River Canard Bridge

On November 14, 2025, this plaque was unveiled at St. Joseph’s Church Hall at 9399 North Townline Road in Amherstburg. Two plaques, with the same text, were permanently installed on both sides of the River Canard Bridge, which is across the street from St. Joseph’s Church.

The bilingual plaque reads as follows:

RIVER CANARD BRIDGE

Built in 1937 as part of the Ontario government’s Depression-era public works program, the construction of this bridge was funded jointly by the Province and Essex County and provided essential unemployment relief. A significant crossing point on the River Canard since the 18th century, the bridge links the Amherstburg and LaSalle communities. The increase of motorized vehicle traffic necessitated stronger transportation infrastructure and this reinforced concrete bowstring or tied-arch bridge replaced previous wood and steel truss bridges that came before it. The bridge is an example of early 20th-century concrete engineering in Ontario. The design combined structural efficiency and aesthetic appeal, and it quickly became the pride of the community. Measuring 36.3 metres long (119 feet) and 7.32 metres wide (24 feet), its defining features include a single-spanned parabolic arch with 11 vertical concrete hangers per side, concrete balustrade railings and a cantilever sidewalk. This bridge and the neighbouring St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church are connected landmarks of the historical hamlet of River Canard, in one of the earliest French-Canadian settlements in Ontario. Framing the church, this bridge symbolizes innovation in civil engineering and celebrates local heritage and investment in community.

PONT DE LA RIVIÈRE AUX CANARDS

Lancée en 1937 sur financement de la province et du comté d’Essex, la construction du pont actuel est menée dans le cadre du programme de travaux publics mis en œuvre par le gouvernement de l’Ontario pendant la Grande Dépression. Elle jouera un rôle essentiel dans la lutte contre le chômage. Reliant Amherstburg à LaSalle, le pont est un point de franchissement stratégique de la rivière aux Canards depuis le 18^e siècle. Mais l’essor de l’automobile impose de consolider les infrastructures de transport. Succédant aux ponts en treillis de bois puis d’acier qui se tenaient autrefois en cet endroit, le nouveau pont, à poutres bow-string — ou pont en arc avec tirant —, est réalisé en béton armé et illustre le savoir-faire dont l’Ontario fait preuve dans la maîtrise de ce matériau au début du 20^e siècle. Alliant efficience structurelle et exigence esthétique, l’ouvrage suscite d’emblée la fierté de la communauté. Long de 36,3 mètres (119 pieds) et large de 7,32 mètres (24 pieds), il se distingue par son arche parabolique à travée unique, qui se trouve flanquée de part et d’autre de 11 suspentes verticales et de garde-corps en béton, que vient compléter un trottoir en porte-à-faux. Repères emblématiques, le pont et l’église catholique voisine de St. Joseph sont tous deux étroitement liés à l’histoire du hameau de Rivière-aux-Canards, qui fait partie de l’un des premiers établissements canadiens-français en Ontario. En contrepoint de l’église, le pont incarne à la fois l’innovation dans le domaine du génie civil, l’attachement au patrimoine local et l’engagement aux côtés de la communauté.

Historical background

Overview

The concrete bowstring bridge on County Road 8 that links the municipalities of Amherstburg and LaSalle was constructed in 1937.^[1] The structure is 36.3 metres (119 feet) in length, with a single span of 35.1 metres (115 feet). The structure is 7.32 metres wide (24 feet) and, in addition to the two lanes of traffic, it has a cantilever sidewalk on the west side. The bridge has 11 vertical hangers on each side, which vary in height from less than one metre to five metres, and a concrete balustrade runs the length of both sides of the bridge.

Bridge program of 1936

The River Canard Bridge was constructed as part of the Ontario government’s plan for unemployment relief through road building — taking thousands off relief rolls.^[2] In 1936, the Ontario Department of Highways commenced a $3,500,000 program for roads and bridges — enrolment of labour for the jobs under this program required that “half of the labour be drawn from the relief ranks and 35 percent from the unemployed.”^[3]

One of the many bridge projects for the year was the River Canard Bridge at what was then Highway 18. Tenders were called by the Department of Highways in May 1936^[4] and contracts were awarded in June 1936.^[5] Funds for the construction of the bridge were also provided locally by the County of Essex council early in 1937 — $30,000 was allotted for the building of a new bridge across the Canard River (at the River Canard Church where the Sandwich West-Anderson town line crosses the river).^[6] By April 1937, the Essex County clerk announced that construction of the new $25,000 bridge over the River Canard at Loiselleville would commence shortly following negotiations with provincial authorities.^[7] A summary of the county’s yearly expenditures in December 1937 referenced the construction of a “$16,000 bridge over the Canard River at River Canard.”^[8]

Bridge construction in Ontario (general)

The early 19th century saw significant advances in bridge design and construction technology.^[9] As detailed in David Cuming’s book Discovering Heritage Bridges on Ontario’s Roads, timber truss bridges were the most common bridge type built in Southern Ontario up until the 1890s, at which time steel became the material of choice, with steel girder and truss structures becoming common by 1900. The use of concrete in bridge construction was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century; by the 1930s, concrete was challenging steel as the primary bridge construction material in Ontario.

Bridge construction (concrete)

Concrete arch bridges first made an appearance in Ontario at the beginning of the 20th century, having been successfully employed in Europe^[10] and the United States since the 1880s.^[11] The earliest examples of concrete arch bridges in Ontario employed mass concrete (for example, the Canal Lake Bridge, 1905, in Bolsover, Ontario),^[12] but as engineers mastered the new material and used reinforcing materials (such as iron or steel), their confidence in concrete soared. The first reinforced concrete arch bridge in Ontario was over the Aux Sables River at Massey (now the township of Sables-Spanish Rivers/Georgian Bay) in 1906.^[13] Supporters of concrete bridges cited numerous advantages of that material’s use over steel, such as using local materials and labour, and reducing maintenance associated with rust removal on steel structures.

Bridge construction (reinforced concrete bowstring arch bridge)^[14]

Shortly after engineers became comfortable with the use of reinforced concrete, a new type of concrete bridge was developed — the reinforced concrete truss bridge or tied arch bridge. Engineers recognized the advantages of the reinforced concrete tied arch that could be adapted for use at almost any location, either in single or multiple spans.^[15]

The first reinforced concrete bowstring (or tied arch) bridge in Canada was constructed in Ontario in 1909. Frank Barber of the firm Barber & Young, Bridge and Structural Engineers of Toronto, designed the Middle Road Bridge over the Etobicoke Creek in 1909.^[16]

In 1910, after the successful completion of the Middle Road Bridge, Barber submitted an article to The Canadian Engineer promoting the use of this bridge type by advocating for their structural stability and permanence, esthetic appeal, comparative costing of contemporary concrete bridges to steel bridges, and adaptability to different contexts. As described by Barber, the reinforced concrete bowstring arch bridge combined “the permanence of concrete construction with the graceful lines of trusses.”^[17]

Dozens of these reinforced concrete bowstring bridges appeared throughout the province of Ontario in the decades following the appearance of the Middle Road Bridge and Barber’s article, including the 1937 single-span bowstring bridge on Country Road 8 that is the subject of this background paper.

These types of bridges are characterized by the parabolic arch and vertical hangers that provide structural efficiency. The weight of the bridge deck is suspended from the arches by virtue of the steel bars embedded in the concrete vertical hangers. The horizontal thrust of the arches is counteracted by the steel bars embedded lengthwise in the deck.^[18] An advantage of this type of bridge is that since the superstructure of the bridge resides entirely above the deck, it does not need to be raised high on large abutments.

While the reinforced concrete bowstring arch bridges in Ontario share a basic form, there is considerable variety among the structures. Whereas the earliest 1909 Middle Road Bridge had a system of cross bracing, most bridges of this type did not. Some bridges had cross beams overhead, depending on the height of the parabolic arches. The bridge length varied from a single span (such as the subject bridge at the River Canard) to double and multiple arches for wider river locations. And the inclusion of pedestrian sidewalks (such as the subject bridge) is a unique feature of bowstring arch bridges located in urban settings.^[19]

While some of the counties in Ontario still have several of these types of bridges from the early 20th century remaining (for example, Wellington County), according to the County of Essex, the River Canard Bridge is the only reinforced concrete bowstring arch bridge structure on the Essex County Road network that remains from an original inventory of four.^[20]

In 2017, the “little sister” bridge on Concession 2 in Amherstburg over Long Marsh Drain (Bridge 3008) was demolished.^[21] Built in 1938, the 2nd Concession Bridge was smaller than the River Canard Bridge, which was constructed one year before.^[22]

Contextual local bridges

In 2020, the bridge on 5th Concession North (Bridge 3012) over the River Canard was approved for replacement.

Designer/engineer and contractor

Bridges of the early 20th century were generally the work of both an engineer and a contractor. The engineers designed the structures to ensure that they functioned under various loads and stresses, while the construction contractors had expertise in working with specific materials, like concrete or steel.^[23] Engineers and contractors in Ontario likely benefited from access to technical publications, such as the British Engineer A.W. Legat’s Design and Construction of Concrete Bridges, published in 1915/1919.

The HistoricBridges.org website (2003-25) records the builder/engineer of the River Canard Bridge as Newman and Armstrong Engineers. This attribution, however, could not be confirmed at the time this paper was written. This website is operated by a volunteer group of private citizens that catalogues bridges across North America. The content is not cited with sources and the disclaimer on the website notes that while they strive for accuracy in the factual content, HistoricBridges.org offers no guarantee of accuracy, stating that the “opinions and commentary are those of the respective HistoricBridges.org members who uploaded them to the website.”

John James Newman (M.E.I.C., O.L.S.)^[24] and C.G. Russell Armstrong (B.A., Sc., O.L.S.)^[25] were civil engineers and Ontario land surveyors. Based in Windsor, their infrastructure work included sewers, waterworks, pavement, bridges and drainage.^[26] As surveyors, they are known for their early contribution to the preparatory surveying for the Detroit Windsor Tunnel (1927-30).^[27] The firm was in business from 1923 to 1944 and continued as C.G. Russell Armstrong Consulting Engineer and land surveyor after the death of Newman in 1944.

References to Newman and Armstrong’s bridge work include the three-span, reinforced concrete Pike Creek bridge (between the border cities and Belle River) in 1931^[28] (which is a concrete arch bridge, as opposed to a bowstring arch bridge), but no reference to the River Canard Bridge was found during this research project.^[29]

It can be confirmed, however, that the contractor of the River Canard Bridge was Cameron and Phin of Welland,^[30] a firm that continued until the 1970s as Maquire, Cameron and Phin.^[31] Little is known about this contracting firm (specializing in concrete)^[32 other than their most notable works being their contribution to the Thousand Islands International bridge at Rockport/Kingston, 1938,^[33] and the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls, 1940.^[34]

The River Canard Bridge underwent significant rehabilitation in 2001 (Front Construction Industries and Stantec Consulting Ltd.) and again in 2016 (Stantec).

Detroit River region — River Canard

The bridge is located at the crossing of the River Canard near its mouth at the Detroit River.^[35] Small communities were established on the Canadian shore of the Detroit River by the French as early as 1747 and its early inhabitants were a combination of disbanded or discharged soldiers and French-Canadian fur traders.

By the early 1800s, construction of roads had become imperative to connect major settlements to neighbouring communities in Upper Canada by land and to facilitate settlement into new areas without water access.^[36] Land communications around the Detroit River region necessitated bridge construction from an early period. In 1793, a contract for a bridge over the River Canard was completed. This bridge was destroyed in 1812 to halt the Americans’ march towards Fort Malden.^[37] Indeed, the community of River Canard was the site of an engagement between British and American forces on July 16, 1812 where an American force of 280 men under colonels Cass and Miller skirmished with British troops near the bridge.^[38] This skirmish is recognized by an Ontario Heritage Trust plaque.^[39]

At this location, in the north part of the Town of Amherstburg (within the former Anderdon Township) and southern part of the Town of LaSalle (formerly the Township of Sandwich West), the hamlet of River Canard was established, and a bridge was erected to serve the inhabitants. A wooden bridge that could be raised to allow for passing water vessels spanned the river in the late 19th century.^[40 In 1906, a new bridge (approved by the Minister of Public Works, under Chapter 92 (Navigable Waters’ Works Act) of the Revised Statues of Canada) was erected immediately west of the earlier bridge. The 1906 bridge was a single-span steel Warren truss bridge with concrete bed and abutments.^[41] This bridge is documented in a photographic postcard image of St. Joseph’s Church and Canard River.^[42]

The increase in personal ownership of motorized vehicles following the First World War necessitated stronger bridges as part of Ontario’s transportation infrastructure, and the roads and bridges that served local needs and connected settlements contributed to the social and economic development of the province.

This bridge and the neighbouring St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church are connected landmarks of the historical hamlet of River Canard, in one of the earliest French-Canadian settlements in Ontario. Framing the church, this bridge symbolizes innovation in civil engineering and celebrates local heritage and investment in community.

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The Ontario Heritage Trust gratefully acknowledges the research and writing of Sharon Vattay in preparing this paper.

© Ontario Heritage Trust, 2021

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^[1] The Windsor Star, 31 December 1937: 62; and, Annual Report of the Department of Highways, Ontario for the Fiscal Year ending March 31, 1938, Sessional paper No.32, 1939: p. 46 (County Suburban Roads, District No. 1 — Counties of Essex, Kent and Lambton)

^[2] The Globe, 2 July 1936: p. 1.

^[3] The Globe, 27 June 1936: p. 11 (“50 Contracts on Roadwork are Awarded”)

^[4] The Globe, 28 May 1936: p. 18.

^[5] The Globe, 27 June 1936: p. 11.

^[6] The Windsor Star, 23 January 1937: p. 5.

^[7] The Windsor Star, 19 April 1937: p. 5.

^[8] The Windsor Star, 31 December 1937: p. 62.

^[9] Robert Bradford (2015): chapter 5.

^[10] The world’s first reinforced concrete bridge, a four-beam footbridge at the Château de Chazelles in France, was constructed in 1875 by Joseph Monier.

^[11] Cuming (1983): p. 44.

^[12] Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, June 1988.

^[13] Cuming, 1983: p. 44.

^[14] The term used widely in the United States for these bridges is “rainbow arch.”

^[15] Cuming, 1983: p. 47.

^[16] Barber & Young, “Canada’s First Concrete Truss Bridge,” Canadian Cement and Concrete Review, November 1909.

^[17] The Canadian Engineer, 25 February 1910: p. 184.

^[18] Cuming, 1983: p. 15.

^[19] Grand River Watershed Bridge Inventory: p. 51.

^[20] County of Essex, 2023-1018-IPS-R33-AB (sources of information/footnotes are missing from this report)

^[21] Windsor Star, 11 May 2017. A replacement was constructed 2021-22.

^[22] Amherstburg Echo, 9 September 1938: p. 4.

^[23] Cuming, 1983: p. 30.

^[24] Note that M.E.I.C. stands for Mechanical Electrical Instrumentation Commission. O.L.S. stands for Offshore Loading System.

^[25] Note that B.A. Sc. stands for Bachelor of Applied Science.

^[26] The Windsor Star, 14 August 1929: 3; The Windsor Star, 20 June 1932: 10; 25 August 1937: p. 3.

^[27] The Windsor Star, 23 October 1929: 11; 1 November 1930: 8; The Detroit Free Press, 9 November 1930: p. 6.

^[28] The Windsor Star, 14 December 1931: p. 10.

^[29] The Journal of the Engineering Institute of Canada for 1937 was searched and no reference to this bridge or to Newman and Armstrong was found.

^[30] The Globe, 27 June 1936: p. 11.

^[31] See reference to Bridge 13/Main Street Bridge, Welland Canal, Welland on Register of Canada’s Historic Places, Main Street Bridge/Designation By-law 92-60, City of Welland.

^[32] National Post, 20 August 1938: p. 10.

^[33] The Kingston Whig-Standard, 27 May 1938: p. 3.

^[34 The St. Catharines Standard, 13 March 1940: p. 18.

^[35] The River Canard is the southernmost river in Canada. Devan Mighton, “A Touch of Canadian Heritage Can be felt on the Rivers of LaSalle and Amherstburg,” The LaSalle Local, 11 September 2020.

^[36] Robert Bradford (2015): p. 31.

^[37] Lajeunesse (1960): cv.

^[38] The Windsor Daily Star, 31 July 1937: p. 9.

^[39] https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/plaques/skirmishes-at-canard-river

^[40] The Windsor Star, 26 June 1937: p. 11.

^[41] Drawings, maps and specifications are found at the National Archives, Application of the county Council of Essex, Ontario for approval of plans of bridge to be erected over the Canard River, 1906. RG11M 87803/17.

^[42] The parish of St. Joseph’s was founded in 1864 when the Rev. Francois Marseille (accompanied by the Rev. P.D. Laurent of Amherstburg) established a mission. Ultimately becoming the largest church serving a rural community within the diocese of London, the current structure (on the site of an earlier church building) was constructed under Father Loiselle (1911-1915). The Windsor Daily Star, 26 June 1937: p. 11.