Submitted by the staff of the Orillia Museum of Art and History (OMAH)
It’s official, Marcel Rousseau has retired from his regular Postcard Memories column with OrilliaMatters. We’re sad to see Marcel go, and while we’re thrilled that OrilliaMatters has offered OMAH the spot, we know the size of the shoes we have to fill.
We owe so much of what we know about Orillia’s history to Rousseau, who has been a collector and historian for decades. Rousseau was also a key figure in OMAH’s early days, donating many objects and postcards to the museum collection, and especially the research room over the years.
Thank you, Marcel, for all that you have taught us about Orillia’s history.
Moving forward, each week, we will be sharing an object or image from the OMAH collection. In honour of Rousseau, we wanted to start the series off with a postcard.
This postcard, titled “A Bird's Eye View, Orillia, Ont.” was published by G.A. Brown. Brown was a local photographer and painter who worked out of a studio on the second floor of the Hatley Block on Mississaga Street East (currently the home of Jack & Maddy and Cool Cones).
He published numerous postcards from 1910 into the mid 1920s. The photograph for this postcard was taken in 1922 from the roof of the Hatley block, looking west over snow-covered rooftops towards Guardian Angels Church on West Street North.
Brown published several photographs which he took from the roof or the window of his studio that showed Orillia’s evolving downtown throughout the early 1900s.
Next week we will feature another object from the OMAH collection that showcases our local history.
