by Adam Gault
It was a turnout few could have anticipated at the McGregor Community Centre last Thursday evening, as well over 100 individuals attended a special presentation of the “McGregor News” event.
The Marsh Collection and the Essex Municipal Heritage Committee (EMHC) hosted the historical presentation of McGregor’s history.
A shortage of chairs did not put a damper on the evening’s mood. Community members sat and stood with rapt attention as retired librarian and Marsh Historical Collection member, Nancy Brown, discussed the early origins of McGregor as a village, along with the events, people, and industries that shaped the hamlet now straddling the town-line between modern day Amherstburg and Essex.
“There’s a lot of people from the McGregor area that are historians, or people that are interested in their community. This is something that’s bringing people out to tell the story of the community,” Essex Deputy Mayor Richard Meloche said, who is also the EMHC Chairperson. “In the smaller communities like this, you don’t get a chance to hear those kinds of stories very often.”
The presentation pulled heavily from the Amherstburg-based Marsh Collection’s book of the McGregor News, which is comprised columns published betweeWant to add a caption to this image? Click the Settings icon. n 1875 to 1900 in the Amherstburg Echo, a community newspaper that was established in 1874 and ceased to publish in 2012.
The columns featured the business development and event coverage of the area, going back as far as 140 years, but also highlighted the day-to-day lives of many of the area’s common citizens, which was common for area newspapers at the time.
With attendance and interest in the event being recognized as an outstanding success, the EMHC is looking into hosting similar events across the municipality at some point in the future.
“I think [an event] like this in Colchester would go over just as well. So, I think that’s probably the next thing we’ll look at, is probably to do one in Colchester,” Meloche said. “It’s all about the volunteerism in the community and building good feelings about your own community. I think all these committees that we have, the more that we can do to involve people and give them a platform where they can learn about their community, people love those opportunities.”
The Marsh Collection Society is non-profit group established in 1983 for the collection of local historic papers, books, and artifacts pertaining to Amherstburg and the lower Detroit River.
Additional information can be found at marshcollection.org