Reflections on growing up in a small town on banks of the Sydenham River

The main "characters"

DEAR READER:

Because I let certain online detractors and misguided emotions influence me negatively, I foolishly deleted the contents of this blog and several other Dresden related sites from a roster of more than 20 web sites. After a brief hiatus from on-line writing, I regretted that with one knee-jerk impulse and a flick of the computer key I had wiped out a lifetime of research, memories and musings about my hometown, never to be completely recovered. As a substitute for the original Dresden: Father and Son Turn Back the Clock web site, I include here select excerpts from my book Dresden Life Remembered.

The idea to create this site came to me in stages. Initially, I wanted to revive some of the things that my father Ken Wright had written and I felt that his "word picture" of the Town of Dresden in 1910 would be a good place to start. Then, I thought I might add some reflections of my own. Before long the site took on a life of its own and what I ended up with is/was the equivalent of a book -- and it continues to be a work in progress with additions and revisions to the site almost weekly as I think about something or come across previously overlooked information.

For background purposes, my grandfather Wesley Wright was born in the Township of Colchester South, Essex County in 1852, the second son of Ebenezer and Elisa (Stockwell) Wright. Twice a widower, Wes married the former Louise Reddick of Sombra in 1896, my father Ken being the result of that union. Ken (1899) and I (1938) were born in the Dresden home that Wesley built with his second wife Annie in 1878.

My mother's family, the Perrys (see https://dicktheblogster7.blogspot.com/) were descendents of English immigrants who found their way into Canada by way of Cape Briton and Newfoundland. So no matter how you slice the corporate family tree, we've been occupying Canadian soil for a long time.

Both sets of grandparents, Wesley and Louise Wright and Nelson and Harriet (Peck) Perry, were prominent in Dresden in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as were my mother and father, Grace and Ken, in subsequent years.

*It should be noted here that my 3XGreat Grandfather Henry Wright (1745-1813), a native of England, was a United Empire Loyalist who came to Upper Canada with his family (circa 1790) via Pennsylvania and settled finally on land obtained from the British Crown in Fort Walden, Essex. Ontario. See my "The Wright Story" https://mywrightstory.blogspot.ca/ for all the details.

JUST A BIT ABOUT ME AND MY MOTIVATION

*Click on text to enlarge

HOW KEN REMEMBERED IT:

A look back on downtown Dresden as it was more than a century ago: Written by Kenneth A. Wright and published in The Chatham News, November 1942.  Born in 1899, Ken reflected on the downtown Dresden that he remembered as a young lad. *If necessary, click on each page to enlarge the reading text then return(↺) to follow remaining blog content.

Ken Wright 

DRESDEN CONTINUATION SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM, CIRCA 1914: KEN WRIGHT IS THIRD FROM THE LEFT IN THIS PHOTO, STANDING NEXT TO HIS FRIEND ELDRED BRANDON.

Grandpa Perry in front of his general store in Dresden after selling his bakery business, later to become the landmark Burn's Bakery.

Ben Madden Grocery Store, circa 1910

The Standard Printing business on the Union Block in Dresden in 1910. A piano manufacturer would later take over the location, then Ruble's Funeral Home and eventually several restaurants -- Fitsgerld's, Swainstons and Martin's Mi-Choice. Today Union Block Bakery graces the location.

DRESDEN BASEBALL TEAM, CIRCA 1905:  Back row (l to r) Ern Wells, Russ Dynes, unknown (said to be banker in town), Cliff Huff; middle row, Alex Cuthbert, Tom Newman, team manager (unknown), Jim Rice; front, Walt Dynes and Bill Perry.  A real collector's item.

Click to enlarge these photos for better viewing

*PHOTOS OF OTHER DRESDEN BASEBALL TEAMS 1910-1953 ARE POSTED FURTHER ON IN THIS SITE...JUST KEEP SCROLLING.

Automobiles replacing horse and buggies in busy downtown Dresden.

My mom and dad and friends dressed to the nines ready to attend an Old Boys Reunion in Petrolia, 1918.

The newly-built Dresden Continution School, circa 1920 (left) with the old Sydenham River lift bridge in the background (right).

SANDY McVEAN’S MILL - Was located adjacent to the Dresden bridge, and was established by his father, Alexander McVean prior to 1872. Two years later, he and a partner, Hugh Currie, bought the Dresden Hub, Spoke & Bending Factory at the foot of Hughes Street, and in 1877, McVean Sr. became the sole owner. Pressure of operating the wood working factory saw him turn his flour mill over to son Sandy, after having previously established sons James and John in a hardware business. Later, in 1890, two more sons, Osgood and William took over the Hughes Street plant. The building shown in left foreground came from Dawn Mills and was hauled to Dresden in the winter when the Sydenham River was frozen over. Sandy McVean operated the mill until 1919, when he sold out to George Lawrence. In recent years the buildings were demolished and the property purchased by the St. Clair Regional Conservation Authority as a greenbeft area.