Simcoe County Historical Association

Preserving the Past, In the Present, For the Future

Minesing’s Princess Rink, 1902-1940

Over 100 years ago, residents of Minesing got together to found their own community skating rink. Over almost 40 years, Minesing’s Princess Rink served as a hub for winter sports and social life for the small rural community, a venue for community skates and impassioned amateur hockey games and a training ground for one of the best hockey players of the early 1900s.

The story of the Princess Rink began in Minesing one morning in early November 1901, when four local men, Harry Stokes, Joseph Orchard, Charles Foyston and Thomas McLean, got together to found a community skating rink and set about finding a suitable location and adequate money to make their idea a reality.

The four men approached local farmers and managed to convince twenty of them to each advance $10 for the purpose of founding the rink, repayable at 4% interest within ten years. In December 1901, a location for the new rink was leased from another local man, Andrew Ronald, for 99 years for a nominal rent. Ronald’s only other condition for the lease was that no liquor was to be sold on the premises.

The Princess Rink was constructed through a series of work bees attended by many of the men of the community, under the direction of the respected barn framer Jesse Kester. The completed rink measured 40 by 120 feet, with a 40- by 100-foot ice surface and a 20-foot section at the front for putting on skates and observing hockey games. The new rink opened on the night of January 20, 1902.

The Princess Rink was always well attended, especially during evening skates, when bands from Minesing, Barrie, Craighurst or Stayner offered live performances for skaters. The rink also hosted a multitude of lively hockey games between the Minesing “Greenshirts” and other small-town teams – Elmvale was an arch-rival, and there were frequent brawls, often involving the spectators as well as the players. Visiting bands and hockey teams were all provided with a hot supper at the end of the evening. Evening skates were limited to three nights a week so as not to interfere in locals’ attendance at church and other social events. Despite good attendance at the rink, income from evening skates was fairly poor as tickets cost only ten cents each.

For the first few years, management was plagued by the issue of lighting the rink properly. Initially, coal oil lamps were used, then, in 1904, a 1200-candle-power gas lamp was installed, which provided sufficient light but also greatly increased the chances of setting fire to the building. On one occasion, the lamp suddenly exploded in the middle of an evening skate, causing those in attendance to flee the rink. Fortunately, no one was hurt and there was no damage to the building, though presumably the incident spelled the end for that particular lamp.

Harry Stokes, Joseph Orchard, Charles Foyston and Thomas McLean owned the rink jointly until 1906, when Stokes sold his interest to the remaining three owners. In 1908, Foyston and McLean moved to California, leaving management of the rink solely to Orchard until he, too, left the community in 1912. Harry and Carlin Foyston managed the rink until 1938, when Joseph orchard briefly resumed control of the establishment. In 1940 it was sold to Fred Parry, who found that it had become unsafe for further use and had it taken down.

One of the graduates of the Princess Rink was Frank Corbett Foyston, also known as “The Flash”, considered one of the best hockey players of the early 1900s.

Foyston, one of six brothers, was born and raised in Minesing and began playing hockey on the frozen pond on his family’s farm. The Princess Rink opened shortly before Foyston’s tenth birthday and quickly became his new venue for practicing hockey. Foyston joined the Minesing Greenshirts at age 15, and moved up to the Barrie Colts in 1909. Twice a week, he would travel the ten miles to Barrie from Minesing in a horsedrawn cutter, regardless of the weather.

Foyston’s career in the National Hockey Association began in 1912. Over the next 17 years until his retirement in 1929, he played for the Toronto Blueshirts (the forerunner of the Maple Leafs), the Seattle Metropolitans, then the Victoria Cougars, and helped win the Stanley Cup for each of those teams. After his retirement, he coached the Seattle Seahawks until his death in 1966. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958, the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Springwater Sports Heritage Hall of Fame in 2014.

Josephine: Ghost Town of Simcoe County

If you follow the North Simcoe Rail Trail east from George Johnston Road, near Minesing, you just might find the remains of the old hamlet of Josephine, one of the small handful of ghost towns scattered across Simcoe County.

Josephine began in 1879 when Joseph Budd established a sawmill, a commissary and a few houses for his employees on lots 11 and 12 in the 9th concession of Vespra. Budd named the tiny hamlet after his daughter.

Budd was the last of three lumbermen who harvested the virgin white pine forests that grew around what is now the village of Minesing. The ancient forest was bounded on the south by an escarpment stretching west from Dunn’s Hill and on the west by the Minesing Swamp.

The first of the lumbermen to operate in this area was George Ball, who built a mill on Willow Creek about a mile downstream of the Mill Road (now Highway 27) bridge around 1855, shortly after the arrival of the Northern Railway in Allandale created a market for lumber in the area.

Later, Gideon Shortreed built a mill on the 7th line of Vespra near where it crossed the Northern Railway (now CPR) line.

After these first two lumbermen had completed their work, most of the area had been deforested, leaving fields covered in four- or five-foot-wide stumps.

Although the best trees in the area had already been cut, some decent lumber — white pine mixed with oak, maple and ash — remained growing along the edges of the Minesing Swamp. However, for many years this area remained untouched because there was no easy way to transport the lumber to market. The construction of the North Simcoe Railway (later part of the Canadian National Railway) in 1879 changed that, and Joseph Budd set up operations in the area that same year.

Budd established himself on 200 acres of land that was neatly dissected by the North Simcoe Railway line. To the east of the railway, he built his mill and the houses for his workers. Budd constructed a house for himself to the west of the railway, facing the mill that provided his livelihood.

Although Josephine boasted a commissary where Budd’s employees could buy personal items, for the first few years there was no post office or general store available to them. Instead, a road was opened from the 9thLine of Vespra to the 7th, known then as Budd’s Road and later as Snow Valley Road. From there, prospective customers would follow a winding track through the fields of stumps to the general store and post office of George Sneath, near the junction of what are now Highways 26 and 27.

In those early years, the closest school to Josephine was in Minesing, which was hard to reach outside winter given the poor state of the roads through the swamp. The village of Minesing, with five churches and no tavern, also held little appeal for Budd’s millworkers on their days off. Instead, most locals travelled to Midhurst for their entertainment, except on Saturdays, when they could catch the train to Barrie for the day.

For years, Josephine was a “flag stop” for the Saturday morning train travelling from Allandale to Penetanguishene along the North Simcoe Railway. Being a flag stop meant that the train would only stop at the local station if it was “flagged” or signalled to do so, otherwise it would continue on past the station without stopping. Josephine’s train station was commonly known as “Budd’s” or “Budd’s Mill.”

Joseph Budd opened Josephine’s first and only post office in 1884, with himself as postmaster. The same building also served as the hamlet’s local school as well as a Methodist church.

A fire swept through Josephine in 1885 and destroyed almost everything, but the town was quickly rebuilt. The post office closed for good in 1894.

After the largest trees had been cut, Budd’s mill was bought by Charles Wright and converted to the manufacture of shingles and staves, which it continued to do until as late as 1914.

Not much is left of Josephine today. Intrepid explorers may be lucky enough to find remains of the hamlet and mill to the east of the trail and of Joseph Budd’s house to the west. Ironically, after a hundred years, a hamlet built on the lumber trade has been swallowed up again by the forest.

By John Merritt for the SCHA. 

Photo: Three men cutting lumber in the Minesing Swamp, circa 1910. For many years the swamp and surrounding forests supplied lumber for mills like Joseph Budd’s. From A History of Vespra Township (Township of Vespra, 1987).

 

Simcoe County Historical Association Land Acknowledgement

In recognition of those who walked this land before us, Simcoe County Historical Association acknowledges that we gather on the ancestral
territory of the Anishinaabek Nations: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Pottawatomi, who collectively are known as the Three Fires Confederacy. We remember
too the people of the Wendat who once made this land their home. We acknowledge with regret that in the past we have not lived in harmony
with the Indigenous People of Turtle Island and our relationship has not been one of true friendship based on honesty, generosity, and mutual respect.
Today we recognize the enduring presence of the people of the Chippawa Tri-Council: Beausoleil First Nation, Georgina Island First Nation, and Chippewas of Rama First Nations, as well as the people of the Métis Nation, the Inuit, and other First Nations who have chosen to make their
homes in this region. The members of the Simcoe County Historical Association recognize that we have much to learn from the history, culture, and teachings of the Indigenous Peoples with whom we now share this land. We are committed to nurturing a spirit of respect, honesty, and reconciliation with all our First Nations, Métis, and Inuit neighbours. Click Here for more info.