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Church of St. Peter, The
This Anglican church was begun in 1851 to replace a frame building erected in 1820. Distinguished by the stepped battlements of its façade, the new building was designed in early Gothic revival style by the noted architect Kivas Tully, who was later responsible for Victoria Hall, Cobourg. After the plan was altered, St. Peter's was constructed by the contractor, Samuel Retallick, and gradually encased the earlier church, which was dismantled. On October 15, 1854, this... -
Cobourg and Peterborough Railway 1852-1898, The
Largely financed by the citizens and town, Cobourg's railway to Peterborough was chartered in 1852 and opened in 1854. Like many others of this period, it suffered from excessive optimism, land speculation and faulty engineering. Ice made the three-mile-long Rice Lake bridge unsafe and finally destroyed it 1860-61, ending use of the northern section. Reorganized in 1866, the remaining part carried considerable iron ore from Marmora. The line was acquired by the Grand Trunk in 1893 and closed in 1898. -
Colonel Samuel Strickland 1804-1867
This church was built in 1853 principally through the efforts of Samuel Strickland. A member of an English family, which included several successful authors, he emigrated to Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1825. After farming in Otonabee Township, he served with the Canada Company 1828-1831 as a superintendent of settlement. In 1831, he became one of Douro's earliest settlers, and later established a school there for the training of persons interested in pioneer farming. His... -
District Court House and Jail
In 1838, the District of Colborne was established and Peterborough selected as the "district town." In June of that year, the district magistrates, with the Hon. Thomas Stewart presiding, authorized the construction of a court house and jail. Joseph Scobell's plans for the building were accepted and the foundation stone was laid by Sir George Arthur, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, on August 25, 1838. At a cost of over £7,000, the court house was completed in 1840 and the jail in 1842 with stone quarried from Jackson's Park, adding to the community structures of notable size and design. -
Dr. Henry Norman Bethune 1890-1939
An internationally famed humanitarian, surgeon and revolutionary, Bethune was born in this house. He graduated from the University of Toronto's medical school during the First World War and saw extensive service in that conflict. While at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital 1929-1933, he gained widespread recognition as a thoracic surgeon. Increasing concern with social and political issues took him to Spain in 1936, where he organized Canadian medical aid for the Loyalist troops and set up... -
Explorers of Muskoka and Haliburton
Following the War of 1812, expeditions traversed the wilderness between Lakes Simcoe and Muskoka and the Ottawa River, seeking a route across Upper Canada less open to attack than by the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario. In 1819, Lieutenant J.P. Catty, R.E., crossed by way of Balsam and Kashagawigamog Lakes and the York and Madawaska Rivers. Lieutenant Henry Briscoe, R.E., and Ensign Durnford, R.E., ascended the Muskoka in 1826, proceeding via Lake of Bays, Lake... -
Founders of Campbellford, The
In 1831, two Scottish-born brothers, Lt. Col. Robert Campbell and Major David Campbell, were granted 2,200 acres of land in Seymour Township, which had been surveyed in 1819. Robert, who had achieved an outstanding record in the Napoleonic Wars, died here in 1836, while David served as Crown Land Agent for the township, 1832-39. Here at "Campbell's ford," there arose a settlement that, about 1853, was named Campbellford. David Campbell, by then living in Cobourg... -
Founding of Bala, The
Thomas W. Burgess, Bala's first settler, brought his family here to "Musquosh Falls" in 1868, probably aboard the steamer "Wenonah." Burgess opened a sawmill and store to serve the pioneers attracted by Muskoka's free land grants. A post office, named after Bala in Wales and with Burgess as postmaster, was established in 1872. That year, the Musquosh Road linked Bala with Gravenhurst and, by the 1880s, the settlement was benefiting from a growing tourist trade... -
Founding of Baysville, The
Surveyed in 1862 by Robert T. Burns, P.L.S., McLean Township was opened for settlement in 1868 under the Free Grants and Homestead Act of that year. The three lots on which much of Baysville is located were granted in 1871 to William H. Brown (1840-1920), a sawyer from the vicinity of Brantford. Brown, who filed sub-division plans in 1873 and 1875, built a sawmill, which became the nucleus of the settlement. He served as postmaster... -
Founding of Bobcaygeon, The
In 1833, shortly after the settlement of this region began, Thomas Need settled here at "Bobcaygeon," the narrows between Sturgeon and Pigeon Lakes. When the government began the construction in that year of a small lock and canal, Need surveyed a village plot that was named Rokeby by Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Colborne but was still commonly called Bobcaygeon. Need later opened a store and erected a grist-mill. By 1857, the community contained only 150 inhabitants... -
Founding of Bracebridge, The
In 1862, the Muskoka Road, a colonization route built to open this region for settlement, was completed to the first falls on the north branch of the Muskoka River. A settlement, including a tavern, a lumber mill and a store, soon developed and two years later a post office named Bracebridge was opened. When regular steamship service began on Lake Muskoka in 1866, Bracebridge became the northern terminus and prospered as the distribution centre for... -
Founding of Gravenhurst, The
The Muskoka Road, constructed to open the district north of Washago for settlement, had reached this point at the head of Lake Muskoka by 1859. A community soon developed and, in 1862, a post office named Gravenhurst was opened here. Four years later, Alexander Cockburn launched the "Wenonah," the first steamboat on the Muskoka Lakes, and Gravenhurst was established as the southern terminus of navigation and the centre of a developing tourist industry. Lumbering further... -
Founding of Haliburton, The
The Canadian Land and Emigration Company of London, England, was incorporated in 1861 and purchased for settlement purposes in this region nine adjoining wilderness townships comprising some 360,000 acres of land. The town plot of Haliburton was surveyed by 1864, a sawmill erected there that year, and a grist-mill built in 1865. Charles R. Stewart was appointed the first resident land agent, and the community was named in honour of Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, chairman... -
Founding of Hastings, The
By 1825, James Crooks, a prominent entrepreneur and land speculator of West Flamborough, had acquired over 1,000 acres here at the rapids on the Trent River. He soon erected a small grist-mill but made no further improvements until the government began the canalization of the Trent waterway in 1837 and constructed a lock and dam at "Crooks Rapids." Crooks erected a new grist-mill and a sawmill and, in 1839, surveyed a village plot. Few lots... -
Founding of Port Hope, The
Peter Smith, a fur trader, occupied a house here at "Smith's Creek" by 1788. The first permanent settlers were Loyalists brought to the township by 1793 by a group of associates headed by Jonathan Walton of Schenectady, N.Y. and Elias Smith, formerly of New York City. Walton and Smith were granted land after promising to build mills on the creek. The mills were operating by 1797 when Smith moved here and, in 1800, he laid... -
George Laidlaw 1828-1889
An energetic railway promoter and builder, Laidlaw was born in Scotland and emigrated to Toronto in 1855. He soon prospered as a grain merchant and a wharf-owner and, after 1866, gained prominence as a convincing advocate of the commercial benefits of railways emanating from Toronto. Between 1869-1873, Laidlaw skillfully negotiated the completion of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway to Owen Sound, and the Toronto and Nipissing to Coboconk. As managing director of the Credit... -
Gore's Landing
Named after Thomas S. Gore, an Irishman who settled in this vicinity in 1845, the village of Gore's Landing prospered for a time as the terminal point of a plank road constructed from Cobourg to Rice Lake 1847-48. Among the well-known residents of Gore's Landing were: Archibald Lampman (1860-1899), noted poet; Derwyn T. Owen (1876-1947), Anglican Primate of All Canada from 1934-1947; J.D. Kelly (1862-1958), historical artist; and Gerald S. Hayward (1845-1926), a painter of... -
Grover-Nicholls House, The
An outstanding example of Greek revival architecture, modified in the Palladian manner, it was begun about 1847 by P.M. Grover, a well-to-do local merchant. A type of building rare in Ontario, it was probably inspired by a "design for a villa" appearing in Minard Lafever's "Modern Builder's Guide," 1833. The square pillars of this house are a classical Greek feature popular in North America principally because they were less costly to build than round columns... -
Penetanguishene
The Attignawantan ("Bear Nation") of the Huron confederacy occupied the Penetanguishene peninsula prior to their dispersal in 1649 by the Iroquois. In 1793, Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe chose Penetanguishene as the terminus of a military route from Toronto. Construction of a naval base began in 1814. British troops were transferred here in 1828 when Drummond Island was returned to the United States. With them came families of French-Canadian voyageurs and Métis. George Gordon, Dédin Révol and Dr... -
Penetanguishene Road, The
The course of this road from Kempenfeldt Bay to the site of Penetanguishene was first surveyed by Samuel Wilmot in 1811. Dr. William (Tiger) Dunlop supervised its construction in the fall of 1814 and, although frequently impassable for heavy loads, it served for many years as a supply route to the garrison at Penetanguishene. Under a system of free grants, most of the land immediately adjacent to the road was settled 1819-1830. -
Port Carling
The first white settlers on the site of this town, then known as Indian Village, arrived about 1865. In 1869, it was named after the Honourable John Carling, Ontario's first Minister of Public Works and Agriculture. Water transportation, so vital to the early farmers and lumbermen, was greatly aided by the construction of these locks, 1869-71, by the provincial government. The village was incorporated in 1896. -
Portage Road, The
This road follows the general route of the Indian portage from Lake Simcoe to Balsam Lake. The portage was first mapped by the Honourable John Collins, Deputy Surveyor General of Canada, when he surveyed the Trent route from the head of the Bay of Quinte to Balsam Lake and thence by way of Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay in 1785. The Trent route was used by Champlain and his Huron allies in their expedition against... -
Rama Indian Reserve
In 1830, Sir John Colborne, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (1828-1836), settled several nomadic bands of Indians on a reserve stretching along the portage between the Atherley Narrows and Georgian Bay. They were placed under the superintendency of Captain Thomas Gummersall Anderson. The Ojibwa (Chippewa) tribe, led by Chief William Yellowhead (Musquakie), were located at the Atherley Narrows. Pressure on the government by land-hungry white settlers forced the Indians, in 1836, to relinquish their holdings, and... -
"Schooner Town"
The Nottawasaga River formed part of a transportation link between Lake Ontario and the upper Great Lakes, which became a vitally important supply route to British western posts during the War of 1812. The base of operations for the Royal Navy's vessels on Lake Huron was located here at the foot of navigation on the river from 1815 to 1817. Buildings to house the base were erected in October 1815 by the ship's company of... -
Scugog Route, The
This river and lake formed part of an Indian route from the Kawartha and Algonquin Park areas to Lake Ontario. During the French Regime, efforts were made to prevent English traders from the Oswego area bartering with Indians who used such routes. Trading posts were established among the Mississauga by the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1804, the killing on Washburn Island, Lake Scugog, of trader John Sharp led to the subsequent loss on...