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Acknowledgments

Writing a small town’s story presents problems that other types of histories avoid, particularly if one is a resident of that town. One risks offending some while angering others for neglecting their place in the town’s past. Having said that however the opportunity to express both affection for common places and experiences, and occasional criticism of inappropriate decision-making, is one that one would not wish to avoid.

I begin by noting my debt to the many fine histories of the town written over the years including Coleman’s History of the Early Settlement of Bowmanville and Vicinity, Fairbairn’s History and Reminiscences of Bowmanville, Squair’s The Townships of Darlington and Clarke, Hamlyn, Lunney and Morrison’s Bowmanville: A Retrospect, the various editors of Picture the Way We Were, and Leetooze’s The First 200 Years: A Brief History of Darlington Township.

My greatest debt however was to the inestimable Canadian Statesman newspaper, whose pages over the years brim with the life of the community. I say it elsewhere in this book and repeat it here, that in many ways Bowmanville is the “Canadian Statesman” and it would be hard to imagine one without the other.

Among the folks who have given advise, ideas and inspiration I mention only a few when so many are entitled to recognition. Garfield Shaw has collected as fine a pictorial record of a small town as exists anywhere. Garth Gilpin of the Bowmanville Business Area and Charles Taws of the Bowmanville Museum have read this manuscript in its early stages and provided helpful commentary. Neighbours and friends Marjorie and Eileen Couch and Muriel Crago have helped in many unseen but significant ways.

Institutional support from among others, Central Public School, including my former co-author Doris Falls, the Bowmanville Museum, and Bowmanville Branch of the Clarington Public Library have been invaluable.

My wife Cathie and children Bradley, Darryl and Karen share in the experience of living in Bowmanville. I salute another distant relative and wonderful popular historian, and the man I refer to as Mr. Bowmanville, Stu Candler to whose memory this book is dedicated.

I acknowledge, the many important writers including Garrison Keillor, William Least-Heat Moon, Peter Ackroyd, James Kunstler, Simon Schama and others whose words have influenced my own interpretation of the history and life of a small town and a special place.

I remember, in conclusion, my mother who gave me the love for reading and writing. Her inspiration will always be part of me.

A classic photo of Bowmanville’s Market Square, celebrating Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, 24 May 1897.