Search results

22 plaques found that match your criteria

Search again

• McMartin House c. 1831, The
  The son of Loyalists from the Morrisburg area, Daniel McMartin (1798-1869) established a law practice in Perth in 1823. Well-educated and well-connected, he acquired prominent clients like timber baron Philemon Wright of Hull. McMartin chose a neo-classical design for his residence, then embellished it with unique stylistic features such as recessed arches and a cupola with flanking side lanterns. These are hallmarks of the Federal style of architecture that flourished in the eastern United States...

• Malcolm Cameron 1808-1876
  A prominent Upper Canadian entrepreneur and politician, Cameron was born in Trois-Rivieres. He began his business career in Perth, establishing himself as a general merchant and in 1834 co-founding the Bathurst Courier. In 1837 he moved to Port Sarnia where he developed lumbering, shipping and milling enterprises. Although a successful businessman, Cameron gained renown in politics. He was elected to the legislature as the member for Lanark in 1836 and, representing this, then several western...

• Alexander Morris 1826-1889
  An astute public servant who played a significant role in the development of Western Canada, Morris was born in Perth. In 1861, after establishing a successful law practice in Montreal, he was elected to the legislature as the member for Lanark South. An eloquent advocate of the union of British North America, he supported the coalition that made confederation possible. Leaving federal politics in 1872, Morris became interim administrator, then Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (1872-1877) and...

• Captain A. Roy Brown, D.S.C. 1893-1944
  Victor in aerial combat over Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the First World War's leading fighter pilot and German national hero, Arthur Roy Brown was born at Carleton Place. In 1915 he qualified as a civilian pilot and was commissioned in the Royal Naval Air Service. In the thick of vicious air fighting in 1917-18, Brown is credited with at least 12 enemy planes, earning the Distinguished Service Cross and Bar. Though the Canadian's downing of...

• Auld Kirk 1836
  This stone church, an attractive example of an early form of Gothic Revival architecture, was constructed in 1835-36 on land obtained from John Mitchell, one of Ramsay Township's earliest settlers. Built by the local congregation of the Established Church of Scotland, it was also attended by Presbyterians from adjoining townships. The early settlers of Ramsay were visited by ministers from Drummond and Beckwith, but in 1834 the first resident minister, the Reverend John Fairburn, was...

• Dalhousie Library, The
  In 1828, eight years after the original settlement of this area, the St Andrew's Philanthropic Society founded the first public library within the old Bathurst District. A log building, known as St Andrew's Hall, housed the library for many years. The Earl of Dalhousie, Governor-in-Chief of Canada (1820-28), subscribed money for its support and donated a number of books. Thomas Scott, a pioneer settler, was the first president, and among the distinguished citizens who subscribed...

• District Court House and Gaol 1843
  This excellently proportioned structure was designed in the neoclassical style by Malcolm McPherson of Perth. Its notable architectural features are the "floating" semi-circular headed transoms of the central second-storey windows and the temple design. The latter was common to all important public buildings of the period, and is here reflected in the dominating pediment and the well-defined projection of the central block. The building was erected 1842-43 as the court-house and gaol of the Bathurst...

• Dr. James Naismith 1861-1939
  This is the boyhood home of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. Born in a house that formerly stood on this lot, he entered McGill University in 1883, where he was active in athletics. In 1890, Naismith graduated in theology from Presbyterian College, Montreal, and subsequently enrolled at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Massachusetts. There was a need for a competitive team sport that could be played indoors during the winter...

• Founding of Almonte, The
  The sawmill and grist-mill completed here on the Mississippi River in 1823 by Daniel Shipman provided the nucleus around which a community known as Shipman's Mills had developed by 1824. About 1850, two town plots were laid out here - "Victoria" by Edward Mitcheson and "Ramsayville" by Daniel Shipman. They were combined in 1853 as "Waterford," which in 1855 was renamed "Almonte," probably after Juan N. Almonte, a famous Mexican general and diplomat. The opening...

• Founding of Carleton Place, The
  The families of Edmond Morphy and William Moore became, in 1819, the first settlers on the site of Carleton Place. About 1822, Hugh Boulton built a mill here on the Mississippi River that provided the nucleus around which a community, known as "Morphy's Falls," had become established by 1824. It also contained a sawmill, stores, a tavern, tannery, ashery and a blacksmith's shop, and later a textile mill and stove foundry. A post office named...

• Haggarts, The
  John Haggart, a Scottish stone mason, came to Canada in the 1820s and worked on the Welland and Rideau canals. In 1832, he purchased this property, which included the Perth settlement's first mill, and established a milling complex. He built this house in 1837, an early hip-roofed regency design in stone. In 1854, the property passed to his son John Graham Haggart. A vigorous politician, the younger Haggart was mayor of Perth before serving some...

• Reverend William Bell 1780-1857, The
  One of the most influential Presbyterian clergymen in Upper Canada, Bell was born in Airdrie, Scotland. In 1808, he entered a Congregational academy in London to train for the ministry and, after completing his studies in Scotland and serving as an itinerant preacher, he was ordained by the Associate Presbyterian of Edinburgh in 1817. Bell then emigrated to Upper Canada, settling in Perth. With indefatigable energy and missionary zeal, he ministered to the Presbyterians in...

• Rivers and Streams Act of 1884
  In the 1870s, Boyd Caldwell and Peter McLaren both owned timber rights on the upper Mississippi River. McLaren built a dam and timber slide at High Falls and refused to let Caldwell use the slide. Caldwell appealed to the Liberal provincial government of Oliver Mowat, which passed the Rivers and Streams Act in 1881. This made it legal to use private improvements on a watercourse if compensation was paid to the owner. McLaren appealed to...

• Herbert Taylor Reade, V.C. 1828-1897
  Born in Perth, Upper Canada, and educated in Quebec and Ireland, Reade became an assistant surgeon with the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment in 1850. On September 14, 1857, at the siege of Delhi during the Indian Mutiny, a number of British wounded were threatened by some 300 Sepoys. Reade led a small party of soldiers against the attackers and drove them off. Two days later he was in the forefront of the final assault on...

• Lanark Settlement 1820, The
  In August 1820, a government depot was completed on the site of this community to serve as the centre of a military settlement in the newly surveyed townships of Lanark, Ramsay, North Sherbrooke and Dalhousie. By the spring of 1821, some 1500 settlers, the majority of whom were unemployed Scottish weavers, discharged soldiers, and their families, were established in this area. Placed under the jurisdiction of the quartermaster-general's department, they received land, tools, farm implements...

• Last Fatal Duel 1833, The
  Here died the victim of the last fatal duel fought in this province, June 13, 1833. Two law students and former friends, John Wilson and Robert Lyon, quarrelled over remarks made by the latter concerning a local school teacher, Elizabeth Hughes. The dispute was aggravated by the prompting of Lyon's second, Henry Le Lievre, a bellicose army veteran. Lyon was killed in the second exchange of shots, while Wilson was acquitted of a charge of murder, married Miss Hughes, and became a member of parliament and a judge.

• Mill of Kintail and Robert Tait McKenzie, The
  This gristmill was constructed in 1830 by John Baird, a Scottish pioneer. In 1930 it was restored by Robert Tait McKenzie (1867-1938), the prominent Canadian surgeon, physical educator, and sculptor, as his summer home and studio. Born in Lanark County, McKenzie graduated from McGill, and taught there and at the University of Pennsylvania. He served with the R.A.M.C. in the War of 1914-18 and instituted a plan for the rehabilitation of the wounded. McKenzie is noted for his sculpture of athletes and war memorials, including the Scottish-American War Memorial in Edinburgh.

• Perth Military Settlement 1816
  The present townships of Bathurst, Beckwith and Drummond were settled under the jurisdiction of the Quarter Master General's Department. Scottish emigrants, quartered in barracks at Brockville during the winter of 1815-16, and soldiers discharged from the Glengarry Light Infantry and the De Meuron and De Watteville regiments, formed a majority of the original settlers. In March, 1816, a central depot was established on the site of Perth, and by October the settlement contained some 1,500 persons.

• Reverend George Buchanan 1761-1835, The
  Born at Coupar-Angus, Scotland, Buchanan graduated in medicine from Edinburgh University. He later became a Presbyterian minister and was called to Upper Canada. He arrived in Beckwith Township in August 1822 to become its first resident clergyman. For eleven years Buchanan served as minister, teacher and physician but when, in 1833, a stone church was completed, influential members of the congregation demanded that it be conducted under the auspices of the Church of Scotland. Buchanan...

• Rideau Waterway, The
  Constructed in 1826-32 by the British government for military purposes, but used principally for commerce, the Rideau waterway, together with the lower Ottawa River, was the first canalized route from Montreal to the Great Lakes. Although eastbound traffic continued to use the St Lawrence, westbound traffic, including many thousands of immigrants, utilized the new route to avoid the hazards and delays of upstream navigation on that river. With the completion, in 1846, of the St...

• Rosamonds in Almonte, The
  In 1857, James Rosamond built this mill on the Mississippi River, thereby firmly establishing the woollen industry in Almonte. An Irish-born entrepreneur, Rosamond was previously a resident of nearby Carleton Place where, in 1846, he had built one of the first woollen factories in this part of Upper Canada (Ontario). In 1866 his sons, Bennett and William, then in control, expanded the firm by constructing another larger mill in Almonte, and in 1882 Bennett also...

• "Summit House, The"
  This house was built in 1823 by James Boulton, one of Perth's first lawyers. Modelled after "The Grange" in Toronto, the house was designed in the Adamesque style, which was popular in Upper Canada during the 1820's, with overtones of the Regency style, which superseded the Adamesque in the following decade. The graceful fanlight over the main entrance and the oval window in the central gable are typical of the earlier style, whereas the tall...