With the former Newmarket post office building again in the news, I thought that it may prove interesting to review a few of the facts behind the heritage clock tower as part of the backdrop to its restoration as a boutique hotel.
The first post office was located on Main Street South at Water Street, where Cousins Dairy was once located. You will recall that William Roe, our first postmaster, operated a general store (trading post), which served as a post office back in 1814.
It then moved north two buildings. Its next stop was 30 Main, on the west side, where it shared a building with the barbershop of J. Norris West. It moved again to the location of the Bell Telephone Company north of Park Avenue, east side, around Four Seasons.
The post office finally found a permanent home at its current location. There were three buildings just north of the Simpson Building that were demolished in May 1914 and the new building, the clock tower, was completed by April 1, 1915, but for some reason the building remained unoccupied until its grand opening on Nov. 24, 1915.
The plans, which accompany this article, show the fact that the post office was built on stilts due to the underground water, part of a series of artesian wells that had long fed an old pond located on the site and in the parking lot adjacent to the post office.
The initial post office consisted of the building that fronted onto Main. A two-story addition was added to the back of the existing building in May 1955, extending 89 feet along Park to the west, with a depth of 60 feet.
The first floor of the addition would extend the space available to the post office, while the second floor would accommodate the Department of Veterans Affairs and Unemployment Insurance Commission.
The existing building from 1915 was renovated on the first floor and, on the second floor, there was new accommodation for National Revenue and Customs and Excise Department. The existing building would have new facing in cut stone up to the first floor and brick the rest of the way up. New stone trim was added around the windows and entrance platforms and steps would be granite. New aluminum windows were installed in the stairwells, while all other windows were wood construction.
The old clock in the post office tower seemed to work flawlessly until 1959 when the clock was dismantled and 45 years’ worth of grime, grease and oil was removed when the clock failed. Yates Jewelers was entrusted with the maintenance work, and it took nearly two weeks to get the clock working again.
The clock had been shipped from England and was installed in late 1914. The clock weighs 200 pounds and its dimensions are approximately four by two by three feet. It was powered by two weights, 150 and 250 pounds each, which dropped down a 24-foot chute. The pendulum weighed 50 pounds. They say that the clock was deemed so efficient that it came to be known as Old Reliable.
The post office was officially retired on Friday, Jan. 26, 2001, when a huge ceremony took place. Mac Lewis had purchased the building from the federal government in 1998 with the intention of establishing a retirement home with 36 suites. He acknowledged that the building was a unique example of the Italianate style, and was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, and pledged to maintain the building as such. The building was renovated in two phases and was scheduled to open in mid-2001. It was Lewis who named this new senior residence The Clock Tower.
The building remained in the hands of Lewis until 2011 when it was purchased by Bob Forrest, whose stated intention at the time was to maintain the property just as Lewis had done.
Forrest apparently did not realize the building had been designated on May 1, 1995 (1995-57) under the Ontario Heritage Act and was also located within the Heritage Conservation District as property No. 59 under bylaw 2013-51 in October 2013.
In 2013, it was announced that Forrest wanted to build a seven-storey tower encasing the Clock Tower and re-developing the property. I am sure most of you followed the ensuing drama that gripped the town for nearly six years. Forrest was going back to the drawing board, amending, refining, and tweaking his concept for over three years before finally throwing in the towel and admitting defeat.
I became involved in the fight and joined the committee fighting his proposal after having Forrest’s lawyer tell me that the historical information I had submitted was just another old wives' tale.
In April 2019, the sale of Newmarket’s historic clock tower was announced, essentially ending the stalemate. The Forrest Group confirmed the red-brick circa 1914-15 landmark at 180 Main St. S. in the town’s core, along with the storefronts from 184 to 194 Main St. S., would hit the market in the future.
Happily, the property was purchased, and we are about to get a new boutique hotel in the grand old lady.
Newmarket resident Richard MacLeod — the History Hound — has been a local historian for more than 40 years. He writes a weekly feature about our town's history in partnership with Newmarket Today, conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, and leads local oral history interviews
