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This is Shelley Richer interviewing Miss Loretta Willick in her home
at 3255 Stevensville Road on August 22, 1985.
}
S.R:
Hello Miss Willick, and how are you?
L.W:
Well, pretty good for a lady of 81.
S.R:
So you were born in 1904 then. Were you born in the Stevensville
area?
L.W:
Buffalo.
S.R:
When did you come to Fort Erie then?
L.W:
We moved into Snyder the next year, 1905.
S.R:
And you've stayed living in the area all your life?
L.W:
I've lived in three houses in this area.
S.R:
Could you tell me what school you attended and where it was located?
L.W:
S. S. # 5 on Sodom Road.
S.R:
How far from your home would that be?
L.W:
One mile, and I walked it.
S.R:
How was it through the wintertime?
L.W:
Well, my father used to once in a while take the sleigh or horses
f
arid turn us over and turn in the snowbank and laugh.
�;_;.V
S.R:
Could you describe your school, the way it was and any changes
that might have taken place? Is it still there?
L.W:
Oh, it's all changed. It's made into a beautiful home. It had been
sold and made into a home. But it was the old fashioned desks with
the ink-wells in the front of them. And they had the big, the big
bellied wood stoves. I don't know what you called them, and the
outhouses, no water, and that was about all. It was a one room
school and it accomodated eight grades.
S.R:
How many students were there?
L.W:
Oh, it could, sometimes it would go up to fifty.
S.R:
One teacher for fifty students?
L.W:
One teacher, one teacher.
S.R:
Would you remember your teachers name?
L.W:
Well, the last teacher we had was Cathleen Swinton. In fact, she
was there a number ofyears.
S.R:
,(
Was that the only teacher you had?
L. W:
I don't remember who it was before that. I think that Cathleen
·'
(1)
�Swinton was there the whole eight years.
S.R:
Is there any interesting stories that you can remember from the
school days?
L.W:
Well, I can go back quite a few days.
There was a woods right
next door, right behind us and I know we used to go in the bush
and hide, and play Hide And Seek in the bush.
in the yard.
We had the old pump
We used to get our drinking water there.
to play, we used to have happy days at school
•••
they were happy days.
went on.
very few fights,
I don't know too much else.
We were pretty busy but we used to
•••
attended the fairs then.
We used
Not too much
I don't think we
But when she went to school (her younger
sister) we attended the fairs.
S.R:
The Bertie Fair?
L.W:
Yes, I always went to the Bertie Fair.
S.R:
Could you tell me what the Bertie Fair was like and where it was?
L.W:
Up at the race track.
S.R:
At the race track on Gilmore?
And what did they do at the Bertie
Fair, what attractions?
L.W:
Well, there was horse races
••.
because my father owned horse racers,
and I at nine, I used to drive the horses on a surrey.
S.R:
Was it just regular wagons that the horses used to pull?
L.W:
Yeah, like that with a top on it (pointing to a picture), a carriage.
We used to call it carriages in those days.
I used to drive.
My
father used to get two race horses, and the one he would drive
with his sulky, and go ahead, and I would follow him with the carriage
and my mother and family and take any of the kids around town
with us to get in.
in the races.
for sale.
Of course at the fair, well, we were interested
And of course they used to have hot dogs in booths
They used to have displays of fruits and vegetables, and
prizes were given for those things.
S.R:
L.W:
Of the church?
S.R:
What church is that?
L.W:
(
Are you or have you been a member of a church?
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church.
S.R:
Where is it located?
L.W:
On Netherby Road, Netherby and Snyder Road there, right across
All my life.
(2)
�(
from us.
S.R:
Did you always attend that same church?
L.W:
Always.
S.R:
Could you tell me a little of it's history, the building itself?
L.W:
Yes, it's a
it's over a hundred years
..•
and twenty-fifth
. •.
! think it was
.••
184 7,
we celebrated our hundred
and we've celebrated our
hundredth and our hundred and twenty-fifth.
I think last year it
was a hundred and thirty-five years old.
S.R:
Has there been any changes in the church since it's original structure?
L.W:
Well not
it's been renovated, and yes there has been some changes,
•..
but I mean there's been new pews.
There's been new lights put
in and things like that.
S.R:
L.W:
Not to the church, but there has been a rectory built since.
S.R:
What's a rectory?
L.W:
Where the priest lives right next door.
S.R:
(
There was no additions to the church?
So the church built that then for the priest to stay in?
L.W:
Yes.
S.R:
What about the church grounds itself?
Did there used to be stables
for the horses or anything like that for the horses in the wintertime?
L.W:
There used to be long sheds for the horses.
But they've been removed
and there's been a parking space put in where they use it for cars.
The sheds have been removed, and there's a cememtery right next
door.
A huge cememtery.
S.R:
Do you recall any special events that the church has had?
L.W:
Many of them.
We have a carnival each year.
for fifty years.
I did all the purchasing and the planning.
And I ran the carnivals
S.R:
What other kind of events did the church have for the family?
L.W:
Oh, they have family gatherings.
They have a Holy Name Society,
they have a Catholic Women's League and they have a
••.
have another committee.
oh, they
They have several committees you might
say.
S.R:
I know you've been very active in the church.
Do you recall any
other people that have really had a lot to contribute to the church,
(
a certain Priest that's really been exceptional or
L.W:
Oh yes.
•••
?
We had the Carmelite Priest for thirty-five years
•••
(3)
for
�sixty-five years.
(
and we've had
•. .
Carmelite Fathers and we've had Diocesan Priests
oh, what do you call them.
name was now.
I can't think what his
The Diocesan, sixty-five and then there was a Diocesan,
and then we had the
think of what it is.
.•.
um, there was another one in there.
I can't
And now we have the Holy Cross Fathers.
There's another one that should go in there.
He was here five years.
S.R:
Why are they different?
L.W:
Well
S.R:
Is it a di fferent grading?
L.W:
Well, some of them are like an order Priest, like the Carmelites
••.
and the Holy Cross, they're order Priests.
seminaries.
They have their own
The Holy Cross Fathers, they teach in the whole community
and all our children from St. Joseph's School attend the
•••
after
the eighth grade, they go to Notre Dame School, and they used
to go to Loretta Academy.
a school.
Of course Loretta Academy is no longer
Our priest here now is
•••
would you like his name?
S.R:
(
Sure.
L.W:
It's Father Joseph Ingroa and he also serves the Redemptress Nuns
at the convent on the Niagara Boulevard.
S.R:
Where would that be?
L.W:
The Niagara Boulevard, right down by the Christian College.
S.R:
Oh that's where it is, down by the college?
L.W:
Yeah.
S.R:
You mentioned this Loretta School, where and what was that?
L.W:
Loretta Academy, well that was the
He also serves there every day.
.••
He goes there every day.
the nuns have been there
that's
•••
over a hundred years old and the nuns used to have high school
there.
In fact, they used to have elementary too, but then they
just had the high school.
S.R:
Where was that?
L.W:
Niagara Falls.
And then there's Mount Carmel College right next
door to it where the Carmelite Fathers reside.
S.R:
Could you
•. .
! know you have been involved in many things the church
has had, could you tell me what some of them are?
The different
organizations that you've been involved with.
L.W:
(
Well, I've
. •.
! was the founder of the Catholic Women's League there,
I was organist for twenty-five years, I assisted the Sacrasten and
(4 )
�organized many social events. They used to have dances, and bingos
(
and card parties.
S.R:
L.W:
What other organizations have you been involved with?
Daughters of Isabella.
S.R:
What is that?
L.W:
That is a Catholic Women's Organization offiliated with the Knight's
of Columbus.
S.R:
What does the organization do?
L.W:
They do, like...oh they get...I don't know how to say it now...missionary
work and give donations in the area to help out in the community.
They have Meals On Wheels.
S.R:
The Daughters of Isabella, how long has that been operating?
L.W:
I couldn't tell you but that's been for years, many years, in Niagara
Falls here. It's been for thirty-four years in Niagara Falls, but it
has been operating in different communities much longer than that.
S.R:
L.W:
(
Is it in the Stevensville - Fort Erie area at all?
Well, there's just four people from Fort Erie and there's no Catholics
in the Stevensville area. Niagara Falls is the headquarters for that.
S.R:
What other organizations?
L.W:
What have I told you?
S.R:
Okay, you said the Catholic Women's League, you were an organist,
and the Sacristan, and Daughters of Isabella.
L.W:
And, well I guess for the church that's probably...
S.R:
Other than the church now. What organizations outside of the church
have you been involved in?
L.W:
Children's Aid for twenty-five years. I was on the board of the
Children's Aid, and I organized an auxiliary, clothing auxiliary.
We had a depot in Welland, and I used to have all the women from
the community come and sew and give the clothes to the Children's
Aid so they wouldn't have to buy new clothes. I organized this auxiliary
to the Children's Board, affiliated with the boards I guess, or however
you want to place it. I can't put it just right.
S.R:
L.W:
(
What other activities were the Children's Aid involved in?
Well, placing children.
S.R:
Oh, was it an adoption facility?
L. W:
Adoption, oh yes. I conducted an adoption campaign in the whole
(5)
�diocese, where I called on 37 parishes and put on a film and an adoption
program for adoptions.
S.R:
Is this located in Niagara Falls too?
L.W:
It was associated with the St. Catharines Children's Aid Society.
S.R:
I know for adoption now, it's really hard to get children. What was
it like before? Was it very hard to get a child?
L.W:
There were times when it was easy, but it has the last few years
...of course I haven't been too active, but it has been harder to get
a child.
S.R:
What about separate schools? I heard you were involved in something
to do with separate schools.
L.W:
Well, we have a school right here at St. Joseph's. And then I was
with the retarded, the secretary-treasurer. I was on the board of
the Elsie English School for the retarded, and I was secretary-treasurer
there.
S.R:
Where is that?
L.W:
That's right down in Fort Erie there... Elsie English School.
S.R:
Would you know what street?
L.W:
Um...I used to go all the time but I can't tell ya.
S.R:
Where abouts... what's it close to?
L.W:
Pretty near into Fort Erie. On...the Elsie English School, anybody
could tell you where that is. I don't know if it's in the book or not.
S.R:
What does this Elsie English School do?
L.W:
I beg your pardon.
S.R:
What does the Elsie English... is it a girls school, is it a school for
the retarded?
L.W:
It's for the retarded, for both boys and girls.
S.R:
And you were involved with it, or involved in setting it up?
L.W:
I was secretary-treasurer.
S.R:
Do you know when the school came about?
L.W:
No, I can't tell you dates.
S.R:
Has it been for a long time?
L.W:
Oh yes, it's been for a long time. Well you could find that. .. l'm
sure there'd be some history on that in your library, something about
the Elsie English School. I'm sure there would be. Buffalo Road,
Buffalo Road wasn't it.
(6)
�S.R:
L.W:
Yeah, it's the Crescent Park area.
S.R:
Have you been involved in anything else?
L.W:
(
That's in Crescent Park.
Did you put down that I was a graduate of the Lewis Hotel Training
Course?
S.R:
No.
L.W:
I graduated from the Lewis Hotel Training School in Washington
D.C., and I've been on the Hotel Association. I was secretary-treasurer
for the local Hotel Association and I always attended all conventions
in Toronto, New York and many other places. Any time there was
a convention, I always went to the convention.
S.R:
This Hotel Association, your parents owned the Commercial Hotel.
Is that what it was called then? It didn't have any other name,
it was just the Commercial Hotel?
L.W:
S.R:
When did your parents purchase it and who did they buy it from?
L.W:
From Joseph Bauer in 1910.
S.R:
(
Commercial Hotel yeah. Willicks... it was called mostly Willicks.
Could you please tell me a little o;f the history of the hotel?
L.W:
Well that... I did mention about the. . . when we went in, there was
a beer license, but in 1916, as a war measure, they closed up, they
didn't let us sell beer any longer. But my mother would serve meals
all the time, and we took care of people such as Bell Telephone
or anybody like that that had groups of men that had to have dinner,
you know, they had to have food. Then in 1916 when she closed,
she still continued giving rooms and giving the meals at the hotel.
Then we got the hotel back in 1934.
S.R:
The license?
L.W:
The license came back then in 1934 and we opened... Well in the
meantime we put in a grocery store. And my father took a meat
route. He started out with horses and then he wound up with a
little truck. But he delivered meat along the Niagara Boulevard
and all the way into Fort Erie, well almost to Fort Erie, around...
and then he'd come back this way. Well see, he started out with
the horses and then he went into a car, he went into a truck. A
meat truck he called it. And he had the meat route, and we put
(
a grocery store in where the hotel was. But then we continued
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�on with the grocery store as well as the hotel when the license was
returned to us in 1934.
S.R:
So then even after it was used as a hotel again the grocery store
was still in the building itself?
L.W:
We took our kitchen and made a store out of it. My mother says,
they took our license away from us once and I'm not going to be
without another business. She put a store in the back and put a
kitchen on the back and still continued the hotel and we still accomodated
you know. And we used to have everybody coming, like members
of Parliament, and we used to have policemen from Buffalo, anybody
going to and from the Fort Erie Race Track. Many horse owners
were in there. E. P. Taylor, plenty of them, many of them. I. .. what
else was I going to say now? Well I don't know. Of course, we sold. . . we
didn't get to the part yet where we sold then did we?
S.R:
No.
L.W:
What else did you want to ask me?
S.R:
We're still in the hotel part of it. In the 30's when they gave your
license back, then your mother put a store into it and she built a
(
new kitchen onto it, and then what happened next?
L.W:
Well then, and then I mentioned the prominent people that used
to call on us, such as Humphrej Mitchell and who else did I say.
We used to have people such as Humphre� Mitchell and who was .. .I
was trying to get the Conservative member on there too.
S.R:
You had a little story about, something about the elections. You
used to be involved in the elections.
L.W:
I worked on the elections from the time I had a vote for fifty years.
I was either D.R.O. or clerk.
S.R:
What was D.R.O.?
L.W:
Deputy Returning Officer. I was always for enumeration, whether
I say, whether it was on a local election, provincial or federal, or
whatever the election was, I was always called because I like doing
it. And then when I, after fifty years I refused to go on any longer
and they told me that my records, when they would open my box,
my records were always in order.
S.R:
(
That was a very good compliment then, right?
L.W:
Well, I thought maybe that was worth putting on. And then also
(8)
�that I took part when the Peace Bridge was opened that the Prince,
(
when the Prince of Wales was here, myself and two of my cousins
danced in wooden shoes and sang a German song.
S.R:
For the Prince of Wales?
L.W:
For the Prince of Wales, Eddy.
S.R:
I'd like to talk more about the Peace Bridge opening a little bit
later. When did you get rid. ..when did you sell the Commercial
Hotel and why?
L.W:
In 1948. Well, because as I say, my mother was seventy-five and
I didn't think that she should carry on working any longer. Then
I remodelled an old place which was a hotel...did you put in the
part where there was three hotels here?
S.R:
No, you haven't said that part yet.
L. W:
Well, I remodelled one place, it was an old hotel, and made living
quarters, and my mother wasn't satisfied to just sit and sew and
knit. She wanted to be working. So we put in the store. And up
until '59 when she passed away, the night before, she was in there
serving pop. She got old folks pnetnonia and she was in the hospital
(
for one week, and I used to go down and sit with her every night.
I'd be in the store here in the daytime and I used to go and sit with
her every night 'til she passed away. That was in '59.
S.R:
And how old was she?
L.W:
84.
S.R:
Who did you sell the hotel to then?
L.W:
To Andrew Zuba.
S.R:
You had menitoned there were three hotels.
L.W:
There were three hotels. This was a hotel, that hotel and the one
where the parking lot is, where the parking lot is burnt down. But
there were three churches and three hotels, but the two churches
survived, and two of the hotels are gone. Of course the new hotel
has been remodelled, which you saw the picture of there. And then
there have been four generations of Andrews in the hotel. Andrew
Bauer, Andrew Willick, Andrew Zuba, and Andrew ...oh what's their
name.. . Warbuck. Four...it just seems kind of odd, but Andrew Bauer
(
was one of the oldest sons and he was home working in the hotel,
and then my father was Andrew, and then there was Andrew Zuba
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�and Andrew War...you know, that's a coincidence.
(
S.R:
Do you recall the other two hotel's names.?
L.W:
No, I don't, no I don't.
S.R:
The churches...?
L.W:
St. Josephs Roman Catholic Church, and St. Johns Lutheran Church
and this was St. Johns Presbyterian. Of course they are united
now. They switched to, the United and Presbyterians are United
Church, but the Lutheran is still St. Johns Lutheran Church.
S.R:
The house you're living in right now on Snyder Road used to be a
hotel, and then there was the Commercial Hotel and then... ?
L.W:
I don't know the name of the other ones.
S.R:
The other one... what is it that Nigh's Sweet Shop used to be?
L.W:
Oh, no that, that was, that used to be the old Critz home. The
family that... then they built this house right next door here. But
then Mr. Critz died, Joseph Critz died years and years ago, but
then it was just a home and then Mr. John Willick...no Nicholas
Critz had the first post office there and a grocery store. They
had a grocery store. He had a grocery store and the post office
(
and Mr. John Willick used to carry the mail every morning at six
o'clock. He'd meet the train, the T.H.&:B. Train [Toronto, Hamilton
and Buffalo], and carry the mail back and put it in the post office,
then people would go to the post office. When I was a little girl...I
don't know whether you'd want this to go on there or not...when
I was a little girl, I had two Great Dane dogs, and I was just so I
could see over the dogs, and I used to walk from there up to the
post office and get the mail. I've always been a lover of dogs.
You can see I've got one out there now. But I mean, that doesn't
have to go on there, it's just another part of my life. But I can
just see. .. I can still remember, what I mean, I used to walk with
these two Great Danes, hang on by the collars, and go down the
road with them. As I say, I've had dogs and horses every since.
S.R:
Speaking of horses, you said your dad had race horses and things,
he also...it would be a chauffeur now, but there was a different
name for it then when he used to drive people around.
L.W:
Hackman. That's what my father was on that picture.
S.R:
Could you please...you said he had a big experience one time when
(IO)
�he was a hackman. Could you please tell about it?
(
L.W:
Well, in 190 I, when the Pan American Exposition was in Buffalo,
President McKinley and the Shelcoff Family owned these horses
that my father was hackman for. He had just driven Mrs. McKinley
to the exposition, and let her out of the carriage when a young man
came along and went to shake hands with the President, and pulled
his hand out from under his coat and shot him right there. Then
they took this man and. . . people were going to tear him limb from
limb, so my father and a couple policemen got him into this hack
and drove him down to the police station. And then he went over
to the railroad station and met Teddy Roosevelt who at the time
was Vice President, and my father saw Teddy Roosevelt installed
as President of the United States.
S.R:
What was this man's family, what the man's name that murdered
the President?
L.W:
Saulgaush.
S.R:
Are there any other stories that you can remember your father
telling you, p e.rt aining to history?
(
L.W:
I don't, I forget what we've covered. We've talked about a lot of
things but I don't know just what's on there. About the Beach, about
us dancing at the Beach. Have you got that on?
S.R:
No, I haven't asked those questions yet. Is there anything you can
remember that your father used to tell you, like from before you
were born, that has to do with history, any stories?
L.W:
Not especially. He worked in Buffalo. My mother was from Ohio.
Her name was Rose Friedman if that's of any interest. And we
were Alsace Lorraine, we weren't Jewish. Not that it makes any
difference.
S.R:
You were Alsace Lorraine?
L.W:
Well yeah. In the time period of the French or the Germans, I'm
not sure which. I think maybe it was moreso Germans rather than...
S.R:
Talking more about the community, could you take me down a little
memory walk down the main street in Stevensville, telling the stores
that were on it, and how things have changed, any prominent people,
things like that?
(
L.W:
Well, to tell you the truth, things have changed in Stevensville so
(11)
�much I don't know. And do you know, there used to be, in this town,
(
there used to be a cider mill owned by Mr. John Morningstar, and
there used to be a saw mill where he used to saw lumber. And there
used to be a butcher shop owned by Willick brothers, many, many
long years ago. That was before my time but I've heard of it. Now
speaking of the post office there, I did make a little mistake. Mr.
Johnny Willick used to have a little post office on his own residence
and he lived on Sodom Road. Then the post office was moved up
to the Critz Store.
S.R:
That is now Nigh's Sweet Shop?
L.W:
Yeah.
S.R:
And then it moved.. . ?
L.W:
It moved from the Sodom Road, from there up. It was between
the church and that road here. And of course the change was made
here, this was just a few years ago. This was just since we've been
here. This road used to be, that road didn't used to be in there,
that's Stevensville Road. This was all Stevensville Road and they
came here and came to the cemetery and turned. This road has
(
just been in, oh, maybe ten years.
S.R:
Oh, so you had, you always had a little right-hand turn here on Stevensville
Road instead of going straight.
L.W:
Yeah.
S.R:
Are there very many industries in Stevensville, were there?
L.W:
Really not. The saw mill that's burnt down, and there was...the
grist mill is still there, and the feed mill, and there's two or three
garages, the bank, the hotel, and I don't know how many churches.. . two
or three churches, and the United and Brethren, and then there's
the United, and I don't know, I guess maybe that's all the churches.
And then Brethren in Christ, of course that's further on up the road.
S.R:
Fire Departments?
L.W:
Well now, I couldn't tell you very much about them. They had a
fire hall just right across the railroad track in Stevensville. I'm
sure somebody in Stevensville could tell you more about that.
S.R:
L.W:
{
Who was the earliest fire chief that you can recall?
I wouldn't want to say that I'm exactly correct, but I know of Edgar
Heximer, but there could have been somebody else ahead of him,
(la)
�I wouldn't be too sure. He's passed away, Edgar Heximer has. Oh
(
and then Frank Shear used to have a seed mill in Stevensville.
S.R:
Frank Shear?
L.W:
Yes, he used to have a seed mill where he sep rated seed and sold
it and one thing and another. I may be missing something. Oh,
there used to be a printer in Stevensville. Oh, there still is a print
shop in Stevensville, but you know, I wouldn't want to be.. . and there
used to be a shoe maker, Mr. Schwartz. But I mean, now they have
changed. There's things out there that I don't even know about.
There's hair dressers out there. There's the bank, restaurants, the
hotel right on that corner, and there's the plumbers, an insurance
agency ...what I mean, there might be some other little things, I
wouldn't want to be quoted on this Stevensville.
S.R:
It's the way you remember things in stuff like that. Nothing, everything
that's said isn't always necessarily fact because a lot of things were
so long ago that it's hard to remember things as actual fact. So
it's the way you remember things.
(
L.W:
Yeah, well that's the things that were. As I say, if I'm missing somebody
why, it's something new.
S.R:
Were you ever around any major fires to see... before there were
fire hydrants and things like that, how did they put the fires out?
L.W:
They used to haul the water in trucks and just spray . . .
S.R:
Oh then, with the pump?
L.W:
Pump like yeah.
S.R:
And where did they get the water?
L.W:
Well they had to go around to the creek and get it. Either Black
Creek , the creek in Stevensville, the nearest water facility that
there was I guess. I know when the water came in, they were only
going to bring it to Stevensville and I was on my high-horse then.
I went down to the council and I went around to everybody and I
took up a petition that we would get the water in this area. We
were only half a mile, or a mile from Stevensville and they were
bringing the water out there and weren't going to bring it out here.
Well, and we should have sewers now. If I were capable I'd go up
(
there now and raise cain and we'd have sewers in this town instead
of just.. .we're using septic tanks. But I took up a petition in order
(13)
�to get the water into this area.
S.R:
Did you have to use cisterns before that?
L.W:
Yes.
S.R:
Buying water by the truckload?
L.W:
You'd buy it by the truckload and what came off the roof.
S.R:
Oh, from eavetroughs.
L.W:
Rain water. But I took up a petition to have the water brought
into Snyder. I didn't think about that.
S.R:
Would you recall the major effects of the; Depression time on your
family or in the area, or were you better off because you had the
hotel and store? Did that really help?
L.W:
We personally didn't feel the Depression too much.
S.R:
You had what your needs were and things like that. And I recall
you saying that your dad had a meat route, did you have a farm?
L.W:
No, he used to kill his own cattle. He had a slaughter house in back.
S.R:
Oh, so he had to buy cows from people, full grown cows from people.
L.W:
He'd buy the cattle and slaughter them. And many's a night that
I'd go out with him and hold the lantern while he was killing a calf
(
or a lamb or something. I was kind of hard hearted. Chickens,
he used to kill chickens. I used to help clean chickens... pulled the
feathers off.
S.R:
Did you sell any of the stuff in the store or was it all on this meat
route?
L.W:
Well, if somebody wanted something in the store we'd sell it, you
know.
S.R:
What was there to do for entertainment when you were on a date
back then?
L.W:
Well, we used to have dances, and. we used to have house parties
and things like that. ..go from one anothers house and have sandwiches
and lunch and entertain. It would seem that we had better days
then than we do now. And we used to, we used to have a lot more
dances. We used to have a dance a week over here in this hall.
But of course that's all petered out when the bigger places got going.
S.R:
(
What about Erie Beach or Crystal Beach for entertainment?
L. W:
Oh well, there used ... I don't know anything about the entertainment
(14 )
�(
out there, you know what I mean.
S.R:
Entertainment is just going and doing things. Did you go to Erie
Beach or Crystal Beach?
L.W:
Oh, I used to love the... oh those horses that would go up... the Merry-Go-Round,
and the. ..what do you call the, that high ride like what they have
now. They're much higher these days.
S.R:
The Roller Coaster?
L.W:
The Roller Coaster and all those things. We got to Crystal Beach
maybe twice a year or something like that. And we used to go to
the beach and...we couldn't swim and my mother would let us wade
into the water up to our knees. But they'd watch us. We didn't
dare, we'd go into the water but didn't dare get wet.
S.R:
Oh, there weren't places around for you to learn how to swim?
Is that why?
L.W:
Oh, she never would let us swim, anyway, some people used to swim
but we didn't. We didn't get to the beach too much.
S.R:
Did you ever visit the dance hall there, Hke the ballroom?
L.W:
Oh yes, I've been to the dance hall there, yes. The roller skating
(
rink. Yeah, the roller skating rink and the dance hall. That was
about all that was there then. There wasn't ...they've got so many
new things now. All these new games and that, you know, that
I wouldn't ...
S.R:
Do you recall any of the famous bands?
L.W:
Bands?
S.R:
In the ballroom.
L.W:
George Hirsch, he used to live in Chippawa and he had a violin and
he would play, play, play, play, and then.. . he used to play over here
at the hall. And then we had Mrs. Finns Orchestra. That's at this
hall, not at Crystal Beach. I don't know any of the names over there
at Crystal Beach. Mrs. Finn, Mary Finn, she's still living in Niagara
Falls. She's way up in her eighties, but she's.. .once in a while the
senior citizens have a do and she's on the job.
S.R:
How did you get to Crystal Beach, the Am
usement Park, just
by horse and buggy or were there any public transportations?
L.W:
Well, there used to be, years and years ago there used to be a bus
but we used to go as a family with our old surrey. Or else, after
(1 5)
�(
we got to the cars naturally we had the car.
S.R:
What about Erie Beach?
L.W:
We didn't go to Erie Beach too much. We didn't get to Erie Beach
too much. It was a little far off. I don't remember being at Erie
Beach more than about three or four time in my life. I remember
as I say, this night that we danced, and I think maybe once or twice
we went up there. We had some friends from Buffalo that had a
cottage there and we would visit her or something, you know.
S.R:
What about doctors and dentists?
L.W:
Well, we had dear old Dr. J. B. Buell in Stevensville 'til he passed
away. And then my dentist was always Dr. Chapman in Fort Erie.
He's gone. Then there were doctors in Ridgeway, Dr. Stewart and
Dr. Stackhouse, but I never had anything to do with them. We had
Dr. Buell here, he was...he was always here if you wanted. He'd
come out all hours of the night to do anything for you.
S.R:
What were the payments back then that you can remember?
L.W:
Payments, like what?
S.R:
Doctors bills. There wasn't any insurance was there? Was there
any medical insurance?
L.W:
No, there was no medical plan, no. But I couldn't tell you...
S.R:
What about hospitals, were there any home hospitals, maternity
hospitals, anything like that, do you remember, or did you have
to go to Niagara Falls to the hospital?
L.W:
Yes, Niagara Falls, or Fort Erie would be the closest hospital, Welland.
S.R:
Before Douglas Memorial was built.
L.W:
There was nothing that I know of. I remember when that was built.
But there was nothing. I don't know if there was any buildings there
before or not. But I remember when the Douglas Memorial was
built.
S.R:
Going back to when you owned the Commercial Hotel, there was
a Mr. George House. It was his job to see that the hotel was run
properly...
L.W:
That it was properly licensed, and that the proper ... they had regular
prices for things those days...the prices was right, and they had
hours that...I think that you'd have to close up at ten o'clock or
something, and they weren't to be open on Sundays. But sometimes
(16)
�they would, after church was out if the people would like a beer
1
(
they'd go into the hotel and have a beer. And then when Mr. House
was in Chippawa they used to always phone up and say George was
on his wa�. And George would come up and he'd come in our back
door. My mother would have a bunch of sandwiches there and she'd
say, George do you want a sandwich and a cup of coffee. He'd visit
with us, and I think I used to even sit on his lap.
S.R:
So you would get the phone call and then everybody would quick
clear out, right?
L. W:
And all the other hotels the same, you know. Well there weren't,
we were the only hotel when we were there, we were the only one.
This one was closed and so was the other one so there was just the
one.
S.R:
Do you remember any other stories involved in the hotel days?
L.W:
Well, there was an awful lot of them, but I don't know what... anything
that would be too interesting. I think I've told you most of it.
S.R:
(
Were there any...was it always a nice quiet bunch in there or did
you ever have problems where you had to call the police in?
L.W:
Not really bad no. It wasn't like it is today. I think today they
have more... it isn't always the drink that makes them what they
are today. I think those days they had their little old beers and
a drink of liquor if they wanted. But in those days I think beer was
a great big super ten cents, and they used to have liquor. They'd
give you the bottle and you could pour you own liquor and it was
ten cents a shof or three shots for a quarter.
S.R:
A big difference from now.
L.W:
Oh, I should say so. You'd pour your own. Things were much more
peaceful and orderly.
S.R:
Was it just a family project or did you have to hire somebody to
help?
L.W:
Well, we used to have to have some help. My mother was so fussy
about her cooking that I'd see the help standing there and she'd
be doing the work herself. We used to maybe employ one or two
people, you know, and the family.
S.R:
(
What about bartenders, did you have to be eighteen then to serve
booze or twenty-one, or was there an age?
(17)
�L.W:
Yes, they had to be twenty-one to have a drink.
S.R:
What about to serve alcohol, to be a barmaid?
L.W:
It was the same thing.
S.R:
You still had to be twenty-one then too?
L.W:
Yep.
S.R:
Do you recall any of your employees from back then?
L.W:
To tell you the truth ...well they're all passed on. They're all gone.
Mrs. Morningstar that used to live next door here, Lucinda Morningstar,
and of course my sisters husband. He used to tend bar.
S.R:
What was your sisters husband's name?
L.W:
Albert Sterry. Vincent Willick of course, he was my brother, he
was a bartender. That was after '34, and before that of course
there was my father, you know, Andrew Willick.
S.R:
How did you get your liquor during Prohibition? Or were you very
good and you didn't sell during Prohibition or anything like that?
You know how a lot of the hotels, they have their stories.
L.W:
To tell you the truth, I don't remember. They called it bootlegging
in those days. But I don't remember where, I don't remember where
(
dad used to get it. But we didn't sell too much during Prohibition.
We didn't sell too much during Prohibition.
S.R:
It was just to your really regular customers that used to come in.
Or would you just sell a bottle of it instead.
L.W:
Yes. It was... we didn't sell too much during Prohibition. Prohibition
was like from '16 to '34.
S.R:
Do you recall any stories from the bootlegging, rumrunning days.?
L.W:
Well, I know that down here at Black Creek there used to be plenty
of it down there. What I mean is, they used to go across to the
island in boats.
S.R:
To Grand Island?
L.W:
Yes. In boats, and there used to be quite a few of them. When
they thought they were going to be caught they would just dump
the whole thing right into the river. But what I mean, I knew several
of them down there that did it.
S.R:
(
Do you recall anything about hijacking? I heard that numerous
times trucks that had the booze in it that were going to the boats,
they were hijacked. Then somebody else could sell the booze across
(18)
�to the States and they wouldn't have to buy it, they had
(
stolen it from somebody else.
L.W:
Yeah, well that could be. I remember the hijacking but
I couldn't tell you anything definite on it. But I know right
down here at Black Creek there was plenty of hijacking
done, oh, and across the island there, you know. There was ... I
don't want to mention any names.
S.R:
What kind of employment was there for the women that
needed to work?
L.W:
The women that what?
S.R:
The women that needed to work. Say their husband died
or something like that, or he was sick, and she had to support
them. What kind of employment was there to do for those
kind of women?
L.W:
Nothing here in New Germany.
S.R:
It was just men that worked?
L.W:
Yeah. And most of them were farmers around, you know.
Most of them worked on the farm. In those days everyone
(
was farmers.
S.R:
Back when you were younger, there's always been different
men's groups like the Lions and the Masons and different
groups, were there women's groups back then?
L.W:
Oh yes, the Masons have somebody, and I guess there's the
Lioness, I wouldn't know... there's a Lioness in Stevensville.
I don't know whether they had them years back, I don't know
how long they've been, you know. There aren't no Lions
here in New Germany. You're probably going to be surveying
somebody in Stevensville which will be able to tell you a
little bit more about .. will be able to tell you a little bit
more about what's going on in Stevensville now because
I don't know...a lot of the people that I used to work with
like Mrs. Heximer and the different ones, they're not here
anymore, you know. Other people have taken over so.. .I
could tell you somebody's name and I might be wrong, you
know.
S.R:
Did you know J. L.Kraft when he used to live in Stevensville?
�(
L. W:
I've heard of him but I don't know...he's connected with the
Kraft Cheese people and he's related to the Sid Tripp family
which aren't very many of them left anymore. And the
Kraft Cheese people, they originated in Fort Erie.
S.R:
But he went to school in Stevensville.
L.W:
He may have, yes.
S.R:
And that's why I was just curious if you knew about him.
But oh, you went to school more outside of Stevensville
because you never had a chance to go to high school.
L.W:
Yeah, down here in Willoughby, yeah. My sisters and them
went to Stevensville to the high school because that was
the only high school...when I wanted to go to high school
I was cheated out of the high school. I was... they had Bertie
and Willoughby Township were separated, and at that time
when it came up that if a teacher had more than I think
38 pupils or something, and I had had permission from the
inspector and from three trustees, my father, that I could
go to Stevensville and go to high school there. Miss Lawson
(
was there at the time and she had more than her 38 pupils
and she sent me home. And I remember crying. My father
drove me out...I remember crying and walking in the ditch
all the way home, and I didn't get to high school.
S.R:
There was nothing you could do about changing it then?
L.W:
Well after feeling like that I didn't even want to go. Well,
then within the meantime things changed in the home and
I had to take over there, being the eldest you see. My father
passing away and one thing and another, so...
S.R:
Is there anything you could think of that we haven't talked
about that you would like to discuss?
L.W:
I don't know, I don't think so. I think I've had a pretty full
life. I can't at the moment think of anything that... we've
talked about a lot of things. I don't know... I've done so many
things that I don't even remember what I've told you. And
as I say, I have quite a few of these awards from the Mental
(
Health. I really enjoyed that very, very much. I met a lot
of awfully nice people.
(U))
�{
S.R:
What did you do there?
L.W:
Well, they took people that weren't just up to par and they
had a. .. oh what did they call her, Mrs. Strange, she...
S.R:
Mrs. Strange?
L.W:
Mrs. Joy Strange, yeah. Mrs. Arthur Strange from Niagara
Falls. She was the supervisor there for a long time. And
they had classes and tried to help these people if they weren't
exactly retarded, but they were just a little bit, you know.
They just needed a little counselling. And then I always
attended the meetings. I'd go down with, I used to go down
with Gama Chapman. .. oh he was in Fort Erie. But he was
one of the head chief dentists down there for years and
years and years. There's a young man that has his office
down there now. I can't think of what his name is, but, and
somebody else. He's a great big tall man from Fort Erie
that you might know. I know him and his brother...names
seem to be getting away from me, I noticed that. That's
(
one of my weaknesses now.
S.R:
When did the... what's it called?
When did the mentally
retard ed organization start? Do you know how long it's
been around?
L.W:
Oh, that's been around for a long time. You mean the one
down in Fort Erie? Oh, that's. ..the Elsie English School,
anybody could tell you that down there from Fort Erie.
I'm sure you'd get that at the library. And the council appointed
me. . . Bruce Finch at the time was Reeve of Bertie Township,
and he called me up and he asked me if I'd go on the board
of the mentally retarded. And they put me on as secretary-treasurer.
I used to pay the teachers and you know, different things,
take the minutes and one thing and another. Oh, I was on
there for quite a few years. I'm trying to think of. . . names
just seem to be passing away from me. I used to enjoy it.
Meetings was my hobby. Others would be out having fun
doing this or that and I'd be going to a meeting of some kind.
{
They're always teasing me. And I had a hobby of wearing
(21)
�hats. It was much easier because I was always on the heavy
side which you can see, and I used to have a hobby... it was
easier for me to go and buy a hat then it was a dress. And
there's more people remember me by my hats. In fact, we
had a Priest over here at the church who hadn't been here
for about twenty years, and I was coming out to the door
and he was saying good-bye to me, he said, well were's some
of those beautiful hats you used to be wearing?
S.R:
Hats used to really be in style then.
L.W:
Yes. I spent an awful lot of money on hats. I used to go
to Buffalo to that store right next door to the Statler Hotel,
and I used to buy my clothes. They were expensive but I
always had good clothes. I always felt well dressed. I used
to get hats there, when I couldn't buy a dress I'd buy a hat.
At a meeting one time a Priest said to the other Priest,
well listen he says, why do you always have to get up there
and make some silly remark? One day I had a beautiful
big black hat on with a water lily, he said, Loretta, well
(
when are you going to water your lily? So this other Priest
said to him, I didn't hear it but he told me after, why do
you always tease Loretta about her hats? He says, well,
by the time I get through talking about her silly hats they
don't care what I say. So, hats have always been my hobby.
But of course, they're not wearing them now very much.
But I think they're coming back. I think they're coming
back.
S.R:
Is there anything else you'd like to comment on before I
close?
L.W:
Well, there's nothing that I really can think of. I can't think
..
of anyth ing. We've discussed so much that I don't . ! don't
think I've had time to do much else.
S.R:
L.W:
Well, I'm glad that's you've enjoyed it.
S.R:
(
It's been a very good interview Miss Willick.
Thank you very much for the interview.
L.W:
Well, that's fine.
(22.)
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History Transcripts
Subject
The topic of the resource
oral history, Fort Erie
Description
An account of the resource
Transcriptions from interviews of various Fort Erie residents conducted in 1985 by the Fort Erie Public Library
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Fort Erie Public Library
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
FEPL- LH - Oral History
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fort Erie Public Library
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Shelley Richer
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Loretta Willick
Location
The location of the interview.
3255 Stevensville Road, Stevensville
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
Cassette tape
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History - Willick, Loretta
Description
An account of the resource
Provided here is Loretta Willick's interview. She discusses such topics as:
Schools
Churches
Bertie Fair
Race Track
Peace Bridge
Hotels and taverns
Buffalo
Stevensville
Fire Department
The Depression
Erie Beach
Crystal Beach Amusement Park
Douglas Memorial Hospital
Bootlegging
Politics and Government
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Fort Erie Public Library Local History Collection
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
August 22, 1985
1980s
1985
Bertie fair
Buffalo
churches
Crystal Beach amusement park
Douglas Memorial hospital
Erie Beach
Fort Erie
Great Depression
hotels and taverns
Oral history
peace bridge
politics and government
race track
schools
stevensville
transcripts