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organizing a temperance society, and as a merchant he was responsible for erecting extensive wharves and storehouses, not to mention Flint’s sawmill. Billa Flint, in a letter to the editor of the Weekly Intelligencer in 1879, described Belleville as it was in 1829:
    â€œFifty years ago, I arrived in Belleville on the steamer, Sir James Kent. Fifty years ago, there was not one foot of sidewalk in town, not a drain to carry off the surplus water, and but one bridge, and that a poor one, over the river on Bridge Street. Fifty years ago, there were but two two-storey brick houses and both burned long ago. Fifty years ago, there was one dilapidated schoolhouse with a large mudhole in front all through the rainy season. There were no brick buildings on Front Street, and of the wooden ones only three showed of white and one of yellow paint.”
    In 1857 the Belleville Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopalian Church as a centre for higher Christian education, was opened. In 1866 it was named Albert College and became a university, with the full authority to grant degrees, in 1867. The women’s school was called Alexander College. In 1884 the College reverted to a secondary school and was finally destroyed by fire in 1917. A new Gothic stone structure replaced it.
    Another educational establishment to open in Belleville was the Ontario Business College, established in 1865, attended by students from far and wide. Lieutenant Governor Howland opened a provincial school for deaf children in 1870. Known today as Sir James Whitney School, it has become one of the largest and best institutes of its kind in North America.
    On January 1, 1878, the village was incorporated as a city. The population was greater than 11,000, and Alexander Robertson served as the city’s first mayor.

    Belleville has experienced several floods in the past century during spring breakup.
    Archives of Ontario
    Belleville experienced the great flood of 1866, the worst one in the city’s history. Hundreds of families living on both sides of the river were forced to abandon their homes. The lower section of the city, known as Sawdust Flats, suffered the greatest damage. The water took several days to subside, and the streets of Belleville were covered with debris, ice, and driftwood.
    A similar disaster occurred on March 12, 1936, when, once again, the Moira River overflowed. More than 60 acres were submerged and several days of rescue and salvage operations were necessary. Huge chunks of ice littered the streets and inventories were destroyed in the lower levels of businesses on Front Street.
    Like many communities who ultimately exhausted their timber resources, Belleville’s industry declined in the 1870s. Sawmills and lumber manufacturing plants closed down and it wasn’t until the 1920s that new industries moved in. Finally, in the late 1940s, Belleville experienced a post-war economic boom.
    Belleville is a quiet, modest town. Humble beginnings have given this place a gift. Two women alone in the wilderness with a child established a tradition of quiet strength. These are things that you can feel when you walk down Belleville’s streets — peace and quiet, friendliness, a sense of history, and the permanence that comes from strength and determination.

Brighton
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    Mention Brighton, Ontario, and apples come to mind. This small community on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, just 8 miles west of Trenton, is quite renowned for its apple industry.
    The cultivation of apple trees for harvesting can be traced back to Italy some 200 years ago. Thirty known varieties were grown and eventually introduced into other countries. The seeds of European apples were brought to Ontario by French settlers in the early 17th century.
    Have you ever heard of Johnny Appleseed?
    The main character in this story was John Chapman, a farm lad, who attended a term or two at Harvard College and then headed west. As early as 1801, Johnny saw