When Annette Zylstra’s mother bought a framed print of a seascape at the Bible for Missions Thrift Shop in Sarnia a decade she had no idea it contained a mystery.Years later, she discovered this photo hiding behind the print of what appears to be a comfortable family gathered in a [...]
Flag Day on Feb. 15th marked the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Canada’s flag. Here, Canadian Coast Guard Officer Cadets Derek Geake, left, and Jacob Heyden Thomas hoist the flag aboard the CCGS Samuel Risley, as it escorts a freighter through the icy St. Clair River. Photo courtesy of [...]
George Mathewson Sunday will mark the 200th birthday of Sir John A. Macdonald, one of the most important and controversial figures in Canadian history, and no stranger to Sarnia. In fact, before Macdonald became our first prime minister he owned 900 acres in what is today Point Edward. A large [...]
Heather WrightSpecial to The Journal The final service held last week at Christ Church in Camlachie was an especially poignant one. Members of the tiny Anglican Church on Egremont Road said goodbye to the historic building as they prepare to disband after 137 years of worship. In 1877 the Rev. [...]
A flotilla of ships lay at anchor in this scene recorded near Ferry Dock Hill in Sarnia by photographer John Barron circa 1873. John Rochon collection John Rochon John Philip Barron was the most prolific of Sarnia’s early photographers. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland on Jan. 7, 1842 to William Barron [...]
The lost face of Sir Joseph Hobson has been restored to this mural in downtown Sarnia depicting construction of the first St. Clair Railway tunnel. On hand for the restoration were members of the Sarnia Heritage Committee, artist and sign maker David Beatty, and Bluewater Power, which provided a hoist [...]
It’s fitting that the Mackenzie brothers’ store, the oldest business in Sarnia, is captured in this, the oldest known photographic image of the city. Taken circa 1855, it shows a commercial block on Front Street between Lochiel and Cromwell after a light snow. Image courtesy Lambton County Archives, 9JA-N George [...]
After suffering a spinal cord injury that left him a paraplegic, Sarnia’s Dan Edwards has graduated from college, obtained his driver’s licence and turned his energies to motivational speaking. Glenn Ogilvie Marco Vigliotti Former high school football star Dan Edwards says he can never fully repay the debt of gratitude [...]
This photo was taken on May 21, 1938 of the nearly completed Blue Water Bridge, a piece of engineering that helped shape Sarnia. Passing beneath is the passenger liner Hamonic. John Rochon Collection George Mathewson Rome wasn’t built in a day. Sarnia took about 200 years. Here are three engineering [...]
With the remediation of Centennial Park under way, volunteers restoring Steam Engine 6069 are also back at it following a two-year hiatus. Seen here standing on the massive locomotive are, from left, Paul Whitfield, volunteer project manager Peter Whitfield, and welder Brad Trowbridge, of Shelly Machine and Marine. Not pictured [...]