Monday Mural

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September 2023 - Minden ON

From left to right, are the portraits of Dr. Charles Curry, Mary Kent, and Daniel Buck on the Minden Post Office front wall.

The Curry brothers came to town in 1869. Dr. Charles Dobbins Curry set up his practice in Minden as the first doctor in the county. His brother, Fredrick, became the town’s first pharmacist. During his time in Minden, Dr. Curry was also postmaster, druggist, school inspector, reeve and county warden

In 1857 Francis Kent became the first farmer to settle in Gull River. His land was located northeast of the village on the present site of the Minden fairgrounds. His wife Catherine joined him the following year as additional settlers began arriving. John Noice drove teams of oxen to haul two wagons filled with his family and goods to his land located on the north side of the river, west of the survey line and close to present-day Highway 118. Since there was no bridge, a ferry boat was used at that time to cross the river with a system of ropes and pulleys.

Mary Kent is said to be the first white child born to settlers in Minden.

Click here if you are interested in reading about the Kents.

Minden’s second hotel, opened by Benjamin Sawyers, was on the east side of Bobcaygeon Road across from Buck’s Hotel, making it the first hotel in Minden Township. Its original name is uncertain but when it was rebuilt after the 1879 downtown fire, it was called the Minden Hotel. Having hotels with taverns on either side of the road caused quite a problem when the 1866 Local Option Plebiscite voted Minden a dry township while Anson remained wet. The local authorities solved their ‘drinking problem’ by issuing liquor licenses to both hotels despite the vote. Under various owners, the Minden Hotel operated on and off until 1937.

By the end of 1863, Daniel Buck had finished replacing his log shanty hotel with a sturdy wood-framed building. He celebrated by hosting a New Year’s dinner and dance that lasted, with short interruptions, for four days and five nights. A few years later, the hotel was renamed Dominion House (we had lunch there). Daniel Buck was one of the most well known characters in the area and was a major figure in the development of early Minden.