Carleton Place is certainly scenic – both in its natural beauty and its cultural attributes.
One scenic feature is an abundance of murals. Check out how this town’s history has been depicted in this compelling and artistic way. Take a walk and see them all!
CHEWING PLUG TOBACCO
136 Bridge Street
The remains of an advertising mural for Chewing Plug Tobacco can be seen painted on the brick wall in the narrow alleyway to the left of this building.
ALBERT STREET STREETSCAPE
61 Bridge Street
This mural was painted in 2008 by Shaun McGinnis to bring life to the blank side wall of a cinderblock building.
LAST TRAIN TO CARLETON PLACE / EDWARDS GROCERY STORE
Corner of Coleman Street and Franktown Road
This mural depicts that last steam train to Carleton Place – #1226 – on Friday, Jan. 8, 1960. Established in 1894, Edwards Grocery was located in this building until 1977.
Photo: Courtesy Terry Prichett
STOMPIN’ TOM
17 Bridge Street
This mural honours country music star, Stompin’ Tom Connors. Connors was a frequent performer at the adjacent Mississippi Hotel and was instrumental in saving the building from demolition in 1990.
Photo: Courtesy John Rayner
CANADIAN TIRE COVERS
72 Bridge Street
This building housed a Canadian Tire franchise in the 1950s, owned and operated by Elmer McIntyre.
This mural depicting Canadian Tire catalogue covers is changed seasonally by the building’s owners.
QUEENS HOTEL
142 Bridge Street
Built in 1870, this building has been in almost continuous use since as a hotel and bar. Look for the ‘Queens’ sign painted near the roofline on the left side wall of the hotel.
TAYLOR’S
159 – 167 Bridge Street
The Taylor family owned this three-storey, red brick block, operating a hardware store and garage between 1888 and 1930. The painted advertisements on the Mill Street façade were repainted in 2010.
ROY BROWN
220 Bridge Street
This mural was painted in 2012 by Shaun McGinnis and commemorates the famous World War I air battle between Captain A. Roy Brown of Carleton Place and Baron Manfred Von Richthofen (The Red Baron). The Red Baron’s plane was shot down on April 21, 1918, with the fatal shots attributed to Brown.
TOWN HALL SQUARE MURALS
Mill Street
These six murals were completed in 2014 and depict aspects of Carleton Place history:
- The Ballygiblin Riots took place on this site in 1824 and involved fighting between Protestant settlers and Irish Catholic immigrants.
- The First Nations peoples harvested wild rice on nearby Mississippi Lake.
- The late 1800s saw many steam ships on the Mississippi River. Many were working boats, but also popular were excursions to the summer resorts at Lake Park and Innisville.
- The Carleton Place Canoe Club is the oldest continuously operating club in Canada, formed in 1893 and producing many award-winning paddlers.
- Logging was the first industry in Carleton Place, and many sawmills were built on the banks of the Mississippi River in town.
- The mural at 75 Mill St. was painted in 2013 and depicts Gerald Hastie, a falconer, on the banks of the Mississippi River with his falcon perched on his arm.
FINDLAY’S FOUNDRY
176 Bridge Street
This mural commemorates the Findlay Foundry and overlooks the now vacant site of the vast ironworks just across the Mississippi River. David Findlay founded the ironworks in 1860 and it grew to be the main industry in Carleton Place, operating until the mid-1970s.
PATTERSON AND SONS
Riverside façade, 176 Bridge Street
William Patterson ran his furniture and undertaking business here beginning in the mid-1890s and the building remained in the family until 1976. The sign was repainted in 2010.
WANDERING WAYNE
Corner of Allen/Bridge Street
A tribute to Wayne Richards, known to many as “Wandering Wayne”. Richards was a fixture on town streets and could often be seen standing in front of the Queens Hotel.
WINDOWS TO THE PAST
267 Edmund Street, behind the Museum
Local artists, Mary Jane Lancaster, Adrian Baker and Angelique Willard recently transformed barren cement windows into works of art, giving a nod to the history of the museum building as a former Town Hall, jail house and school house. Their works include Turn of the Century School Room (Adrian Baker), 1920 School Boy (Angelique Willard), Last Day of School (Mary Jane Lancaster), Findlay Stove and Roy Brown’s Rocking Horse (Adrian Baker), Miss Olive Robertson’s Class of 51 (Angelique Willard), Town Clerk Peden (Angelique Willard), Various Artifacts (Mary Jane Lancaster), Lock Up Window (Mary Jane Lancaster), and Constable (Adrian Baker).
This community effort was accomplished with the support of an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant, the Carleton Place and District Horticultural Society, Arts Carleton Place, the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum, the Carleton Place and Beckwith Historical Society and Valley Paint & Coatings.
