Other Books

Building Character, Stories from Orillia’s Remarkable YMCA This book relates the Orillia YMCA’s ground-breaking position in the YMCA movement and its impact on the town. It was the first YMCA to invite women members, it built the only indoor pool north of Toronto for 40 years, it developed the largest Y’s Men’s service club in Canada, it groomed Mert Plunkett who created the famous “Dumbells” vaudeville troupe during WWI and Skid Watson, the legendary civic leader in Orillia. For years it was known as the “finest small town YMCA in North America”.
Orillia's Remarkable Lacrosse World Tour of 1907 The Orillia lacrosse team made the first round the world tour by any team in any sport. It was audacious. In Australia they played a series of games against the Aussie National Team that ended up as desperate as the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series.
The Brechin Riot In 1942 twenty-five soldiers on leave headed from Orillia to Brechin and its bar for a good time. Their night ended up in a brawl with the men of Brechin in the middle of the main intersection of the village at midnight. There were repercussions.
The Orillia Riot In 1842, just five years after the founding of Orillia (population of 100), 500 men descended on the village to bet on a sailing race. By late afternoon events descended into a brawl involving all 500 men, leaving the local magistrate to deal with it alone.
Orillia’s Civil War The founding of Orillia is a sad tale of passive-aggressive abuse of the Natives who owned the land the white settlers wanted. This book is a comprehensive telling of the story complete with original maps and research. Every person should read this story to understand the complex Native relations across Canada.
The Two Jacks In 1905 two farm boys from Orillia became North American canoe racing champions. Their rise and then fall from prominence is a story wrapped up in the politics of the professional-amateur debate that raged in Canadian sport then.
The Incredible Younkers Just before WWI Orillia produced a group of boys who dominated the Ontario Hockey League. In six seasons these young men went to the league finals in every single campaign, winning three championships. This book is one of the few in-depth looks at hockey when there was a rover, no forward passes, no substitutions and more violence than we see today.
A Waterfront for Everyone Orillia’s wonderful waterfront was, for 100 years, an industrial wasteland. This book tells the story of how the waterfront was lost to business interests and then was reclaimed, thanks to one man and his political campaign in 1910. Original maps show how the waterfront changed at each stage of its life.
Taming Orillia’s Red Light District Originally Orillia was as wild a town as any western cowtown. Brothels were a big part of that. This book traces the origins and then demise of the brothels including two big court cases – first, the murder in a brothel, and then the big sex scandal of 1895 after a 14-year old prostitute started naming names of her clients and ruined reputations.
The Tragedy that Shook Orillia In 1888 five Orillia men went hunting, but only four came home. The tragedy that consumed the town after the fact is a poignant tale.
Orillia’s X-ray Man Just five months after the discovery of x-rays in 1895 a photographer in Orillia acquired a machine and began taking x-rays. For the next 70 years he and his sons were the sole providers of x-ray services in Orillia. This is a remarkable tale of brash persistence and public service that has been long forgotten.
Orillia’s Turbulent Winter of 1896 After a sex scandal rocked Orillia, the aroused moral reformers orchestrated a wholesale replacement of Town Council in the up-coming election. What followed was chaos, with half the town’s administrators being fired and the entire fire company resigning in protest. This book has something to tell us about today’s political environment.
Lynch Him! An Orillia Constable’s Ordeal The routine “drunk and disorderly” arrest was anything but routine. An hour later a mob was chasing the police constable down Orillia’s main street threatening to lynch him. Justice for Constable Moffatt would only come from the courts, but 100 years fair treatment that was not a foregone conclusion.
A Hundred Thousand Welcomes Two wildly different events helped the village of Orillia come of age in 1874.
Yellowhead’s Revolt In 1846 there was a Great Meeting in Orillia of all the Chiefs of the Native tribes from across Ontario. The government wanted them to make dramatic concessions which would change their lives forever. Most of the Chiefs agreed to the moves, but two, the Chiefs from the Orillia area, Yellowhead and Aisance, adamantly refused. This book outlines those two Chiefs and their histories interacting with the white government, to give some insight into their determined stance. At the meeting, which is covered in detail, they were heavily pressured by both their fellow Chiefs as well as the Government agents and religious leaders, to conform, but they held fast to their position. In the end the future path of all Ontario’s Native peoples were set in motion by decisions made at the fateful Great Meeting in Orillia.
One Dead Cow, The Legacy of Orillia's Unlikely Smelter In 1912 Orillia’s Town Council was giddy over the establishment of a silver smelter in town. But, just two years later, its success came crashing to a halt with the death of one cow. The cow’s irascible owner took the smelter to court, sure his land had been poisoned by arsenic released by the smelter. It was the beginning of Orillia’s end as an industrial town.
Spanish Flu: Orillia's Ordeal in 1918 The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic devastated communities, and Orillia was no exception. But in a tangible example of the famous "Orillia Spirit", the townspeople rallied like few others to fight the scourge. As a result, the town fared better than almost every other community in Canada. How and why this volunteer effort was so successful is a lesson for us all today.

Building Character, Stories from Orillia’s Remarkable YMCA, 1872-1955

It’s all about building character

Orillia’s YMCA was ahead of it’s time. Founded in 1872 in the village of 2,000 people, it gradually established itself as the foremost social welfare institution in a bustling and progressive town. By 1911 there was a picture of the Orillia YMCA hanging on the wall at the National YMCA Training Centre in Springfield, Massachusetts, with the title, “Finest Small Town YMCA in North America”. What are it’s claims to fame? Many:

among the first Y’s in North America to accept women members
built what was the only indoor swimming pool north of Toronto for 40 years
was directly responsible for Mert Plunkett and the Dumbells, the famous trail-blazing group of soldier-entertainers in WWI
one of the first small town YMCA’s to start a wilderness camp for boys
home base for the legendary ‘Skid’ Watson, long known as “Mr. YMCA” across Ontario and Canada
developed the most active and outrageous Y’s Men’s club in the world
and, of course, developed many sports champions

Building Character outlines the fascinating history of an institution that did not recognize it’s limitations. Orillia’s Y forged ahead with overly-optimistic plans again and again, only to succeed every time. This success was truncated suddenly with the advent of financial recession in the 1920’s and then the Great Depression in the 1930’s. But, determined leadership from Skid Watson through those years inspired the Y to re-discover it’s swagger, embarking on new programs. By the 1950’s the YMCA was firmly established as a central player in Orillia’s community life, with a reputation second to none.

In the early days of the Orillia Y it awarded more learn-to-swim badges than any other YMCA in Canada, of any size!

Skid Watson, General Secretary of the Orillia YMCA for 41 years, was really just one of the boys

Little Ricky Ley won the Y’s Men’s annual soap box derby before he went on to fame as a NHL and WHA hockey star and coach

Even babies could get in on an exercise class!