HARRY GRACE
From the Renfrew Mercury
15 May 1925
Mr. Harry Grace of Renfrew, with home at the Second Chute of the Bonnechere has lived during the past eleven years not far from the place of his birth, which was Almonte. There he grew up. He attended the public and high schools of that town being then under the principalship of the late Peter Campbell McGregor, B.A. LLD., one of the most popular and successful school principals of his day. Mr. Grace holds his memory in high regard. Leaving school Mr. Grace went to the neighboring town of Carleton Place, taking a position with the Caldwells, who were then manufacturing sawn lumber on a large scale on that section of the Mississippi River. He learned piling and shipping under the late John Galvin; also had Thomas McCallum as a coach.
From Carleton Place Mr. Grace returned to Almonte, where for five years he did business as a hotel-keeper. From Almonte, he went to Killaloe as Mine Host at the Beresford House. He was for thirteen years in “the upper country”. There, as in Almonte and Pakenham, he built up a good reputation as a keeper of a house of public entertainment. While at Killaloe Mr. Grace served for some time as a school trustee.
It was in the fall of 1914, just as the Great War was getting well under way, that Mr. Grace came to Renfrew. He came hither to go into the furniture and undertaking business not long after the death of the late Wm. O’Connor. A genial, approachable man, he soon had a wide circle of friends and it was but a short while until he held membership in the Town Council. For three years he was a member of the civic legislature, holding in one of those years the deputy-reeve which carried with it a seat in the County Council. In his last year at the board Mr. Grace was chairman of the finance committee. Another committee chairmanship which he held was that of the fuel committee, a committee which he emergencies of the Great War rendered necessary. One matter to which Mr. Grace “points with pride” during his service to the public as a member of the Town Council was his strenuous opposition to the purchase of a portion of the Leach property on the banks of the Bonnechere for park purposes. He feels that the forces of opposition organized by him led to the killing of the project which he regarded as a poor one in different ways for Renfrew.
Outstanding among Mr. Grace’s hobbies today are fishing and hunting. With rifle in hand he likes to go after deer and he has a shotgun for partridges. These are less strenuous hobbies than those which were his in his more youthful days when he took an active interest in lacrosse and football, baseball and cricket. He was fond, too, of running, and there is an unconfirmed statement that once upon a time he almost lost a footrace when near the line a young lady exclaimed,” My gracious see him run.”
For the building up of a bigger and better Renfrew Mr. Grace would curtail the amount of early closing prevailing here. Shops close too many nights a week, he thinks. Closing of shops five nights per week tends to drive the farmers’ trade to the smaller places roundabout, he says; adding that an over-plus of early closing here has built up business for several of the smaller places. Also it sends to Arnprior trade which would otherwise come to Renfrew. At the same time it plays into the hands of departmental stores. With good roads running nearly everywhere and with the horseless carriage well-nigh universal, Mr. Grace sees business go on five nights of the week from points near Renfrew to points several miles away.