By Phil Egan for The Sarnia Journal Back in the 1970s, before I became a holiday operator in Toronto, I was part of the city’s airline community, comprising all of the airlines that operated offices in the city. Most of these were clustered downtown in the King and Yonge district. [...]
By Phil Egan for The Sarnia Journal (2016) In 1925, Sarnia decided to throw itself a weeklong party. It invited “old boys and girls” from across Canada to return to the city for a week of celebrations, beginning July 18th and running through July 25th. The event was promoted as [...]
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 Phil Egan - Special to The Sarnia Journal (2015) If houses could talk, this one could spin captivating tales It sits in stately and understated grandeur in a park in Bright’s Grove. Its two-storeys are clad in the distinctive Wawanosh yellow brick fired in the Telfer Road brickyard kilns. [...]
by Phil Egam - Special to The Sarnia Journal, Then and Now. (2015) In the late 60s, I worked for a time as a bartender in the old Pine Room of the Vendome Hotel. It was a downstairs bar that could be entered either from the hotel above or from [...]
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 (2015) It is a warm evening in early July, 1910. King George V is in his second month on the throne of the British Empire. Sir Wilfred Laurier is Prime Minister. You have just boarded the 100 foot long ferry, Skater [...]
By Phil Egan - Special to the Sarnia Journal, Then and Now. Iceman wasn’t just a hotshot pilot in Top Gun. He was once a regular visitor to our homes. Like the milkman, he came in a horse-drawn wagon, and later a truck. As late as the early 1950s, the [...]
By Phil Egan – Special to the Sarnia Journal, Then and Now. Sarnians passing by the River City Vineyard church and homeless shelter on Mitton Street might be surprised to learn that this location was once the heartbeat of one of Sarnia’s most celebrated industries. It happened like this. In [...]
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. [...]
