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118 plaques found that match your criteria
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Barnum House
A superb example of a prosperous Upper Canadian home, this elegant classical building was erected about 1819. Though its interior has been modified several times since, the façade remains essentially unaltered. In the first historic house restoration undertaken in the province, the structure was refurbished by the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario in 1940. Since 1982, its continued preservation has been entrusted to the Ontario Heritage Foundation. -
C. Beck Manufacturing Company
The C. Beck Manufacturing Co. Ltd. operated from 1875 to 1969 with its centre of operations in Penetanguishene. The company sold wholesale lumber, shingles, lath, box shooks, pails, tubs and woodenware to firms in Ontario, Quebec, western Canada and the northern United States. It produced the special wooden tubs, boxes, barrels and pails that carried early 20th century Ontario food products to markets across Canada and throughout the British Empire. It was a family business... -
Windermere
In the early 1860s, the government promoted agricultural settlement in Muskoka. Newcomers, including the Fife, Aitken and Forge families, settled near Lake Rosseau, working at farming and lumbering. In 1868, Windermere post office opened at the mouth of the Dee River to the north, but shortly afterwards moved nearby to the house of Thomas Aitken. Like others, Aitken boarded tourists in his home, at first informally. Once the railway reached the steamboat port of Gravenhurst... -
Theodore Pringle Loblaw 1872-1933
T.P. Loblaw was born in Elmgrove, Ontario to William James Loblaw and Isabella Stevenson. Orphaned in his teens, he was raised by his Scottish-born grandparents, William and Elizabeth Stevenson, who lived in the farmhouse on this property. At age 17 he moved to Toronto with twenty dollars and a dream. In 1897, Loblaw married Isabella Adam and in 1900 purchased his first grocery store on College Street with partner J. Milton Cork. Loblaw pioneered the... -
The Disappearing Propeller Boat
Popularly known as the Dispro, or Dippy, this small boat was first built on this site in 1916 by the Disappearing Propeller Boat Company Limited. Also manufactured elsewhere in Ontario and briefly in the United States, more than 3,000 were built and sold around the world when production ceased in 1956. Boat builder W.J. Johnston Jr. and machinist Edwin Rogers invented a device that allowed the propeller and shaft to be retracted manually or automatically... -
Andrew Frederick Hunter 1863-1940
This distinguished historian and archaeologist was born in Innisfil Township, graduated from the University of Toronto in 1889 and was editor of the Barrie Examiner 1889-95. His extensive exploration of archaeological sites throughout Huronia stimulated public interests in the history of that area. He supplied much valuable information for Thwaites' 73-volume edition of the "Jesuit Relations". Hunter was secretary of the Ontario Historical Society 1913-1931 and wrote many scholarly articles. His "History of Simcoe County... -
Associated Country Women of the World, The
A non-political international women's organization, the Associated Country Women of the World was formed largely through the efforts of Collingwood-born Margaret Watt. Mrs. Watt was a member of the Women's Institute, a Canadian association devoted to the concerns of rural women, and she introduced that organization to Great Britain during World War I to help in work to counteract food shortages. With the expansion of the Women's Institute movement to Commonwealth and European countries after... -
Cathedral of St. Peter-in-Chains, The
The parish of St. Peter-in-Chains was established in 1826 to serve the large Irish Catholic population of the surrounding Robinson Settlement. This building, erected in 1837-38 of stone from nearby Jackson's Creek, is one of the oldest remaining Catholic churches in Ontario. Reportedly designed by the Toronto architect James Chevette, it follows the modified gothic Revival style popular in Upper Canada during the period. In 1882, when the Diocese of Peterborough was erected St. Peter's... -
Chief William Yellowhead
Born about 1769, Yellowhead (Musquakie) served with the British during the War of 1812. Named chief of the Deer tribe of the Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indians in 1816, he settled with his band at the site of Orillia in 1830 in accordance with lieutenant-Governor Colborne's plan for gathering nomadic tribes on reserves. Pressure from white settlers forced the Indians to relinquish their land and Yellowhead's band moved to Rama in 1838-1839. It is believed that the... -
In 1830 aboriginals of the surrounding region were gathered on a reserve along a newly opened road connecting The narrows (Orillia) and Coldwater. The superintendent, Capt. Thomas Gummersal Anderson, and a band of Ojibwa under chief Aisance, settled in Coldwater. Land-hungry settlers influenced the government to move the aboriginals to Rama and Beausoleil Island in 1838-39. This grist-mill, financed with aboriginal funds, was constructed by Stephen Chapman, Jacob Gill and others in 1833. The mill was sold to George Copeland in 1849 and been in operation for over 125 years.
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Cowley Fathers at Bracebridge, The
The Society of Saint John the Evangelist was founded by an Anglican priest at Cowley, England in 1866. Bound by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, members of the order devote their lives to prayer and community service. The Society began its ministry in Canada in 1927 when three Cowley Fathers arrived in Emsdale to take charge of the scattered Anglican missions in Muskoka. They established a monastery in Bracebridge the following year. At a... -
David Allanson Jones 1836-1910
World-renowned breeder of bees and pioneer of the North American beekeeping industry, he came in 1867 to Clarksville which, in 1874, was renamed Beetown (now Beeton). Jones searched the Old World for species of bees, and brought queens for isolated breeding to the islands of Georgian Bay. First president, in 1881, of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association, and in 1885 founding editor of the Canadian Bee Journal, Jones was Canada's first major commercial honey producer. -
Eldorado Refinery, The
A pioneering operation in the development of nuclear energy, the Eldorado refinery was established in 1933 by Gilbert LaBine, a veteran prospector, and his brother Charles. It extracted radium, used in the early treatment of cancer, from ore mined in the Northwest Territories. In 1942, soon after the uranium atom was split for the first time, the Canadian government acquired Eldorado to refine uranium oxide, a waste product in the radium extraction process. The only... -
Black Settlement in Oro Township
The only government-sponsored Black settlement in Upper Canada, the Oro community was established in 1819 to help secure the defence of the province's northern frontier. Black veterans of the War of 1812 who could be enlisted to meet hostile forces advancing from Georgian Bay were offered land grants here. By 1831, nine had taken up residence along this road, called Wilberforce Street after the renowned British abolitionist. Bolstered by other Black settlers who had been... -
Anishinaabeg at Lake of Bays, The
A water-based people, the Anishinaabeg - the original people of this region - were a hunter-gatherer society that often travelled here to the narrows at Trading Bay (Lake of Bays). The area that is now Dorset was a special, spiritual place abundant in natural resources. For thousands of years the Anishinaabeg set up small camps here harvesting maple syrup and birch bark, fishing and trading in the spring and summer, and hunting and trapping during... -
Alderville Manual Labour School
One of several technical training institutions operating in Upper Canada during the first half of the 19th century, the Alderville Manual Labour School was established here by 1839 by Wesleyan Methodist missionaries. The school was designed, as were others of this type, to assimilate Native children into the Euro-Canadian society that was growing rapidly within the province. To that end, it attempted to eradicate the traditional Native way of life, and stressed instead Christianity, the... -
Champlain in Ontario, 1615
In April 1615, Samuel de Champlain (c.1574-1635) embarked from Honfleur, upon his seventh voyage to New France. Upon arrival in Quebec, Champlain was informed of increasing tensions with the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) the traditional rival of his Anishinabe (Algonquian) and Wendat (Huron) allies. He travelled west to Huronia on a diplomatic and military expedition where he visited several villages including Cahiagué, a large and important Wendat settlement. With a mixed force of 400-500 First Nations warriors... -
French Presence in Lafontaine, The
French explorers first arrived in the Lafontaine area around 1610. An intermittent French presence of fur traders, soldiers and missionaries continued until 1650 when the sojourns ended after the Huron-Iroquois wars. Eventually a group of former French Canadian and Métis voyageurs from Drummond Island settled here in 1830 followed by successive waves of immigrants from Quebec, the three main groups originating from Batiscan, Joliette and the counties of Soulanges and Vaudreuil. The church and parish... -
Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway Company, The
When completed in 1905, the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway, or Portage Railway, provided a crucial 1.8-kilometre link connecting steamboats on Peninsula Lake to Lake of Bays and opened up North Muskoka to tourism and increased development. The railway was part of a larger navigation company owned by George F. Marsh and later sold to C.O. Shaw, owner of the Anglo-Canadian Leather Company in Huntsville and Bigwin Inn that opened on Lake of Bays... -
B. Napier Simpson Jr. 1925-1978
A prominent Ontario architect, Simpson was born and educated in Toronto. After graduating from university in 1951, he established a thriving private practice and soon became involved in public restoration projects. An expert in this field, Simpson undertook commissions throughout the province, playing a significant role in the development of Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto and Century Village near Peterborough. Through his work with various heritage groups and his efforts to preserve individual structures... -
Bluestone House 1834
This fine limestone house, originally painted blue, was completed in 1834 by John David Smith. Born in New York City in 1786, he came here in 1797 with his father, Elias Smith, who had played a leading role in the founding of this community. The family received large grants of land in Hope Township, and John David Smith served during the War of 1812 as a captain in the 1st Durham Militia. A prosperous merchant... -
Bobcaygeon Road, The
This colonization road was designed to open up the districts lying inland from the settled townships. Construction began in 1856 from Bobcaygeon running northward to the interior of Haliburton. In 1858, Richard Hughes was appointed government land agent at Bobcaygeon and directed the progress of settlement. Free grants of land along its route were made to persons fulfilling the required settlement duties. By 1863, the road, sections of which follow the boundaries between Victoria and... -
Camp Borden
Camp Borden was established during the First World War as a major training centre of Canadian Expeditionary Force battalions. The Camp (including this structure) was officially opened by Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence, on July 11, 1916, after two months of intensive building. This military reserve, comprising over twenty square miles, was soon occupied by some 32,000 troops. Training facilities were expanded in 1917 with the institution of an air training program... -
Captain James Keating, R.A.
Here stood the residence of Captain Keating. Born about 1786 in Wexford, Ireland, he joined the Royal Artillery and was present at the capture of Detroit, 1812, and the Battle of Crysler's Farm, 1813. At Prairie du Chien in 1814, his skilful use of the single British cannon forced the surrender of Fort Shelby's American garrison. Appointed Fort Adjutant at St. Joseph's Island in 1815, he later served on Drummond Island, and with its garrison... -
Catharine Parr Traill 1802-1899
A member of the literary Strickland family, this talented author married Lieut. Thomas Traill and emigrated to Upper Canada in 1832. For seven years, they struggled unsuccessfully to establish a profitable farm on bushland in Douro Township. Subsequently, they lived at Ashburnham and Rice Lake. In 1862, following her husband's death, Mrs. Traill's daughters purchased "Westove," and she lived here the rest of her life. Her best known book, "The Backwoods of Canada," is based...