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• Founding of Bobcaygeon, The
  In 1833, shortly after the settlement of this region began, Thomas Need settled here at "Bobcaygeon," the narrows between Sturgeon and Pigeon Lakes. When the government began the construction in that year of a small lock and canal, Need surveyed a village plot that was named Rokeby by Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Colborne but was still commonly called Bobcaygeon. Need later opened a store and erected a grist-mill. By 1857, the community contained only 150 inhabitants...

• George Laidlaw 1828-1889
  An energetic railway promoter and builder, Laidlaw was born in Scotland and emigrated to Toronto in 1855. He soon prospered as a grain merchant and a wharf-owner and, after 1866, gained prominence as a convincing advocate of the commercial benefits of railways emanating from Toronto. Between 1869-1873, Laidlaw skillfully negotiated the completion of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway to Owen Sound, and the Toronto and Nipissing to Coboconk. As managing director of the Credit...

• Portage Road, The
  This road follows the general route of the Indian portage from Lake Simcoe to Balsam Lake. The portage was first mapped by the Honourable John Collins, Deputy Surveyor General of Canada, when he surveyed the Trent route from the head of the Bay of Quinte to Balsam Lake and thence by way of Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay in 1785. The Trent route was used by Champlain and his Huron allies in their expedition against...

• Scugog Route, The
  This river and lake formed part of an Indian route from the Kawartha and Algonquin Park areas to Lake Ontario. During the French Regime, efforts were made to prevent English traders from the Oswego area bartering with Indians who used such routes. Trading posts were established among the Mississauga by the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1804, the killing on Washburn Island, Lake Scugog, of trader John Sharp led to the subsequent loss on...

• Icelandic Settlement Disaster, The
  In the 1870s, economic distress prompted mass emigration from Iceland. On September 25th, 1874, 352 Icelanders, exhausted and weakened by illness arrived at the emigration sheds in Toronto. When the Victoria Railway Company offered work constructing its line from near Kinmount, the provincial government housed the Icelanders in log shanties down river from here. Poor ventilation, sanitation and diet allowed sickness to rage through their cold, over-crowded quarters. Within six weeks, twelve children and a...

• James Wallis 1806-1893
  This house, "Maryboro Lodge," was completed in 1837 by James Wallis, a gentleman from "Maryborough." Cork, Ireland, who had emigrated to Montreal in 1832. The following year he and Robert Jameson purchased extensive lands in this vicinity. In 1834, in partnership, they built a sawmill and later a grist-mill which formed the nucleus of the present village of Fenelon Falls. Wallis donated land for the community's first church in 1835 and personally conducted services until...

• John Langton 1808-1894
  Born in Lancashire, England, Langton graduated from Cambridge University in 1829 and emigrated to Upper Canada in 1833. He purchased some 500 acres of land in Fenelon and Verulam townships, where he was one of the first settlers and built "Blythe House" near Fenelon Falls in 1837-38. From 1851-55 Langton represented the Peterborough area in the legislative assembly of Canada. He was appointed auditor of public accounts in 1855 and from 1867 to 1878 served...

• Purdy's Mills
  The saw and grist-mills built in 1828-30 by William Purdy and his two sons on the nearby Scugog River, formed the nucleus of the Town of Lindsay which was incorporated in 1857. Purdy was imprisoned in 1837 on a charge of sympathizing with Mackenzie's Rebellion, and in 1841 armed mobs attacked the mills, believing that flooding caused by the excessive height of his dam was responsible for fever epidemics. After his release Purdy left the district and his mills were sold to Hiram Bigelow in 1844.

• Sir William Mackenzie 1849-1923
  Born near here, MacKenzie became a successful local merchant and contractor on Ontario railways. He built this house in 1888. After 1886, with associates, he obtained major construction contracts on numerous Canadian railways and by 1895 was one of Canada's leading railway builders and financiers. In 1899 MacKenzie and Donald Mann organized the Canadian Northern Railway, which later became a transcontinental system. Knighted in 1911, MacKenzie achieved international prominence through business directorates and electric railway...

• Trent-Severn Waterway, The
  The canalization of the waterway from the Bay of Quinte to Lake Simcoe to provide communications between Lake Ontario and the new settlements around Peterborough was proposed officially in 1872. The project was begun 1833-35 with a survey of a route and the building of a lock at Bobcaygeon. Work proceeded sporadically but by 1872 local navigation was possible on long sections of the route. After 1880 pressure increased on the federal government to complete...

• Victoria Road, The
  In 1854, the government faced with a decreasing supply of Crown land in the southern part of what is now Ontario began a network of "Colonization Roads" to encourage the settlement of the southern fringe on the Precambrian Shield. The Victoria Road, constructed 1859-64, extended from the present village of Glenarm for 38 1/2 miles to the Peterson Road in Oakley Township. Most of the "free-grant" lots along its southern portion were quickly taken up...

• Founding of Omemee, The
  About 1820, Maurice Cottingham settled here on the Pigeon River in Emily Township. By 1835, his family had acquired much of the site of the present village. William Cottingham had built mills and, with Christopher Knoweson, had laid out a village plot named Williamstown on the west side of the River. Within a few years, a post office was opened and, by 1843, the village had been enlarged and was called Metcalfe. The construction of...