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It’s been 110 years since Schumacher officially declared a city. Like much of Camp Porcupine, Schumacher built due to the mining industry.
But the history of the community, home to McIntyre’s celebrated head, is the story of families who decided to immigrate to Canada.
Lisa Romanowski, Vera Romanowski and Ed Pupich of the Schumacher Arts Culture Heritage Association (SACHA) are with the history of the community.
Pupich detailed how the village was built out of necessity.
“Do you know where Pearl Lake is? Pearl Lake is surrounded by seven other mining concessions,” he explained. “The McIntyre. The Coniaur. The Jupiter. Schumacher, Platt Vet and Fergus”behind the lake were the Vipond mine and the Rea Hill mine.
“They looked for an urban site, but there is no land, they were all mining concessions. Mr. Schumacher sold his land to the government in batches. And the only stipulation that they call the people Schumacher.
Frederick W. Schumacher was born in Denmark in 1863 and moved to the United States in 1872, where he earned a degree in pharmacy. After learning of the gold discoveries at Camp Porcupine, he visited the domain and bought a giant tract of land. Before his land dealings, what is now Schumacher’s domain known as Aura Lake.
“Then the McIntyre mine under J. P. Bickell started buying all those small mines,” Pupich said. the Vipond.
“Then the Hollingers came, they started buying Moneta and so on. So you had the two big mines next to each other. It began from 1910 to 1912.
“We were an incorporated city, Schumacher, before Timmins. They were an incorporated city a few years later. We were surrounded by mining concessions. Some collapsed and others were bought through the larger and larger mines. “
Lisa Romanowski described some of the area’s residential history, adding a circle of relatives to the house.
“Some of the first houses that were built, they had to get Mr. Schumacher’s permission to build,” he said. The Romanowski house is one of the first houses. It dates from 1915, 1916 according to photos. Many of the city’s buildings remain the original buildings from the time it became an urban site. »
With that of the gold mines, the staff migrated to Schumacher.
“As the mines got bigger and bigger, they needed more people to paint in the mines,” Romanowski said. “The McIntyre in particular, I know him from the side of our circle of relatives. Labor camps Second War Mundial. Al end of the war, the mine hired men abroad. ‘We have a task for you. You can come to Canada. You will have your papers. You will have the right to the paintings. ‘”
But moving to Canada wasn’t easy. This meant coming to build a stake so that the circle of relatives could move later.
“I know my grandfather Ed Romanowski came here with five or six other men from Poland, who had to leave their circle of relatives behind,” he said. “They came here, stayed together in a guest house, worked underground. at the McIntyre mine for a year and stored money. Then, as they had enough money, they began to diversify and settle in their own apartments, bringing their families.
“My father (Henry Romanowski) the four-year-old baby, however, he is the only one born in Canada. I think there are a lot of family stories like that. Many other people with Polish names and Croatian names as well.
“So you had other people for a better life and we got to work. Some of the men came here first and settled down, and then brought their families as soon as they could. “
Pupich explained Croatia’s long history with Schumacher.
“In the 1930s, Schumacher probably had the highest concentration of Croats of any city in Canada,” he said. founded Hotel El Dorado in Schumacher. Es Hotel Pupich.
Schumacher’s founder is also known for his generosity, adding the creation of a Christmas culture that continues to this day.
“The other thing with Mr. Schumacher is his legacy of gifts to Schumacher’s children,” Romanowski said. “I think it started in 1916, when the school was originally going to be built. Then the school did not open when intended due to the pandemic (Spanish flu), so it was subleased as a hospital for a few years.
The Porcupine Advance, in its December 27, 1916 edition, describes this event.
“Schumacher’s youth will actually have to be in Santa Claus now because none of them singles were forgotten during the presentation of the gifts this year,” the story goes. gift for each and every one of the children of the city, with gifts given through the considerate generosity of F. W. Schumacher.
“In making the donation, Mr. Schumacher’s only condition is that no child be forgotten and, as a result, a careful census was conducted, with 270 young people under the age of 16 appearing, for each of whom suitable gifts were obtained. “
The gifts that began more than a hundred years ago continue thanks to the F Foundation. W. Schumacher.
“Each and every year, each and every Schumacher’s children earned a gift funded through M. Schumacher,” Romanowski said. At first, he participated in the variety of gifts, and the few times he was in town and handed the gifts to the children. There are still older citizens who would possibly see it once or twice.
“It was replaced over the years. When I was younger, we used to pick up our gifts at Schumacher Public School. Now, my nephews. . . they get them at the McIntyre Arena, where there is regularly a small event. For Beyond Two Years, with the pandemic, firefighters have been going door-to-door.
“It was just one of the traditions that is Schumacher’s thing. It’s one of the things about identity. We had someone who had the idea to plan for this to continue as long as possible. “
When all the surrounding communities merged into the city of Timmins, it changed.
“The merger didn’t make Schumacher,” Pupich said. We lost a lot of things they didn’t have in other spaces because of the merger. For lack of a larger term, Schumacher is the forgotten community of Timmins. Not all problems, such as the closure of the city center, are attributable to the merger, however, he has ed.
“Changing the road, converting the railroad and all that other stuff. We have lost a lot. We lost the park. We lost our baseball fields. We lost our football field. We lost the pool. We lost the memorial library. And it’s happening, over and over again. “
Despite the changes, Schumacher managed to retain his own identity. It’s in history.
“Schumacher has a bad reputation,” Romanowski said. But at the center of it all, the families who have been here for a long time, and even some of the new families who were looking to come and settle, have smart neighbors. .
“You have neighbors who take care of others. You take the dog for a walk and meet the other people you communicate with, just like in any community.
To help remind citizens of their heritage and share it with newcomers, SACHA was created in December 2011. The organization publishes a newsletter three times a year entitled The Spirit of Schumacher. As editor-in-chief, Romanowski makes sure to have articles and images about the community’s past, provide, and long-term.
“We’ve partnered with the Schumacher Lions Club on two pretty vital things over the last few years,” he said. were located.
“And then this year we’re presenting Schumacher’s summer concert series with the Lions Club and Sebalj Music. It’s been pretty good the last few years, we had music in the parks, with Hollinger Park under construction. The concept that the Lions have this beautiful pavilion, they have made many paintings to repair the park, let’s take a look for other people to come in.
SACHA has partnered with Just Beecause Chocolates and Confectionary to make frame chocolates.
“We did it for SACHA’s tenth anniversary last Christmas and gave it to seniors at the Lions Club’s (annual) senior dinner,” he said. “And we had enough to supply the firefighters so that every child who won a gift from Mr. Schumacher won the small chocolate frame, with a small label explaining what SACHA is. “
The organization made Schumacher’s memories, such as a COVID mask and cups of coffee. With the pandemic diminishing, there is hope of bringing back network events, such as loose skating.
“Before COVID, we had the Schumacher Social for adults in the Croatian Hall,” Romanowski said.
The organization and its supporters will continue to try to maintain Schumacher’s network spirit.
“The most important thing is that you will realize that the other people at Schumacher are very proud to say they are from Schumacher,” he said. “You’re not very likely to hear someone from Schumacher say it’s from Timmins.
“And that’s also a component of preserving our identity. “
To learn more about Schumacher’s Cultural Heritage Association of the Arts, visit SACHA’s online page on https://spiritofschumacher. ca and its Facebook page on https://www. facebook. com/SpiritOfSchumacher.
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