14

Looking back many community members and visitors wonder why the mill wasn't restored and preserved as a heritage building. The stone mills could have been a majestic reminder of the community's heritage.

It's always easier to look back and say "what if". In 1950, the reality was that rebuilding the stone mills as they had been would have been extremely expensive and inefficient. The multi-floor production system was no longer efficient and was quite costly to maintain. Instead it made more sense for the Collie family to build an addition to their one storey factory that they had built in 1940, 150 metres west of the stone mills.

For several decades the ruins slowly decayed until the early 21st century when the ruins were knocked down to a much shorter and less majestic height. The ruins were officially knocked down for "safety" reasons, although prior to this community members from Appleton and the wider Town of Mississippi Mills pushed for the ruins to be preserved & safely reinforced as a heritage site.

15

Almonte Gazette Clipping: Collies Undecided About Rebuilding
20 July 1950
Appleton, Town of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
North Lanark Regional Museum, Almonte Gazette Collection

16

Collie Woollen Mill ruins after fire, c.1950
Circa 1950
Appleton, Town of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
North Lanark Regional Museum (2012.49.6.2 )
Donated by Isobel (Meabry) Collie in memory of her husband, John D. (Jack) Collie, and his family.

17

Collie Woollen Mill ruins after fire, c.1950
Circa 1950
Appleton, Town of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
North Lanark Regional Museum (2012.49.6.2)
Donated by Isobel (Meabry) Collie in memory of her husband, John D (Jack) Collie, and his family.

18

Almonte Gazette Clipping: Appleton News
20 July 1950
Appleton, Town of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
North Lanark Regional Museum, Almonte Gazette Collection

19

On July 16, 2012, Brian Armstrong interviewed Appleton resident Eleanor Wright. During the interview Eleanor tells an anecdote from the 1950 Collie Woollen Mill fire.

[Eleanor] "The first mill burned to the point of not being re-opened in the fifties and the other upper mill which is now demolished, it resumed everything that had gone on in the big mill at the dam. And then economy and everything took its toll."

[Brian] "Do you remember when the big mill burned?"

[Eleanor] "I do. We had to stay home and put water on our own roof because the sparks were flying across to our side of the river.

[Brian] "Really"

[Eleanor] "And I can tell you a funny episode"

[Brian] "Sure"

[Eleanor] "Of the fire. The newspaper man from the Ottawa Journal came into the Village and they wanted to get down into the mill and get lots of pictures. And Mr. Collie had put a Mr. Dunn at the end of the bridge and no one was allowed to go in because of injury. And so the reporter from the Ottawa Journal came around to this side of the river at the dam, and there was the twin of the man from the other side, and he[reporter] said, 'How the hell did you get to this side so quick?' Identical twins."