Leadbury

History

Leadbury was a small farming hamlet that came to life around 1860. It all began when Charles Davis, a native of England, arrived in Canada in 1851. He settled on lot 26, Concession 13, in McKillop Township, where he set up a hotel and store, and named the location “Davis Corners.”

In 1874, he applied for a post office under the same name. Since there was already another village named Davis Corners in Frontenac County, it is possible authorities either refused or delayed his original petition. Whatever happened, he eventually opened the post office in 1877, under the name of Leadbury after his hometown in England.

The Leadbury post office was a welcome addition to the area and an instant success. Located on the busy mail route between Seaforth and Brussels, across from the Davis hotel and store, Leadbury boasted 73 regular postal customers by 1879, a huge number for what was essentially a farming area. Mail pickup and delivery took place weekly. At the same time, farmers could pick up their provisions at Davis’ store and stay in the hotel if they needed overnight respite.

During the mid-1880s, Leadbury boasted a population of about 75. By that time Samuel McGibbon had taken over the general store, postal operation and hotel. Although most of Leadbury’s residents listed their occupation as farming, the village also included a carriage maker, Johnston Kinney, several labourers and a blacksmith, William Bray. Edward McNamara took over the hotel around 1886.

The community established a school as early as 1863. The original school was a simple log building with few extras. They added a fence and well in 1876. Members of the New Connexion Methodist Church also used the building to hold regular Sunday services from 1870 to 1874. In 1873, the Methodists built a new church on Lot 20, Concession 14, about halfway between Leadbury and Walton. The cost was around $2.000.

Leadbury saw a number of changes in the early part of the 20th century. The Methodist congregation had purchased a parcel of land in Grey Township in 1884. In 1904, some twenty years later, they finally moved the church to its new location. Thomas Archibald purchased the original log school, S.S. #7 and moved it off the property. A new brick school, built at a cost of $2,082 replaced it that same year,

Leadbury, like many similar farming hamlets, began its slow descent to oblivion during the early part of the 1900s. Following the arrival of rural mail in 1913, the store lost its usefulness. The second schoolhouse is now a private home. The Methodist Church building bounced around a bit. At first it moved to Grey Township and became part of the United Church in 1925. The church closed after the congregation moved. For a time the Orange Order used it as a hall. In 1938, it was on the move again, this time to its final resting place in Walton, where it found new use as a community hall. It continues to serve as the Walton Community Hall to this very day.