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Black Donald Graphite Mine, The
The most important producer of graphite in Canada during the first half of the twentieth century, the Black Donald Graphite Mine was located near here. The extensive deposit of high-quality ore it exploited was discovered in 1889, but mining was not begun by the Ontario Graphite Company until 1895. Operated by the Black Donald Graphite Company by 1908, the mine increased output during World War I and in 1927 was producing approximately 90% of Canada's... -
Steamboating on the Upper Ottawa
The first settlement on the Upper Ottawa River was the 25 horsepower "Lady Colborne," built in 1853 for service between Aylmer and Chats Falls. Gradually, other sections of the river were opened to steam navigation and, in 1854, the "Pontiac" was launched to navigate the 40-mile route between Pembroke and Rapides-des-Joachims. The "Pontiac", the first steamboat to ply in waters above Portage-Du-Fort, was operated by the Union Forwarding Company, which contributed to the rapid development... -
Champlain's Journey of 1613
The Father of New France, Samuel de Champlain, made the first of two voyages into what is now Ontario in 1613. He travelled up the Ottawa River seeking the northern sea (Hudson Bay) which one of his five companions, Nicolas de Vignau, claimed to have seen. The expedition struck inland above Lac des Chats and followed a chain of small lakes towards present-day Cobden. Here, on June 7th, Champlain visited with the Algonkin chief Nibachis... -
William Buell, Sr. 1751-1832
Renowned as the founder of Brockville, Buell was born in Hebron, Connecticut. Shortly after the outbreak of the American Revolution, he moved to Quebec where he joined the British forces and eventually served as a commissioned officer in the King's Rangers. In 1784, after his unit had been disbanded, he settled on a Crown grant here in the centre of present-day Brockville. One of the area's first permanent residents, Buell became an influential local citizen... -
Ogle Robert Gowan 1803-1876
A prominent provincial politician, Gowan was born in County Wexford, Ireland. He came to Upper Canada in 1829 and immediately immersed himself in political affairs. Drawing upon his experience with the Irish Orange Order, Gowan established the Grand Orange Lodge of British North America in 1830 and, as the first Canadian grand master, ably guided the organization during its formative years. In 1836 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly, representing this area intermittently until... -
Johnstown District Court House and Gaol
In 1808, the provincial government authorized the erection of a court house and gaol at Elizabethtown (Brockville) to serve the District of Johnstown created ten years earlier. By 1811, a brick structure had been built here on land donated by William Buell, the founder of Brockville. It was replaced in 1824 by a larger building which remained the judicial and administrative centre of the region until the present court house was completed in 1843. Prominently... -
Roebuck Indian Village Site
Approximately 500 years ago, an Iroquoian agricultural community of about 1,600 persons occupied this site. Archaeological excavations suggest that approximately 40 communal longhouses, averaging nearly 100 feet in length, stood in this village, palisaded with a stout double stockade. The farmers on the site grew corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and tobacco. A similar village, Hochelaga, on the present site of Montreal, was visited by Jacques Cartier in 1535. After this first contact with Europeans, these... -
Lyndhurst Bridge, The
Reputedly the oldest bridge in existence in Ontario, this structure was built in 1856-57. It was designed by John Roddick, then an employee of a prominent local mill owner, and erected by contractors Miles Fulford and Simon Ransom. A fine example of masonry arch construction, the picturesque three-span bridge was built of local field stone, laid in random courses, and is unadorned except for the sandstone wall caps and arch surrounds. It is distinguished by... -
Lieutenant-Colonel John By, R.E.
Born in London, England, about 1779, By graduated from the Royal Military academy, Woolwich, in 1799. He was attached to the Royal Engineers in Canada (1802-1811) and later served in the Peninsular War. By was sent to Canada in 1826 to superintend the construction of an Ottawa River - Lake Ontario waterway from "Bytown" (Ottawa) to Kingston. The 123-mile-long Rideau Canal, built as a military route and incorporating 47 locks, 16 lakes, two rivers, and... -
William Cameron Edwards 1844-1921
A native of Russell County, Edwards entered the family lumber business in 1863. Five years later, he and James Woods established the firm of W.C. Edwards & Company. The sawmills they built in Rockland contributed substantially to the community's economic development. Edwards entered politics in 1887 and sat as the federal member for Russell until 1903, when he was appointed to the Senate. As federal and provincial governments developed forest policies in response to the... -
Hawkesbury Mills
In 1805, Thomas Mears and David Patee leased islands in the Ottawa where they built a sawmill and a grist-mill. They constructed a dam across the channel to Hawkesbury West and there purchased 1,000 acres of land. In 1810, half of these properties were mortgaged to William and George Hamilton who later obtained full ownership. The Hamiltons enlarged the sawmill and made it one of the most productive in the province, exporting large quantities of... -
Founding of L'Orignal, The
The earliest settlers in the area, Joseph La Rocque-Brune and Raymond Duffaut, had located by 1791. Five years later, Nathaniel Treadwell, a land surveyor and speculator from Plattsburg, New York, acquired the seigneury of Pointe-à-l'Orignal, some 23,000 acres. Treadwell built a sawmill and a grist-mill and opened roads. By 1812, a small community was established here named L'Orignal after the moose found in the Pointe area. In 1816, it became the capital of the newly... -
Founding of Cornwall, The
In June 1784, disbanded Loyalist soldiers and their families settled at New Johnstown, the site of present-day Cornwall. Initially called Pointe Maligne, the area had been visited by native traders and French missionaries and explorers during the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1794, Cornwall was designated a judicial and administrative centre for the Eastern District and by 1805 contained a courthouse, a schoolhouse, two churches and numerous dwellings. The community grew gradually and was... -
Glengarry Fencibles, The
The regiment of Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles was raised in 1811-12 largely from among the Highland settlers of this region, many of whom had served previously in Europe with the Glengarry (British Highland) Fencibles. The Canadian corps was recruited through the efforts of Major George Richard John Macdonell ("Red George") assisted by the Rev. Alexander Macdonell (later Upper Canada's first Roman Catholic Bishop) who served as its chaplain. The regiment was taken on the regular... -
MacLeod Settlement, The
In 1793, some 40 families, including members of several clans, emigrated from Glenelg, Scotland, under the leadership of Alexander MacLeod and landed at St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island). The following year they came to Glengarry County and petitioned for land. In August 1794, the majority were authorized to occupy 200 acres each in the vicinity of Kirkhill, which was for many years known as Glenelg. Alexander MacLeod, who was located on this property... -
North West Company, The
Travellers on the canoe route to the West had to make a portage around the St Mary's rapids. The North West Company established a fur-trading post south of the river by 1791. After the British abandoned their occupation of the American midwest, the company moved its post here in 1797. The depot eventually included storehouses, a canal and lock, a sawmill, and a portage road. Wharves were built at either end of the rapids for... -
Martintown Grist Mill, The
This mill was built in 1846 to replace part of a milling complex developed by Malcolm McMartin early in the century. Like similar operations throughout the province, the McMartin mills provided essential local services in an era of poor transportation. They served area residents by sawing timber, carding wool, fulling cloth and grinding grain. The mills and their associated tavern and store attracted tradesmen and residents, creating the village of Martintown. Malcolm McMartin's son Alexander... -
Holstein Friesian Cattle in Ontario
In 1881, Michael Cook, who operated a prosperous 200-acre farm here, imported the first Holstein Friesian cattle into Ontario. This was part of a movement among progressive farmers to find a breed of cattle that would produce enough milk for Ontario's growing dairy industry, especially cheese production. Initially Cook imported two bulls and ten cows. He continued to import Holstein cattle from the United States and The Netherlands, and distribute them throughout the province. The... -
Lieutenant Christopher James Bell, R.N. 1795-1836
A pioneer of the Ottawa Valley lumber industry, Bell had commanded H.M. gunboat "Murray" at the battle of Plattsburg on Lake Champlain in 1814. Emigrating to Upper Canada about 1817, he was granted 800 acres of land, partly located here at the "first chute" of the Bonnechère River. By 1829, he had built a timber slide and sawmill, in the vicinity of which there grew up the hamlet of "Castleford", named for Bell's birthplace in... -
The Flying Frenchmen - Didier "Cannonball" Pitre
Professional hockey was in its infancy in the autumn of 1909 when the promoters behind the National Hockey Association, forerunner of the National Hockey League, created the Montreal Canadiens team to attract French-Canadian spectators. Belleville-born Jean-Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette was hired as the playing-manager and captain. Laviolette signed Cornwall's Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde to play forward and recruited his friend Didier "Cannonball" Pitre from the Renfrew Creamery Kings ('Renfrew Millionaires') as a defenceman. This trio of francophone... -
Colonel Darby Bergin, 1826-1896
Bergin was born in York (Toronto) and received his medical degree from McGill College in Montreal. He practised medicine in Cornwall, where he also assisted at a local typhus hospital. He later worked with the Mohawks of Akwesasne during a devastating smallpox outbreak. Bergin was elected Member of Parliament in 1872. He was a passionate and early advocate for rural affairs, public health and social justice. His innovative efforts and political appeals to improve workplace... -
The Flying Frenchmen - Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde
Professional hockey was in its infancy in the autumn of 1909 when the promoters behind the National Hockey Association, forerunner of the National Hockey League, created the Montreal Canadiens team to attract French-Canadian spectators. Belleville-born Jean-Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette was hired as the playing-manager and captain. Laviolette signed Cornwall's Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde to play forward and recruited his friend Didier "Cannonball" Pitre from the Renfrew Creamery Kings ('Renfrew Millionaires') as a defenceman. This trio of francophone... -
The Flying Frenchmen - Jean-Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette
Professional hockey was in its infancy in the autumn of 1909 when the promoters behind the National Hockey Association, forerunner of the National Hockey League, created the Montreal Canadiens team to attract French-Canadian spectators. Belleville-born Jean-Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette was hired as the playing-manager and captain. Laviolette signed Cornwall's Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde to play forward and recruited his friend Didier "Cannonball" Pitre from the Renfrew Creamery Kings ('Renfrew Millionaires') as a defenceman. This trio of francophone... -
Bethune-Thompson House
Built by Loyalist settler Peter Ferguson in 1784, the original log cabin on this site is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Ontario. The cabin walls were constructed using a French-Canadian technique called poteaux sur sole where vertically placed, squared logs were held together by horizontal plates located along the top and bottom. The larger home adjoining it was built in 1804 by Reverend John Bethune (1751-1815), the first Presbyterian minister in Upper Canada... -
Cornwall Grammar School
Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School traces its beginning to an educational institution founded by John Strachan in 1803. Strachan, an Anglican priest, opened a private school in his home where he hoped to educate young men to take on leading roles in society. In 1806 he built a schoolhouse that became one of the first provincially funded district grammar schools one year later. Many of Upper Canada's elite received their education under Strachan's respected and...