Maguire,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

was a small agricultural supply based community which formerly stood at what is today the intersection of Adare Drive and Maguire Road, in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

North Middlesex, Ontario North Middlesex is a municipality in Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada. The restructured municipality of North Middlesex was incorporated on January 1, 2001. This amalgamation joined five municipalities — the townships of East Williams, West W ...

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, in former McGillivray Township.

History

Maguire was named for local resident William Maguire, a shoemaker, who had originally immigrated to Canada from

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in order to escape the economic conditions brought on by the Great Famine of Ireland of 1845–49. Maguire obtained several pieces of property in the vicinity, including one immediately south of the current intersection. A post office was opened in 1882, with Alexander Todd being named as the

Postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

. In 1884, Todd opened a general store on the south-east corner, also during this period, John Ryan operated a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

business nearby. There is evidence to indicate that a log dwelling, or inn, once existed at the northeast corner of the intersection. Todd operated the store until 1912, when the business was sold to John Strange, father of

Cy Strange Cyril Edward "Cy" Strange (June 22, 1914 – February 12, 1987) was a Canadians, Canadian radio broadcaster who was born in Maguire, Ontario. Strange grew up in the farming community of Maguire, where his father had a general store. As a youth, St ...

, who in addition to running the general store, established a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

on the property. John Strange also ran the post office until it was closed on December 1, 1913. The general store itself ceased operation in 1920, when the building was converted into a mill and the structure was finally demolished in 1944. During the 1940s, John Hotson built and operated a machine repair shop on the west side of Maguire Road, south of the intersection, opposite the former site of the general store. The remaining structure currently on that location, is not the original Hotson's

machine shop A machine shop or engineering workshop (UK) is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tools to make parts, usually of metal or plast ...

, but rather a former church out building relocated from

Crediton, Ontario South Huron is a municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the southern part of Huron County. It was formed by amalgamation of the townships of Stephen and Usborne with the Town of Exeter in 2001, in an Ontario-wide municipal ...

which is now used as a barn. Farther to the south at Ebenezer Cemetery, William and Elizabeth Maguire and Alexander Todd are at rest. A small memorial plaque commemorating the former existence of the community is located on the east side of Maguire Road, marking the former location of the front steps of the original general store and post office.

References

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External links

McGillivray Township Remembers, 1842-1992 pgs. 65-66
{{authority control Communities in Middlesex County, Ontario Ghost towns in Ontario