Tyrone

By Guy Scott

Tyrone was a crossroads hamlet on the old Manvers Road several miles north of Bowmanville. In pioneer days, it was considered a day’s journey from Bowmanville. The old Manvers Road was the trail north from Lake Ontario through Darlington and Manvers Townships to Lake Scugog and the Kawartha Lakes. It followed an old native portage trail. There were other routes north as well that were better used, but the Manvers Road was a major route for new settlers. If the settlers went north along the Road, their commerce went south along the Road to the port of Bowmanville and markets beyond. Thus Tyrone contained at least 2 hotels and blacksmiths to cater to this busy trade route.

The first settler at Tyrone arrived in 1810. He hailed from Tyrone County in Ireland and wrote glowing letters to the folks back home about the prospects of settling in the new land. After the Napoleonic Wars ended, an exodus of Ulster Irish from County Tyrone followed his advice and migrated to the Tyrone area. Also settling in the region was a group of English arrivals from Devon and Cornwall. When it came time to select a name for the post office there was a difference of opinion between the two groups over the name. The two groups played a cricket game to decide the issue. The Ulstermen won and Tyrone was an obvious choice. Besides the usual hotels, blacksmiths, general stores, churches, schools, etc. common to pioneer, crossroads communities, the hamlet of Tyrone also had a grist mill on a convenient creek flowing through the village.

At its peak (1880) the hamlet had 300 residents. But the railways altered the transportation grid and Tyrone was bypassed. It and other communities all along the old Manvers Road began to decline. But the grist mill kept going. In fact, the Tyrone Mill is still operating today as a tourist attraction: one of the few original grist mills left in Ontario. Tyrone also was the home of two famous Canadians. The Hughes family were early settlers in the area from Ireland. The famous Sir Sam Hughes grew up at Tyrone before moving to Lindsay and going on to political fame before and during the Great War. Also hailing from Tyrone was the McLaughlin Family. In 1867 Robert McLaughlin started making wagons and cutters on the family farm outside of the hamlet. He then moved to Oshawa and opened The McLaughlin Carriage Company, which eventually produced automobiles and became part of General Motors.