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The Red Brick Building in Maple Leaf
The Red Brick Workhouse
Photo by T Nigh
Fresh "Off the Press"... We have just received near proof that this building WAS in fact built in 1940 as a Mortuary. Please stay tuned for further details and in the mean time please realize that some information below may now be outdated. We are sorry for the inconvenience of having material here that is out of date but for now we need to wait until further research is done. We hope that this will be VERY soon and we will give even further light on this new information about a former puzzle when such is available.
Notice that we do NOT refer to this as the Mortuary of Maple Leaf. That is because we do NOT know what it was built for! We do have records of two buildings being moved together to form a mortuary. But the dimensions do not match this building, and this building has two cisterns under it. Would that be likely if two buildings were moved together?
We can only guess at the moment as to the history of this building. Please stay tuned. We HOPE to find more. But hopes are no guarantee
The following information is in our Time Line page for the cemetery and concerns this building. It is somewhat hard to understand in some places.
"1909 May 31: Ald Baxter reported plans "1. Re Morgue at Cemetery, by turning present tool house into a morgue and move drive shed along side of morgue for tool house the cost of same will be between $40 & $50. adopted
1909 June 14: Ald. Baxter stated the Cemetery Committee has sold the old cemetery dwelling to N. A. McGeachy for $65.00 and asked that the action be approved." [Perhaps the Superintendent's house of 1871?]
1909 The "Morgue" opened in Maple Leaf. To be used "to store bodies ..... when it was impossible to bury them." Planet writes The morgue will also prove a convenient place for holding of burial services when weather is increment outside. The building has "trusses, new steps, and doors" confirming it existed before as something else. Building is quoted as being twenty feet long by 14 feet wide. Cost to repair estimated at $50 but completed for $38.75. [Chatham Daily Planet June 22, 1909] [We do not know for certain if this is the red brick building but is considered unlikely at the moment for a number of reasons.]"