From your perspective here in 2021, you’ll get a smile or two from a summary of what municipal services in Cochrane cost in 1946.
The public library, in its archives, has a booklet produced by the Northland Post in early 1948.
It’s called “Behind Cochrane’s Tax Dollars”. Archivist Ardis Proulx-Chedore has an excerpt from the foreword.
“Their purpose is to show what services are performed by the typical municipality, using Cochrane as an example and what they cost.”
The article about the fire brigade calls the fire bell that would wake you in the early morning hours “a symbol of varied significance”.
“A few men it pulls out of bed, however reluctantly, for the great majority of the population is reassured they can just roll over and return to slumber, confident that wherever the fire may be, a group of competent firefighters are on their way to deal with it.”
Wages for the firefighters in 1946 totalled $1,959 and hydrant rental, $2,100
Cochrane history can be explored in the library archives.
