Memories:

Molly writes; I currently live in the old Station Master’s home in Bonarlaw and I love finding information like this about how Bonarlaw used to be. You would never know nowadays passing through.

Morley Chard remembers his grandfather Steenburgh had a contract the pick up the mail from the train, and going with him at 2:00 am to meet the train and get the mail.

Peter Havelock: I worked at that station in 1964. I took my apprenticeship in Havelock. Beautiful station. That's when passenger trains 33 & 34 would run.

Darelene Newton: Mom and l would take the train to Ottawa for a holiday after the school year finished. We took the train after midnight.... it was flagged down for us.

But for the late William Prest,  poet & author of "The Death of Bellview",   who was born near the Diamond,  the name will always be "Bellview"

Thanks for the Memories of Bellview And the Old Country Store  by William Prest(1990)

Often times I get to dreaming
Of the scenes my boyhood knew
 And I brush away the teardrops
Just to get a better view
Of the old hotel and schoolhouse
Which I picture o'er and o'er
But I cherish most the memory
Of the Old Country Store.
We gathered here in the evening
For the news we wanted to know.
We listened to the wisdom club
And the battery radio

We sat around the old woodstove
And kept our eyes on the door
To see who would be the next one in
The Old Country Store.
When the light would dim
From the old coal oil light
Someone would stand up and say
It's time to say goodnight

It was here true friendship mingled
Whether rich or poor
There was no discrimination
In the Old Country Store.
Dan Bell had blessed the building
With his presence so to speak
We used to post a letter
And get an answer in a week
When the train whistle blew
We headed out the door
Straightway to the station
From the Old Country Store.
Jack Baker was the station man
One of high esteem
When he sold you a ticket
His eyes were all agleam
Dan Bell had a vision
When first here he came
Hoping to be remembered
He gave the place his name
But little did he know
His dreams would never be
For the Bellview that he hoped for
There is nothing more to see.
These two men had their dreams
That someday there would be
A booming country village
For all of us to see
Now these men are long gone
The buildings are no more
 Now there is just a memory of them
The station and the Old Country Store.
Bellview is the first place
Where I went to school
Where we celebrated Halloween
 And likewise April Fool
When I took to roaming
 Many times and more
My thoughts were always homing
To that Old Country Store.
In my battle with the bottle
Where I teetered on the brink
I remembered it was Bellview
I had my first hotel drink
 In my dreams I see my school chums
 I hear the whistle of the train
And quietly I am walking
Into the Old Store again.
 If I am blessed with health and wealth
There is one thing I hope to do
Erect a simple monument there
And call it Bellview
On this plaque there would be
 Familiar names we all once knew
Dan Bell, Jack Baker and Bellview
And now memory takes me back
Seventy years and more
The words that I treasure most
Are Bellview and the Old Country Store
 I would give my earthly earnings
Just to live one day once more
And meet my old school chums
In that Old Country Store.
In my memoirs I have written
About a place lance knew
The saddest part of the story was
The Death of Bellview

William Prest 1990

Bonarlaw has an Anglican church, St. Marks, which is located at the intersection of highway 14 and St. Marks Road. It was built in 1933 and is the second church on the site,  the first pictured below.

Annmarie Willman-Spry That station handled 14 trains per day. We drove in there a month ago & you can't find the diamond nor the turntable for the engines anymore. It's all grown over.

Arlene Aunger-Fluke: In the 1940's I caught the train at Bonarlaw Station to travel to Montreal to visit my Aunt in Montreal

Annmarie Willman-Spry:  Dad,  Pat Willman,  and others in the Spry Settlement always sent cattle, grain and other items on the train at Bonarlaw.  They also shopped there at the general store.

The famous "Diamond"  today - the junction of the CP & CN railway lines

The Bonarlaw General Store after being moved, Dave Embury wrote: This was Barlow’s store. It was torn down. Minnie Moore open her store after Barlows was torn down along with the hotel that was beside her house. Across the the road from Minnie was also the Bell house which was torn down too on corner of 14 highway the station road.

John Baker - Station Agent in Bonarlaw

The town around the Central Ontario Junction was known as "Bell View", named after John Bell, the hotel owner. When the hotel closed, the community kept the named, however, the suggested named for the station, according to historian Gerald Boyce, was CEPACO - a combination of"Central" and "Pacific" (CPR). He writes in his book 'Historic Hastings', "Fortunately, station agent J.F. Baker circulated a petition to have the community named in hour of Andrew Bonar Law, Canadian-born Conservative prime minister of Great Britain 1921-1922. Thus Bonarlaw was named.

Traffic on Station Road was constant twenty four hours a day. The welcome light was always on in the hotel window indicating food and rest for the weary traveller and his horse. The services of two travelling veterinarians was always available for the many horses around Bellview. Doctors from nearby villages made house calls when required. Bellview had a medicine man, who served a community of about twenty- five square miles, by a horse drawn vehicle, summer and winter. His Rawleigh products were known and welcomed by almost every household. His liniments and ointments were good for most any ailment known to man or beast; coughs, colds, cold sores, poison ivy, or pimples on the dicky di do, whatever that was.

When the Rawleigh man moved to new headquarters, a barber moved in and was a welcome addition to the community. He was known to have served his waiting customers with a beer; an unusual method of advertising, but a refreshing one, on a hot day, for his clientele. In the early 1920's, top guns could be found at Bellview's nearby rifle range, which was sponsored by the Canadian government, who supplied the well known high-powered Lee Enfield and the ammunition. Two blacksmith shops, a school and a community-minded teacher, the church, the rectory, and the dedicated reverend, as well as the services of a registered nurse and a seamstress, played a very important part in the lives of many people who lived, loved and enjoyed the good life that Bellview offered."

THE HOTEL  was built with the accommodation and comfort of the weary travellers in mind and there were many of them at that time. A large dining room, a sitting room, a stand up bar, a spacious kitchen, a laundry room and woodshed at the rear, its abundant dry hardwood feeding two large wood- burning stoves in the cold months.   The open stairway, with the polished hardwood railing, offered an invitation to the comfortable well maintained bedrooms upstairs. The apartments over the kitchen and utility rooms were usually occupied by railroaders. The Bellview Hotel was as modern as any of that time. The manager and good cook, as well as the dedicated staff, were responsible for the reputation that attracted many people to the Bellview Hotel.

Marmora Herald Jan. 18, 1906 - Mr. Geo. F. Wellman of Bellview Hotel defeated two charges against him for illegal sale of liquor on Saturday last.

“THE DEATH OF BELLVIEW and the Diamond “ is now out of print however, you can read the rest of book right here!

Click here for Chapters 1-4

Click here for Chapters 5 - 11

Click here for Chapters 12 - 19

William Riddell wrote on May 5, 2024: Your website has been most helpful in searching part of my family's history. Chapter 6 in a story on Bonarlaw (Bellwood) tells the tale of Albert Wellman (1856-1928). Mentioned in the article (page 37), was William 'Riddle'' Riddell, my great uncle, (his wife's name was Annie). I know from my research he owned dance hall in Toronto and most likely, as many Scottish emigrants, built homes in the west end of the city. He and my Grandfather (Ewen Riddell) each built cottages across from the rapids on Crowe River at the end of Morrison Rd. William Riddell named his cottage "Ramona", after the name of his dance hall.
I spend 13 fabulous summers in the late 40s and 50s at the 'Crowe'. It was a very enjoyable part of my childhood.
George Wellman and wife Cora, with son Barry had a cottage just 3 lots past my grandfather's. Barry one year trapped and caged a red fox but released it after a short while.
Thanks for bringing back the marvelous memories of Marmora and Crowe River.
William E. Riddell (not named after my great uncle, but after my mother's father).

Mr. Prest dedicates the conclusion of his book,  "The Death of Bellview",  to those grand gentle people who witnessed both the growth and the demise of their village. 

"The community, as well as the many dedicated public servants, were responsible for the progress and popularity of Bellview. As seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy, their contributions might appear to have been magnified, but the ever-persistent memories keep the picture bright and clear and easy to relive.  In fantasy, I see a huge monument standing where the Bell House came to a tragic demise. On this monument I see prominently displayed commemoration. John Bell or Donald and Margaret Bell.  

Wilson Hulin and Jim Fitzpatrick operated a mail and parcel delivery service in a manner that made the villages of Stirling, Sine, Harold, Springbrook, Bellview and Marmora seem like one big town.

Next I see the names of W. Sanderson, Manly Lavender, Joe Callery, Philip Sopha and Gilbert Steenburgh. They operated a very important service day and night, rain or shine, getting the mail and the people to the trains on time, as well as meeting the incoming trains and the people coming home. Prominent and dedicated railroad men, Tom Caldwell, John Forsythe, Jim Rathwell, and J. F. Baker, the station master. The most important public servants of that era were the dedicated and faithful rural mail carriers who delivered the mail from Bellview Post Office,  servicing an area along a route of twenty-six miles and about one hundred and forty mail boxes. As well, they picked up the mail from the rural area and brought it to Bellview to be dispatched to many parts of Canada. This service was provided to the rural area six days a week by a horse- drawn vehicle regardless of the weather, summer or winter. Watching for the mail man coming was the most important event of the day for the country folks.

The degree of anticipation was similar to a child watching through a frosted window for the coming of Santa Claus. If a popularity poll had been taken at that time for public servants, the rural mail carriers would have topped the list. For a service to the country folks around Bellview that was faithfully delivered under adverse conditions, the final names on the monument are Vernie Heath, Arthur Brown, and Jason Baker. Their final reward was knowing they had faithfully served their many friends along that mail route.

The family names that come readily to mind were Batemans, Browns, McCombs, McInroys, Sprys, Romboughs, McKeowns, Barlows, Neals, Wellmans, Eastwoods, Caldwells, Heaths, Huffs, Gordoniers, Morrisons, Mumbys, Webbs, Bronsons. Now in conclusion to the hundreds of descendents of these families since 1840, I say you can be extremely proud of your heritage. It will be your most valuable possession and, like the Diamond, could be indestructible.

Most likely a Bonarlaw house - the inscription on the back of this photo reads:  "To Mr. & Mrs. Barlow from T.A. Spry"

BABY LEFT AT BONARLAW STATION!

Marmora Herald   Oct 23, 1919