Final Weeks of Our Stories at Museum

August 20, 2014

Have you ever wondered if someone famous was from your own hometown? Did they live in your community and you didn’t know it. Discover the stories of some Huron County residents who have made achievements in Science, Technology, Education and the Arts with a temporary exhibit at the Huron County Museum. Some famous and some relatively unknown but all are a part of our Huron County history.

Thirty people who lived in Huron County were selected to be highlighted in this exhibit from a submission list of 125. Their achievements highlight successes in the areas of medicine, writing, painting, music, social reforms, invention and many more.

A few of the selected include:

Harriet Brooks was Canada’s first woman nuclear physicist who, next to Marie Curie of Paris, was considered to be the most outstanding woman in the field of radioactivity. She was one of the early discoverers of radon and the first person to try to determine its atomic mass. Did you know she was born in Exeter?

William Nichol Cresswell is best known for his award-winning landscape and marinescape paintings done in watercolours or oil. His work can be seen today in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and many other galleries and private collections. Did you know he lived in Seaforth?

William Mustard was a famous cardiac surgeon. He is the only person in history to have two operations, which he invented, in two different medical fields named after him: one to treat people with hip problems, and the other to correct heart problems in children known as “blue babies.” Did you know he was raised in Clinton?

Annie Caroline Macdonald, known as Caroline, was a missionary, social reformer and educator who spent most of her working life in Japan. She established the YWCA in Japan and was called the “White Angel of Tokyo”. Did you know she was born in Wingham?

Eloise Skimmings was a musician, music teacher, composer, newspaper columnist and author. She was described as “one of Goderich’s best known citizens” and also “The Poetess of Lake Huron”. Did you know she lived her entire life in Huron County?

Visit the exhibit “Our Stories: The People of Huron County” to learn about these and many others. Think we missed someone? Visit the exhibit and fill in our suggestion card so that we can continue with our research about Huron County notables.

This special exhibit is open to the public during our regular hours until September 14, 2014. The Museum will be open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 10 AM to 4:30 PM; Thursday 10 AM to 8 PM; and Sunday 1 to 4:30 PM.

The Huron County Museum is located at 110 North St., Goderich and may be contacted at 519.524.2686.

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TO FIND OUT MORE…
Our media contact for this item is: Elizabeth French-Gibson, Assistant Curator, Huron County Museum, 519.5224.2686, ext. 205.

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For more information contact:

Susan Cronin, County Clerk
519.524.8394 (ext 3257)
scronin@huroncounty.ca