THEN AND NOW: 'Charming' Cumberland St. home withstood hurricane winds

In the mid-1850s, the land where this delightful little Second Empire-style house sits belonged to Samuel John Milburn.

Thomas Milburn, for whom Milburn Street was named, had built one of the area's first saw mills — the appropriately named Allandale Mills — on the south shore of Kempenfelt Bay in 1852.

The mill yards were actually on Allandale Station land, and Thomas and Samuel’s mill was often referred to as ‘at the station.’ 

Their original mill property would eventually be crossed by a railway line and, in fact, the mill was moved to make way for railway development.

Fire destroyed the mill in 1855, but it reopened the same year as the Allandale Steam Saw Mill, with its tall smokestack dominating the Allandale ‘skyline'.

Milburn’s mill was offered for sale in 1857, but was still operating as of 1866. It was put up for public auction in 1872, following the death of Thomas Milburn. The property was described as Innisfil, Allandale Station and about one mile from Barrie.

At that time, Allandale was part of Innisfil Township and would not be annexed by Barrie until 1896. The village lots — of which there were more than 100 quarter-acre parcels — as well as the mill, yard and stable (the mill’s capacity at the time of sale was reported as about 10,000 feet per day) and all the beech, maple, cedar, and hemlock timber were on the auction block.

It was likely after the sale of these village lots that the little rough-cast, two-storey, seven-room home was built on the dead-end portion of Cumberland Street. Guide books put the date of the home as being built sometime in the 1880s, but it is likely older.

John Jevons, who owned the little estate on a double lot with stable and sheds, a one-acre garden with fruit and ornamental trees, unlimited well water and a splendid view of the bay and Barrie, put it up for sale in 1876.

Earlier that year, Jevons and others had petitioned Innisfil Township to extend Cumberland Street. In 1853, it had only went as far east as Reid Street, which is now Bayview Drive.

For many years, this charming home on Cumberland Street was owned by the Tersigni family. When Hurricane Hazel ripped through the area on Oct. 15, 1954, the family recorded some of the aftermath of the hurricane on their property and in the neighbourhood.

The community rallied to recover from devastating storm. The Lion’s Club held a 'Flood the Dollars' benefit concert for hurricane relief on Oct. 25, with the Barrie Collegiate Band, led by W.A. Fisher, as the headliner. Other entertainment included Leslie Gillespie a soloist and former Collegiate Glee Club member, the Canadian General Electric Glee Club, CKBB’s Lazy Valley Ranch Boys and other Barrie singers, musicians and humorists.

The five-hour fundraiser was broadcast from the Barrie District Collegiate Institute auditorium by CKBB, which donated the air time.

Listeners were asked to phone in their requests, pledge their donations and their name would be read on the air. Members of the Lion’s Club were standing by with cars at French Motors – as soon as a donation call was received, the ‘”collection squad” was dispatched to the donor’s home. Out-of-town donors could mail their cheques in.

These days the beautifully maintained home is a reminder of the exciting, early development of the village of Allandale. The Cumberland Street house is on the Municipal Heritage Register and is a 2017 recipient of Heritage Barrie’s Heritage Award.