KAGAWONG—The annual History Day in Kagawong event will provide a glimpse into the birth of railway transportation and early telegraph communications on Manitoulin Island, as well as a local perspective on the assassination of US president John Fitzgerald Kennedy 60 years ago. The Old Mill Heritage Centre in Kagawong is hosting History Day in Kagawong.
“Jib Turner of Little Current will be telling the story of the evolution of rail service and telecommunications on Manitoulin,” said Rick Nelson, curator of the Old Mill Heritage Museum. “His family was part of the start up of the railway and the first telegraph office on the Island was owned by his great grandfather and a business partner.”
“First of all, I’m not an historian, but I have in my possession a sizable filing cabinet with information,” Mr. Turner told The Expositor. “My presentation will focus on the role my family and the interest they had in the beginnings of the railroad and communications on Manitoulin Island. I will be discussing the Algoma Eastern Railway and the beginning of the railway line to Little Current and the communication line, the first telegraph communication to the Island and the involvement of my great grandfather, Byron Turner, with his business partner A.P. Kilganan in the late 1800s.”
Byron Turner and A.P. Kilganan owned the rights to the railway line and sold this to Algoma Eastern Railway, said Mr. Turner. “They kept the communications business and established the telecommunications business in Little Current that serviced Manitoulin and the North Shore. The company was called the Manitoulin and North Shore Telegraph and Telephone Company.”
Mr. Turner will make his presentation as part one of the History Day in Kagawong. After an intermission, Mr. Nelson will make his presentation commemorating the 60th anniversary of the JFK assassination. He has rare home movies, photographs and exclusive interviews with witnesses who were there.
“I will be presenting the story of President Kennedy’s assassination from a local angle,” said Mr. Nelson. “I travelled to Dallas, Texas where I interviewed a lot of the key players. I have exclusive home movies and photographs people wouldn’t normally see, including testimony from Marina Oswald, wife of Lee Harvey Oswald (who fatally shot JFK).”
“For this presentation we will focus on the assassination,” said Mr. Nelson. “My home movies include interviews with witnesses who were there, among them police officers who were on the scene, and pictures of the location where Oswald shot President Kennedy. I have photos of Oswald’s grave, and on a trip to Washington, D. C. I took pictures of the Kennedy grave.”
Refreshments will be served during intermission of History Day, which is a free event, although donations to the museum will be gratefully accepted.
It is the annual History Day in Kagawong event that led to its being nominated for a very prestigious Governor General Award this year.
History Day in Kagawong will take place at the Kagawong Park Centre on Thursday, August 10 with a matinee presentation at 3:30 pm and an evening presentation at 7:30 pm.
