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• French Settlement on the South Shore
  Windsor is the oldest known site of continuous settlement in Ontario. The government of New France, anxious to increase its presence on the Detroit River, offered land for agricultural settlement on the south shore in 1749. That summer, families from the lower St Lawrence River relocated to lots which began about 6.5 km downstream from here. Along with civilians and discharged soldiers from Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit), they formed the community of La Petite Côte. Additional...

• Honourable Alexander Grant 1734-1813, The
  Alexander Grant, son of the seventh Laird of Glenmoriston, was born in Inverness- Shire, Scotland. During the Seven Years' War he served with the Montgomery's Highlanders, eventually commanding a sloop on Lake Champlain. In 1776, Grant became Commander of the Great Lakes. This appointment, reduced to Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan in 1778, he held until 1812. With an estate at Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Grant served on the Land Board of the District of Hesse...

• Great Western Railway, The
  The main line of "The Great Western", from Niagara Falls through Hamilton and London to Windsor, was opened in 1854. The company extended its line from Hamilton to Toronto in 1855, from Komoka to Sarnia in 1858, and from Glencoe to Fort Erie (the "Loop Line") in 1873. "The Great Western" was an important connecting link for through traffic between railways in Michigan and New York states. This necessitated conversion from the original 5'6" gauge...

• Hull's Landing 1812
  On July 12, 1812, Brigadier-General William Hull, Commander of the North Western Army of the United States, landed with about 2,000 men near this site. He issued a proclamation stating that he came to liberate Canada from oppression. The British garrison at Amherstburg was too weak to oppose the invasion but later fought several skirmishes at the River Canard. On July 26, British reinforcements under Colonel Henry Proctor arrived and, on August 7-8, Hull withdrew to Detroit, leaving a small garrison near Sandwich which retired on August 11 at the approach of Major-General Isaac Brock.

• Jesuit Mission to the Hurons, The
  In 1728, a mission to the Huron Indians was established near Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit) by Father Armand de la Richardie, S.J. The Mission was moved to Bois Blanc Island and the adjacent mainland in 1742. In 1747 it was destroyed by disaffected Hurons and a party of Iroquois, and the next year re-established in this vicinity. The Huron Mission became the Parish of the Assumption in 1767 and was entrusted with the spiritual care of...

• William Dummer Powell 1755-1834
  The first professionally trained lawyer appointed a judge in what is now Ontario, Powell was born in Boston and educated abroad. He opened a legal practice in Montreal in 1779 and quickly gained a reputation as a brilliant advocate able to conduct cases in French and English. Powell was appointed sole presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas here in the District of Hesse in 1789. When the district courts were abolished five years...

• Capture of the "Anne" 1838, The
  On January 9, 1838, a force of Canadians and Americans sympathizing with Mackenzie's Rebellion, sailed from United States territory and landed on Bois Blanc Island. The schooner "Anne", supporting the invasion, cruised along the Canadian mainland firing on structures near Fort Malden. Defending militia under Col. T. Radcliff returned the fire, disabling the helmsman and damaging the rigging. The "Anne" grounded on Elliott's Point and those aboard were captured. Their leader, Dr. E.A. Theller, an...

• Lieutenant-Colonel William Caldwell
  Born about 1750 in Fermanagh County, Ireland, Caldwell emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1773. During the American Revolution, he served with the British forces as a captain in Butler's Rangers at Niagara and Detroit. In 1784, he obtained land near the mouth of the Detroit River and became one of the area's earliest settlers. Caldwell's exceptional influence with the local Indians enabled him to obtain control of some 11,000 additional acres on the north shore of...

• Great Sauk Trail, The
  Part of an ancient network of Indian paths, the Great Sauk Trail, as it came to be known, extended from Rock Island in present-day Illinois to the Detroit River. It played a significant role in the communications between the native peoples in the Upper Mississippi Valley and the British in this region, particularly during the period of Anglo-American rivalry following the American Revolution. For four decades pro-British tribes such as the Sauk and the Fox...

• Philo Parsons Incident, The
  On September 19, 1864, the American steamer "Philo Parsons" was seized off Kelley's Island, about 35 miles southeast of here, by some twenty Confederate sympathizers under John Y. Beall, a Southern naval officer. The group, whose members had embarked at Sandwich and Amherstburg, Canada West, intended to free the Confederate inmates of a prison camp in Sandusky Bay, Ohio. The plan included the capture of the U.S. gunboat "Michigan" for use in commerce raiding and...

• Jack Miner 1865-1944
  A noted naturalist, John Thomas Miner was born in Dover Centre, Ohio, and in 1878 settled on this property. In 1904, he established this world-famous bird sanctuary primarily for the conservation for migrating Canada Geese and ducks. Five years later, he began banding waterfowl to determine their subsequent movements. During his life, Miner lectured extensively throughout North America on wildlife conservation. To perpetuate his work, the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Foundation was incorporated in the...

• Unitarian Universalist Church of Olinda
  The Universalist faith developed in New England in the late 1700s and reached Canada in the early 1800s. Its central doctrine of universal salvation made it more liberal and inclusive than most Christian churches of the day. Local farmer Michael Fox began organizing Universalist services in the hamlet of Olinda around 1860. Twenty-three men and women formed a congregation in 1880 and built this church the following year. It was one of six Universalist churches...

• Founding of Belle River, The
  The settlement of this area began following the survey in 1793 of the lots fronting on the Belle River, among the early settlers were many French Canadians from the vicinity of the Detroit River. When the Great Western Railway was constructed, 1852-53, a station name Belle River was opened here. By 1855 a steam grist-mill and sawmill had been erected by Luc Ouellette and others, and a community known as Rochester soon developed. It was...

• Founding of Stoney Point, The
  French-speaking settlers from the Detroit-Sandwich area and Lower Canada (Quebec) were the first to locate in Tilbury West Township after it was surveyed in 1824. They established farms along Lake St. Clair and later near the Tecumseh Road and by 1851 formed a community called Stoney Point. After the arrival of the railway in 1854, the village developed into a market and industrial centre serving an agricultural and lumbering hinterland. In 1881, Stoney Point and...

• Founding of Leamington, The
  Parts of Mersea Township were surveyed in the 1790s, but it was not until 1833 that Alexander Wilkinson, who had acquired land elsewhere in the township by 1810, obtained his patent for a lot now located in the heart of Leamington. A settlement known as Wilkinson's Corners developed and on June 1, 1854, a post office called Leamington was opened. A saw and grist-mill was in operation the following year. By 1860 the community comprised...

• Founding of Tecumseh, The
  The intersecting of the Tecumseh Road, named for the eminent Indian leader, by the Great Western Railroad line in 1854 stimulated settlement in this largely French-Canadian area. A community gradually developed, and in 1873 it contained a sawmill, several stores and hotels, and a population of about 200. The village, first called Ryegate, and later Tecumseh, evolved from a local service center to a shipping point for area timber, cordwood, and especially grain. The establishment...

• Catholic Colored Mission of Windsor, 1887-1893, The
  The first Roman Catholic mission for Blacks in Canada was established in Windsor in St. Alphonsus Parish in 1887 under the leadership of the Very Reverend Dean James Theodore Wagner. The "Catholic Colored Mission of Windsor" was created to serve disadvantaged Black children, while encouraging Blacks in Windsor to adopt the Catholic faith. It was first located in the original frame church building at Goyeau Street and Park Street East. With the support and partnership...

• Windsor-Ford Strike of 1945, The
  As wartime labour shortages eased in 1945, contract talks between Ford of Canada and the United Auto Workers in Windsor stalled. The 10,000 members of Local 200 went on strike on September 12 to win recognition of the union they had built during the war. When Ford had police called in to re-open its powerhouse, 8,000 workers from Local 195 walked out of other Windsor plants. For three days, strikers parked cars in this area...

• Banwell Road Area Black Settlement, The
  Beginning in the 1830s, at least 30 families fleeing enslavement and racial oppression in the United States settled in the Banwell Road area in Sandwich East. They had the opportunity to purchase land through two Black-organized land settlement programs - the Colored Industrial Society (a mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sandwich East) and the Refugee Home Society (administered by Black abolitionist Henry and Mary Bibb of Maidstone). Freedom and land ownership meant...

• Battle of Pelee Island 1838, The
  On February 26, 1838, a group of over 300 American supporters of William Lyon Mackenzie's rebellion, led by "Major" Lester Hoadley, captured this island. In response, Colonel John Maitland, commanding the Western District, dispatched five infantry companies supported by militia and Indians across the ice from Amherstburg. On March 3, fleeing a southward sweep by the main force, the Americans were intercepted off-shore from here by a detachment of 126 men led by Captain George...

• Battle of Windsor 1838, The
  Early on December 4, 1838, a force of about 140 American and Canadian supporters of William Lyon Mackenzie crossed the river from Detroit and landed about one mile east of here. After capturing and burning a nearby militia barracks, they took possession of Windsor. In this vicinity they were met and routed by a force of some 130 militiamen commanded by Colonel John Prince. Four of the invaders taken prisoner were executed summarily by order...

• Bois Blanc Island Blockhouses
  Following the evacuation of the British military post at Detroit in 1796, a new establishment was begun on the Canadian side of the river at the site of Amherstburg, and two blockhouses were built on this island to serve as outposts. Following the armed attacks on Amherstburg by supporters of William Lyon Mackenzie during the Rebellion of 1837-38, the original defences on Bois Blanc (Bob-Lo) were replaced in 1839 by three new blockhouses and a...

• Christ Church 1819
  This church was built in 1818-19 on land donated by Col. William Caldwell. One of the earliest Anglican places of worship in western Upper Canada, it was constructed through the efforts of the Reverend Richard Pollard, an itinerant missionary stationed at Sandwich. The first incumbent was the Reverend Romaine Rolph who served from 1819-1836. The church and burial ground were consecrated in 1833 by the Right Reverend C.J. Stewart, Bishop of Quebec. Christ Church served the garrison of Fort Malden for many years and is one of the oldest remaining church edifices in the province.

• Colonel Arthur Rankin 1816-1893
  Born in Montreal, Rankin moved to this province about 1830 and qualified as a deputy provincial surveyor in 1836. The next year he was commissioned as an ensign in the Queen's Light Infantry and captured the enemy's flag in the "Battle of Windsor" (December 1838). He commanded the Ninth Upper Canadian Military District 1855-1861 and the 23rd Essex Volunteer Light Infantry Battalion 1866-1868. Vigorous and enterprising, Rankin organized the group of Ojibwa Indians which toured...

• District Court House and Gaol
  When the British withdrew from Detroit in 1796, they transferred the courts of the Western District to Sandwich (Windsor). An abandoned blockhouse, relocated from Chatham, served briefly as the court house and gaol until fire destroyed it in 1797. Its replacement, built soon afterwards, was burned by American soldiers during the War of 1812. A brick court house and gaol, completed by 1820, served until 1856 when the present building was constructed. Designed in the...

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