DID YOU KNOW Barrie’s first mayor was brewer Robert Simpson?

The Queens Hotel has been a gathering place since it opened in 1850 at

Barrie town crier Steve Travers said the upper floor was used as a council chamber when Barrie was a town.

Simcoe Steam Brewery founder and brewer Robert Simpson was the Town of Barrie’s first mayor, serving from 1871 to 1876.

Travers said the fact that Simpson was a brewer was instrumental to his getting elected. Elections in those days were unlike today, he said.

“Was it a secret ballot? Hell no. Were women allowed to vote? Hell no. So how did you vote for the mayor? You stood on the main street and you stood next to the person you wanted to vote for and they did a head count.

“If you are a logger, a railroad man, a farmer, who are you going to vote for? I vote for the brewer. Because after the vote, he’d looked round to see who voted for him and you got to drink free beer all night in the Queens Hotel,” Travers said with a hearty laugh.