Throwback Thursday: When Winning a Kinsmen Cottage Cost 25 Cents
Throwback Thursday: Anyone want to win a Modern Summer Cottage for 25 cents?
Take a trip down memory lane to April 1950!
Check out this piece of history from the Elgin County Archives. 76 years ago, the entire St. Thomas Kinsmen Club rolled up their sleeves and became instant carpenters, painters, and decorators. Their mission? Building a prefabricated "Kinsmen Cottage" right on Talbot Street (east of the L&PS line).
This massive county wide effort was all to support the building fund for our very own St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital.
Here are a few fun facts about the 1950 campaign:
- The Grand Prize: A fully-built summer cottage, plus $200 in cash bonuses!
- The Ticket Price: Just 25 cents each, or a bundle of 5 for $1.00.
- The Big Event: The draw was launched alongside the epic Kinsmen Karnival on Princess Avenue, which featured nightly street dancing, rides, and games.
- Community Spirit: The cottage was open day and night for public tours, hosted by dedicated Kinsmen and Kinettes.
We love looking back at how our club and community have worked together to build St. Thomas from the ground up.
And the winner is ...
Caption from St. Thomas Times-Journal, June 4, 1951, page one: “Oshawa Couple Win Kinsmen Cottage.” 1_2220: “Mr. and Mrs. Ben. D. Ward, R.R. 3, Oshawa, came all the way from the Motor City (return trip over 300 miles) Sunday, to claim the prefabricated cottage won by Mr. Ward in the draw conducted at the close of the Kinsmen Club carnival here Saturday night. The winning ticket (No. 2314) drawn by Ald. William Stokes, was sold to Mr. Ward by Robert Lark, president-elect of the Kinsmen Club during a visit the Wards made to St. Thomas a few weeks ago. Mr. Lark telephoned Mr. Ward Sunday morning and the couple jumped in their car and were on their way in about 20 minutes. Sunday afternoon they were presented with the keys by John Hetherington (left above) club chairman of the project, while Bill Smale, the club president, looks on approvingly. The Wards have property on Lake Ontario outside Oshawa, and were both enthusiastic about the win and the cottage itself. “To get something like this is really wonderful,” Mrs. Ward told The Times-Journal. She added she felt that the cottage was “really cute.”
