The Royles Rule

A Sawdust Flats Trilogy Story

The 1920s was a decade of prosperity and dissipation, and of bootleggers, raccoon coats, bathtub gin and hard working folk just trying to make a buck. Closer to home there was a small cluster of shops near West Bridge and Coleman Street called Sawdust Flats. It’s name came from the close proximity to the sawmill behind Corbin Lock where the Belleville-Quinte Court of Justice at 15 West Bridge Street is now located.

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John Robert Royle was born in 1881 and emigrated from Ireland to Canada with his sister and brother when he was 15 years old under the Marchmont House relocation program. His first job was working on the Thrasher farm in Plainfield, followed briefly as a cheesemaker, and then hired as a shipping clerk at International Harvester. In 1931 he retired due to heart problems and went looking for another way to help feed the family.

Annie Pearl (Juby) Royle was born in 1891 in Flinton, Ontario. She met her handsome young man, John, at a dance one night and, after a whirlwind courtship, they married in 1909. Their close-knit, large and boisterous family originally consisted of 14 children; however, sadly, two passed away in infancy.

In March of 1936, a horrific flood destroyed approximately seventy-five acres of our downtown area. The water, in some places, was close to seven feet deep. The buildings and stores along the Moira River were a mess, but that didn’t stop this hardworking family from moving into the neighbourhood.

In their new house, a water line left on the outside wall from the disastrous flood stretched to the doorknobs on the first floor. The house needed massive repairs that took a year to complete, but everyone worked together day and night to get it move-in ready.

The busy little neighbourhood was buzzing with anticipation and alive with gossip.

Neighbours, family, and friends were working side by side to put their community back together. Still, they came to drop off casseroles, say hello, and give a small-town welcome to John, Pearl and the new kids on the block.

John, Pearl and their children had taken possession of a long, narrow, three-story that once housed the Piano Factory at 212 Coleman Street.

Just a year ago, the peculiar-looking house with ice and water covering the piano keys now had a family living there, and what a fantastic family they were!

Back in the day, their type of living accommodation was called a “tourist” or “boarding” home because rooms were rented by the week. Not only did the Royle’s still have 8 kids living at home, they often had up to 12 boarders as well at any given time.They also raised four grandchildren in the house due to varying circumstances of family life. When the rooms were full of boarders, some of the kids had to sleep on cots in the hall.

The grandchildren remembered the long lineups for the bathroom and cousin Bobby slipping in, locking the door, and crawling out the window just to get out of doing chores or sometimes, just for fun! With only one bathroom and often 30 occupants residing there at one time, it’s a miracle that fistfights never broke out in the hall.

John worked hard to keep the building clean and would take a broom up to the third floor and sweep his way down to the first floor. All the kids had their own chores to do from cleaning the kitchen after meals to helping prep the food, and everything in between. Most of them had part-time jobs in the shops on Front Street, and their son Jack, as a young boy worked at the Zwick’s Island Refuse Dump and brought his earnings home to help support the family.

Pearl made regular trips to Livesey’s Meat store on West Bridge with her son’s wagon in tow to cart home all the meat they bought. One of the older boys had the responsibility of taking the wagon to the Front St. A&P Store to bring home groceries.

On the back stoop of the boarding house were big wooden barrels from Corby Distilleries that held pickled cucumbers in brine. These crisp, tasty snacks were a big treat with the whole family.

Also, John and Pearl prepared a dozen extra lunch boxes for men to pick up on the way to work. These guys worked primarily for McFarland’s and other construction companies. They were vital contractors for infrastructure projects at the time.

Many of the Air Force lads from Mountain View and Trenton stayed there during the war between 1939 and 1945. The place was always packed to the rafters, and the top quality Royle Service was likely the main reason why.

After supper was finished, which took 2 servings every night, Pearl would bake 8 to 10 delicious fruit pies for the next day to accommodate everyone. She never sat down until 10p.m. at night.

On Sunday, there were always people from the airbase who came for dinner, and Pearl would often invite her children’s friends to stay for supper if they were around near dinner time. It was an offer seldom refused because Pearl was renowned for her baking skills.

A couple of notably colourful celebrity boarders were Harold “Hunk” Barriage , one of the city’s favourite ballplayers, and Oscar Murray, who later married Harold’s daughter Lil Barriage.

In 1951, due to John’s ill health, the family gave up the home and moved to Forin Street. Pearl passed away in 1959, and John followed his beloved Pearl in 1966.

The hard-working, resilient, and diverse people of Sawdust Flats weathered the Great Depression, a devastating flood, and World War II, all within a twenty-year span.

If you are taking a scenic stroll over our Lower Bridge sometime, stop for a minute and give a wave to the memory of the Sawdust Flats Gang.

Photos credit: Community Archives

Information provided by: Jack Evans, former Intelligencer Reporter