Joseph Wallace’s home became impromptu observatory that drew crowds and sparked town’s first science society<\/p>\n
In the 1890s, when Orillia was pulling itself out of its booze, brawls and brothels era, few would have thought of the town as a haven for science. But it is a long-lost fact that, thanks to one curious man, Orillia did form its first science society in 1898.<\/p>\n
Joseph Wallace was a tailor in Orillia. He brought his family to Canada from Scotland in 1855 and to Orillia in 1858, where he opened his tailoring business. Later, two of his five sons joined his growing business.<\/p>\n
It was his curiosity and inclination to investigate a subject that make him interesting. Chatting with an Ojibway acquaintance one day in 1887, he learned of the ancient fish weirs at the Narrows. Curious, he had Francis Gaudaur point them out to him from the railway swing bridge. Well, he had to know more, and he studied the Narrows history, writing the first account of the weirs and their location in an article in the paper, an article still cited by archeologists today. (He mistakenly called them Huron from Samuel de Champlain\u2019s time when they are actually 5,000 years old, but he did accurately claim they were older than the time of the Mohawks, who the local Ojibway credited for their construction.) Soon after, he wrote another article for the paper bringing Champlain\u2019s story to the people of Orillia. History fascinated him.<\/p>\n
But it was his project in 1897 that brought science to Orillia. That year, Joseph, at age 72, purchased a four-and-a-half-inch telescope and began looking at the night sky. He had no astronomical background. He was just curious. Having gotten the basics down, he began putting notices in the paper inviting townspeople to come to his house \u201cat the head of Peter Street,\u201d where they could look at the stars and planets up close.<\/p>\n
The first night, May 15, five people showed up to look at the moon, Jupiter and Saturn, and Joseph pointed out Saturn\u2019s rings and three of its satellites. The next night, 14 people showed up. By July, he was getting as many as 50 visitors each night \u2014 so many, he was having trouble keeping count. In August, the numbers grew to 70, and then 80, and peaked at somewhere between 100 and 200 on the night of the August full moon. He estimated more than 1,100 people looked through his telescope that summer, the last one being a modest washer woman.<\/p>\n
Joseph was having the time of his life. His enthusiasm bubbled up as he told a newspaper reporter about how much he had learned that summer doing research to answer people\u2019s questions. And that was the point for him. He wanted people to learn, to understand the science behind the twinkling lights in the sky. Asked why he was doing it, he replied it \u201cwas a labour of love.\u201d He loved to learn and then share his knowledge. As he said, \u201cThe hearty expression of thanks, which I invariably received, have amply repaid me for the time and trouble expended.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed out the craters and mountains on the moon, double stars (no local had ever heard of those), the big planets and their moons and colours (Earth is just another planet, he would say, challenging some people\u2019s religious beliefs), the stars that made up the constellations that brought some organization to the sky and, of course, the Milky Way, which demonstrated just how small Earth was in the grand scheme of things. It was eye opening for an average person, in those years before there was any general understanding of space and astronomy. The stars were no longer mysterious but were understood a little now (\u201cthe sun is just a star, you know\u201d), thanks to his running commentaries as people peered through the lens.<\/p>\n
More than half of his visitors were women. Fully 25 per cent were kids and teenagers. Men made up fewer than 25 per cent of his visitors. Joseph was happy, too, that most of the viewers were common, working-class people, with no more than some public school education. When they returned for repeat viewings, he knew he was making a difference, that he had interested them in knowledge. That made him happy.<\/p>\n
One night in August, Mrs. Manley, president of the Meaford Astronomical Society, appeared, and they spent \u201ca pleasant evening among the double stars.\u201d She encouraged Joseph in his efforts and then brought him to the attention of the Toronto Astronomical and Physical Society. They, in turn, encouraged him to start his own Orillia Astronomical and Physical Society, which he did in January 1898. Orillia now had its first science club.<\/p>\n
The biweekly meetings of the club were a place where papers and articles were read, notes were exchanged and popular astronomy was studied. It was a place to gather with others of like scientific interests, to study and share. The newspapers never reported on the size the club reached (at $1-per-year membership, even that was too rich for many people), but Joseph became active as its representative with the big Toronto club. He published a long article in its 1898 annual report, describing his summer project developing interest in the stars in Orillia.<\/p>\n
But, alas, his astronomical society lasted only a few years. Early in 1902, he took ill suddenly and died three days later, at age 77. Without his guidance and energy, the star-gazing club disbanded.<\/p>\n
His obituary called him \u201ca man of sterling integrity combined with business ability.\u201d He was equally known as a \u201ccollector of antiquities,\u201d once showing J. Hugh Hammond (Orillia\u2019s famous archeologist, and future subject of a column) a rare, old map he had from 1833 showing the Coldwater trail.<\/p>\n
Sterling integrity is fine, but it is more his curiosity and abilities in pursuing those inclinations that make him interesting to us today. He is another old Orillian, long forgotten but worthy of acknowledgement.<\/p>\n
David Town is a local chiropractor with a passion for local history. He has written 30 books about Orillia over the past 18 years. They are available at Manticore Books and at the Orillia Museum of Art & History gift shop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joseph Wallace’s home became impromptu observatory that drew crowds and sparked town’s first science society In the 1890s,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-567855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}