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.
Long before Allandale was annexed by Barrie in 1891, it was part of Innisfil Township, and that includes the pretty blue home at 103 Essa Rd.
Essa Road was named for the Township of Essa and was considered the only road to the county town of Barrie in the mid-1800s.
The house, built in the 1870s, was once the home of longtime Innisfil residents, Thomas and Isabella Hastings.
Thomas was born in 1848, near Sharon, Ont., and of United Empire Loyalist stock. While Thomas was still very young, his father died and the family moved to Newton Robinson. They stayed there until Thomas was 12 years old, before relocating to a farm in Nantyr, in the Alcona area of Innisfil.
In 1877, Thomas married Isabella Totten. Isabella’s parents, for whom the village of Tottenham was named, were pioneers in that area, settling there in 1832.
Following their marriage, Isabella and Thomas lived in Nantyr, staying busy within their community and church, and raising a daughter and three sons on their Innisfil farm. Thomas was secretary and a trustee of the school board for many years, but it was his 20 years as a Sunday school teacher that brought him the most joy and satisfaction – Hastings was loved and respected by the children he taught, for his kindness and his genuine interest in their lives. Both Thomas and Isabella were devoted, hard-working church members their entire lives.
After almost 60 years in the Nantyr area, Thomas retired from farming and the couple moved to the Essa Road home in 1918. Mrs. Hastings continued to be active in the Methodist faith, transferring her industry to the Burton Avenue church. The couple was only together in the Essa Road home for about three years before Thomas died there. Following his death, Isabella moved to 74 Sanford St., where she lived until her death two years later.
After Thomas had passed away, the house was sold to Willard and Alice Clute. The couple — Willard a carpenter at the time and Alice a farmer’s daughter, both originally from the Elmvale area — had married at the Collier Street church parsonage in 1910.
Willard came from a very large family – his parents, James and Harriet had six daughters and three sons… a large brood indeed! Before the Clutes moved to the former Hastings home on Essa Road, they lived at 13 Burton Ave., which was closer to Willard’s work as an engineer with the railroad, a major employer, both directly or indirectly, of so many Allandale residents.
Why not slow down and admire this and some of the other century homes along this residential section of Essa Road.
