by Jean Turnbull Elford (1982) Beginning with British rule in the northern part of this continent, land was acquired from the Indians as it was needed for new settlers. Because of legislation passed in 1763, no Indian band forfeited their land without their own and the Crown’s consent. The Indians [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford in Canada West’s Last Frontier (1982) Point Edward, Lambton’s largest incorporated village, placed where Lake Huron empties into the River St. Clair, made its way into recorded history earlier than any other part of Lambton. The first written account comes from the pen of Father Hennepin [...]
by Kip Cuthbert for the Sarnia Historical Society (2015) One of Sarnia’s first parks was also one of the town’s lost parks. Back in 1879, a summer park surrounding Lake Chipican was created on Grand Trunk Railway land (present day Canatara Park) called International Park. The park contained buildings [...]
by Phil Egan - Special to The Sarnia Journal (2015) In his 1961 book, A History of the Chemical Industry in Lambton County, R.W. Ford describes the Bushnell Refinery, built in 1871, as the “first of Sarnia’s refineries.” Records indicate, however, that this information is not correct. Sarnia’s earliest refinery [...]
By Steven McKenna (2015) The year was 1889 when Patrick Grandcourt Kerwin was born in Sarnia, Ontario in what was a young Canadian nation where residents were considered British subjects. Queen Victoria was the monarch and the Prime Minister of the day was Sir John A. Macdonald, leader of the [...]
By Phil Egan - Special for the Sarnia Jouranl, Then and Now. Sarnians who drive along Lawrence Avenue or visit the Lawrence Park neighbourhood in Toronto likely never make the connection with the Lawrence House on Christina Street, or the Lawrence Lumber yards that once sat at the foot of [...]
By Phil Egan - Special to The Sarnia Journal, Then and Now. (2015) What began as a search for oil led to the discovery of salt. The discovery of oil in Lambton County in the late 19th century had many believing that vast wealth might be just around the corner. [...]
by Phil Egan In the middle of the 19th century, there were over 1,000 sawmills operating in Ontario. It had become the normal course of development when settlers began to establish new hamlets and villages. They wanted to build, and that meant they needed a sawmill. George Durand built the [...]
by Stephen Huebl (2005) Over the past 100 years, the Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce has played an active and vital role in Sarnia Lambton's growth. But even before its official incorporation in 1905, the Chamber can trace its roots back to the late 1800s. It all started on Feb. [...]
by Rob Ferguson for the Toronto Star (2015) For less than the price of a fixer-upper in Toronto, you can own a stately piece of Canadian history in Scotland for 287,000 pounds — or about 594,900 loonies. It’s the birthplace of Canada’s second prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie, who was born [...]
