More than a name

What part of our family history in the County is being preserved? In the September 30 edition of The Times, Linda Calnan-Jenkins asks this question in a letter to the editor. She writes that her family owned the Calnan farm at the west end of Picton from 1931 to 2016. Through the years, her grandfather, father and brothers, Larry and the late Dennis, operated this dairy farm working seven days a week, milking, bottling the milk and delivering it door-to-door until 1975. Yet there is no public recognition of their contribution to the community.

Calnan-Jenkins says she and her husband bought the farm from her parents in 1987 and continued to work it for a number of years. Health concerns forced the sale of the property in 2016. Efforts to sever the farmhouse built by Calnan-Jenkins’ maternal great-grandfather were unsuccessful. The developer who bought the farm later sold it to another developer. For a number of years the landmark Calnan farm barn remained standing, a silent reminder of the family who had once owned and worked the land. Then, in 2024, it was demolished and another piece of County history was lost to development. The farmhouse still stands, but its future is precarious as it is in the way of progress.

In his book, When Milk Came in Glass Bottles, (Printcraft, 2024) the late Philip “Phil” Ainsworth stated that when Calnan’s Dairy ceased operations in 1975, it was the last dairy business in operation in Prince Edward County. It had a long and colourful history and is still remembered by many older Picton residents. Housewives routinely left their empty milk bottles on their front steps, usually with a note and pocket change tucked inside. I have clear recollections, first of Harvard Calnan delivering milk to our door on The Commons (Hill Street) and later, his son, Dennis, picking up this route. There are also memories of those brisk winter mornings when Jack Frost pushed the cream at the tops of the bottles against their paper caps, giving each one a white top hat. There was also the eagerness we experienced when we collected our first bottles of that new invention, homogenized milk, from our doorsteps.

Calnan-Jenkins mentions in her letter to The Times that the family was hopeful that a street might be named for them. They reached out to the planning department and were referred to Council. Presumably their inquiry was directed to the County’s street naming task team which created a reserve list of commemorative street names for presentation to the Built and Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee. This list then was then to be passed to developers.

Initially, potential street names were taken from the Cenotaph, but later the search widened to reflect broader community culture and heritage. In February, 2024, the list was placed on hiatus, to be reactivated as required. While a town street may one day be named for the Calnan family, the wait could be a long one. Hopefully, one day there will be a Calnan Street in the town of Picton or a plaque at the site of the old Calnan’s Dairy barn, community recognition of a local family and a bygone era.

Calnan-Jenkins’ask is simple—remembrance of an old County name with the memories it calls to mind. Hers is the same desire that was the driver for the memorial walkway at the columbaria in Glenwood Cemetery and the commemorative pavers flanking the Cenotaph—tangible reminders of lives lived, achievements remembered.

Sadly, our last milkman of nearly 50 years ago, Dennis Calnan, passed away recently. Some months before his death, I enjoyed a conversation with him in which he told me his family was hopeful of some form of lasting recognition of the Calnan name. The old farm barn had just been demolished and the story of the last dairy to operate in Prince Edward County was slipping into the past, soon to be a piece of local history lost to time. His desire to see the family name given some form of permanent recognition did not have its roots in boastfulness. It was a simple wish to keep alive the memory of the long ago days when milk came in glass bottles and of the last milk truck to roll down Picton streets.

Perhaps, Calnan-Jenkins’ request could spark incentive for an Agricultural Wall of Fame at Picton arena or the nearby fruit building, similar to the Sports Hall of Fame in Wellington arena, a wall dedicated to remembering local farm families. In a time of great change in the town and County, preserving memories of the past has never been more important.