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275 plaques found that match your criteria
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Abel Stevens
Born at Quaker Hill, New York, about 1750, Stevens served as a British agent during the Revolutionary War despite being enrolled in the rebel militia. After the war, he lived in Vermont where, as an ardent Baptist, he became a deacon in 1786. Attracted by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe's offer of land in Upper Canada, he moved to the province and settled in this area in 1796. A vigorous colonizer, Stevens within two years of his arrival... -
Abraham Erb 1772-1830
Like many pioneers of this district, the founder of Waterloo was a German Mennonite from Franklin County, Pennsylvania. In 1805, he purchased 900 acres of bush land on the site of this town. He settled here in 1806 and erected the first sawmill two years later. His gristmill, built in 1816, remained in continuous operation for 111 years and formed the nucleus and social centre of a thriving municipality. -
Alligator Tug, The
By the late 19th century, lumbering in Ontario had retreated from easily accessible waterways and movement of logs became difficult and expensive. An imaginative solution to this problem, the amphibious steam warping (or winching) tug was developed in 1888-89 by an inventive local entrepreneur, John Ceburn West. His remarkable vessel, commonly called the Alligator was driven by paddle wheels and housed a powerful winch that enabled the scow to tow large log booms cheaply and... -
Asa Wolverton House, The
This house and the adjoining structure were built by Asa Wolverton, a native of Cayuga County, New York, who had immigrated to Upper Canada in 1826. About 1832, he settled in Paris, where he erected sawmills and became a prosperous lumber dealer and contractor. Wolverton acquired this site in 1851 and soon constructed an outstanding residence of stuccoed frame. Designed in a classical manner, the house is distinguished by the entrance portico and the attached... -
Belleville
By 1790, the mill, tavern and stores established here near the Bay of Quinté had stimulated the growth of a settlement. Named "Belleville" in 1816, the village progressed steadily as a milling and shipping centre, and in 1834, the thriving community became a police village. The completion in 1856 of the Grand Trunk Railway between Toronto and Montreal, a booming lumber trade, and the development of a fertile agricultural hinterland fostered significant commercial and industrial... -
Canada's First Telephone Business Office 1877
In 1877, this house, then located in downtown Brantford, became Canada's first telephone business office. It was the residence of the Reverend Thomas Philip Henderson (1816-1887), a former Baptist minister and school inspector in Paris, Ontario who in 1870 had encouraged the Bell family to come to Brantford. In 1877, he retired from the ministry to become the first General Agent for the telephone business in Canada and played a significant role in its establishment... -
Captain Daniel Rapelje 1774-1828
Emigrating from New York State to the Long Point Settlement in 1802, Rapelje later received 200 acres of land on the south side of the Talbot Road at Kettle Creek. He settled here with his family in 1810. A veteran of Lundy's Lane and other battles of the War of 1812, he became a captain in the 1st Middlesex Militia. In 1814, he built a log grist-mill and subsequently divided a portion of his land into town lots. The settlement that Rapelje established formed the nucleus of the city of St. Thomas. -
Colonel Joel Stone 1749-1833
Born in Guildford, Connecticut, Stone forfeited his extensive property there by serving with Loyalist militia during the American Revolution. He came to Canada in 1786 and in 1789 received 700 acres of land on the west bank of the Gananoque River, where he built a sawmill and grist-mill and established a mercantile business. Appointed a justice of the peace in 1800 and colonel of the 2nd Leeds Militia in 1809, he was in command when United States forces raided his village in September 1812. The settlement established by Stone formed the nucleus of the present town of Gananoque. -
Colonel Thomas Hornor 1767-1834
Born in New Jersey, Hornor first came to Upper Canada in 1793 and visited the unsettled township of Blenheim. Disposing of his holdings in the United States, he emigrated to Blenheim in 1795. That year, he completed (on lot 15, concession 1) the first sawmill, and in 1802 the first grist-mill, in what is now Oxford County. In 1800, he was appointed a justice of the peace for the London District and registrar for Oxford... -
Colonel William Chisholm 1788-1842
The founder of Oakville was born in Nova Scotia of Loyalist parents who moved to Burlington Bay in 1793. William served with distinction in the militia during the War of 1812. He settled in Nelson Township in 1816 and became a successful store keeper, timber merchant and ship owner. In 1827, he purchased from the Crown 960 acres of uncleared land at the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek. Here, he built mills, laid out a town plot and opened the harbour to shipping. Chisholm was thrice elected to represent this district in the Legislative Assembly. -
Craigleith Shale Oil Works 1859, The
A growing demand for artificial light led to the establishment, in 1859, of a firm headed by William Darley Pollard of Collingwood. He erected a plant here to obtain oil through the treatment of local bituminous shales. The process, patented by Pollard, involved the destructive distillation of fragmented shale in cast-iron retorts heated by means of wood. The 30 to 35 tons of shale distilled daily yielded 250 gallons of crude oil, which was refined... -
Daniel Knechtel 1843-1936
Born in Waterloo County, Daniel Knechtel came to Hanover in 1864. Two years later, he began producing handcrafted furniture and, in 1874, opened a factory on this site. By using local timber resources and applying the latest techniques in furniture manufacturing, Knechtel built a successful business. Under his direction, subsidiaries were established in Southampton and Walkerton, and markets expanded into the Canadian West. A fire destroyed Knechtel's factory in 1900, but another was built the... -
Desjardins Canal, The
In pioneer days, waterways provided the essential means of transportation. Dundas, located at the head of navigation on Lake Ontario and the eastern terminus of the "Governor's Road," was thus in a favoured position. However, in 1823, the government authorized the construction of a canal for larger vessels through Burlington sand-bar. Since its completion would make the shallow approach through Coote's Paradise marsh inadequate, Pierre Desjardins, an enterprising settler from France, formed a company in... -
Dr. Mahlon W. Locke 1880-1942
Born in nearby Matilda Township, Locke studied medicine at Queen's University and in Scotland. In 1908, he opened his medical office in this house. Interested in arthritis, which he believed was caused principally by fallen arches, he treated many arthritics in the following years by manual manipulation of their feet. Large numbers of his patients claimed to be cured or relieved by this method, and his reputation spread thought North America and overseas. From 1928... -
Duncan Cameron
Born in Scotland about 1764, he settled with his parents in Schenectady, New York. His father served with a Loyalist regiment during the American Revolution, following which the family moved to Glengarry. In 1784, Duncan entered the North West Company where, as manager of its Red River Department, he endeavoured to persuade Lord Selkirk's settlers to abandon their lands. When Selkirk's forces attacked Fort Gilbraltar in 1816, Cameron was captured and taken to England. Released and compensated for false arrest, he returned to Williamstown in 1820. He died in 1848 and is buried here. -
Dundas Mills
By 1799, the Morden family had a sawmill near this site on Spencer Creek north of Dundas Street. They sold this property in 1800 to Edward Peer, who built a grist-mill about 300 yards southeast, close to Dundas Street, and adopted the name "Dundas Mills." Peer sold the property in 1804 to Richard and Samuel Hatt and a partner, but by 1807 Richard had become sole owner. Then, or slightly earlier, Richard Hatt built northwest... -
First Forestry Station 1908, The
Here, on 100 acres of wind-eroded sandy land, the Ontario government established Canada's first provincial forestry station. That father of reforestation in Ontario, Edmund John Zavitz, was born July 9, 1875, graduated from McMaster, Yale and the University of Michigan and taught forestry at the Ontario Agricultural College. He entered this province's public service in 1905, was Deputy Minister of the Department of Lands and Forests 1925-34, and served thereafter as Chief Forester until his retirement 1953. Through his leadership, large areas of waste land have been restored to productivity. -
Fort Frances Canal 1878
Constructed 1875-1878, during Alexander Mackenzie's administration as part of a larger project intended to improve communication with the West, the Fort Frances Canal provided unbroken communication between Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods. In conjunction with land and water stretches of the "Dawson Road" between Shebandowan and Lake of the Woods, it provided a temporary connection with completed sections of the C.P.R. The importance of the canal diminished when the C.P.R. route was altered... -
Forwarding Trade at Prescott, The
Before the completion of the canals between here and Montreal in 1847, Prescott was the eastern terminus of Great Lakes navigation. Established at the head of Galops Rapids in 1810, it soon became a centre for the forwarding, or shipping, trade and an important centre in Montreal's commercial system. One of the earliest forwarders at Prescott was Captain William Gilkison, who began operations on this property about 1811. As the population of Upper Canada increased... -
Founder of Elora, The
Captain William Gilkison (1777-1833) was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and emigrated to North America in 1796. He served with the British forces in the War of 1812 as an assistant quartermaster-general and, in 1832, purchased some 14,000 acres of land in Nichol Township. He selected this area at the falls of the Grand River as a town site for his proposed settlement and named it Elora. It was laid out by Lewis Burwell, deputy provincial... -
Founder of Preston, The
Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, John Erb (1764-1832) was a Mennonite of Swiss ancestry. He came to Upper Canada in 1805, acquired 7,500 acres of land from the German Land Company, and settled on the site of Preston. The following year, he built a sawmill and, in 1807, a grist-mill around which the community grew. The numerous descendants of John Erb and his relatives have played an important role in the development of Waterloo County. This town, known as "Cambridge Mills," was renamed after Preston, England. -
Founding of Actinolite, The
In 1853, Billa Flint (1805-94), a lumberman, member of the legislative assembly and later of the senate, built sawmills here on the Skootamatta River. A village, at first named Troy but soon renamed Bridgewater, was laid out the same year. Extensive marble deposits were subsequently discovered here and this church, erected 1864-66, is believed to be the only one in Canada constructed of that material. The first resident minister's son, the eminent gynaecological surgeon, Thomas... -
Founding of Almonte, The
The sawmill and grist-mill completed here on the Mississippi River in 1823 by Daniel Shipman provided the nucleus around which a community known as Shipman's Mills had developed by 1824. About 1850, two town plots were laid out here - "Victoria" by Edward Mitcheson and "Ramsayville" by Daniel Shipman. They were combined in 1853 as "Waterford," which in 1855 was renamed "Almonte," probably after Juan N. Almonte, a famous Mexican general and diplomat. The opening... -
Founding of Ancaster, The
In 1791, James Wilson, in partnership with Richard Beasley, built a sawmill and a grist mill on the site of this community. The mills were sold to John Baptiste Rousseaux (known as St. John) in 1794, and developed into a thriving pioneer enterprise. The settlement that grew around these mills became an important trading community, known by about 1800 as "Ancaster." In 1805, Samuel and Richard Halt, who had built the "Red Mill" nearby in... -
Founding of Arthur, The
Arthur, named for Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, was the southern terminus of the Garafraxa "colonization road" to Owen Sound. Settlers arrived in 1840, but the town site was not officially surveyed until 1846. The establishment of saw and grist mills hastened growth in the community, which was also the natural market centre for the area's agricultural production. In 1851, a post office was opened and the first church and school were organized. A weekly...