February 06, 2024

The Country Doctor Who Organized a Town

23 minutes

In this month’s Stories from Another Day podcast episode, host Ken Maher introduces Dr. A.R. Stephen, a caring country doctor, soldier, and civic leader who moved to the tiny settlement that would become Collingwood in 1853, before the first train arrived in town. Dr. Stephen would spend more than 50 years organizing, protecting, serving, and caring for the residents and town he loved. The marks of his skilled hands are still visible across our community to this day.

After the story we direct our listeners to go back through some of our older episodes with knowledge that Dr. AR Stephen was a prominent figure in each of them (see the links below). And then we end our time together with an invitation to share Family Day together at the museum. February 19 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. There will be lots of self-guided fun and games, free admission and 50 free activity kits for families. Come early, when they are gone they are gone.

Episode Picture:

Dr. AR Stephen [Collingwood Museum Collection X973.687.1]

Research:

Collingwood Public Library Local History Files, A.R. Stephen.

Enterprise Messenger December 3, 1908

Collingwood Bulletin December 10, 1908

Enterprise Bulletin October 27, 1982

Enterprise Bulletin December 3, 2010

Lane-Moore, Laurel. Collingwood Historic Homes and Buildings BMFA 1989, p. 16

Links:

“A Royal Snub” Season 1, Episode 8

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cwoodstories/episodes/A-Royal-Snub-e16qvsq