A man of few words is a man with a big heart, at least when it comes to preserving history.
Charles Matthews, who passed away in early December last year at age 88, gave $4,438,000 to the Simcoe County Museum.
“We received notice of this (bequest) a little bit before Christmas. It was almost too good to be true. We’re still elated,” said Kelley Swift-Jones, curator of the Simcoe County Museum, said today as estate lawyer Ron Worboy made the donation.
Swift-Jones had worked with Matthews, who like his great-grandfather, grandfather and father, specialized in moving buildings.
Matthews and Swift-Jones first met more than a decade ago, when Matthews coordinated the move of a 1920s cottage from the lakeside in Innisfil to the museum. Swift-Jones recalled the endeavor – expected to last a day – took just over three hours and went flawlessly.
Matthews, who lived his life in York Region, was also a passionate collector of specialized steam equipment. He donated several pieces to the county museum.
His most recent donation was delivered three days ago and with the monetary donation, he hoped it would be used for a capital project, said estate lawyer Ron Worboy.
“A building of some sort has been in our strategic plan for some time” said Swift-Jones. “It’d be nice to have a building that houses our transportation collection – everything from early wagons and cutters to steam rollers and hydro trucks.”
The collection includes a 1910 Buffalo Springfield steam-powered roller – a donation from the Matthews family, which owned land in what is now a developed hub in Markham.
The museum also has Engine 1831, which sat behind a fence on Lakeshore Drive before the roadbed was moved, on loan from the City of Barrie.
Other Matthews family donations in the collection are a small stationary steam engine and a larger steam engine that would have been used in woolen or grist mills, Swift-Jones added.
