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Mr. Dodds had a
Hardware & General store as well as a boarding
house in the new settlement of Manchester, which became Melita when it
was discovered that the name Manchester was already taken. When the
railway arrived Mr. Dodds was one of the first to move his business to
the new townsite. In 1890 he established himself as one of the first
property owners in the new village of Melita. His store was on the site
that would later be home to the Northern Bank. He had a new store built
there in 1903. When his property was sold to the Northern Bank the
store building was moved south to the next lots.
Mr. Dodd’s name is scattered throughout the Melita story and appears in
several newpaper accounts of the time. He served as a Land Agent for
CPR and Canada North West Land Co. He sold farms and traveled to
Ontario to solicit settlers. He served as Magistrate. He was a tireless
advocate for the new community and took a leadership role in many
projects. As an example, he helped organized efforts to create a ferry
crossing for the new settlement. He served as Reeves, and as such laid
the cornerstone of the new Victoria Methodist Church in 1897.
In 1928 another notable citizen, A.B. Estlin paid tribute in the local
paper:
”No history of Melita would be complete without some reference being
made to G. L. Dodds. He was a man who devoted much time and ability to
public work, and to him we owe, among many other things, our fine
school building and our parks. His work in the Municipality of Arthur
gave us many improve¬ments in the way of roads and bridges which
contributed in no small degree to the prosperity of the town. His was
a chequered career, and, like anyone else who does public work, there
were many who did not see eye to eye with him; consequently, he had
many hard election battles. He was beaten for the third time in the
fall of 1901 and again in 1902 and 1903, and although he still stayed
in Melita, he never took much interest in public life afterwards. Many
of you will remember, when after one of his defeats, the "Municipal
Cemetery" was laid out in his garden, with graves representing the
various reeves and coun¬cillors who had fallen in previous municipal
elections with headstones of wood on which were inscribed the date of
their municipal demise, also a quaint text making reference to some
event in their career, usually supposed to have been the cause of their
downfall. It was a very clever thing, and greatly enjoyed by the people
who were not represented there.
Mr. Dodds was always
bitterly opposed to the incorporation of the Town,
and also, the Board of Trade, but we always considered that his
opposition was due to his fear that the prestige of the Municipality
of Arthur might suffer, as he usually strongly advocated any forward
movement. His policy of roads and bridges was much the same as we find
today.”
Adapted from Our First Century, page 205
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