THEN: Walter P. Zeller launched his Canadian retailing empire in 1931 during the Great Depression, and one of his first 15 stores was in downtown Sarnia. This photo shows the storefront at 182 Front St. North in 1950, three years before its roofline adornments were obliterated by a tornado. The [...]
Bayshore Park is home to a new plaque marking 400 years of Francophone presence in Ontario. The June 11 unveiling featured dignitaries, musicians, a choir and students from Les Rapides and Franco-Jeunesse schools, who placed mulch around a newly-planted tree. A French priest was the first European to visit the [...]
Frank Moore with the 19th century fire hose cart he restored for the Camlachie fire department. Tara Jeffrey Tara Jeffrey Last fall, Jeff Scott wasn’t sure if the Camlachie Fire Department’s historic hose cart was even salvageable. “It sat out in front of the fire hall for as long as [...]
Rev. Kristen Oliver with the bell at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Point Edward. Three local churches are ringing their bells 1,181 times over 22 days to remember the same number of dead and missing aboriginal women in Canada. Glenn Ogilvie Cathy Dobson Area residents are hearing a lot of [...]
A large mosaic is being planned to help Lambton County celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017. The project is a map that will display artistic and literary contributions from people on what they love best about Lambton’s 11 municipalities and three First Nations. Submission can be photos, video clips, art, [...]
Julia Jones Salter was just 15 when she arrived at what’s now Bright’s Grove to help found the first commune in Canada. Photo courtesy, Lambton County Archive George Mathewson Recently we featured an early description of Sarnia by Freeman Talbot, who arrived at “The Rapids” in 1827 as part of [...]
Ebenezer Watson Randy Evans Special to The Journal In the year 1891 a major controversy erupted among some of Sarnia’s leading movers and shakers over a bylaw proposed by the town’s Fire and Water Committee. Committee member and town councillor William Weelands had vocally supported the bylaw, which proposed a [...]
The Sarnia Shoe Repair building was totally destroyed. Photo courtesy, Dorothy Alexander Cathy Dobson The shock is what Dorothy Alexander remembers most of all. She had just left city hall where she worked as the switchboard operator when an F4 tornado roared through Sarnia’s downtown on May 21, 1953. It [...]
Sarnia’s “poor house,” properly known as the House of Refuge, was located on East Street, roughly about where the Strangway Centre and Germain Park garden offices are today. In return for lodging its residents cooked, cleaned and worked on its 60-acre farm. Image courtesy, Sarnia Heritage Committee
Sarnia Historical Society are from left; Ron Smith, Phil Egan and Laura Greaves. A new guard with big plans has resurrected the Sarnia Historical Society before it could fold. From left are Ron Smith, Phil Egan and Laura Greaves. Glenn Ogilvie Cathy Dobson Sarnia has never been good at preserving [...]