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| The community
of Breadalbane has a rich history, dating from the time of settlement in 1858. |
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Special
thanks go to Letitia and Karen MacDonald. The MacDonald Family History was used as the
primary reference source for this history. |
Development
| In 1875, the P.E.I. Railway was built,
and a station house was erected. The first post office, Holmes Mills Post Office, which
was open from 1875 to 1888, was located in the station house. In 1888, the Post Office
name was changed to Breadalbane, after Breadalbane in
Perthshire, Scotland. By 1880, the village had two saw mills, a shingle mill, a blacksmith
shop, a tailor, a commercial house, a carriage shop, and a lime kiln. |
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The first church in Breadalbane was the Baptist
Church in 1877 (left). |
Presbyterian services were held in
the Orange hall, until a Presbyterian church was built in 1913 (right). |
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This church became a United Church in 1925, and a
new Presbyterian Church was built in 1928 (left). |
| The first school was built around 1910.
Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire, and it was replaced in 1915. This second school
was used until 1959, when a new one was built. This school was only closed in 1972. School
fairs were extremely popular, with baking and sewing competitions and exhibitions of
roosters and other animals. The schools would put on concerts from time to time which were
always very popular with the townsfolk. |
By 1915, Breadalbane
had a barber shop, a bank (a branch of the Royal Bank), electric lights, and two stores.
There was a hotel (The Old Hotel), which had a sample room and a dentist's office. The
dentist was in Breadalbane for one day each week. One of the stores sold
caskets, and Bob MacLeod and Murdock Kennedy were undertakers. |
| In these days, horses were vital to the
community. They pulled all sorts of machinery and were the primary mode of transportation.
At this time, a tax of about 75 cents to a dollar was payable on each horse. Horses pulled
the road machine to pay this tax. To pull the road machine required four pairs of horses.
Horses were also used to run the "horse power" which was used to separate the
grain from the straw. |
| The settlers didn't work all the
time; they had fun, too. They especially enjoyed pie socials and political meetings.
Practical jokes were played whenever possible. Bagpipe music and Highland dancing were
popular as well. They enjoyed coasting, skating, hockey, and fishing. |
Mussel mud was dredged from the rivers using mud
diggers then hauled by horse or later by truck to the fields where it was used as a
fertilizer. Manure was used as a fertilizer, too, as were wood stove ashes. |
| People stuck together. One could always
count on one's neighbors to supply needed man- or horse-power when building a barn,
threshing grain, butchering animals, or sawing wood. Neighbors pitched in when someone was
sick. Favors were willingly returned. Neighbors were friends and they could always be
depended on. |
| Cars were uncommon in Breadalbane
in the 1920s. Only the mailman and the preist drove cars then. They would pick up boys as
they walked home from taking the cows to pasture and give them a ride. The depression ended when World War II was declared. Many young men in the
community enlisted and went off to war. Before they went overseas, however, many were
married. The new wives would anxiously listen to the war news on the radio, hoping that
their loved ones were safe. |
Prices were good in the early
1920s for most farm products and farmers were almost prosperous. Then came the depression.
Prices crashed, and so did wages. Many people were forced to work for food only, no one
could afford to pay them wages. Most farmers managed, however, especially if they could
produce what they needed. There were always vegetables from the garden and apples from the
orchard; beef, pork, mutton, and fowl, were available too. Even though the farmers could
support their families, they were unable to make much money selling their products as
prices fell. As a result, machinery and harness became worn and could not be replaced.
Many young men were forced to leave the Island and move West to find work. Jobs were very
scarce. |
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