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, '-"I"t":1'r’ . l ' . - [ ' l s . _ fix 1 _ 1 By BILL COLE Port Carling reporter 1 I ',, _ f%i ' ' _ _ ' Tuesday afternoon flames destroyed the last ', 's.', J, Lu!, __ I ram-[7 . remaining original building on the main street , I -_.m _ TVe 11,..._;I;I;1~f-i+" - ”11.11:,” _ .\ ", l I of Port Carling. A ' iiiiilgil S1,:I11-f' $k, ‘_~. ': IIeThe structure. which survived the disas- ' - . 'iM-RN-Milli" ' ' 5,3, rous fire of 1931, was under demolition at the _ ’ifigggg: r b, (l time of the fire. _ l ';,i'i'ii'till: ii'iii-,,ei,ifi.i, '-t:-ettiiEti-'is'giNNiit b \ Eyewitnesses said they believed the tire -‘ I garitlfeal; mv IRiatiEd l try is, started when wind fanned the thunes of a I' ttti, I, ,5. Lai'itif» ’ . .1»; t5 . _ fi . , ' bonfire workmen on the job had set earlier in l V _ _-.. _.. , 1 11. 1 ,1. _ , ' at. it . 1 / the day. l "s. ,I._,1e-' ..== R ' 'w. 'h., if " I nt R si . The most recent owner Harvey Donald of V .l T _, __,¢. _ . I ' r, 5'. l, 2 , 'ik' Ill y .' Port Carling had recently vacated the premises ',, ' ' I I. i I l ' l 1 : . t. l 9 rua; ' to move his plumbing business further up the -) ' _ I [ I k " ', l - , 'hh'). V ifii 1 "IFei'/ , street, The building was being demolished to F kr,, A i' L I') lign; _ 1 l _ iillillli , I i _ accommodate improvements to highway #118. .7 _ ' Ei r--r, --r"i'. IggrLWJ I Bl , a g r i "C ", l Firemen promptly responded to the alarm ', "a 1' I , sr/l F" is; II '. I ' , I ”I“ I , ' ; tt but were unable to control the blaze before the .' f " . I ,, L, J I; I um mu . l C' I . --"r“' Li _ building was totally destroyed. Their efforts to 5 _ " o, I, " P. ' 1. 1 --trt, T'" I I . _ . _ Mt " gltt© 2E Ap--" 1,.” 4.1.1 *“W' - ' I _ confine the blaze were sutetyyssrul however as a ' ‘ ‘ . PIM . q ' _ ' _ _ they prevented the flames from igniti 1g the _ 'sTrcvrerc-. .1 1 _ . _ I _ ', adjacent Bank of Nova Seotia, _ _ ' . cCrr'r y _1 ". 'r:r.:r:rr,cr,vrei-i The heat was so intense from th ‘ind I I _ """"“-"*' l 7 l "tr.?0s)igi'i.ri,'ift, whipped flames as they were driven i, to the 're _ ., _ 1]., _ we-..--. M» f." street that shop windows across the strm twere o . before the tire cracked and signs buckled. Tim WWII DONALD property " is ww, Tuesdsvy m "'"l51C,"C of Aud.Duke The building was originally built in 1880 by which need the building to the grrmn ' ' Mr. Joseph Wallis of Port Hope. Mr, Wallis ' , _ came to Port Carling in 1874 in the interest of . the government. In her book The History of the .1 - "," .- . TV --, Village of Port Carling Leila M. Cope records [ ' 1 _ ' 1 that Mr. Wallis was a justice of the ' ea ' who ' ‘ "h. , took an active part in Muskoka affai and th it If .,'. ‘ _ he was a. lay reader in the Baptis' hur. l at [t - I Fonts Bay. ' 1. at, V Mr. Wallis established the first lumb r and , T gftill , _ T shingle mill on the site where Miss harie ' gr, 1 Mltl C _ hd Seager's home now stands. In 1879 he ma 'ried I "'3' {it / i Sharlotte Vandeburg of Thorndale. Ontario. 1 . 'I ' _ The couple lived in a house behind the United "mailer -r.,, _, Church for a year while Mr. Wallis built the "t 'tyo-dar ' _ house that this week was destroyed. The Fa' rk " _ e _ structure served as a combined store and I ' . ' ll, _ dwelling. _ ~ .. I _ P, In June 1887 a Toronto paper said of Mr, l " MR'. 1 IE 5 Wallis "Now here is a man who can furnish an ' _ ' -» ., lie il - amateur. with lumber and nails to build a cabin, % ' , , ltl TP furniture to garnish it, cooking utenSilIs and food ' ' . "4.3.: g "Pb“; 11 "' = RX" to cook, even butter. for frying fish. ' . ' " . e Mt - e" " tgr, Wallis converted She IIbIIiIiildLRE High 31113:; - BllMe-tWFii G," i",a' iiiiik" , - MR " - ments. Later his aug er " IT IN 1lliEiiEiN-t2x2%at " 'ftll"t2iiiiiiiiiiiiciiiiiili Wallis operated it as a boarding house IWlth an “1.1111335 - g; "“ I e4 - 'tl', r"), ' ice house behind the building, IFollowuig that 8ll1ie5llltt' - - " I 7 'ttt 1hiaatS" Clark and Brown conducted their electric shop _ ' "‘""§fl*'”- ' n - 1",'a 1.1.751" " Pl%Nl1 in the building before Harvey Donald purchased ' - . m“..___. _. the property from the estate to conduct bis V AT THE HEIGHT ot the blue the building that survived the disastrous are at 1931 ' plumbing business. j I lg destroyed. "photo by Bill Macintosh 1 1 3 i ' ', o o . ild . , ' ' _' Last original mam street at mg A i burns to the ground We mi