THEN AND NOW: Military family, judge called mansion home

This ongoing series from Barrie Historical Archive curator Deb Exel shows old photos from the collection and one from the present day, as well as the story behind them.

19 Dundonald St.

If you’re driving down this breathtakingly steep street or huffing and puffing your way up it, you might miss this mansion quietly tucked into the wooded Dundonald Street hillside. 

The home was originally 9 Harriet and Melinda St., on the Berczy Block. Charles Berczy, who named the streets after his children, had more daughters than available streets in the block, so the last one was named for his two remaining daughters: Harriet and Melinda. A typo somewhere along the way, listed it simply as Harriet Street, which stuck until it was later renamed Dundonald Street.

For many years, the large house was the home of Henry J. Grasett and his wife, Mary Isabella Hogg. Henry had been born in Fort Erie in 1854 and Mary in Guelph in 1859. They came to Barrie in 1898 when Henry was made manager of the Bank of Commerce.

Once situated in Barrie, Henry was an enthusiastic golfer (president of the Barrie Golf Club in 1904) and expert curler, most likely a member of the Barrie Curling and Athletic Club, which built Barrie’s first indoor rink at the corner of Sophia and Clapperton streets in 1902. Grasett skipped his rink to the Ontario Silver Tankard in 1907 and 1925.

Mary, homemaker, mother of seven, was a most charming woman: well read, an exceptional conversationalist and deeply kind.

Henry retired from the bank in 1914, about the time the impressive new branch was built on Dunlop Street East, leaving him more time to pursue his interests. By 1916, the Grasetts had lost a son, Lt. Hugh Grasett, in Zillebeke, while he served with the 3rd Canadian Battalion.

One of the Grasett daughters, Mary Dorothea, would have a military life as well, marrying Wing Cmdr. Norman Russell Anderson at Camp Borden in 1927. It was many years later, in 1951, the former Mary Dorothea Grasett, by then a widow, would unfurl the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) ensign on the signpost of the new permanent married quarters, Anderson Park, at Camp Borden. The park was named for her husband, Air Vice-Marshal and former commanding officer of the RCAF Station at Camp Borden, N.R. Anderson.

The Grasetts often wintered in St. Petersburg, Fla., but in early 1929, not long after returning from a trip to England, the enchanting Mary Grasett died from pneumonia at her hillside home. Henry continued to reside at the Dundonald Street home until he died there in 1943.

By the early 1950s, Judge J.G. Harvie was living in the Dundonald Street home. Back in 1941, when the Board of Commissioners of Police was established, Harvie, along with Magistrate Compton Jeffs, Mayor H.G. Robertson and an eight-man force were sworn in as the new board.

But (likely) a more familiar person was occupying the big house on the hill by about 1960: Leighton 'Hap' Emms. Before he was a legendary hockey coach, Emms, an athlete himself, netted Barrie the South Simcoe League Championship (baseball) in 1923, thanks to his pitching.

Emms brought the Barrie Flyers to the Ontario Minor Hockey Association Juvenile 'B' championship in 1935 and 1946, the Ontario Hockey Association Junior 'A' title in 1948 and 1949, the Ontario Hockey Association championship in 1951, Memorial Cups — you get the idea.

These days, changes are coming for this lovely property, but for now, it remains a peaceful, hillside estate.