Driving tour
See Thunder Bay in a whole new light
This 90-minute driving tour shows how the many provincial plaques located in Thunder Bay speak to that city’s role in the expansion of trade and communications routes in Ontario’s northwest.
Rosvall and Voutilainen plaque, Thunder Bay
Photo: Alan Brown, www.ontarioplaques.com
Rosvall and Voutilainen
In November 1929, two Finnish-Canadians left the Port Arthur area to recruit bushworkers for a strike. Their bodies were found the following spring. Many locals suspected foul play, but the coroner’s jury ruled the deaths as accidental drowning. The two men remain as martyrs to the cause of organized labour.
Red maple leaf on a railway track
Photo: Destination Ontario
Western Route of the CPR, The
In June 1875, the first sod on the Canadian Pacific Railway’s line from the Lakehead to the West was turned here in Fort William. The last spike was driven in 1885.
Fort William, at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River
Photo: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1974-51-1
Fort Kaministiquia 1717
A small fort was established near here in 1717 by a French officer, replacing an earlier structure. It served as the base of operations for la Vérendrye, the famous explorer. A later fort of the same name was built downriver and renamed Fort William in 1807. It became the nucleus of the city.
William McGillivray
Photo: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1956-7-1
William McGillivray 1764-1825
Fort Kaministiquia was renamed Fort William in honour of this man, a Scot who rose through the ranks of the North West Company to become its principal director by 1804.
Provincial plaque commemorating Colonel Elizabeth Smellie
Photo: Alan Brown, www.ontarioplaques.com
Col. Elizabeth Smellie 1884-1968
This celebrated Canadian army nurse and public health authority served during the First and Second World Wars. She was the first woman to attain the rank of colonel in Canada’s Armed Forces.
Lakehead University
Photo: Lakehead University
Lakehead University
Following a push by educators and business representatives for an institution of higher learning in Ontario’s northwest, the Lakehead Technical Institute was established in 1946. By 1965, it became Lakehead University and conferred its first degrees.
Provincial plaque commemorating the Union of the North West and Hudson's Bay Companies, Thunder Bay
Photo: Alan Brown, www.ontarioplaques.com
Union of the North West and Hudson's Bay Companies
This plaque commemorates the merger of the rival North West and Hudson’s Bay Companies to settle ongoing — and bloody — disputes between the rival fur-trade companies.
Provincial plaque commemorating The Pigeon River Road
Photo: Alan Brown, www.ontarioplaques.com
Pigeon River Road, The
This abandoned roadway was used to deliver the mail for a decade until the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1882.