The story of Thorndale, West Nissouri,* begins with the Shanly family of Ireland. James Shanly, his wife, and children sold their property in the Emerald Isle, made the arduous journey across the Atlantic, travelled by canal from New York to Lake Ontario, went on to Hamilton, then rode a cart over what passed for "roads" to London.
In the spring of 1837, James scouted for a country property. Supposedly captivated by the beauty of blooming hawthorn bushes on a scenic lot overlooking the Thames Valley, he purchased 600 acres on the west side of Concession 2 West Nissouri (now Nissouri Road in Thames Centre) just north of Thorndale Road. On that site he built a large frame home with a servant wing and wide veranda. Some historians suggest he named his new home Thorndale after his old home in Ireland. But the estate name was likely a romantic description of the locale.
Although he was a lawyer in Ireland, Shanly changed careers in Upper Canada by founding a distillery on the banks of Wye Creek. For a while, Thorndale must have been associated with Shanly whisky. It was probably better than home-made rotgut, since settlers travelled miles over the trails to sample James' potent refresher. They even filled their stoneware jugs to take it home. Unfortunately, the Shanly distillery didn't prosper for long. Other distilleries were built on better roads with more accessible markets, and James was forced to close.
The family also failed at farming. Other settlers were making a go of it, but the Shanlys considered it beneath them. Eventually, the family abandoned their rural property, and the grand country home called "Thorndale" is long gone. Fortunately, we still have the Shanly "Town House" at 301 Piccadilly Street in London. Although it was built about 1872, the Shanlys purchased it in 1875.
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| The Shanly Town House, an Italianate mansion with an imposing Classical Revival portico added in the early 1900s. |
Back in West Nissouri, a village grew east of the Thorndale estate. The impetus was the building of the Grand Trunk Railroad through the township. The GTR planned to build a station at Wyton, in the township's southwest corner. The Scatcherd family, landowners at Wyton, had built a bustling community, and it probably seemed like a logical place for a depot. The Scatcherds, however, rejected the railroad's financial offer and held out for more.
Too bad for them. Railroad officials built a station at Thorndale, where the Logan family, early landowners, offered their land cheaper than the Scatcherds and divided their property into village lots. In 1858, a station and freight sheds were built, so that local pioneers could ship their timber, livestock, and farm produce by rail.
The name Logan pops up throughout Thorndale history. For example, William Logan operated the first saloon. In 1960, a schoolteacher and principal named Ila Logan, who had married into the family, channeled her strong interest in local history into the writing of Through the Years in West Nissouri, 1818-1967, a book available in local libraries.
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| Thorndale, Illustrated Historical Atlas of Middlesex County, 1878. Note the landowner, William Logan, on the northeast corner lot. Nearby William Street no longer exists. |
Perhaps this village should have been named Loganville after its founding family. But when a post office opened, it took the name Thorndale after the nearby Shanly estate. This wasn't just sucking up to the elite. The Shanly family had by this time produced prominent civil engineers influential in railway development. James' son Frank became a civil engineer and railway contractor and surveyed the Great Western Railway. His brother Walter eventually managed the Grand Trunk before going on to become a Member of Parliament.**
So much for the village's founding. Nowadays, Thorndale has about 1,200 people and has become a commuter town for London. You know what that means. Lots of this:
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| New "luxury" townhomes at Thorndale. |
But a few interesting older structures remain:
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| Mount Olivet Masonic Lodge was established in Thorndale in 1873. This battle-scarred building is on Harrison Street. |
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| St. George's-on-the-Wye Anglican Church at 172 King Street. The first Anglican mission in Thorndale was established in 1856 at the home of Edward Logan (yes, the Logans again). Later, services were held in the GTR freight sheds or the schoolhouse. This church was built in 1862, and the narthex in 1968. |
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| Thorndale United Church (formerly Methodist) at 245 King Street dates to 1879. The 1986 narthex makes it a bit tricky to view this original round stained-glass window. |
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| The United Church parsonage, just to the east of the church across Maria Street. |
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| Loyal Orange Lodge #248, built in 1874 at 237 King Street. Founded as West Nissouri L.O.L. in 1839 and closed in 1980. Western Archives has some of its records. |
Then there's the war memorial below, situated in its own parkette. I never list names, since this blogger does such a fine job of recording Ontario's cenotaphs and I don't need to repeat his excellent work.
While the railroad built Thorndale, as it did so many other villages, its heyday ended by the '60s because of the rise of auto travel and truck transport. The last station, built ca. 1915, was decommissioned in 1965. Interestingly, neither the railroad nor the station has been forgotten.
First, there's a long mural on the feed mill facing the railroad tracks. In 1999, mill owners Dick and Trudy Nieuwland commissioned artist Fred Harrison to paint a railroad scene on the side of the mill near where the most recent station stood. The mural is now faded, but you can still see the station and a steam engine.
There's also a walking path running along the railroad tracks, which I would walk daily if I lived there:
That wasn't the only historic plaque in the village, by the way. There are more on the walking path and elsewhere, interpreting local history for pedestrians. Thanks to the Lions Club and Thames Centre.
As for the station itself, the Byway family moved it to a private location and preserved it. Why? Joe Byway worked for the CNR and wanted to save the station from demolition. More recently, after Joe's daughter-in-law decided to downsize, Sheldon Morris of Morris Insurance moved the old building to his property on 23rd Line north of Thamesford. See here and here for some media coverage of that event.
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| Photo courtesy of Heather Phillips |
Note: Sheldon has a lot of neat stuff. I trotted into his office to ask permission to take a picture of the old station, not realizing he has a large collection of vintage cars and antiques. Thorndale isn't even his only railroad station:
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| London Junction Station with its restorer, Sheldon Morris. |
Sheldon kindly gave my friend Heather and me the grand tour of what must be one of the world's most unusual insurance offices. But Morris Insurance deserves its own post and will get one shortly.
Since we were close to Thamesford, we visited it too. Thamesford is in Zorra Township, Oxford County, and I generally pass through it on my way to Woodstock. It turns out there's more to it than I thought. It's larger than the village of Thorndale, at about 2,600 people. Not surprisingly, it's situated on the Thames River, which provided water power for pioneer industries. And since settlers forded the river here, it became "Thames Ford."
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| A postcard so generic it could be any river anywhere. But it says Thamesford, so Thamesford it must be. Author's collection. |
In about 1859, a wooden dam was built across the river to create a mill pond. Soon Thamesford Mill was born, which by the 1870s was shipping flour as far as England and the Caribbean Islands. George Hogg and family operated the mill from 1917 to 1970, which is a good run for a family business. Later, in 1981, it was sold to Feed and Garden Centre, London, and operated as Thamesford Feed Mill. It finally closed in 1993, and while local heritage preservationists campaigned for restoration and designation, it was demolished in 2012. The site, east of the river on Milton Street, is now the location of an auto repair shop, but you can see what the mill looked like here. Might have made a good small inn. Too bad.
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| Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Oxford, 1876. Note the grist mill and mill pond at centre. |
Naturally, I visited a pioneer cemetery, St. Andrew's. There was a Presbyterian church here on Delatre Street East (which, according to the map above, was once spelled De Laytre). The original St. Andrew's was built in 1847, rebuilt in 1875, and dismantled in 1938. The cairn below was erected in 1957.
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| A sad tale. First minister Niel Bethune was only here a year before succumbing to smallpox. His widow and children returned to their native Scotland.*** |
Now, for downtown Thamesford, featured here in 1909:
*West Nissouri amalgamated with North Dorchester to become Thames Centre in 2001.
** There's lots of information out there about the Shanly family and early Thorndale. Besides the above-mentioned Through the Years in West Nissouri, by Ila Logan (John Eedy, 1967), there's also, just to name a few:
Richard White, Gentlemen Engineers: The Working Lives of Frank and Walter Shanly. University of Toronto Press, 1999.
John J. Leverton (ed.), West Nissouri Township: 1818-2000. West Nissouri Historical Society, 2003.
https://www.ilovethorndale.ca/about-us/history-of-thorndale/
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