EVENT – Provincial plaque to commemorate Timmins
Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 2 p.m.
Join the Ontario Heritage Trust and
the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre for the unveiling of a provincial plaque that commemorates Timmins during its 100th anniversary.
When Henry Timmins predicted in November 1910 that “Porcupine will be the richest and biggest gold camp in the world,” he was chided for his boldness. There was, after all, little to show for the area but swampy bush roads and rustic log cabins. But the region’s rock – formed during the earth’s earliest history – had yet to reveal its riches. The First Nations, who had first settled in the area around 4,000 years ago, and the Euro-Canadian fur traders, who had begun arriving in the late-17th century, had left these riches undisturbed. A major discovery in the Porcupine district started a gold rush in 1909 that attracted brothers Henry and Noah Timmins to the area. Undeterred by a devastating fire in July 1911 that destroyed the area and claimed over 70 lives, Noah laid out a proper townsite near his Hollinger gold mine in the fall of the same year. When the town was incorporated in 1912, the site bore his surname and quickly became North America’s centre of gold production.
The Ontario Heritage Trust’s
Provincial Plaque Program commemorates significant people, places and events in Ontario’s history. Since 1956, over 1,200 provincial plaques have been unveiled.
Directions:
From Pine Street and Algonquin Blvd. East/Highway 101, head east on Algonquin Blvd. East/Highway 101. The main entrance to Hollinger Park is on the southeast corner of Algonquin Blvd. East/Highway 101 and Brunette Road. The unveiling will take place at the Hollinger Park Pavilion. Parking is available on the east side of Brunette Road, half a block south of Algonquin Blvd. East/Highway 101.
For more information:
Jennifer Jarvis
Marketing and Communications Specialist
Telephone: 416-325-5032
Email: jennifer.jarvis@heritagetrust.on.ca
Location:
Hollinger Park Pavilion
Algonquin Blvd.East and Brunette Road
Timmins, Ontario
Image: Prior to the railway’s arrival in the Porcupine region in 1911, most prospectors who travelled to the
area were forced to trudge into it via the road that ran to Kelso on the Temiskaming and Northern
Ontario Railway. Photo courtesy of Timmins Museum.