As the Orillia area attempts to manoeuvre its way through multiple waves of a global pandemic, it may feel like uncharted territory.
But as local historian Dave Town has learned through painstaking research, history is, indeed, repeating itself. And not as much has changed in 100 years as many may have thought.
Consider this statement: “Vociferous debate raged regarding the efficacy of closing schools, the morality of closing churches and the economic impact of closing businesses and even the legality of these measures,” Town explains in chronicling Orillia’s response to a pandemic, more than 100 years ago.
In his new book — Spanish Flu: Orillia’s Ordeal in 1918 — Town outlines the efforts made to combat the deadly epidemic that claimed the lives of 32 Orillia citizens, many of them young and vital.
Town, a local chiropractor and prolific author, had just finished his latest book, Yellowhead’s Revolt, and was about to start on his next one about Orillia’s Black Swamp Gang.
“And it just suddenly occurred to me (as COVID took off) that people might be interested in the last pandemic to hit Orillia,” said Town.
“Of course, that very week the library shut down. So I did all the online research I could to get the background and context for Orillia’s experience, but had to wait until the library opened again to dive into the microfiched newspapers,” he said.
Little did he know then the library would be closed for six months. The wait was worth it, he says.
“When I did get into it, the stories just got more and more interesting, especially the people, volunteers and victims,” said Town, noting he thinks “the book turned out pretty well.”
Orillia certainly fared pretty well at the time and that was thanks to what Town describes as "the Orillia spirit" that spawned stalwart leadership.
Town notes Orillia had one of the lowest rates of infection and death of any place in Canada in the 1918 epidemic.
He noted the medical officer of health at the time, Dr. John McLean, “called for action (and) the town rallied like no other.”
In fact, he writes, there was a flood of volunteers to do everything from home nursing calls to plucking chickens at the emergency kitchen.
Town said he “had no idea Orillia (had) fared so well during the epidemic. I assumed it was hit as hard as anywhere and all I would be able to write about was tragedy.”
His research revealed a different reality.
“It hit me, this was the Orillia spirit in action,” said Town. “This was a tangible expression of determined, positive community effort.
“Back then, Orillians saw no limits, they had vision. Building the Ragged Rapids power dam on the Severn was audacious, but we did it,” he explained. “That medicare hospital in 1889 was 75 years ahead of its time, but we did it. Sending a lacrosse team to Australia in 1907 was absolutely crazy, but we did it.
"In that same spirit, our forefathers and mothers fought off the worst of the Spanish Flu."
That very spirit bred leadership, Town noted.
“People felt strongly about the community and were positive to the point of seeing no obstacles,” Town explained.
So, when there was a need to set up an emergency hospital in a church Sunday school, calls were made, volunteers rallied and the task was completed.
“They didn’t see the obstacles, they just saw solutions,” said Town, summing up the town’s ideology of that era. “The leaders in the pandemic response were of that ilk.”
In fact, that’s the legacy of the Spanish Flu in Orillia, Town says.
“Determined optimism can have powerful effects,” said Town. “Orillia was a community setting its own course 100 years ago, and our leaders were visionary.”
Flash forward 100 years and things are different.
“In so many ways today every community has been sucked into a common mainstream generic persona, which has stifled this sense of initiative,” said Town.
“We all live in a rubber stamp world of box stores, economies run by international conglomerates and rules set by governments far disassociated with the local communities,” he explained.
“Big thinking is so much harder today. Obstacles are so much easier to see. I hope the legacy of Orillia’s rousing fight against the Spanish Flu is a kindling of that community optimism,” said Town, noting he believes “a community can still do big things.”
He encourages people to read the book — an intriguing 112-page account of Orillia’s effort that shines the light on some fascinating personalities — to compare the 1918 epidemic with the pandemic response that continues to dominate our times.
“I very deliberately did not mention COVID-19 in this book,” says Town. “I wanted to write the history, and let each reader compare past to present themselves. That is the most important thing about history: it teaches about or informs us about today.”
He admits there are lots of parallels including closing down the town more than once and social distancing and the recurring waves. There were also wild ideas and crazy cures floated as gossip ruled the days in the vacuum that existed in the days between publication of the weekly papers.
“It is clear today that the locations that buy into the community efforts to fight COVID have fared better than the ‘anti-vaxxer’ locations,” Town noted.
“I think my book is just a little lesson in how a community effort really works. More significantly, it demonstrates the importance of leadership, something that has been disastrously lacking today in some areas (ie. Donald Trump),” he said.
One of the most interesting themes of the book is the critical role leaders play in a community. While Dr. McLean and Mayor Robert Curran feature prominently, much of the success in 1918, Town notes, is due to some very strong, resilient, competent women: Harriett Todd, Lillian Cannon, Ethel Harvie, the Sisters of St. Joseph, Eleanor Johnston and others.
The book is vintage Town; it brings a slice of Orillia’s history to life in an engaging and informative way and is chock full of names and stories that will resonate with anyone who calls Orillia home.
Spanish Flu : Orillia’s Ordeal in 1918 is available for $10 at Manticore Books in downtown Orillia, in the gift shop at the Orillia Museum of Art & History and at Town's chiropractic offices in Orillia and Coldwater.
