Shawville Walking Tour

In local lore, few people in the nineteenth century cut quite so heroic a figure as the country doctor. Stories abound about dedicated men of healing roused from their warm beds on cold winter nights to travel miles to stricken patients. After the turn of the century the era of the house call began to give way to more centralized care. On Victoria Avenue we find two of Shawville’s former hospitals. On the corner of Lang Street is the former residence of Dr. Powles who opened a hospital there in the 1920s. The large house on the north end of the street served as a hospital from 1938 to 1946. The days of the house call truly ended when the Pontiac Community Hospital opened.

Along with health care, education has been a large part of Shawville’s past. The old Shawville High School, opened in 1913, educated generations of local people. Through recent renovations, the building has recaptured its former splendour. As apartments for the elderly, the old high school can now house those who once roamed its halls as students.

The impressive brick structures of the upper end of the street gave way to a section of town that was more industrial and commercial in nature. Hynes’ Hall, one of several public meeting places in town, was on the avenue along with the movie theatre. For many years Rennick’s Blacksmith shop served the local farmers. Milk was brought into town from the surrounding countryside to be processed at the Shawville Creamery. One of the many sawmills that have been located in the village once turned out boards at the lower end of Victoria.