Heather Wright/The Independent

Harold Snary stands under a tree in the postal village of Croton. Those standing with him see a new, siding-clad school and church, a few homes and the traffic whizzing down Oakdale Road. At the corner of Oakdale and Croton Road, they might notice the building which used to be the general store.

For most, this 39-person hamlet is a blink-and-you-miss it sort of place.

But not Snary. He doesn’t even have to close his eyes to see the old Croton Methodist – later United – Church. It, he says, was the centre of the community when he grew up here.

Croton was originally across the river but at the time it was called Johnston’s Corners, after the family that settled there. The Tiffins, Youngs and Butlers were also among the first families, Snary says.

When the post master arrived, he decided to change the community’s name, since Johnston’s Corners was already in use. Snary has no idea how the name Croton was picked. 

Snary’s great-grandfather was just two when the family arrived in the area in 1834.

The Snarys stayed area with the church being the centre point of the community. Everyone would attend on Sunday; during the week it was a social hub.

Snary recalls baseball games with the community divided into north and south of the Sydenham River. The loser would have to wash the dishes from whatever community event had taken place before the game.

The church is also tied to Snary’s memories of natural disasters. In 1947, he said, there was a large flood which spilled over a four-to-five foot ditch and into the driveway of the church. Snary recalls Luth McCabe put his motor boat in the water and heading to the south side of the bridge to bring back bread and milk from delivery trucks waiting to serve the community.

Snary looks down the road as he talks and recalls some of the businesses that lined the roads including his grandfather’s general store. The building is still standing but the post office moved from the building in the last decade.

The general store wasn’t the only business. There was a halfway hotel for the stagecoach in the early years. A log school was built on the river bank. A sawmill was one of the first businesses as settlers cleared out the bush for homesteads. The post office arrived in 1853. 

Croton moved to its present location a decade later. It hosted three blacksmith shops, two churches, an apple orchard which made cider, four grist sawmills, a shoemaker, carpenters, a farm elevator, a buck rake and buzzsaw, along with two RV trailer manufacturers, Snary recalls.

There were also music teachers, auctioneers, and missionaries who were part of the community. Today, Croton’s main features are a butcher shop – J&E Meats – and the Mennonite School and Church which Snary visits.

Snary is nostalgic about growing up in Croton. “The things that I miss about the country now (are) the neighbours; they worked together – they couldn’t survive if they hadn’t,” Snary told about 75 people who gathered under the tree near the former church yard. That’s where a plaque with Snary’s photos and stories about the community now stands. 

Lisa Gilbert is the head of the Chatham-Kent Heritage Network which so far has erected 14 plaques marking the history of the community. She singled out Snary for his work. 

“Harold has been spending many, many years trying to bring the history, the heritage of this area to other people, and I know that this plaque has been a dream of his,” she said noting many of the details have come from Snary’s great-grandfather’s “remarkable” diary. 

“He lived here basically all his life and he kept that faithful diary right through before Croton was even around, basically, and then through Croton’s early days and even when it was starting to decline,” she said.

“We keep the memory (of Croton) alive like this.”