July 5, 2002 A look at Alsace...Past and present

The pioneer Alsace Road family of Philip and Maryann Strauss. Two children in the photo, and five other Strauss children born later, died in the 1888-1889 Diphtheria plague. Church History Room photo.

The Rosseau (Muskoka) to Lake Nipissing Colonization Road (the Nipissing Road) that was started in the 1860s was the last of twenty provincial roads built through the bush to open "the new Ontario" to settlement and resources. Two hundred and forty seven hundred acre lots were surveyed at each side of the road and were available "free" to settlers who met obligations of clearing and building a home. A stagecoach service, with various stops along the way, became available for those who could afford it. Many settlers used oxen to pull a "jumper"—two poles loaded with their goods—and slept where they could on the way to their new land. Most of the road is long abandoned as other routes became available and land was found to be unfavourable, but places like Magnetawan, Commanda and Nipissing Village (each with their own museum) owe much of their early existence to the road.

There were many side roads built off of the Nipissing Road to open new areas to the east and west. Two of these roads branched east, north of Commanda. The Barrett Road extended to the South River near Trout Creek through South Himsworth Township and the Alsace Road, eight km further north on the Nipissing Road, headed east through Nipissing Township as well, eventually reaching Powassan through Nipissing Township.

This week, in the first of two articles on the Alsace Road, I will look at the history of the St. John’s Roman Catholic church built near the junction of the Nipissing Road and the Alsace Road in 1878. The location is actually Lot 188A on the Nipissing Road, meaning that it is the 188^th lot up the road on the right (A). The church is an excellent example of a new people establishing a spiritual life in a new and isolated location.

The original St. John’s Roman Catholic church on the Alsace Road in Nipissing Township, built in 1878 and replaced in 1909. Church History Room photo.

In 1877 James Barrett and his family were staying temporarily near Commanda on the Nipissing Road prior to the development of the road east that would access their land. At the time Bishop Jamot of Bracebridge was travelling the road to explore the development of Catholic services. He performed the first Mass in the district in the Barrett home that June 125 years ago. The significance of that event has been recognized and celebrated over the years and will again this August 11^th at the St. John’s Church in Alsace.

Before looking at the Alsace church, it should be noted that the Barretts and many other German, Polish, Irish and other settlers did eventually establish an important early community called the Barrett Settlement in South Himsworth, and over the line into Gurd Township,with its own church (St. Mary’s), post office and school. When the Grand Trunk Railway went through in the 1880s, the Barrett Settlement (like the original village of Powassan) was abandoned as people moved to the growing centre of Trout Creek on the new railway. Other residents moved to the Alsace Road as well, and became active in the new log church built there in 1878. (For a full history of the Barrett family and the Barrett Settlement see the book The People of South Himsworth 1990).

Widely dispersed post offices, schools, and other services developed on the Alsace Road, but no actual "Alsace" village ever developed, unless one looks at the long road as a community. People came from miles around to the new log church, which was replaced by a new frame and brick church in 1909. The log church site, which was located across the road from the new church, is now the St. John’s Cemetery. The new church had a drive shed (that is now gone) and over the years has had additions and improvements. The church is affiliated with the St. Joseph’s Church in Powassan and shares the same priest, Father John Hickey.

The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the whole Parish was celebrated at an outdoor mass at the St. John Church in 1993. On that occasion, an historical display was well-received and since then a History Room loaded with church, school and family history has been developed. It is open after mass when the church is open from May to October.

When the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first mass was celebrated at St. John’s in 1952 over twelve hundred people attended. A cairn on the site of the log church was built for the occasion. Two of the original Barrett daughters attended along with many others, many of whom came a great distance.

Cairn celebrates the 75th anniversary of the first mass, in centre being tended by Viola Rowan (L) and Galdys Piper. Doug Mackey photo.

The St. John’s Roman Catholic Church today, with cemetery built on the site of the first church.

I should mention that a new book on the history of the Powassan Parish (including the Alsace Church) has recently been published, and is available at St. Joseph’s in Powassan. I want to thank Viola Rowan and Gladys Piper who showed me the beautiful St. John’s church and grounds, and the remarkable History Room. A history of the Alsace Separate School lists all of the former teachers including seventeen year old Dennis O’Leary, who taught there in 1944-45 and later became a Supreme Court Judge. Viola Rowan is the recently retired Parish secretary and St. Joseph’s housekeeper and lives near the Alsace Church and can be contacted regarding the History Room (729-5435). Glady Piper, besides being an active historian and genealogist, is the great granddaughter of Julia Strauss, one of the pioneers of the Alsace Road (see photo). During the Diphtheria plague in 1888-89, twelve years after the photo was taken, one of the children in the photo and five other Strauss children (ages 9, 7, 5, 3 and 1) died. They are buried in the St. John’s Cemetery. One of the children in the photo was married, had a child and lived in the Barrett Settlement where they both died as a result of the same epidemic.