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Founding of Lyndhurst, The
Development of this community began after the construction of the province's first successful iron smelter and a sawmill in 1801. On the west bank of the river, a grist-mill was built in 1827 and a village plot laid out by Charles and Jonas Jones of Brockville. Originally called "Furnace Falls," this community was renamed Lyndhurst by 1846. Here, a post office was opened in 1851. During the next twenty years, other small industries were started... -
Founding of Maitland, The
In this vicinity, the site of a shipyard used during both the late French and early British periods, a village plot was laid out in 1824 for Jehiel and Ziba Phillips. Adjacent to it, George Longley, a recent English emigrant, acquired an estate on which St. James Anglican Church was built in 1826. Longley constructed the nearby stone windmill, opened a store and, in 1828, became Maitland's first postmaster. The community, named after Sir Peregrine... -
Founding of Merrickville, The
In 1793, William Merrick (1760-1844), a Loyalist from Massachusetts, acquired from Roger Stevens a sawmill at the "Great Falls" on the Rideau River. Here, he built new mills that formed the nucleus of a small community that grew up before 1816, and was known as "Merricks Mills." The establishment of new settlements on the Rideau and the building of the canal, 1826-32, stimulated the growth of the village. Streets were laid out and a post... -
Founding of Newboro, The
The settlement of this area was begun during the building of the Rideau Canal in 1826-32, when a major construction camp was located here at the Isthmus. In 1833, Benjamin Tett, owner of a nearby sawmill, opened a store and, three years later, a post office named Newborough was established. A small community, including several stores, gradually developed as a trade centre for the region's lumber industry and agriculture. About 1850, a tannery was established... -
Founding of Spencerville, The
By 1821, Peleg Spencer was operating a grist-mill and sawmill on the South Nation River on a Clergy Lot he had leased in 1817, having previously owned a sawmill on the site from 1811 till 1814. David Spencer, son of Peleg, took over the mills in 1822 and patented the mill lot in 1831. By 1828, an inn was located near "Spencer's Mills" and a settlement developed. David Spencer had a village plot surveyed in... -
Founding of Westport, The
Sawmills built by Sheldon Stoddard and the Manhard brothers in 1828-29, during the construction of the Rideau Canal, fostered the development here of a small settlement. Grist-mills and wharves were soon erected and, by 1848, a post-office, "West Port," had been established. Within a decade, the hamlet contained 300 residents and several prosperous businesses, including the general store of Declan Foley and mills of William H. Fredenburgh, a prominent lumber exporter. The community's growth was... -
Gananoque Town Hall, The
Built about 1831-32 and designed in the late phase of the neoclassic style, this structure is among the best of its type remaining in Ontario. Constructed as a dwelling for John McDonald, a local landowner, merchant, postmaster and later a member of the Legislative Council of Canada, it remained in the family until 1911. The earliest settlement at the site of Gananoque took place in the late 1790s, and the first major survey of a... -
George Chaffey 1848-1932
Born at Brockville, Canada West, Chaffey became a shipbuilder on the Great Lakes and the inventor of a new type of propeller. Subsequently, he went to California where, in partnership with his brother, he built a model irrigation project and founded the city of Ontario. At the request of Alfred Deakin, later Prime Minister of Australia, Chaffey went to that continent in 1886 where he began irrigated fruit production in the Murray Valley. By proving that irrigation was practical, Chaffey was largely responsible for the successful development of the fruit industry in Australia. -
Red Brick School, The
Opened in 1887, this charming two-room brick school, built by local contractor Fred Taber, replaced a smaller wood-frame building. School Section No. 5 in South Crosby is a very early example of the late 19th century campaign to improve Ontario's system of public education through the construction of better buildings. Committed to fostering social, moral and economic progress through formal classroom instruction, the province's Department of Education encouraged late Victorian era school boards to erect... -
Senator George T. Fulford 1852-1905
Born and raised in Brockville, George Taylor Fulford apprenticed at his brother's drugstore and took charge of it himself at age 22. Five years later, he was elected to the first of 12 terms as alderman. Fulford entered the patent-medicine trade in 1886, and in 1890 acquired the rights to his most famous product, "Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People." His use of large-scale newspaper testimonial advertising helped expand his business internationally. His headquarters... -
Cole Shoal Lighthouse (Five Mile Light)
Cole Shoal Lighthouse was constructed in 1856, one of nine nearly identically designed lighthouses on the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence River to aid in the navigation of merchant vessels and mark treacherous points throughout the Canadian Thousand Islands. This wooden, water-based light was the most eastern location of this network of nine lighthouses between Kingston and Prescott. The squat, tapered structure was able to withstand heavy winds due to its low centre of... -
Honourable G. Howard Ferguson 1870-1946, The
Ontario's ninth Premier was born here in Kemptville, son of Charles Ferguson, a local doctor and member of the House of Commons. Following graduation from the University of Toronto in 1891, Howard studied law under Sir William Meredith and practised in Kemptville. Elected in 1905 to the Ontario legislature as a Conservative, he became in 1914 Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines in the Hearst administration. From 1919-23 he was leader of the Opposition, Premier from 1923-30, and from 1930-35 served as Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. -
James Morris 1798-1865
A prominent Canadian politician, Morris was born in Paisley, Scotland. His family immigrated to Canada in 1801 and later settled in Elizabethtown (Brockville). He joined his brothers, Alexander and William, in business there, about 1820, and by 1836 had gained prominence in commercial and banking circles. Morris represented Leeds in the provincial legislature from 1837 until his appointment to the Legislative Council in 1844. Named first Canadian Postmaster-General in 1851, when responsibility for that service... -
James Philips
Born about 1800, Philips settled here in 1825 and soon opened a store and tavern. He became active in politics and, as a Reformer, rose to local prominence during the elections in Leeds between 1834 and 1836. These contests were marked by clashes between Ogle R. Gowan's Orangemen and the Reformers and by a level of violence and intimidation unsurpassed in Upper Canada's electoral history. Philips served on the Reformers' Committee of Vigilance and Management... -
Johnstown 1789
In 1789-90, a town plot of one mile square was laid out in this vicinity. Many loyalists, including Sir John Johnson, obtained lots in this settlement. A sawmill and grist-mill were constructed, and in 1793 it was made the administrative centre of the Eastern District. A courthouse and gaol were erected and the court of quarter sessions, which administered the district's local government, met alternately here and in Cornwall. Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe stayed in Johnstown in... -
Justus Sherwood 1747-1798
Born in Connecticut, Sherwood settled in Vermont in 1774. On the outbreak of the American Revolution he was arrested as a Loyalist, but escaped to join the British at Crown Point. He was taken prisoner at Saratoga in 1777, and after being exchanged was commissioned as a captain in the intelligence service. From 1780 to 1783 he had charge of secret negotiations which, it was hoped, would result in Vermont's rejoining the British Empire. Sherwood... -
Lieutenant-Colonel Thain Wendell MacDowell, V.C., D.S.O. 1890-1960
Born at Lachute, Quebec, MacDowell moved to Maitland in 1897. He attended local schools and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1915. During World War I, he enlisted, on January 9, 1915, in the 38th Battalion, C.E.F. On April 9, 1917, during the Battle of Vimy Ridge, assisted by two runners, he captured two machine guns, two officers, and seventy-five men. With the vision of the enemy obscured by a turn in a passage... -
Louise C. McKinney 1868-1931
Born on a nearby farm, Louise Crummy taught school in Leeds County and in 1896 married James McKinney. In 1903 they settled at Claresholm, Alberta. A leader in the temperance movement and strong advocate of female suffrage, she was elected as an Independent member of the Alberta legislature in 1917. She thus became the first woman in the British Empire to gain a parliamentary seat. In 1929 five leaders in the struggle for female emancipation... -
Major James Morrow Walsh 1840-1905
Born and educated in Prescott, Walsh was trained at military schools at Kingston and by 1873 had attained the rank of Major in the militia. In that year he was commissioned in the newly formed North-West Mounted Police. While in charge at Fort Walsh, in present-day Saskatchewan, he became known for his influence and friendship with Sitting Bull, chief of the approximately 5,000 Sioux who sought refuge in Canada 1876-77, and for his role in... -
Merrickville Blockhouse 1832, The
This in one of four blockhouses that, with some twelve other defensible buildings, were constructed along the Rideau Canal. The canal, built 1826-32 by Lieutenant-Colonel John By, Royal Engineers, was designed to serve as an alternative military supply route from Montreal to Kingston in the event of war. The Merrickville blockhouse was completed in 1832 to accommodate some fifty men. It was never the scene of military action, but has served as lockmaster's quarters, a... -
Perth Road, The
This road was surveyed in 1852 to encourage settlement of the isolated townships lying between Kingston and Perth. It was begun and completed as far as Loughborough Lake in 1854 by the Kingston & Perth Road Company, whose president, Alderman A. J. Macdonell of Kingston, was a law partner of John A. Macdonald. Though passable over its 50-mile length as a winter road by early 1855, the road was still largely incomplete by 1859-60, when... -
Prescott Barracks and Hospital, The
The front portion of this structure, one of the earliest surviving military buildings in Ontario, was constructed as a residence about 1810 by Colonel Edward Jessup, the founder of Prescott. Following the outbreak of the War of 1812, the stone house was appropriated for use as a barracks by local militia and later, British regulars. It was soon enclosed within a stockade with other buildings, including a log schoolhouse also converted for barracks. Although a... -
Raid on Gananoque 1812, The
On September 21, 1812, a United States force of some 200 regulars and militia under Capt. Benjamin Forsyth attacked Gananoque. The village was an important forwarding point for supplies moving up the St. Lawrence from Montreal to Kingston and was garrisoned by a detachment of the 2nd Leeds Militia under Col. Joel Stone. After a spirited resistance, Stone withdrew his force comprising two subalterns and about forty soldiers, and the Americans seized the stores and... -
Royal Sappers and Miners, The
In 1827, the Royal Sappers and Miners, the special construction corps of the British Army, raised the 7th and 15th Companies to serve in the building of the Rideau Canal. Comprising 160 skilled craftsmen and labourers under the Royal Engineers, the companies arrived that year in Bytown, where they built military structures and locks. The 7th Company was transferred in 1829 to assist in the completion of the canal here at the Isthmus, the only... -
St. James' Church 1826
Among Augusta Township's earliest settlers were a number of Anglican Loyalists who, by 1785, were holding services in private houses. The first resident missionary, the Reverend John Bethune, was appointed to this area in 1814. Reverend Robert Blakey served the parish from 1821 until his death in 1858, and during his incumbency construction of St. James Church was begun in 1826. A pleasing example of early Gothic Revival architecture, this structure was built by John...