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P.L. Robertson Manufacturing Company, The
The first firm in the world to produce socket-head screws, the P.L. Robertson Manufacturing Company was formed in Hamilton in 1907 and relocated here the following year. It was established by an Ontario inventor Peter Lymburner Robertson and, using an ingenious process he had developed to punch square holes into cold metal, it manufactured the innovative new screw for industrial markets. In its first two decades the company steadily expanded operations. By 1930, when the... -
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... -
Queen Street Mental Health Centre
The first permanent mental health facility in Upper Canada, the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, forerunner of the present Centre, was officially opened on January 26, 1850. It was housed in what was then a technically advanced building with central heating, mechanical ventilation and indoor plumbing designed to treat patients in a humane environment. The institution was ably managed by Dr. Joseph Workman, who earned an international reputation as a mental hospital administrator, from 1854 to 1875... -
Reverend Newton Wolverton 1846-1932, The
Born in Oxford County, Wolverton taught mathematics at Woodstock College (Canadian Literary Institute) from 1877-1891, being principal from 1881-1886. Here he set up the first manual training department in Canada. He also established a meteorological observatory and was a recognized authority in that field. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1877. At the age of 15 he had seen military service in the American Civil War, and served as an officer with the 22nd... -
Rockwood 1842
Rockwood was built in 1842 as a country villa for John Solomon Cartwright (1804-1845). Designed by George Browne, architect of the Kingston City Hall, in a monumental phase of the Regency style, it is a stone structure covered with stucco but lined to suggest ashlar masonry. Cartwright began to practise law in Kingston in 1830 and in 1831, became president of the Commercial Bank of the Midland District. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly... -
Sir Ambrose Thomas Stanton, M.D., K.C.M.G. 1875-1938
A distinguished authority on tropical diseases, Stanton was born near here and educated at Trinity Medical College, Toronto. In 1907, after serving as house surgeon at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, England, he accepted a position at the Institute for Medical Research in present day Malaysia. There, working with Henry Fraser, the institute's director, Stanton made the revolutionary discovery that beriberi, a debilitating and fatal disease, was caused by a dietary deficiency. He... -
Sir John Cunningham McLennan 1867-1935
An outstanding Canadian scientist, McLennan was born in Ingersoll and moved to this house in 1883. He attended the University of Toronto where he later became Head of the Physics Department. His research and publications brought international recognition to the University's physics laboratory, which bears his name. A leading advocate of close ties between science, industry and government, McLennan was instrumental in founding the Advisory Council on Industrial and Scientific Research, later the National Research... -
Sir Sandford Fleming 1827-1915
Inventor of Standard Time and pioneer in world communications, Fleming was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and training in engineering and surveying before emigrating to Canada and settling at Peterborough in 1845. He soon moved to Toronto where in 1849 he assisted in the founding of the Canadian Institute and two years later designed the first Canadian postage stamp. He was the builder of the Intercolonial Railway and as chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway... -
Thomas "Carbide" Willson 1860-1915
This house was built in 1895 by Thomas Leopold Willson, an electrical engineer who discovered the first commercial process for the production of calcium carbide, a chemical compound used in the manufacture of acetylene gas. He was born at Princeton, Ontario, and educated in Hamilton, where he performed his early experiments. The discovery which earned him his nickname was made at Spray, North Carolina in 1892. In 1896 he established a carbide works at Merritton... -
Typhus Epidemic 1847, The
Though typhus had been epidemic periodically in Canada since the 1650s, the worst outbreak occurred in the summer of 1847. In that year some 90,000 emigrants embarked for Canada, most of them refugees from the potato famine then ravaging Ireland. Nearly 16,000 died of typhus, either at sea or after their arrival in Canada. Those stricken while passing through Kingston found shelter in makeshift "immigrant sheds" erected near the waterfront. Despite the efforts of local... -
University of Waterloo, The
In 1956, community leaders, headed by Dr. J. Gerald Hagey, formed the Waterloo College Associated Faculties, a non-denominational corporation, to provide Waterloo with improved educational facilities, particularly in the technical, scientific and engineering fields. A year later about seventy students, attracted by a pioneer programme in co-operative education, attended the institutions first classes. Full university powers were conferred by a 1959 Act and the next year the University awarded its first degrees. St. Jeromes College... -
William Warren Baldwin 1775-1844
The grandson of a former mayor of Cork, William Baldwin, one of the most influential politicians in Upper Canada (Ontario), was born some five miles from here on his family's estate. In 1797, he received a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh and two years later he emigrated to Upper Canada settling in York (Toronto). An accomplished man of boundless energy and diverse interests, Baldwin practised both law and medicine and was twice elected... -
World Championship Wheat
At the 1954 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, William E. Breckon of Burlington won the World Wheat Championship with grain grown on his Nelson Township farm about two miles north-east of here. He led the white winter wheat class seven times before becoming "wheat king" with a sample of Genesee, a variety developed at Cornell University, N.Y. Since western Canada's hard spring varieties had long dominated the wheat awards at the Fair, Breckon's world... -
Hungerford Smallpox Epidemic of 1884
The viral disease of smallpox – widespread in 19th century Ontario – flared up in a severe epidemic in Hungerford Township in 1884. The outbreak claimed at least 45 lives in 202 reported cases and disrupted economic activity and family life for many more. Local efforts by municipal authorities and private physicians were initially unable to halt the disease, and its wider spread throughout the province seemed likely. The newly established Provincial Board of Health... -
Dianna Boileau, Dr. Harold Challis and Transgender Rights
In 1970, Dianna Boileau (c. 1930s-2014) became the first Canadian to receive gender-affirming surgery. The catalyst for Dianna’s transition was Dr. Harold Challis, a British physician at La Verendrye Hospital in Dianna’s hometown of Fort Frances, with a rare and progressive understanding of gender for the time. Dr. Challis saw Dianna frequently in her youth and learned of her struggles among her peers. His counsel helped Dianna and her family with her transition to begin... -
Prince Edward County Fairgrounds
Formed in 1831 to promote better methods of farming, the Prince Edward County Agricultural Society held its first fair in 1836. This annual event quickly developed into one of the leading county fairs in the province, attracting hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of spectators. The business and social significance of the fair justified substantial investment in buildings. The Crystal Palace (1890) is a rare surviving example of a style of exhibition hall popular in the...