Wellington County is commemorating the 145th anniversary of the House of Industry and Refuge.
It’s the site of the current museum and used to more commonly be called the “Poor House.”
Activity Programmer Kyle Smith says the house was for people who couldn’t manage on their own in the society of the day.
“They would be brought there,” Smith said. “They would live on site. It was a working farm so they would work on site. They would get food and shelter…it was sort of the very beginnings of the modern social welfare state in Canada which is one of the reasons we are a National Historic Site.”
In the beginning it was run by a husband and wife who became the guardians of the people who lived there and were able to censor letters and decide if they could have visitors.
“If they were kind and generous and progressive, which some of them were, than this could be a place that they would decorate for Christmas, and bring in special speakers, family and friends could visit quite regularly,” Smith said. “There’s happy photos we have at the museum. But if they [weren’t] there just wasn’t the type of oversite and abuse could be potential.”
Gathering information on the former residents was made a little easier thanks to the fact the building has been continuously owned by the County of Wellington since 1877.
“We have quite a number of artifacts, of things from that history that are still in the museum collection,” Smith explained. “Also because it was the County of Wellington site we have a lot of the records. There is a registry book for every single person who came here. They had to sign their name into a registry book. That’s still in the archives. We have interviews with people who used to work there.”
But there are still gaps and Smith says they are appealing to anyone with more information about former residents to contact them. They are even launching an online database during the commemoration they hope will help them get more information about the former residents.
The commemoration is planned for Saturday, September 24th and will include a re-enactment of the “Poor House” opening ceremonies held in 1877 and a historical lunch in the Museum’s Nicholas Keith Room.
The activities begin with the re-enactment at 11 a.m. and continue with theatrical performances and the historical lunch at noon.
