by Phil Egan (2015) It sits quietly on the lawn in front of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 62 on Front Street. Its massive gun is silent, but the battle tank “Calamity” still carries an unmistakeable air of deadly menace. As you might expect, there is a story behind it. [...]
by Cathy Dobson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Elmer Kleinsmith was just starting his work day at the Century Coal Company in Point Edward when fire broke out on the Hamonic luxury steamship docked at the CN freight shed. Kleinsmith quickly drove his coal crane over to the dock and [...]
by Scott Stephenson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) A silver arch of steel standing out like a rainbow in the sky above the St. Clair River. That’s as fitting a description today as it was on Oct. 8, 1938 when the original Blue Water Bridge was officially opened to the [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) When it came to reporting the start of the Great Depression, The Observer pulled no punches. While other newspapers tried to downplay the stock market crash of October, 1929, assuring readers there was no cause for alarm, the Sarnia daily told readers [...]
by George Mathewson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Imagine Sarnia without Canatara Park. No sandy beach. No leafy paths. No bandshell or animal farm. Well, the crown jewel in Sarnia’s park system would likely be a gaping crater or buried under a sprawling subdivision today if it hadn’t been for [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Sarnia-Lambton’s greatest hero of the Great War may well have been George Hunter Stirrett. Stirrett, who was born in Forest, raised in Petrolia and lived his adult life in Sarnia, won the Military Cross (MC) and the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for [...]
by Cathy Dobson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) In the tragic days immediately after the RMS Titanic was lost, a Sarnia family waited anxiously to discover the fate of one of their own. With the rest of the world, the family of James McCrie scanned the papers for news of [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) In the spring of 1914, Sarnia finally shed its small-town image. It came on May 7 of that year when the community was finally given ‘city’ status. At that time, it adopted the nickname ‘The Imperial City.’ Mayor Joseph Dagan was the [...]
by George Mathewson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Froome and Field Talfourd were not your typical pioneers when they ventured into the wilderness of Southwestern Ontario on horseback. The road came to an end at Warwick, so the brothers from England followed a trail blazed through forest and swamp to [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Humanity Saved! That’s how The Observer greeted the news that Germany had tossed in the towel, putting an end to the First World War on Nov. 11, 1918. The screaming headline, in the largest type size ever used by the newspaper up [...]
