Up the Gatineau! Article
This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 5.
Did You Know That —
Prior to 1918. when the business was liquidated, there was a factory at Farm Point. Que, operated by Toy Products of Canada, Limited? They produced a wide variety of wooden toys including a Doily‘s Tea Set of six miniature cups and saucers at 5¢, a line of Tiny Tops, Wall Quoits, Auto Roadster at 50¢, Freight Car, Battleship, a Siege of Berlin game, Yachts and Cruisers, a Doll's Sulky. Wheelbarrow, Haycart with 2 Horses — the most expensive item listed in their catalogue at $3.00 — and many more toys, large and small.
Freeman Cross was the President and F. W. Robinson, the Secretary of this company which failed to live up to expectations. Some time after liquidation the factory burned.
Contributed by Lilian Walton and Lyla McGarry.
At Farm Point, Que, sometime before 1909, there was a hostelry named Lnwarn Lodge of which the proprietor was Alien P. Thompson of Bermuda? According to their brochure - "You will find the climate. neither too hot nor too cool, never enervating but with sufficient crispness in the clear air and sunshine to provide that stimulant and outdoor tonic that makes one feel at their best". Accessible from Ottawa by a forty minute railroad trip “the Lnwarn Lodge is not in one particular a hotel of extremes. New but not offensively so. Big enough to accommodate one hundred guests. High priced, far from the highest price. Well served, but not overserved. Well filled with guests, who come again ‘and again, not overcrowded. Lnwarn Lodge is situated on fifty acres of land bordering on the Gatineau River, with tennis courts, nine-hole golf links, gardens and groves. House and grounds lighted throughout with electricity”.
As a further enticement their brochure reveals that ~ "our guests are not overserved. but there is always s servant near to do just what you want done just the way you want it done on the instant. Never a servant to annoy you with superfluous attention. A valet always on hand to brush your clothes and press them".
Would you like to find some place like that in 1979?
The Lodge is believed to have been located on, or near, the site of the Farm Point School which is now used for recreation and day-care purposes.
Contributed by Lillian Walton and Lyle McGarry.