125 YEARS AGO Thursday, July 31, 1884

• The recent cold wave is one of the most extensive that has been known in summer for many years. It reached from the Rocky Mountains to Labrador and during its prevalence of nearly a week the thermometer in the northwest never rose above 60ºF.

• The Royal block site in Shelburne has been purchased from Messrs. Stewart and Bennett of Orangeville by William Jelly, who is prepared to rebuild this season. Men have been at work all this week clearing up and preparing the ground. The buildings will be set back six feet to correspond with the other stores east of Owen Sound Street.

• Mr. J. Smith, of Elba, who last week had a team of horses stolen, has recovered both animals. The last one was recovered at St. Mary's, along with a buggy and harness also believed to have been stolen.

100 YEARS AGO Thursday, July 29, 1909

• Reports the Fergus News- Record: John Brownridge holds the record locally for landing the largest trout ever taken from the Grand River. Reports vary as to its length and weight, but a foot rule would not measure it, so the reliables state. We trust the Grand here will yet contain something worth catching now that the sawmills have all been removed from its banks. The catch is probably the result of the local waters being stocked sometime ago by Messrs. James Wilson & sons, R. Kerr and others.

• Says the Shelburne Economist: It begins to look like Shelburne people are going to have a chance to vote on a local option bylaw at the next municipal elections. A committee appointed a couple of weeks ago has set the ball in motion by securing Rev. Ben H. Spence, one of the prominents of the Dominion Alliance, for a meeting in Shelburne town hall this Friday night. Mr. Spence is noted for his stirring, practical addresses and there will doubtless be a large attendance to hear him.

• Two CPR engineers from Montreal were in Tiverton last week concerning the proposed extension of the Walkerton branch of the railway to Inverhuron. They examined the ravine north of the village and found access to Lake Huron could be obtained with a low grade.

75 YEARS AGO Wednesday, August 2, 1934

• The Dufferin County Annual Farmers' Field Day, held this year in East Garafraxa Township, attracted about 100 farmers to the site on the Orangeville-Fergus Road. An interesting discussion was led by Agricultural Representative Ralph Banbury, who planned the itinerary for the day. An experiment viewed with interest was that of Altacide, a chemical weed killer, when applied at the rate of one pound of dust per 100 square feet. The chemical's action was explained by Mr. A. H. Martin, of the Crops Branch of the Ontario Department of Agriculture.

50 YEARS AGO Wednesday, July 29, 1959

• Shelburne will have a modern sewage disposal system by the end of next year if no unexpected delays are encountered. At a well-attended meeting of ratepayers Monday night of last week, the project was unanimously endorsed, giving Council authorization to go ahead with the planning and construction of the project, which has an estimated cost of $170,540, to be financed by a 30-year debenture issue.

• OPP officers Martin Marchildon and Douglas Edge, of the Dufferin detachment, had an exciting chase early Sunday. Patrolling Highway 9, near the Grand Valley corner, they began a chase to apprehend a speeding motorist and finally caught him when his car developed a flat tire 30 miles away, a few miles north of Brampton on Highway 10. The chase roared at 100 miles and hour across Broadway in Orangeville and kept up the pace most of the way.

• Howard Hardaway, the "old hiker" from Louisville, Kentucky, will walk "Queen's Miles" in honour of the Royal Tour this year, up highway 10 to Shelburne, scene of the ninth annual Canadian Old Time Fiddlers' Contest. Since the Queen is 33 years old, hiker Hardaway proposes to walk an equivalent number of miles from a point near Brampton, arriving on Friday night, August 7, in time for the Contest playdowns.

25 YEARS AGO Wednesday, August 1, 1984

• Timothy Bryant has complained to Mono Township council that the Town of Orangeville is dumping sewage near his property on the Blind Line north of 5 Side Road.

• The price of a litre of regular gasoline dropped last week to 41.5 cents in the Orangeville area.

• The dispatch function of Dufferin Area Hospital's ambulance service, is now centred in Brampton. Arnold Weavers, director of the service, said the changeover was made Monday and he anticipates "no problems whatsoever."

• Ontario's Provincial Secretary for Resources Development has announced that development control along the Niagara Escarpment will revert to local councils.