Started during the pandemic as something to do, ‘The Explore Our Story’ podcast, created by Dan Schmalz, has been diving into the history of Cambridge, giving rare insight into different parts of the city’s development.
Premiering his first episode of Season 2 this month, the local historian and city archivist uncovers how Galt, Preston and Hespeler joined together as well as what the early years of each of the settlements were like, 200 years ago.
“Just at the beginning of the settlement, everything started to go well and then the Cholera epidemic happened in 1834 and I’m going to pick up where I left off,” Schmalz said about the next episode.
With 4,545 downloads and counting, ‘The Explore Our Story’ podcast has had a surprisingly great response, Schmalz said.
The first season he went into a diverse range of topics, covering the early years all the way up to the amalgamation in 1973, where Cambridge was created by joining the three settlements.
He explores genealogy and what families still live here today from 200 years ago.
“People love learning about their family history. I did some seasonal topics, I did one for Remembrance Day, I did one for Halloween which was true crime and ghost stories.”
“Just taking my love of history and turning it into a hobby. It’s been very rewarding seeing people react to it.”
The first episode of Season 2 premiered April 11, he plans to continue launching new episodes once every two weeks.
“It’s helped a lot with COVID," he said. "It’s not been easy for any of us but this has been my creative outlet. I just started listening to podcasts at home, walking the dog and it turned into this.”
“This is my little way of sharing it for a new generation. We’ve had history books written over the years, but this is a modern way of doing it.”
The first part of Season 2 will explore the early years of Galt and what it was like from 1816 to 1834. He will than talk about the first beginnings for Hespeler, Preston and Blair.
“I have a couple other topics in mind; the history of parks, the history of cemeteries. I could do this for a long time because there is so much rich history in our area,” he said of the many pieces of the past he hopes to uncover for the community.
Schmalz said he quickly noticed how important the Grand River was to the city's history, especially in comparison to today. It was essential 200 years ago to help the city develop, often being used to ship materials downstream.
“Without the river, there is no Galt, Hespeler or Preston and thus no Cambridge.”
One of his big sources of information comes from a history book written by James Young from the 1800s, titled ‘‘Reminiscences of Galt and the township of North Dumfries.’"
As the past is often written from the colonizer’s point of view, there is little information about Indigenous history for the area, Schmalz said.
With 134 downloads of his latest episode so far, Schmalz hopes more people continue to enjoy it, as he explores the history of Galt, Preston, Hespeler and Blair from early beginnings to their amalgamation to the present.
