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32 plaques found that match your criteria
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Founding of Ancaster, The
In 1791, James Wilson, in partnership with Richard Beasley, built a sawmill and a grist mill on the site of this community. The mills were sold to John Baptiste Rousseaux (known as St. John) in 1794, and developed into a thriving pioneer enterprise. The settlement that grew around these mills became an important trading community, known by about 1800 as "Ancaster." In 1805, Samuel and Richard Halt, who had built the "Red Mill" nearby in... -
St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral
One of the few Roman Catholic churches in Ontario retaining its pre-Confederation character, St Mary's was erected in 1859-60 during the episcopate of Bishop John Farrell to replace a building destroyed by fire. It was designed by Frederick Kortum, a German-born architect who died before the church was completed, and was built with volunteer labour provided by parishioners. Gothic revival in style, the imposing structure is distinguished by its massive bell tower and stone trim... -
John Willson 1776-1860
The dominant politician at the Head-of-the-Lake during the early 19th century, Willson was born in New Jersey. He came to Upper Canada and settled here about 1797. After his election to the Legislative Assembly in 1809, he embarked on a political career that, with only occasional interruptions, spanned over three decades. A passionate advocate of religious and civil liberties and an ardent spokesman for farmers, Willson championed moderate constitutional reform, public support for universal elementary... -
Lionel Beaumaurice (Leo) Clarke, V.C. 1892-1916
Born near Waterdown, Ontario, Leo Clarke moved to Winnipeg in 1903. He enlisted with the 27th Battalion, C.E.F. in February 1915 and transferred to the 2nd Canadian Battalion later that year. On September 9, 1916, on the Somme battlefront, though wounded, Corporal Clarke single-handedly defended a recently won trench. Using a revolver and two captured rifles he repulsed attack by two enemy officers and about twenty others, thus helping to secure the Canadian position. For... -
Niagara Escarpment, The
Hamilton Mountain is part of the Niagara Escarpment, a height of land extending 725km across Ontario from Niagara Falls to Manitoulin Island. Over 430 million years ago, a tropical sea covered most of central North America. Sediments and coral reef on the seabed were compressed into dolomite, a hard type of limestone more resistant to erosion than the bedrock of adjacent lands. The cliffs of the escarpment are the exposed floor of the ancient sea... -
Sir John Harvey 1778-1852
From these heights, Lieutenant-Colonel John Harvey set out with about 700 men on the night of June 5, 1813, to launch a surprise attack on an invading United States force of some 3,000 men camped at Stoney Creek. His rout of the troops commanded by Brigadier-General John Chandler under cover of darkness in the early hours of June 6 is generally credited with saving Upper Canada from being overrun by the enemy. Harvey was knighted in 1824, served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, 1834-41, Governor of Newfoundland, 1841-46, and Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, 1846-51. -
St. Paul's Church
Begun in 1854 and completed three years later, this Presbyterian church was designed in the Gothic revival style by architect William Thomas. The elegant eighty-foot spire set atop a hundred-foot tower marks the building as an outstanding example of Canadian Victorian Church architecture, despite the subsequent enlargement of the chancel, the original quality of the original form of the central pulpit, gallery and pews. Named St. Andrew's when the first minister, the Reverend Alexander Gale...