There are pictures and information regarding old buildings we might recognize. This is the Standard Bank, on the north west corner of Main and Young, which is now Sobey’s parking lot. You can see the front entrance, parts of which can be seen at that same corner today. 

This is the old public school that was on the north side of Richardson Street, across from the canning factories. It was replaced in 1916 by the new school on Elizabeth Street, which itself was recently removed for a new and modern school nearby. 

There are lots of newspaper clippings, including advertisements, like this one on the left for a “Grand Managerie”, a spectacular event held in Cobourg in 1840. 
On the right is one of many ads for ladies clothing, this one showing the style in 1915.

Many of the ads will crack a smile, such as this one for Ford cars in 1918. It says “Replace Your Buggy With a Ford; More than 100,000 Fords are owned by people in Canada in preference to the old horse-drawn buggy and other makes of cars.” 
Modern advertising for automobiles is a lot more sophisticated, but, as we can see here, the basic concept has not changed much. 

Only a few years earlier, in 1914, the editor of the Brighton Ensign newspaper felt it was important enough to publish a list of the 51 people in the community who owned an automobile. It is on page 659. Notice the usual suspects. Nesbitt, Bullock, Morrow, Sanford, Wade, Lawson, Whitton, Breeze …. And so on.