by George Mathewson for The Sarnia Journal (2014) It’s an old rusty bridge that goes nowhere. Yet on June 4, the gymnasium of Bright’s Grove Public School filled up with a standing-room only crowd of nearly 200 vocal residents eager to talk about the Cull Drain Bridge. The scenic bridge [...]
by Paul Morden for the Sarnia Observer (2012) The future of a more than century-old steel bridge on Sarnia’s lakefront is undetermined, for now. Built in 1910, the span crosses the Cull Drain, also known as Perch Creek, on Old Lakeshore Road, but has only been used by pedestrians and [...]
by George Mathewson for The Sarnia Journal (2014) It’s been climbed on, posed beside and rendezvoused at by half the people in Sarnia at one time or another. But the origins of the cannon in Canatara Park, and how it got there, have long been a mystery. Now, two men [...]
by R.W. Ford (1987) Stretching for over 30 kilometres along the St. Clair River from the southern tip of Lake Huron to the village of Sombra lies the largest concentration of petroleum and chemical industry in Canada. Some 25 kilometres inland ancient oil wells grudgingly yield a few barrels of [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He was the great fence-mender of Sarnia politics. That's how people who served with him remember Ron Gordon's brief tenure as our 66th Mayor. Gordon, they say, helped unite a badly fractured City Council on two separate occasions. Born in Timmins in 1938, [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer Andy Brandt was one of the most active - and popular - Mayors in Sarnia's history. Elected our 64th Chief Magistrate in 1975, the 36-year old native of London, Ontario, immediately set out to transform the face of the Municipality. Working with private [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He stood up for the little guy. That was the reputation enjoyed by Marceil Saddy, our 65th Mayor. The London, Ontario native argued against tax increases at every turn, using his well-worn example of how Council's actions would impact on the "little old [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer Sarnians can thank Paul Blundy for the fact that the City has a home for the aged today. That's because Blundy, who was Mayor from 1967 to 1974, led the Council that socked away $750,000.00 a year for three years in order to [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He was the man who opened up Sarnia's waterfront to the public. Henry T. Ross, the City's 62nd Mayor, was the person chiefly responsible for the creation of Centennial Park. Born in Ridgewater, Nova Scotia in the last days of the 19th century, [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He paved the way for a Sarnia General Hospital expansion and had a hand in the creation of Lambton College. But Mayor Iven Walker is probably best remembered as the man who brought the Queen to Canatara Park. Born in Petrolia in 1898, [...]
