serving as Dispose of Insurance Business vo ROBERT HOLDEN SR. ROBERT HOLDEN JR. 'DON HOLDEN who have disposed of the Holden & Holden Insurance Business to R. Cecil Bint whe will assume the business on and after May 1 Councillor, Mayor and Dominion Member for the riding was a vigor- ous advocate of countless causes, ranging from industrial expansion to the institution of an Easter din- ner party to aged citizens. Many of these names have al- ready received mention while relat- ing incidents of the steps by which we grew. Many more could be added and doubtless will appear at some future time if matters of interest continue to be brought to light from the dim obscurity of days that have been. Civic Works and Electric Light Meanwhile, we return briefly to note material change during de- cades around the turn of the cent- ury. The old plank and board side- walks of the village--so often an unintentional means of tripping the unwary--gradually gave way before the uniform smoothness and dur- ability of concrete, laid down 4s be- came a modern town. Shallow, smelly, wooden drains and half- choked culverts, were replaced by deep-dug, efficient sewers. Domestic pumps were rapidly discarded, when a permanent water supply was as- sured. As already told, the unbe- lievably muddy, deeply rutted roads, were paved with a durable surface. The coal-oil street lamps of 1887, were to some extent discarded in that year and replaced by the un- certain, but intensely bluish-white of carbon arc lights, that swayed at ropes' end from poles of varying height, inclined at any convenient angle. There could not have been many of them, nor were they .alto- gether reliable, for we note a monthly bill presented to the Coun- cil in 1888 that amounted to $59.60. Payment was disputed by the Town on the very reasonable grounds that for five nights during the momth the lights were not on at all. The account was eventually reduced to $51.00 and ordered paid. This early electric power wads generated locally from the creek at Mill Street, just West of Simcde Street; and almost a dynamo of penergy in himself was the late Eli Smith Edmondson. Successively ia miller, a competent baker and an career appears to have been a con- stant succession of ups and downs. At all times, he was ati optithistic to hold the gleam of future dellars and subsequent. prosperity. {Such unbridled enthusiasm was not ex- actly popular, nor always well re ceived. But as Councillor, Deputy: Reeve and later, for two years, Mayor of the town, he invariably proved a "shaker-upper" and so in his turn played a useful part in our progress. 4 rent may have been in those far off days, the Mechanic's Institite and bothams' drug store, near. where Johnston's Clothing tote "stands p Jha (Citizens. ofp Osha AT ser pany. At to extend my sin and to serve the present pa gince returning to ¢hplace, a few year my birthpl made many friend ships both in a business of In In taking ov Insu iden & Holden Ho on a great respon 1 am taking Holden & Holden ® out the past position for it © It willbe vice and goodwill this time 1 would cere thanks at the same time ex that has been the press the wish t trons the city of Oshawa, s ago, 1 have s and renewed friend- personal way and in my surance Broker. er the Ownershi Insurance have th years cré ; self in this district. my aim to carry on like to take thi to all my friends an of this firm. Sincerely, A. Lacil Bint p of the rance 1 realize that sibility as the rough- ated an enviable the same policy of this coni- s opportunity d patrons Hat 1 may continue 67 o Life Insurance REMEMBER WE 'ARE AGENTS FOR e Fire Insurance e Automobile Insurance (Property Damage, Public Liability) e Personal Accident Insurance . Ie e Personal Property Insurance FOR COMPLETE INSURANCE PROTECTION | amateur electrical experimenter, his | contriver of schemes that appeared' Meagre though the supply of cur- Library, (conducted over ~Higgin-, now,) advertised in capital letters of its "new electric lights". More than thirty years would pass be- foe the influence of the new Ont- ario Hydro-Electric Power System became fifmly established in Osh- awa as the result of strenuous work by two former Mayors, the Hon. G. D. Conanf, and Mr. F. L. Mason. But that is a story that deserves a place to itself. The Status Changes Meanwhile Time marched on with inexorable pace, leaving events strewn in ifs path concerning which much has already been written, yet the half has never béen told. There was the advent of the motor car, when those who pioneered in cute tefs and buggies, pioneered again with fésults we know so well. There was the calamity of war to 4 peace ful people during 1914-18, during which-ovér a hiindred of this smakl town's sons laid down their lives in thefr co ~try's cause, : \ But still. our smalt town grew, with greater population as industry increased and greater civic activity to meet the needs of all. A further ¢harige in municipal status was to be expectéd and by 1923-24 was thoroughly justified. It was then that the 'late 'W. J. Trick, house builder, 'woodwork factory owner, and ' contractor for some of our larger public buildings, became the last Mayor of 'the: Town and in March 1024, the first Mayor of the City we so proudly call our home, R.CECIL BINT 7 > HOLDEN & HOLDEN INSURANCE 67 KING STREET EAST, OSHAWA wish to ANNOUNCE THEIR DISPOSAL OF THIS BUSINESS to... 'R. CECIL BINT Effective On and After May Ist, 1948 ' ... that He Has Purchased The Business Known as The Holden & Holden Insurance at 67 KING ST. EAST OSHAWA and Which on and After May 1st, 1948 KING Will Be Known as ~R. CECIL BINT INSURAN With Offices Located at ST. EAST OSHAWA CE (OPPOSITE HOTEL GENOSHA) v e Farm Insurance, Etc. TELEPHONE 92 SR [