Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
The first golf course in Orillia was known as the Golf Links and was located in the area between Barrie Road, Westmount Drive, Frederick Street and Linwood Avenue.
In 1915, the new Couchiching Country Club opened on Peter Street North with $15,000 being spent on a clubhouse, links, a bowling green and tennis courts.
The Golf Links property was sold to developers a few years earlier and a 1912 advertisement listed lots for sale at $100 to $200 each in the new Westmount Subdivision. Some of the property stayed vacant until 1942 when a government-funded program called War Time Housing Limited chose part of the McKinnell property and the old golf course to erect 75 houses.
At that time, 50 two-bedroom and 25 four-bedroom homes were built and made available to workers in the war industry and newcomers to Orillia.
In the late 1940s, small patches of dense, fine grass could be found in the open fields around the wartime houses. It was a favourite place for children to play and watch the clouds and enjoy the last remnants of Orillia’s first golf course.
