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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... -
C. Beck Manufacturing Company
The C. Beck Manufacturing Co. Ltd. operated from 1875 to 1969 with its centre of operations in Penetanguishene. The company sold wholesale lumber, shingles, lath, box shooks, pails, tubs and woodenware to firms in Ontario, Quebec, western Canada and the northern United States. It produced the special wooden tubs, boxes, barrels and pails that carried early 20th century Ontario food products to markets across Canada and throughout the British Empire. It was a family business... -
Colonel The Honourable Herbert Alexander Bruce, MD, LLD 1868-1963
Herbert Bruce was born at Blackstock in 1868, and grew up on a farm located on this Port Perry site. In 1893, he graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto. Specializing in surgery, he rose to the top of his profession, and in 1911 founded the Wellesley Hospital, Toronto. During the First World War, he was appointed Inspector-General of the Canadian Medical Services and produced the Bruce Report, a frank criticism of medical care... -
Colonel Graham Thomson Lyall, V.C. 1892-1941
Graham Thomson Lyall emigrated from Britain in 1911, eventually settling in Niagara Falls where he worked for the Canadian Niagara Power Company. In 1914, at the start of the First World War, Lyall enlisted in the 19th "Lincoln" Regiment at St. Catharines. Later, he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and fought at the Somme in 1916, Arras and Ypres in 1917, and Amiens in 1918. On September 27 and October 1, 1918, Lyall led his... -
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... -
Fool's Paradise
This property sits on the ecologically sensitive, geologically significant Scarborough Bluffs that display sediments left by glaciers over 70,000 years during the last phase of the Pleistocene epoch. Aboriginal peoples may have inhabited this site as early as 8,000 B.C. Scottish immigrant James McCowan settled this land for farming in 1833, calling it "Springbank" because of the springs running from the ancient shoreline of Lake Iroquois (predecessor of Lake Ontario) to the north. In 1939... -
General Sir Arthur William Currie 1875-1933
The first Canadian-born general, Currie grew up on a farm in Napperton and attended Strathroy Collegiate Institute. In 1894 he went to Victoria, B.C. where he joined the militia in 1897. At the outbreak of World War I he was given command of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade and went overseas in 1914. He led the 1st Canadian Division at Vimy Ridge in 1917 with the rank of major-general. Later, he was promoted to lieutenant-general... -
George Weston, 1864-1924
George Weston was born in Oswego, New York in 1864. His family moved to Toronto and at age 12 George was apprenticed to a local baker. In 1882, Weston bought a bread delivery route from his employer and two years later a bakery. With the increasing popularity of his "Real Home Made Bread," he opened the "Model Bakery" near this site, in 1897. This bakery used the latest bread-making technology and was praised by the... -
Hugh Burnett and the National Unity Association
Between 1948 and 1956, the National Unity Association (NUA) of Chatham, Dresden and North Buxton, under the leadership of Hugh R. Burnett, waged a campaign for racial equality and social justice. Their efforts led to the passage of Ontario's Fair Employment Practices Act (1951) and Fair Accommodation Practices Act (1954), and laid the groundwork for subsequent human rights legislation in Ontario and across Canada. Traditional Anglo-Canadian rights, such as freedom of association and freedom of... -
Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae 1872-1918
Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, McCrae was educated at the University of Toronto's medical school, graduating as a gold medallist in 1898. He served (1899-1900) in the Boer War with the artillery and during the First World War attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian Medical Corps. In the intervening years he taught medicine at McGill University, wrote poetry and earned recognition for his contributions to medical journals and his textbook on pathology. He... -
Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, 1872-1918
The distinguished soldier, physician and poet was born and raised in Guelph, Ontario. John McCrae graduated from the University of Toronto in medicine, practised as a pathologist and taught medicine at McGill University in Montreal. In 1899, he served in the South African War as an officer with the Royal Canadian Field Artillery. At the outbreak of the First World War, he re-enlisted with the 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, as its Medical Officer. In... -
M.W. Bro. William Mercer Wilson, 1813-1875
William Mercer Wilson was born in Scotland and immigrated to Upper Canada at the age of 19. He moved to Simcoe where he worked as a court clerk, lawyer, Crown attorney and finally judge for Norfolk County. During the Rebellions of 1837-38, he served in the Norfolk Cavalry and attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He introduced the first printing press in the district and for two years published the Norfolk Observer. In 1840, Wilson became... -
William Perkins Bull, K.C., LL.D. 1870-1948
Financier, philanthropist and historian William Perkins Bull was born in Downsview, Ontario, in 1870. Bull attended Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the bar in 1896. He established a law practice but soon broadened his interests to include oil, lumber and land speculation. His business interests took him to England where, during the First World War, he and his wife Maria Brennan Bull established a convalescent hospital for wounded Canadian officers. Following the... -
William and Susannah Steward House
William, an African American teamster, and Susannah Steward (also spelled Stewart) lived in Niagara from 1834 to 1847. The Steward home was part of Niagara's "coloured village", a vibrant community of former Canadian slaves, black Loyalists and African American refugees. Later, the Stewards divided their lot for sale to Robert Baxter, a local black resident. In 1837, William Steward was one of 17 local blacks who signed a petition asking Lieutenant Governor Sir Francis Bond... -
Theodore Pringle Loblaw 1872-1933
T.P. Loblaw was born in Elmgrove, Ontario to William James Loblaw and Isabella Stevenson. Orphaned in his teens, he was raised by his Scottish-born grandparents, William and Elizabeth Stevenson, who lived in the farmhouse on this property. At age 17 he moved to Toronto with twenty dollars and a dream. In 1897, Loblaw married Isabella Adam and in 1900 purchased his first grocery store on College Street with partner J. Milton Cork. Loblaw pioneered the... -
Syl Apps (1915-1998)
Born in Paris, Ontario in 1915, Charles Joseph Sylvanus "Syl" Apps was a professional hockey player, businessman and politician. Throughout his life, Apps displayed remarkable breadth in his abilities and accomplishments. He was a varsity football star and as a pole vaulter won two national championships and competed at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. During an extraordinary 10-season hockey career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Apps was renowned for his skill and impeccable sportsmanship. He was... -
Tom Patterson, 1920-2005
A native of Stratford, Ontario, Tom Patterson grew up during the Great Depression and dreamed of plans that might revitalize his community. After serving in the Second World War and completing university, he worked as an associate editor for a trade publication in Toronto. During the early 1950s, Patterson began discussing plans to establish an internationally renowned Shakespearean festival in his hometown. Although considered a risky venture by some, Patterson gained encouragement from Mayor David... -
Santa Claus Parade, The
In 1905, Timothy Eaton's department store began the tradition of the Santa Claus Parade. Initially, the parade featured Santa Claus on a horse-drawn cart. The parade has grown in size and splendour to include upside-down clowns, colourful marching bands, mascots, characters in elaborate costumes, ornately-decorated floats and – of course – Santa Claus himself. Over the years, Santa has travelled from the North Pole by train, coach, ice floe, airplane and sleigh pulled by nine... -
James Bertram Collip 1892-1965
A co-discoverer of insulin, J.B. (Bert) Collip was one of Canada's most prolific medical researchers in the first half of the 20th century. Born and raised in Belleville, Collip received a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1916. There, on leave from the University of Alberta in 1921, Professor J.J.R. Macleod invited him to work with Frederick Banting and Charles Best on a substance they hoped could treat diabetes. In 1922, Collip... -
"Ned" Hanlan 1855-1908
One of Canada’s greatest oarsmen, Edward Hanlan was born in Toronto. As a child, he took up rowing when his family settled in this vicinity, now named Hanlan’s Point. Although standing only 5 feet 8 ¾ inches and rarely heavier than 150 pounds, he became a leading international sculler. In 1873, Hanlan won the amateur rowing championship of Toronto Bay. Becoming a professional in 1876, he defeated all opponents in the Philadelphia Races of that... -
Acting Sergeant John Rennie, G.C. 1919-1943
Jock" Rennie was awarded the George Cross posthumously in May 1944 for an instinctive, selfless act of heroism. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he came to Ontario with his family as a child and grew up in Kitchener. Rennie enlisted in The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) at Hamilton in July 1940, and went overseas with them to England in the summer of 1943. On October 29, 1943, he was supervising a grenade-throwing...