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This July marked the 120th anniversary of the official inauguration of the Sherbrooke Protestant Hospital, which had its beginnings rooted nearly a decade earlier, in 1887.  The impetus for the hospital was two-fold:  Chiefly, fast-growing cities, such as Sherbrooke in the 1860s and 1870s, with their closely-populated neighbourhoods and lack of city-wide sanitation, were especially good places for contagious disease epidemics, such as smallpox and typhoid fever.  The establishment of hospitals allowed for the treatment and quarantine of infected people.  Secondly, and more specifically, the prominent Sherbrooke businessman Richard W. Heneker felt strongly that the Protestants of the area should contribute to the health care of their fellow brethren with the establishment of a hospital.

These things came together so that by 1887, the general public sentiment was in support of a Protestant hospital to complement the work being done by the Catholic Hospice du Sacré-Coeur. A site for this new hospital was chosen, consisting of 13.8 acres overlooking the St. Francis River on Pine Street (later Park Ave. and now rue du CEGEP), and funding-raising began in earnest.  However, it was not until Heneker, himself, gifted over half of the funds necessary that the hospital Corporation could finally purchase the property. 

The Sherbrooke Protestant Hospital was officially incorporated in 1888 but it would be seven years before the building was completed and yet another year before it was officially opened.  After nine long years, the grand opening was met with excitement as long-time supporters gathered on the hospital lawn on July 8th,1896 to see how their work had finally come to fruition.

The original hospital consisted of two wards, with a capacity of 14 patients, an operating room, a nurses’ and servants’ quarters, dining room, electricity, hot and cold water, bathrooms, and a modern laundry.  The first doctors of the hospital were A Norreys Worthington, Frederick J. Austin, W.D. Smith, and William A. Farwell.  Notwithstanding its name of the “Sherbrooke Protestant Hospital,” the governors emphasized that it would serve the people of all the Townships, regardless of their religion.

The hospital governors spoke with pride of the public contributions and generosity that was the source of the vast majority of the funds, totalling $20,826, needed to bring the hospital into being.  In the following years, fees paid by patients covered only one third of the expenses and, so, it was a continual exercise through private donations and philanthropic organizations to keep the hospital in good financial standing.

For 18 years, this first hospital building served the population until the region’s needs outgrew its capacity.  In 1914, a new hospital was inaugurated as the “Sherbrooke Hospital,” again largely the result of donations and special gifts. This building was followed by a third and final building in 1951, built on Argyle Avenue.

A little metal case, showing  only a string of numbers through a small window.   On the other side, one half of the document can be seen through a plastic jacket.   Once opened up, the small piece of paper warns that “this certificate must always be carried upon the person of the registrant.”  The date recorded identifies it as being from 1918.

The card was a certificate issued as proof that the holder had been registered by the Canada Registration Board.  In 1918, the Board set out to register all individuals in Canada over the age of 16 for the purpose of creating an inventory of people that were well-suited to be recruited for military service or for work in essential wartime industries.  The registration questionnaire asked general questions such as name, address, and age along with specific questions pertaining to employment history and state of health.

Despite its rather innocuous appearance, this item is a small symbol of a larger, more significant movement that was afoot in the later years of World War I.   From early on in the war, various voices in government and the military had been calling for a more effective way to recruit capable men for the Canadian troops and for a way to ensure that vital sectors of the economy were not lacking in labour.  These appeals were met with two recurring suggestions to rectify the situation: national registration and/or compulsory  military service.  The first attempt at a national registration was done in 1917 by cards distributed by the post office.  In the effort to avoid adding fuel to the heated question over conscription,  the completion of the registration card was voluntary and the returns were not as high as they had hoped.

As the war pressed on, however, Prime Minister Borden and his government decided to go ahead with a compulsory national registration in June 1918.  The questionnaires completed through this registration would have provided rich information for genealogists and researchers today.  Unfortunately, the records were not retained so that these little certificates are all that remain from the 1918 national registration.

Highwater, Quebec – North Troy, Vermont. For some today, the knowledge of these places might be linked only to the border crossing there, as a way for adventurous motorists to circumvent long holiday line-ups at the larger, highway border crossings.  For Highwater, however, the past holds stories of livelier times as border town.

In 1873, with the completion of the South Eastern Railway’s line from West Farnham – through Brome, Sutton and Potton Townships – to Newport, Vermont, the area became a railway stop known as Mansonville Station.  With the station came a telegraph office, hotels, small industries and businesses, and a customs office.

The presence of the railway also nearly gave rise to an international incident in 1877, as a dispute between the South Eastern Railway (SER) and the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad (C&P) escalated.  Facing financial hardships, the SER line had been leased to the C&P in 1875 so that service would continue between Montreal and Boston, with the stipulation that the SER tracks be well maintained.

By 1877, however, portions of the track were showing signs of neglect and the concerned directors of the SER decided to take action by removing a section of the track between New Richford and Highwater, with the intent to make repairs.  This move effectively cut off C&P’s access to Montreal and frustrated the directors.   Threatening to head across the border into Canada to seize the equipment the SER men had been working with and to relay the torn up track, the C&P men were thwarted by militia men that had been dispatched on behalf of the SER to stand guard.  After weeks of disputes and negotiations, the SER and C&P reached a final arrangement in December and full service resumed.

An entirely different sort of incident arose in July 1928 when, in the midst of prohibition and Roaring Twenties, Miles Wright of North Troy crossed the border to rob a tea room near Highwater, owned by Arthur Boucher.  In the course of the robbery, Wright shot Raymond Brulotte in the groin, took $20 from the register, and fled.  Police and customs officials worked together to arrest Wright and transfer him back into Canada for prosecution.

Just two events in a history specked with tales of bootleggers, oil pipelines, and artillery and space innovation with the Space Research Corporation.   A history shaped by Highwater’s location as a border town, and while Highwater has its own particular people and events, the distinctive influences of border life are not so uncommon amidst the history the Townships.

Glorious summertime, when school is out and children can spend days creating their own adventures.  In June of 1920, summer adventure was certainly on the menu when four 16-year-olds set out for a canoe trip from Sherbrooke to Newport, Vermont.

Lloyd Bowen, Harold Saunders, Raymond Bonner, and Darel Darey, all of Sherbrooke, set out on the Magog River in two canoes, well-laden with camping gear and food.  They camped the first night on the shores of Little Lake Magog and then made their way down Lake Memphremagog, staying the night in the Boat Club House once they arrived in Newport.  Along the way, the boys stopped to explore and visit various points, including places like Georgeville and an unknown, mysterious, uninhabited village.  Included in the adventures were getting caught in a rainstorm and portaging along some difficult points of the rivers.  They rounded out their trip with a Boy Scout Dominion Day celebration in Magog and hike up Mount Orford.

Through it all, the boys documented their experience with a camera they had brought with them.  Their sense of adventure and fun is almost palpable through the photographs captured, which make them a joy to look through today.