Alexander Orr’s Commercial Temperance House, Bobcaygeon
Alexander Orr’s Commercial Temperance House, Bobcaygeon
By the 1870s, Lindsay was connected by railway to the cities on Lake Ontario, and there was steamship service to Bobcaygeon making long-distance journeys much more practical than it had been a few decades earlier when travel was by canoe, scow, horse or foot. By then, this village was the starting point of the Bobcaygeon Road, which linked Kinmount and Minden, and was a major artery to cadge supplies to lumber camps.
In the nineteenth century, temperance was a prevalent political lobby. Many advocates argued that alcohol was threatening to families and the nation, leading to financial ruin, immorality, sexual impropriety and social collapse. On the other hand, alcohol tended to be one of the most profitable parts of the accommodation business—so it was uncommon for inns to ban alcohol, though many of their guests may have believed in prohibition.
Alexander (Sandy) Orr was born in Scotland in 1817, and emigrated to Quebec in 1840. Around 1865 or 1866, he moved to Bobcaygeon, which was said to be a “rough, whiskey-ruled, backwoods village,” and opened a store and temperance house. “For some time, he encountered violent opposition, because of his decided views in regard to temperance. But he persevered, overcame all obstacles and succeeded in establishing one of the largest and most flourishing temperance houses in the province.” In 1867, he helped build Bobcaygeon’s first Presbyterian Church—which was also controversial for its strong opposition to alcohol. Irvine Junkin, another Presbyterian temperance advocate had his home and store burned one night in 1899—he and his family barely escaped with their lives.
The present stone building was constructed in 1871 with material quarried from Big Bob River. Orr brought stone masons over from Scotland to execute the project. The south end of the building was a dry goods store, with the Orr family living on the second floor. The north end of the building was the Commercial Hotel, where no alcoholic beverages were served or allowed on the premises. After Alexander Orr passed away in 1886, it became the Kenosha Inn.
In the twentieth century, the building has been repurposed many times, including the Magnet Toy & Novelty Shop (during and after the First World War), the Bright Spot Restaurant (1950s), a bookstore, The Source, the Bobcaygeon Public Library (before moving to the former Mossom Boyd Company office on Canal Street). The upper floors have been used for rental apartments. Since 1940, the Masonic Lodge 268 has owned the building, with its temple on the top floor.
