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Honourable Edward Blake 1833-1912, The
Born near Strathroy of Irish parents, Blake, a distinguished lawyer and brilliant orator, was elected in 1867 both to the Canadian parliament for West Durham and to the Ontario legislature for South Bruce. After serving as leader of the Liberal opposition in the provincial house, he became Ontario's second prime minister in 1871, but resigned his provincial seat the following year. Blake served as federal minister of justice in Alexander Mackenzie's cabinet and was recognized... -
Founding of Strathroy, The
In 1830, James Buchanan, the British Consul at New York City acquired a tract of 1,200 acres of unsettled land in Adelaide Township. He transferred control of the property to his son, John Stewart Buchanan (1815-1875), who settled there within the next two years. By 1836, John had built a sawmill and grist-mill on the Sydenham River. These pioneer industries formed the nucleus of a settlement which was named Strathroy by James Buchanan after his... -
Long Point Settlement, The
Long Point was known to traders and travellers before the area was purchased from the Mississauga Indians in 1784. In this unsurveyed area twenty to thirty "squatters" had settled by 1791, some of whom were allowed to remain following surveys and Governor Simcoe's visit in 1795. Further land grants were made to approved applicants, including many Loyalists. During the War of 1812 General Brock raised militia volunteers here for the attack on Detroit. The settlement's... -
William Pope 1811-1902
William Pope grew up in the lush countryside of southern England and studied painting at the Academy of Art, London. Reports of abundant wildlife drew the keen sportsman and naturalist to Upper Canada in 1834. After three extended visits, he settled permanently with his family near Port Ryerse in 1859. Financially independent, Pope spent his days hunting, sketching and painting the local flora and fauna. His watercolours of birds are compared to those of John... -
Long Point Portage
This portage, which crossed the isthmus joining Long Point to the mainland, was used by travelers in small craft following the north shore of Lake Erie in order to avoid the open waters and the length of the journey around the Point. Although used earlier by the Indians, the portage was first recorded in 1670 by two Sulpician missionaries, Dollier de Casson and René de Bréhant de Galinée. For about 150 years traffic increased over... -
Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Whiteside Boyle, D.S.O. 1867-1923
A legendary adventurer known as "Klondike Joe", Boyle was born in Toronto and came to Woodstock with his family in 1872. He worked at various jobs before attaining great success as a prospector and entrepreneur in the Yukon. At the outbreak of the First World War, Boyle raised, financed and equipped a fifty-man machine gun contingent. Determined to help the war effort further, he headed an allied mission to Russia in 1917 to help reorganize... -
"Old Stage Road, The"
This road, which follows in part the Indian trail, known as the "Detroit Path", across East Oxford Township, was opened by settlers at the expense of Major Thomas Ingersoll in 1796-97. It joined a wagon road opened across Burford Township by local settlers, connecting near Brant's Ford on the Grand River with a road to Long Point from Ancaster. Extended later to Delaware, it became the preferred highway to Sandwich and was used by British... -
Founding of Stratford, The
In 1832, some three years after company surveyors had erected shanties near this site, the Canada Company, a large private land settlement agency, initiated the development of "Little Thames" as the market centre for the eastern Huron Tract. By 1834, a tavern, sawmill and grist-mill existed here and a year later, a post office called Stratford was opened. Settlement was slow until the early 1850s when the advent of the railway and the designation of... -
Honourable James Young 1835-1913, The
Born in Galt, Young was educated locally, and from 1853-63 was editor and publisher of the Dumfries Reformer. From 1867-78 he represented South Waterloo in the Canadian parliament, and from 1879-86 was member for North Brant in the Ontario legislature. Appointed provincial treasurer in 1883, he was compelled by illness to resign the post four months later, though he remained a member until 1886. A frequent speaker and writer on commercial affairs, Young was also... -
Goldie Family and the Village of Greenfield, The
From 1817 to 1819, Scottish botanist John Goldie (1793-1886) visited Canada and the northern U.S. to collect plant specimens. He returned with his family in 1844 to settle here on a farm they named "Greenfield". By 1850 the Goldies were operating a grist and oatmeal mill. In 1865 they opened a larger mill to refine local wheat for international markets. Many features of the village that grew up around it are evident today. In addition... -
University of St. Jerome's College
One of several classical colleges established in Ontario during the mid-19th century, St. Jerome's was founded by resurrectionist priests in 1865 to serve German Roman Catholics in Waterloo County. Under the charge of Reverend Louis Funcken, C.R., it offered two courses of study – a four-year academic program designed to prepare students for professional studies or for the priesthood, and a two-year commercial program designed to produce strong Catholic business leaders. In the decades following... -
James Morrison 1861-1936
J.J. Morrison, an influential activist in farmers' causes, lived on a farm 2 km south of Arthur. He entered politics in the early 1900s, a time when many farmers felt ignored in an increasingly urban and industrial society. Morrison became deeply involved in farm organizations and helped found the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) and the United Farmers' Cooperative in 1914. The UFO surprised the province by winning the election of 1919. Morrison declined the... -
Waterloo County
Waterloo County held its first council meeting on January 24, 1853 on this site, at the newly built county courthouse in Berlin (now Kitchener). Council's 12 members came from five townships (North Dumfries, Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot, Woolwich) and two villages (Galt, Preston) and selected the reeve of Waterloo Township, Dr. John Scott, as the county's first warden. With the establishment of Waterloo County emerged a series of enduring institutions, including roads and bridges, a judiciary... -
Douglas Point Nuclear Power Plant
The Douglas Point Nuclear Power Plant began generating electricity in 1967 and continued until 1984. This joint project between Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and Ontario Hydro was the first commercial-scale Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactor. The Nuclear Power Demonstration (NPD) reactor in Rolphton, Ontario had proven the CANDU concept in 1962 and the 200-megawatt Douglas Point plant, ten times larger than NPD, demonstrated that a CANDU nuclear power plant could be scaled up for... -
The Honourable George Alexander Drew, C.C. 1894-1973
George Alexander Drew, Premier of Ontario from 1943-1948, was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1894. Educated at Upper Canada College, the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall, Drew served in the First World War as an artillery lieutenant. He practised law in Guelph, entered municipal politics there in 1922 and became mayor in 1925. Drew was the first chair of the Ontario Securities Commission (1931-1934). Chosen as leader of the Ontario Conservative Party in 1938... -
First Regular Baptist Church, Dresden
The First Baptist Church of Dawn - established by former slaves and free African Americans in the 1840s - held its meetings in private homes, then in a log chapel at the British American Institute. In the 1850s, a Baptist congregation met on Main Street in Dresden, until a lot was purchased from parishioner George Johnson on the present site. A church was built by the congregation and the inaugural service of the First Regular... -
Mutual Life Head Office
The head office of The Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada (now the head office of Sun Life Financial's Canadian operations) was completed in 1912. Designed by Canadian architect Frank Darling, of the Toronto firm Darling and Pearson, the impressive Renaissance Revival style building is ornamented with features such as the two-storey fluted, paired Ionic columns supporting a large segmental arch above the main doors, elaborate window surrounds, and a parapet with a balustrade. It... -
Catholic Colored Mission of Windsor, 1887-1893, The
The first Roman Catholic mission for Blacks in Canada was established in Windsor in St. Alphonsus Parish in 1887 under the leadership of the Very Reverend Dean James Theodore Wagner. The "Catholic Colored Mission of Windsor" was created to serve disadvantaged Black children, while encouraging Blacks in Windsor to adopt the Catholic faith. It was first located in the original frame church building at Goyeau Street and Park Street East. With the support and partnership... -
New Credit Indian Reserve and Mission, The
Faced with the pressure of white settlement, the Mississauga Indians began considering in 1840 the relocation of their Credit River Village near Toronto. In 1847, the Six Nations Council made them an unsolicited offer of land on its Grand River reserve. Native spokesmen for resettlement, including the Reverend Peter Jones, a Mississauga chief, selected land in Tuscarora and later in Oneida township. Although several had located elsewhere, some 266 Mississauga settled on lots on the... -
Founding of Brantford, The
In the 1820s, significant improvements to the Hamilton and London road attracted settlers to the Indian lands at Brant's Ford where this thoroughfare crossed the Grand River. A thriving village soon developed and in 1830 the Six Nations surrendered its site. The opening of navigation to Brantford in 1848, the completion of the Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway to the town in 1854 and the development of a rich agricultural hinterland fostered significant commercial and manufacturing growth in Brantford. -
Lawren Harris 1885-1970
Born into a prominent Brantford family, Lawren Harris began to paint as a child. At the University of Toronto, a professor noticed he sketched during lectures and advised he be sent to Europe to study art. While in Germany (1904-1907), Harris was influenced by urban realism, landscape regionalism, and theosophy, a transcendental, mystical school of thought. In 1920 he helped found the Group of Seven, an association of landscape artists dedicated to creating a distinctly... -
Mohawk Institute, The
The Mohawk Institute was established in 1831 for children of the Six Nations Iroquois living on the Grand River. Pupils from other native communities in Ontario attended the school as well. Like all Canadian residential schools, the Mohawk Institute tried to assimilate its students into the rapidly growing Euro-Canadian society. To that end, it disregarded native cultural traditions and stressed instead Christian teachings, English-language instruction, and manual labour skills. This building was constructed in 1904... -
Mohawk Village
Allies of the British during the American War of Independence, the Six Nations Iroquois received extensive lands along the Grand River in 1784. Mohawks, led by Joseph Brant, established a village of some 400 inhabitants here by 1788. The community was situated at an important crossing point on the river ("Brant's Ford") and prospered as a resting place for travellers on the "Detroit path", a trail linking the Niagara and Detroit rivers. Increasingly, European settlers... -
Royal Canadian College of Organists, The
One of Canada's oldest national associations of musicians, the Royal Canadian College of Organists was established in 1909 following an organizational meeting held here in the former Conservatory of Music. Dedicated to elevating the standards and promoting the interests of professional organists, the Canadian Guild of Organists held its first general meeting in 1910. A decade later, when Canadian chapters of the American Guild of Organists were disbanded, the association, renamed the Canadian College of... -
Nodwell Indian Village Site, The
This important Iroquoian village site was discovered about 1900, and named after the family which then owned the property. Subsequent archaeological examinations have uncovered a mid-14th century village, consisting of twelve loghouses, from 42 to 139 feet in length, protected by a double palisade. It was probably occupied for about 10 to 20 years by a group of some 500 people who were predecessors of the Huron and Petun Indians. Although primarily farmers who grew...